Likewise, lens flare looks pretty nifty, but the hoards of Photoshop newbies that adorn banners, buttons and photos with innappropriate overuse of flares are quickly becoming an international nuisance. With that aside, please try and use the filter menu with some level of restraint. They, like adornments, should be used sparingly and when needed, not garnished randomly about, like the grandmother with paper doilies all about the house. There are some unique effects only accomplishable by the application of a filter, or sometimes multiple ones. The hierarchial list to the right shows the main set of Photoshop filters.
Most filters are fairly straightforward in their use, but a few filters deserve special treatment.
These are marked with a star, and clicking on them will take you to a page dedicated to that filter. There you will find descriptions of the major commerical packages, plus links to their respective companies and a list of shareware filters availible on the net.