“An action is a series of tasks that you play back on a single file or a batch of files—menu commands, palette options, tool actions, and so on. For example, you can create an action that changes the size of an image, applies a filter to the image for a particular effect, and then saves the file in the desired format.” – From Photoshop Help File.

The above says it all: By using Photoshop Actions, you can greatly improve your productivity and efficiency, especially if you would like to apply the same effect over and over again. I use it all the time

In this post, I have included 10 Highly Useful Articles (Intro + Roundups) that Talk About Photoshop Action, which I have in my personal collection for you to go through. Get ready for some actions!

An Intro to Actions and Photoshop Automation

Without actions you would have to walk through the process 30 times, taking hours or days to complete the task. If you had an Action script, you could be done in as little as 30 minutes, maybe sooner! Simply starting the action, typing your text, and hitting play again will create your effect.

- photoshopcafe.com

Using Photoshop Actions to automate tasks in Photoshop

Photoshop users often overlook Photoshop actions because of the misconception that this feature is difficult to master. But if you take a closer look at Photoshop actions, you will realize that they are easy to use and can in fact help you save time and increase productivity by automating things for you.

- bestdesignoptions.com

Complete Guide to Using Actions in Photoshop

Whenever you perform a repetitive task in Photoshop, you can save yourself time and effort by using actions. Helen Bradley’s quick-start guide explains what a Photoshop action is, how to find and play an action, and how to record your own.

- peachpit.com

Learn How To Automate Photoshop With Actions at Photoshop Essentials.com

In this series of Adobe Photoshop tutorials, we’re going to look at everything you need to know to get up and running with Photoshop Actions!

- photoshopessentials.com

Photoshop action to improve your photos instantly

With this Photoshop action you can quickly improve your photos without any hassle. Even If you’re guru at Photoshop, often you don’t have enough time to implement all your thorough knowledge and Photoshop tricks just to make some photos for your friends look more attractive and professional.

- garmahis.com

The Ultimate Collection Of Useful Photoshop Actions

Saving repetitive tasks as Photoshop actions can save you a lot of time, allowing you to automate your work and improve workflow efficiency. A Photoshop action is a recording of a sequence of commands and operations that you can save and access later on.

- smashingmagazine.com

400+ Time Saving Photoshop Actions

We have collected a handful of great (and free) downloadable PS Actions in this article and also included a nice tutorial on creating your own Actions.

- designreviver.com

Photoshop actions: 124+ Free Photoshop Actions to Boost Your Designs

An action is a series of tasks that you play back on a single file or a batch of files – menu commands, palette options, tool actions, and so on. You can create an action that changes the size of an image, applies a filter to the image for a particular effect, and then saves the file in the desired format. Nice, isn’t it !

- visual-blast.com

14 sites give away free photoshop actions

If you are graphics designer and need new type of action for your work then here is the list of download link of site which providing free photoshop action for you.

- piyadas-world.com

The ultimate photoshop resource list part 3: actions

An action is a series of tasks that you play back on a single file or a batch of files – menu commands, palette options, tool actions, and so on. You can create an action that changes the size of an image, applies a filter to the image for a particular effect, and then saves the file in the desired format.

- fuelyourcreativity.com

Ok that’s it for the list! Hope you find those article useful and get start using Photoshop Action! Trust me, it will make your life much easier :)

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I used to transform an avarage day photo into a really nice golden sunset scene in Photoshop. This tutorial is inspired by this magnificant work from the Ubisoft game Fry Cry 2.

Together we will explore techniques such as layer blending, image adjustments, non-destructive photo editing, use of pen tool and various image filters. It’s an easy tutorial, have a go!

Meanwhile, if you would like to find some more info about non-destructive photo editing, I have another post here:

Bring Colour and Light out of Ordinary Image

Or if you would like to find out some basic info about Pen Tool, I have another post here.

Here is a before and after preview of this tutorial:

Before

After

An alternative Version

OK let’s get started!

