{Photoshop Tutorial: Using Actions}
by ashley from a {little} dash of ash
Are you in photoshop a lot? Do you do the same things over and over again (resize image, sharpen image, insert image into template)? You could save yourself a lot of time with a little tool called actions. As a blogger and a photographer, I use actions every time I am in photoshop! Not only can you create your own actions, but you can also purchase and download pre-made actions (more on that later)!
What is an action?
An action is a recording of several photoshop operations and commands. Once the action is created, one click is all it takes for the steps in the action to be executed. When you save an action, you can come back to it at any time and apply it to another image at a later date.
Actions are very powerful and will save you a lot of time during your basic work flow -- and they are so easy to create. Let's walk through an example of how to create an action to 1. trim an image, 2. sharpen photo for the web and 3. resize your image for your blog width! The screen shots are from Photoshop CS5, but should work the same for most earlier versions.
Before we begin, let's first locate your actions pane.
Now let's look at the action pane and review what the buttons mean:
1 = stop playing / recording
2 = begin recording
3 = play selection
4 = create new set
5 = create new action
6 = delete
7 = pop down menu
8 = action set
9 = action
As you can see, I already have actions listed in my action pane. These are actually folders of actions (sets), so if I expanded them, you would see lots of different actions (mostly creative actions for my photography). But... I am going to teach you how to create your own action then I will talk about some of my favorite actions you can buy online.
Creating an Action:
1. Open an image. Make sure your layer pane is also open.
2. Click on 4: "Create new set". Call your set "Practice Actions" (this can be renamed at any time)
3. Click on 5: "Create new action". Name your action "Image for Blog" and make sure the set is "Practice Actions". (you can also assign a function key to operate this action, for example F1)
4. Press Record **From this point on the "Image for Blog" action will remember every step you take.
Steps:
Trim an Image:
Tool Bar --> Image --> Trim --> Check Top, Bottom, Left and Right
Note: **I use "trim an image" when I create a collage in photoshop or take a screen print for my blog -- it will remove any excess white around an image. If you don't have anything to "trim" it won't affect your photo.
Sharpen Photo:
Tool Bar --> Filter --> Sharpen --> Sharpen
Resize for Blog Width:
Tool Bar --> Image --> Image Size --> Width (my blog is 558 pixels so that is what I will use)
5. Click on 1: "Stop recording/playing" on your action pane.
Your action should now be finished and your image should be blog ready! You can now use this action every time you are prepping an image for your blog! Just highlight the action in your window pane and press 3. "play"!
Below is what your action will look like in the Actions pane.
Here is a helpful hint: Let's say you are recording an action and make a mistake. No problem! Just go to the action pane and select "Stop recording/playing" and find the part of the action that should not be there and drag it to 6. "Delete". Go back to your image and Edit --> step backward until you get back to where you want to be, and press 2. "Begin recording" on your action pane once again.
Also, you can create all different kinds of actions and you can run more than one action on an image. You can even set up actions to run multiple actions at one time. Usually I run 3-10 actions per image for my photography.
Once you get familiar with how actions work, you should check out a few of these websites for their pre-made actions! The actions that are offered through these websites will allow you to edit images in a creative way -- very quickly! Check out {Totally Rad Actions}, {MCP Actions} and {Pioneer Woman}!
I hope you found this tutorial helpful! Thank you Ashley for inviting me to post on your blog!
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