How to Create a Photoshop Action
If like me, and many other photographers out there, you find yourself repeating things on Photoshop (often carrying out the same set of functions on numerous photos) then you really should learn how to create your own actions. Put it this way, my go to "action" is a very simple one, I now no longer have to spend time with saving my work to a specific folder as I have set up an action where I hit one key to save my work in my chosen folder (I may need to move things from here but it shortens the process no end).
Actions are in simple terms a pre-programmed set of steps that you can implement with a single key stroke or mouse click. They can be as simple as a resizing process or the save action I mentioned or as complicated as you like really, there are loads of free actions out there that others have created that let you do many things on Photoshop with ease, but here is the low down on how to create your own.
The First Steps
When you want to create a Photoshop action, it is important to know the steps you wish the action to take. By this I mean if you want to create a save action you will need to know how to go from where you are to have saved the photo, once you have
these steps ready in your head, you can begin to start creating your action.
Creating the Action
Creating an action is very simple, what you are doing is recording the steps you wish to form the full action. To achieve this select Window > Action from the menu bar and a new window will appear from here either select record action from the drop down menu or hit the "new" icon at the bottom of this window.
A new window will now appear, this is where you can set things like, Name, Set (this is where you can choose to add the action to a group of other actions), Function Key (used to set a specific F key for one key access to your action), and Colour (again a grouping tool). Select the name etc. you wish and you are ready to start recording the action.
Now click record. Then is the time to go through your pre-determined set of steps, which you wish to use for your Photoshop action. Once all steps are complete click stop and your action is complete and ready to use.
Using Your Action
When you have made your action you have a number of ways in which you can use it, the easiest (if you have set one) is to use the function key that you set. The other alternative is through the actions menu clicking on the chosen action, then the play button this will then run through.
Batch
You can simplify your workload even more by using your action on a whole batch of photographs at the same time. To do this got to File > Automate > Batch. Then select the chosen Action through the dropdown menu.
Hopefully this will now enable you to create your own stunning Photoshop Actions, if you do be sure to let us know as we are always happy to see great new actions.
If like me, and many other photographers out there, you find yourself repeating things on Photoshop (often carrying out the same set of functions on numerous photos) then you really should learn how to create your own actions. Put it this way, my go to "action" is a very simple one, I now no longer have to spend time with saving my work to a specific folder as I have set up an action where I hit one key to save my work in my chosen folder (I may need to move things from here but it shortens the process no end).
Actions are in simple terms a pre-programmed set of steps that you can implement with a single key stroke or mouse click. They can be as simple as a resizing process or the save action I mentioned or as complicated as you like really, there are loads of free actions out there that others have created that let you do many things on Photoshop with ease, but here is the low down on how to create your own.
The First Steps
When you want to create a Photoshop action, it is important to know the steps you wish the action to take. By this I mean if you want to create a save action you will need to know how to go from where you are to have saved the photo, once you have
these steps ready in your head, you can begin to start creating your action.
Creating the Action
Creating an action is very simple, what you are doing is recording the steps you wish to form the full action. To achieve this select Window > Action from the menu bar and a new window will appear from here either select record action from the drop down menu or hit the "new" icon at the bottom of this window.
A new window will now appear, this is where you can set things like, Name, Set (this is where you can choose to add the action to a group of other actions), Function Key (used to set a specific F key for one key access to your action), and Colour (again a grouping tool). Select the name etc. you wish and you are ready to start recording the action.
Now click record. Then is the time to go through your pre-determined set of steps, which you wish to use for your Photoshop action. Once all steps are complete click stop and your action is complete and ready to use.
Using Your Action
When you have made your action you have a number of ways in which you can use it, the easiest (if you have set one) is to use the function key that you set. The other alternative is through the actions menu clicking on the chosen action, then the play button this will then run through.
Batch
You can simplify your workload even more by using your action on a whole batch of photographs at the same time. To do this got to File > Automate > Batch. Then select the chosen Action through the dropdown menu.
Hopefully this will now enable you to create your own stunning Photoshop Actions, if you do be sure to let us know as we are always happy to see great new actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment