Seven Free Photoshop Actions

I’m having a lot of fun learning Photoshop and relying on others’ actions less and less. Once I started doing my edits manually, I created my own actions to speed up my workflow.

I want to share these actions with you and would love feedback on whether or not they work. I’m not a professional actions maker and I’ve only just started learning how to make my own, so I can’t promise they’ll work for your version. They will not work in Photoshop Elements, but should work in Photoshop CS3 and higher.

Examples

Seven actions total are included in my first set. Five workflow timesavers and two creative effects. Continue on for a full description of what’s available.

DW Action Set Examples

Workflow Timesavers

DW Clean Edit. Quickly and cleanly edit a photo.
DW Rule of Thirds Crop Aid. Resizes the canvas so you can turn on the rule of thirds grid and move your photo around to put the subject in a sweet spot. See the link to learn how to set up your grid.
DW Noise Reduction. Simply adds a noise reduction filter as a new layer with a layer mask so you can remove the effect from parts of the photo.
DW Warm Skin. Applies the “easy fix” technique to create a pleasing skin tone from this SmugMug Skin Tone Tutorial. Use your eyedropper tool in conjunction with your info palette to check the Yellow and Magenta percentages on the skin. If Magenta is higher or equal to Yellow, run this action, select the black layer mask over the DW Warm Skin group and use a white brush to paint the effect over the skin. When you’re finished, flatten the image and check the skin tone again with the eyedropper tool.
DW Dodge/Burn. I recently learned this super easy trick to lighten or darken areas of your photo without using the icky dodge and burn tools. Create a new blank layer, choose Edit > Fill from the menu and fill it with 50% grey, then change the blending mode to Overlay. Use a white brush to make an area brighter or a black brush to make an area darker.

Creative Effects

Now that I have the basics of clean editing down, I’ve started toying with more creative effects.

DW A Little Bit of Desat. This action adds a Normal B&W layer at 20%, a High Pass Red Filter B&W Layer set to Soft Light at 10% and a High Pass Blue Filter B&W Layer set to Soft Light at 15%. The Red and Blue filters add a touch of contrast. Adjust the opacity of each layer or the group to taste.
DW Peachy Pink. This adds an opaque peach and pink color solid fill layer set to Soft Light blending mode. Adjust the opacity of each layer or the group to taste.

Download

Download the zipped action file. The easiest way to install would be to open the zip file and double click on the .atn file inside. If that’s causing you problems, there are a plethora of tutorials on the internet. Try Googling “install photoshop actions“.

Please leave a comment if you download. I would also really love to know whether or not they work for you and what version of Photoshop you’re using.

Artistically Amy

Posted March 15, 2011 at 9:52 PM

I’m only using pse, so I can’t use these actions. But they do look clean and natural!


Lynda
Twitter: @PhotoLynda

Posted March 16, 2011 at 9:41 AM

Thanks Amy! I’m hoping to get PSE one of these days because I’m using an old educational version of Photoshop and I am not paying hundreds of dollars to upgrade it or buy a new version. Maybe I’ll look into whether or not I can create PSE actions from within PS.

Through the Lens of Kimberly Gauthier, Kimberly Gauthier Photography
Twitter: @kg_photography

Posted March 16, 2011 at 2:48 PM

Thanks for sharing these! I’m doing a preset series this month.

I shared and tweeted this one, because I think it’s a hot topic!


Lynda
Twitter: @PhotoLynda

Posted March 16, 2011 at 5:41 PM

Thanks Kimberly! I wonder if ACR and Lightroom presets are compatible? I have a few ACR Presets available.

Jenny
Twitter: @osvme

Posted March 25, 2011 at 6:44 PM

bleh at them not working in PSE… now I’m sad.


Lynda
Twitter: @PhotoLynda

Posted March 25, 2011 at 9:18 PM

I wish I knew how to make PSE actions without actually having PSE, but I’m not sure it’s possible. I’m sorry, Jenny!

Virginia Beach Wedding Photographer

Posted April 1, 2011 at 7:26 AM

I like your clean edit action. I looks like it boost contrast and sharpens image.

LaVonne
Twitter: @longwait4bella

Posted April 5, 2011 at 3:14 AM

I like how The Coffee Shop blog explains how to install the Actions. I was able to install many of her actions as well as a set from the Pioneer Woman. One day, I ‘d love to learn how to do my own. One day

Cecily R

Posted April 29, 2011 at 11:26 AM

FUN! I’d love to really hunker down and do my own actions, but I’m FAR too scattered to do it right now. I’ll happily play with yours instead for the time being. Thanks heaps!


Lynda Giddens
Twitter: @PhotoLynda

Posted April 29, 2011 at 12:24 PM

Thanks Cecily. I hope it works!

kristin

Posted May 2, 2011 at 10:38 PM

I think these are just what I needed! Thanks

Cindie

Posted July 14, 2011 at 10:20 PM

I’m coming across this error “Could not complete the command because actions that reference files can only be played on the same platform on which they were recorded.” everytime I use the desat action. All the rest of the actions are working normally. How can I fix this?