The Amazing World of Actions!

For those of you who don't know what Actions are (in terms of image editing), they are a series of editing steps that are saved, which can transform your photograph completely to have a different look to it than what came straight out of your camera.  You can pull up a photograph, click on an Action (in Photoshop), push play and watch your photograph take on a whole new feel. Actions can also be used to assist in editing photos for things like brightening an image, lightening up eyes, bringing out the vibrancy in colors in a photograph, sharpening an image, etc.  Until recently, I hadn't been able to figure out how to make them work or how to create them on my own.

Last month, my friend Tracy came into town, as some of you might have seen and we spent the day in Chicago having a whole lot of photographic fun.  That night, we sat side by side on my couch and she showed me the actions on her computer, how they worked and exactly what they did. It all finally came together in my mind and I ended up buying a  couple of sets of actions, from 2 different wonderful photographers - Paint the Moon and Florabella.   I've just signed up to win another series of actions from a company called Totally Rad Actions! All 3 of these companies can be found on Facebook, for any of my photog friends who'd like to take a peek.  (Fingers crossed that I win the drawing!)

Let me tell you, these things are ADDICTING!  After you run the action, each step within the action is adjustable.  You can run more than one action. You can add textures over the image after your run the action (more on textures later in an upcoming post). This equates to hours and hours and HOURS of editing bliss.  Below is an example of how actions can change your photographs. The first one is the original image from the camera.

Original image SOOC (straight out of camera)

I decided to play with a bunch of different actions to show you just a handful of ways you can change the image. Turns out, black and white isn't simply black and white. There are so many different shades within black and white and other effects to make your image look unique.

Black and White Dream Glow Action from Paint the Moon

Retro Lollipop Action from Florabella

Vintage Buttercup from Florabella

Vintage Wine from Florabella

Obviously, everyone's taste will differ and each person may have a preference on which one they like best. It also depends on what you are trying to communicate with your image and the kind of feeling you are hoping to evoke.  My favorite one is the last one - Vintage Wine. There is something that I feel is classy about it, whereas the 2 black and white images give a better sense of nostalgia.

I'm just learning how to work with these and I can't begin to tell you how much fun it is.  Fingers crossed that I win the new set of actions from Totally Rad Actions as that would give me even more tools to play with! As with everything, the more you do it, the better you get at it.  Someday, I hope to create some of my own. Until then, I'll play with everyone else's! Thanks for reading.