Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Photoshop Action Sets

I will start this post off by saying that I know little to nothing about Photoshop Elements. I downloaded the free trial a few weeks ago and immediately knew that I wasn't quite smart enough to figure it all out. It took a lot of reading up, online tutorials, and The Pioneer Woman (yes, she even figures into the equation outside of the kitchen...told you I LOVE her). Fast forward a few weeks and I have figured out a few things, found some really cool places for help, and don't feel quite so illiterate about the program.

In Photoshop Elements, you use layers to change, sharpen, and bring out colors. Action sets create and adjust these layers for you automatically. That is especially helpful in the beginning while you are learning (and by you, I mean me). Here is an original, straight-out-of-camera shot and the picture when action sets have been applied to it.


The action sets are fun and really help if you have a half-decent picture but terrible lighting. I've also removed scratches and bruises from faces, juice box squirts from tee-shirts, and ice cream from chins. 

Two great resources for action sets are The Coffee Shop Blog and The Pioneer Woman. I think the best instructions in how to install these come from Rita at The Coffee Shop Blog. 

All fonts used in the pictures come from Amanda. There are literally hundreds of fonts on her sites and they install very easily (click them once downloaded and they install themselves). 

Oh, one more thing...everything I've mentioned here is F-R-E-E! 

2 comments :

  1. K - You have no idea how helpful this was. Thank you and please keep sharing all your knowledge. This is going to be fun to play with.

    Amy

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  2. Don't you love actions? They save so much time and make things look great, thank you for sharing such great ones.

    Check Out- Cheap Like A Birdie Blog

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