What are Photoshop actions? How to use Photoshop actions
As a photographer, you want your photography to look its best. If you have heard about Photoshop actions and you want to learn more and find out what they can do for you, then you are in the right place. This article aims to teach the basics about what Photoshop actions are, who should be using them, and how they can be used. I'd appreciate comments to let me know if this helps!
What are Photoshop actions?
Generally speaking, the term Photoshop action is pretty self-explanatory. It's just that-actions that you take in Photoshop. But instead of having to mess around for hours on end until you find the perfect look for that one special photo, Photoshop actions allow someone else to do all of that work for you. A Photoshop action can be a series of steps that the originally creator records so that the technique can be used over and over by different photographers on different photos. That's right, at the click of a button you can save yourself hours in front of your computer. Sounds cool, huh
Who uses Photoshop actions?
Photoshop actions can be a great resource for almost anyone, but they can be especially useful to the professional photographer. If you are working with any client, you want to help them look their best. Photoshop actions are the tools that will help you to do that. Because there is such a wide range of Photoshop actions available, the possibilities really are endless. Photoshop actions will drastically speed up your editing time by automating the process so that you can completely transform your photography in to exactly what your client wants with just the click of your mouse.
How do I use Photoshop actions?
Now that we have an idea of what Photoshop actions are and who Photoshop actions are for, we need to learn what to do with them. Photoshop actions typically are defined by the ".atn" extension. These files will be recognized by Photoshop as actions. After downloading the action you wish to use into the actions pallette, simply select and expand the folder. Then select the desired action from that folder and click play to watch the action take effect.
The moral of the story here is that using Photoshop actions can save you time and money. There are so many options out there that you really can get any look you want. You also might consider examining what each Photoshop actually does, so you can fine tune some of your Photoshop skills as well.
