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June 25, 2009
[ACTION PERSON!]
This morning Casa Imaging was enveloped in an attractive fog. Just over the road is a lake which looks soft and mysterious in the mist. Altogether a photographer's paradise.
Except that it was so cold. And the bed so warm. It takes more dedication than we can usually muster to leap out into the frosty morning and grab the camera and head for the lake.
And you can get the same finished effect without ever leaving the comfort of home. Just take the photos later on, when the sun has come up, and then apply a suitable Photoshop Action to the image.
Actions, for those who haven't encountered them, are to Photoshop what macros are to Word. They are little automated routines that you can create yourself or download from many places on the Internet.
For instance, we have created an Action that will, with a single click, resize an image to 800 pixels high (we let the width take care of itself) at 96dpi. This is an ideal size and resolution for emailing, with a little judicious tweaking of the JPEG compression.
If you've never created an Action then the best place to start is in the Photoshop Help section. Click on Help in the menu bar and type in “create action” and the step by step instructions pop up. It is exactly the same as making a macro in Word – first the recorder is started, the Action is given a name, then you step through the sequence of procedures until the effect is achieved and then stop the recorder.
But you don't need to do it all yourself. There are many clever and generous people who have created useful actions that they are prepared to give away free. Two good places to start looking for Actions are at www.atncentral.com or Adobe's own exchange site. Adobe requires registration and it's worth going to the bother.
The Action files have the extension .atn. When you run Photoshop make sure that the History/Action palette is visible and the available Actions are listed there. Click on the drop down menu button at the top right of the Palette and choose Load from the menu. Navigate to the downloaded file and select it. It will appear in the Actions list. Click on the one you want and then click on the Play arrow at the bottom of the palette.
Apart from those we have created ourselves the most used Actions on our system are Edgarian Blur and Filer's Frame Action. Edgarian Blur is a quick way of adding soft light glamour to a portrait and Filer's Frame makes an image with rounded corners that floats above a white background onto which it casts a shadow.
Not all pre-packaged Actions work well. Some are downright cranky, and the only way to sort the good from the bad is to try all those that have promising names. Amongst the duds there are many brilliant little automated routines that you won't be able to live without.
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Posted by terry at June 25, 2009 06:31 PM
