Ready, Set, Action!

Photoshop can be immensely intimidating even when trying to teach yourself at a slow methodical pace. While browsing through my Pinterest feed the other day, I happened upon a fantastic set of tips and tricks known as actions (found from pioneerwoman.com) that allows you to set a basic layer or cover over your photo to give it an immediate upgraded touch. Click Here to download the set of actions I will be showing you and click Here to learn how to install them into your Photoshop. It's a great way to automatically alter your photo to see how it would look and feel in a couple of clicks instead of adjusting piece by piece. Of course Photoshop has a few default actions, but it's almost like using some of the default fonts in Word for graphic design and they aren't very useful.

Here is an image that is taken straight out of my camera... No post-processing is done, no correction to exposure, white balance, sharpening etc.

Make sure you click on the image to see it full-size.

f/5.6 -- ISO100 -- 1/1000

Then by simply applying an 'action' in Photoshop you have something new!

Fresh and Colorful

 Boost and Quick Edge Burn

Bring on the eyes. A basic layer mask that allows you to select what parts of the photo to highlight.

Colorized

Cooler

Ethereal

Heartland

Old West

Vintage

Warmer

Overall I think actions can be quite useful when needing to apply a similar style to a large group of photos. It's quite fun to see all the possibilities that one image can eventually become. Do you have any experience with using actions in your photos? Please share in the comments what you've learned or like about using actions in your work.