What are Photoshop actions and what are they designed for?
Where can you find free actions for Photoshop and why they are so useful for beginners?
Find all the answers in this article below.
What Is Action for Photoshop?
How to Install Actions for Photoshop?
How to Use Actions for Photoshop?
Why Are Actions for Photoshop so Useful?
Photoshop Actions are a very useful Photoshop plug-in that will help you greatly simplify the process of photo editing. In other words, you can record the algorithm of actions applied to an image and use it while working on other pictures.
If you need to make a series of identical changes with multiple files, you do not need to do a lot of actions every time – just create the Photoshop action.
You can resize images, apply several filters and save the final files in a specific format. To do this, follow these steps while working with one picture and repeat them with another one with just one click.
This is a great way to save your precious time and make the photo editing process as automated as possible. There are many Free Actions, which may become of great help, check out some of them below.
This classic colour scheme is never out of fashion. Black and white photos have their own special atmosphere and mysterious mood. You may use B&W Free Photoshop actions for portraits to make them dramatic and moody.
This is one of the best free Photoshop actions for photographers that can be used for any photo shoot. Muted cool tones will look good in almost any picture. Colours become clearer with saturated blue and green colours.
This action changes the brightness and saturation of colours with the help of special contrast settings. You can give your photo a stylish and trendy look in several clicks. Highly recommended for portrait, street, landscape, and architecture photographs.
This action allows you to create brighter and lighter tones in your photos. It resembles popular Instagram and VSCO filters. This is a universal tool that can be applied to different images, regardless of their style, size, and sharpness. It looks perfect on wedding, newborn, and couple photographs.
This action was created to add warm shades to your photos. Smooth your images and add autumn colours. Beautiful shadows and bright glares can give your pictures freshness and vividness. This is the best and quickest way of making a film look effect.
Download the 5 Free Photoshop Actions here.
Step 1 – Find Photoshop actions you like.
Step 3 – Open Photoshop.
Step 4 – Press Alt + F9 combination to open the “Actions” panel.
Step 5 – Click on the small icon in the upper right corner of the panel. After that, the operation panel menu will appear on the screen.
Step 6 – Select the “Load Actions” from the list of commands.
Step 7 – As a result, you’ll see a new “Load” window on the screen, where you can specify the file you want to install. This file may be on your desktop or placed in a special folder for downloaded add-ons.
There is another, faster installation method for you to try. You need to open the folder with the action document (ATN file) on Windows and simply double-click on it. Photoshop will be automatically started and the new Action will appear in the operations palette.
If you are one of those photographers who like to create their own things and experiment, you can make your own Ps actions.
Step 1 – First you need to create a new folder with actions and give it a name, for example, “Logo” You can skip this step if you already have a folder in which your actions will be stored.
Step 2 – Start recording your action. Click on the “Create New Script” button. You can write the name of the operation, select a function key and assign a colour in the window that appears. Colour is needed only in order to select and make your action more noticeable in the set of all operations.
Step 3 – Begin to perform different photo editing actions. To understand whether the recording is going on or not, look at the palette. The red record button indicates the activity of the tool.
Step 4 – Go to “File – Place.” Select a previously saved logo file on your computer and click on the “Place” button.
Step 5 – Now the logo can be located in any convenient place. You can resize it using the frame with marks.
Step 6 – Optionally, you can add transparency to the layer. To do this, select the “Transparency” option in the settings of the layer and choose the desired value.
Step 7 – Combine all the layers. Right-click on the layer and choose “Group Layers” option.
Step 8 – Specify the place where Photoshop should save your result.
Step 9 – Click “Stop.” Your action is recorded and saved for further use.
When you have downloaded or created the Photoshop action, you can use it to simplify the photo editing process.
Step 1 – Select the layer to which you want to apply the action.
Step 2 – Choose the action you want to use in the action bar.
Step 3 – Click the “Play” button at the bottom of the panel.
Lightroom Presets and Actions for Photoshop have many common characteristics, but at the same time, some features are unique. The main advantage of both plug-ins is their simplicity.
It allows you to save your time and make the photo editing process as simple as possible. In fact, you can apply the same algorithm of changes several times. Lightroom has standard presets, which can also be used for quick colour correction.
Actions are very helpful because they can save time and significantly speed up the workflow. When you install professional actions in Photoshop, you get the experience of the person who has created them, right on your computer.
You can forget about hours of tiresome work and have fun by playing with different actions with the touch of a button. The simplicity and instant result can be an important step in mastering Photoshop for a beginner.
Moreover, if you are interested in further learning, you can always study the individual levels of actions to see how the author – photo retoucher did his/her job.
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