ACTIONS?

Here's a silly question.... I've never used them before and I think I should give them a try...but how do you used them?

Oh I LOVE actions - and there are so many fabulous freebies out there! I first started by using others but once I got more familiar with my PS, I started making my own.

It's super easy to use.

Once you download the action, you load in PS (to do this you go to Actions > load actions > find your file and download.

Then you will see it in your actions. You click on it - hit the triangle play button and watch it run it's course! easy peasy! You can always do tweaks on the action by messing with the master opacity, soft/hard lights, etc.

You will love it Renee!

i've bought some of the maggie holmes actions ... they are pretty inexpensive....i've used them quite often.

after you purchase them, she sends you step by step instructions to download them. pretty easy.
http://www.maggieholmes.typepad.com/actions/

these are nice too:

http://www.cinnamonroseactions.com/

when I learned how to do actions, it changed my life. Renee you will thank yourself for figuring it out!

Also my favs are the free Pioneer woman actions. I use them on everything!

I LOVE actions! I have purchased Maggie Holmes too and they are some of my favs! I also have found some great ones at The Coffee Shop blog. They are free and there are also some great frames, including rounded corners, etc. They also give clear instructions on downloading and using them depending on which editing software you use.

I LOVE actions - they can add so much fun and flair to photos! I love Totally Rad Actions!!

Well that sounds easy enough
...the only thing is...now do I need to be in PS to use it? I use an ancient version of PS...

Renee, which version of PS do you use? I used CS3 up until a few months ago and all of my actions ran just fine....

I use 6.0 and I have a feeling actions won't run with that

Is that Elements? If so, I know that there are actions out there for Elements!

You could do is download the trial of Adobe Photoshop CS5 and a couple of free actions...see how those work for you, if it's worth getting into?

ReneeDezember wrote:

I use 6.0 and I have a feeling actions won't run with that

Renee, I use PSE and I use actions all the time. You just have to make sure it is an action for PS Elements and not just Photoshop. There are many sites that offer actions now for PSE. Those I listed above have some.

Try them! You'll get hooked!

I just bought some and use them in Photoshop 7. So far, they are working okay. I am not sure exactly what I'm doing either with them, but they are fun! I also downloaded some of the free ones from the coffeeshop blog. Good Luck!

I'm glad you posted this, Renee, I've been wanting to try actions too. Lovin' all the links, ladies... thank you!

OK, this may be a dumb question, and I kinda get what y'all are saying with these actions, and I even seen something posted on Facebook (maybe?) to download actions for free.

What exactly do you use actions for in PS? I'm not that good with PS to begin with, so make the description for dummies = please....

Open PS. Window>Actions to open the Actions palette if not already open. In the Actions palatte's top right hand corner there is an arrow. Click on it and it will give you options. Load Actions is what you should choose. Then you load an unzipped file there.

To use a loaded action, you click on which you want to use- ie- Vignette and it will highlight in blue. Then at the bottom of the palette are several icons. The arrow will "start" the action on the chosen image.

If you aren't familiar with actions then it is probably good to know that (generally speaking) you should be using an action on an image without layers. If it has layers you can go to Layers> Merge Visible or Flatten Image before running your desired action.

I hope that helps Beth.