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Archive 2015 · PS Actions

  
 
DarrinS
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · PS Actions


Ok I am making the jump to actions. And before anyone says anything I am mainly a sports photographer so never used them much, but I do other things like seniors, weddings, and things like that. But I have friends that do mostly seniors and weddings and they have told me for the longest time to invest in actions, and I admit some of their work looks great and it sells. However I feel that actions take some of the art out of the pics, but some argue that it adds art to the pic. SO anyway I am asking for advice out there from others what are some good actions to look at? I have looked at the On One collection, the Great Than Gatsby, and the NIK Software. Does anyone have recommendations on these or others? Any help would be appreciated!!!


Mar 29, 2015 at 08:10 PM
Mr Mouse
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · PS Actions


Action help you speed up your processing. The best actions you will ever have are actions you record and edit yourself for your workflow. Yow will find that will will do the same processing on many images you edit. An action just help to speed up the process and automates the steps you do over and over again. In the correct order. Actions can also be interactive where they put you in control of a step so you can tweak it for the current image.

Actions you create will save you time and work in your workflow. They may not work for other user workflow unless you carefully design the action and document any dependencies the action relies on.

Knowledge and experance is required to create action the will work on almost and document.

Crafting Actions Package UPDATED Aug 10, 2014 Added Conditional Action steps to Action Palette Tips.
Contains
Action Actions Palette Tips.txt
Action Creation Guidelines.txt
Action Dealing with Image Size.txt
Action Enhanced via Scripted Photoshop Functions.txt
CraftedActions.atn Sample Action set includes an example Watermarking action
Sample Actions.txt Photoshop CraftedActions set saved as a text file.
More then a dozen Scripts for use in actions

Download



Mar 29, 2015 at 09:27 PM
DarrinS
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · PS Actions


Ok Mr. Mouse. Thanks for the input. It's saying download at the end of your post. Are these a tions or something or am I a little lost?


Mar 30, 2015 at 06:52 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · PS Actions


Guilty as charged.

I have not yet harnessed the expediency of Actions. I treat each image individually on its own merits and goals for the image, but my general workflow remains fairly consistent (within a variety of image types). I too should invest the time / effort learning to build and organize some actions for myself.

+1 @ actions designed by others vs. actions designed by each of us ... likely each has its place.

I think I just found my 2015 goal ... learn to harness actions.




Mar 30, 2015 at 07:30 AM
Mr Mouse
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · PS Actions


DarrinS wrote:
Ok Mr. Mouse. Thanks for the input. It's saying download at the end of your post. Are these a tions or something or am I a little lost?


Download is a link if you click on it the package zip file should download. It contains the text files, sample action set and the scripts I wrote to be used within actions.


Download Link


Scripting is even more powerful then actions they are programs so can use logic. Here is a video of one of my Collage populating scripts being used to populate a five image collage template and leaving it open in Photoshop so the user can tweak the results.

Collage Script Video



Mar 30, 2015 at 10:11 AM
DarrinS
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · PS Actions


@rusty I hear you Best of luck on your 2015 goals let me know how it goes would love to see your work. @ Mr Mouse thanks for the input I'll have to download stuff see what it is in there.


Mar 31, 2015 at 04:41 AM
pokemanyz
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · PS Actions


I have a lot of actions and like to play with them.
Here is the results (before and after) of using GraphicRiver Architekt
It runs for over 10 minutes I'd guess. Crazy to watch all that it does.

This is an extreme example but I think it would make a good poster. My brother liked it anyway. It's a photo of him.

DSC_2389 by pokemanyz, on Flickr

SF by pokemanyz, on Flickr



Mar 31, 2015 at 05:50 AM
DarrinS
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · PS Actions


Thanks sir I'll give them a look



Mar 31, 2015 at 08:03 AM
dmacmillan
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · PS Actions


Darrin,
Here is a list of actions an plugins I have:
NIK Collection
On One Perfect Photo Suite 9
Rad Labs Replichrome
Topaz Labs B&W
Portrait Professional

You didn't mention how you planned to use them. I would favor some packages over others for depending on use, such as portraits, landscape and sports.

I think the best all around group is the NIK Collection. There are tools that will help with all types of photography. Their control points are very useful, it's a quick and easy way to create adjustment layers and masks. All adjustments are in layers and can be easily removed.

Replichrome is great if you are looking for a film-like look to your images. I use it mostly on people photos.

The On One Perfect Photo Suite 9 is also a very good suite of tools.

My least used and least favorite is Portrait Professional. It analyzes the faces in your portraits and "improves" them. The default image it generates is usually pretty heavy handed and it takes a lot of work to tone the changes down to an acceptable level.

Most, if not all action packages have a free trial. Just download them and determine which are most useful to you. I often find I create a layer stack using various tools. For instance, I might start in NIK's Viveza and then add a Color Efex Pro layer, followed by their Sharpener Pro. Another time I might start with Viveza and then add a Replichrome layer. This might be followed by a dodging layer and a burning layer that I create. BTW, my images usually begin with Lightroom adjustments, then I take the image up to PS.

I somewhat agree with the concept of creating your own actions. I think it's good to have at least a working knowledge of the tools available in PS, especially adjustment layers and masking techniques. While it is true the with some work, almost everything that plugins (actions) can do can be done in PS. Plugins often give you the same results with much less work. Also, some plugins, like Replichrome, actually create custom profiles, something a lot harder to do in PS.

I'm definitely no purist and will use any tool at hand that will help me achieve the desired result with the least amount of time and effort.



Apr 01, 2015 at 08:12 AM
DarrinS
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · PS Actions


Thanks a bunch dmacmillan!! I plan on using them for senior work right and I'm getting into landscape work. Of course I'll try it on some of my sports work. I have a friend that told me about the NIK collection and I might have to invest after your comments. I had the On One software a bit ago but I'm sure it's even better now. Thanks for the input!!


Apr 01, 2015 at 08:24 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · PS Actions


DarrinS wrote:
@rusty I hear you Best of luck on your 2015 goals let me know how it goes would love to see your work. @ Mr Mouse thanks for the input I'll have to download stuff see what it is in there.


Thanks, your too.

You can click on the "TOP 15" button to get a glimpse of a few things. I wouldn't say they are really my top 15, but they are somewhat representative.

Will have to look into the script aspect as well ... I think I recall using a script back with Corel PSP X2 that I liked having some interface points before I started learning PS years ago.



Apr 01, 2015 at 11:14 PM





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