Step 1

Download a copy of this image and load it into Photoshop. Duplicate the background layer Three Times as shown below:

Change the layer blending option for “Background copy”, “Background copy 2″, “Background copy 3″ accordingly:

“Background copy” – Overlay

“Background copy” – Hard Light

“Background copy” – Color

And you will have the following image:

Step 2

Duplicate the Background once more and drag the duplicated layer on top of all other previous layers, apply the following Surfuce Blur settings to it:

Change the layer blending of this layer to “Screen” – this will add a glowing effect to the image.

Step 3

Now we will seperate the sky bit from rest of the image so that we could edit it without affecting other part of the image.

To do this, hide all previously duplicate layers and go back to the background layer, use the Pen Tool to create a path around the sky portion of the image:

Then right-click and choose Make Selection, choose 0 px feather and this will transform the path into a selection:

Then hit Ctrl + J to make a layer via copy, name it as “Sky” and Drag it above all other layers. (Optional: you can use the Clone Stamp Tool to refine the edges of the sky so it fits better with the landscape.)

Apply the following Channel Mixer image adjustment to the “Sky” layer:

And the effect so far will look like this:

Step 4

Now duplicate the “Sky” layer once, apply the following Gaussian Blur settings to the duplicate layer:

Change the layer blending option to “Overlay” and this will add some extra softness to the cloud:

Duplicate the “Sky” layer once more and drag this dupcliate layer on top of all other layers, load the selection of this layer by holding down Ctrl key + Left-click the thumbnail of this layer within the layer palette, fill it with colour shown below:

Change the layer blending mode to “color” and you will have the following effect:

Step 5

Now we add some colour for the grass and the landscape as well. To do this, create a Gradient Map on top of all layers:

and apply the following settings:

Change the layer blending mode of this adjustment layer to “Soft Light” and opacity to 80%. And you will have the following effect:

Step 6

If you would like to add some more lighting and reduce the amount of the brightness of the sky a bit, you can go back to the origianl “Sky” layer, use the Eraser Tool with a big round brush and 0% hardness, erase to the parts you want:

Here is the effect so far:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! The rest is again left upon your own creativity :)

Below is my final image for this tutorial: (Click to Enlarge)

An alternative version:

If you have any questions, just drop me a comment :)

Cheers and have a nice day!

In this tutorial, we explore different types of extraction techniques in Photoshop. The working environment for this tutorial is Photoshop CS3, however those techniques also applies to previous version of Photoshop.

Selecting and Extracting Objects are the first few steps you will take, especially for drawing graphics, photo retouch, and some complex image processing. This tutorial will cover the tools we can use in Photohshop to select and extract objects, such as the lasso tool, quick selection tool and pen tool.

1. Click and Download the source image below.

This is an image I took while holiday in Europe, I think it’s a good image for practicing selection and extraction because it contains multiple objects, both in simple and complex shapes. Also the backgound is not plain so it adds a bit more difficulty.

2. Firstly we can have a go for the Lasso Tool. (See image below)

Try outlining the lemon on the bottom left using the lasso tool. In Photoshop CS3, if you hold down your left mouse button when press the lasso, it will bring up another two options: polygonal lasson tool and magnetic lasso tool. You may find them helpful when you perform the selection.

3. Secondly try the quick selection tool (See image below)

Try to select the cup of mashed peas down the bottom right. If you hold down your left mouse button, you will get another useful tool: the magic wand tool. This tool is useful when you want to select an isolate object with simple backgound attached.

4. Last but not least, the Pen Tool (see image below)

Try to select the roll of bread in the middle. Same as the other two tool, there are addtional options under the pen tool if you hold down your left mouse button for a while.

With pen tool, it creates a vector path, therefore you have to go one step further to make selection based on the path. (see image below)

In the beginning the Pen Tool can be a bit awkward to use, but once you practice and get used to it it will become a very handy tool for you, especially when you are trying to outline objects with complex lighting and backgrounds.

Conclusion:

Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, it deponds on what type of objects you are selecting and the complexitity of that object.

Here is the work I did with source image (using the quick selection tool):

Hope you find this tutorial useful. All Comments Welcome.