Photoshop question #138: Setting up and using actions.
Wondering if folks here ever setup and use actions during their workflow. Seems there's a lot of steps I take repeatedly on every single image that I would quite like if I could automate.
Silly examples: set up new layer and fill with 50% grey for D&B. Set up new layer fill with Gaussian blur for skin softening etc etc. For portraits, for example, I set up the same 5 layers for different parts of the face routinely.
Would be handy to make these actions and a bunch more happen with a keyboard shortcut.
(Prefer to ask my questions here so folks aside me can learn, rather than going off and Youtubing, so apologies if the endless questions are annoying some)
Yes, any time I find something I do a lot I try to set up an action. Great time saver for simple tasks or tasks with a lot of steps. You can make an action to do just about anything.
Yes.
Actions are so easy to set up, you can even make "disposable" ones - you know, for those one-off projects that will speed things up right now, even if you may never need to use it again.
Actions are terrific. One of my actions, the "Shrink & Sharpen" action, gets used on every single DPC entry I make except the minimal editing ones:
Flatten image, reduce to 3200, reduce to 1600, sharpen, dupe layer, sharpen, dupe layer, sharpen, reduce to 800.
Then I choose which of the sharpening layers is appropriate, fading as needed, and save for web. I have two of them, one for horizontal and one for vertical. THis is called "Adamus Sharpening and it works super for smallish, web-targeted images.
Actions are terrific. One of my actions, the "Shrink & Sharpen" action, gets used on every single DPC entry I make except the minimal editing ones:
Flatten image, reduce to 3200, reduce to 1600, sharpen, dupe layer, sharpen, dupe layer, sharpen, reduce to 800.
Then I choose which of the sharpening layers is appropriate, fading as needed, and save for web. I have two of them, one for horizontal and one for vertical. THis is called "Adamus Sharpening and it works super for smallish, web-targeted images.
I like that idea...willing to share this gem, Robt?
Actions are terrific. One of my actions, the "Shrink & Sharpen" action, gets used on every single DPC entry I make except the minimal editing ones:
Flatten image, reduce to 3200, reduce to 1600, sharpen, dupe layer, sharpen, dupe layer, sharpen, reduce to 800.
Then I choose which of the sharpening layers is appropriate, fading as needed, and save for web. I have two of them, one for horizontal and one for vertical. THis is called "Adamus Sharpening and it works super for smallish, web-targeted images.
I like that idea...willing to share this gem, Robt?
I just did, LOL. Start recording, do those things, stop recording and you are all set with your very own Adamus Sharpening Action. It's good practice :-)
I used to use the method Robert just mentioned (actually learned about it from him in another, much older thread), but now I just use the Nik sharpening tool. Maybe I'm just lazy, but I think it does a great job, and it's highly customizable.
I used to use the method Robert just mentioned (actually learned about it from him in another, much older thread), but now I just use the Nik sharpening tool. Maybe I'm just lazy, but I think it does a great job, and it's highly customizable.
You know, Scott...I have the Nik plug-in and have NEVER used it. Same with Dfine. Not touched it once. Ever. Guess cause it was because I felt LR3 did an adequate job, didn't need them. Now that I can play all I want in PS with layers, I'll investigate those more often.
I've only just started using it and I think it's great. Control points to turn it up or down easily in different areas of the photo, and you can even paint it in from a separate layer if you prefer that. Before and after pinpoint comparisons, all the standard Nik goodness.
I used to use other methods and while it sometimes worked out really nicely I felt like it was more of a guessing game. I think I now have more immediate control of what I'm doing.
I've only just started using it and I think it's great. Control points to turn it up or down easily in different areas of the photo, and you can even paint it in from a separate layer if you prefer that. Before and after pinpoint comparisons, all the standard Nik goodness.
I used to use other methods and while it sometimes worked out really nicely I felt like it was more of a guessing game. I think I now have more immediate control of what I'm doing.
Prefer to Unsharp Mask which seems to be the "golden standard" method of choice
How are you sharpening and what values are you using?
EXACTLY what I said, dude: filter>sharpen, the simplest one in the book, no adjustment possible. Hit it 3x on 3 layers at 1600 then resize to 800 and sort it out to see what works.
In my experience, this works as well as, if not better than, the Nik sharpener for web images at small size. The Nik sharpener is fantastic for "real" sharpening but it takes conscientious work.
ETA: Do bear in mind that my images tend to be heavily worked in structure etc before I reduce them, and they are very very easy to oversharpen. When I'm printing, the structure gets toned way down and the sharpening becomes integral to the evolution of the image.
How are you sharpening and what values are you using?
EXACTLY what I said, dude: filter>sharpen, the simplest one in the book, no adjustment possible. Hit it 3x on 3 layers at 1600 then resize to 800 and sort it out to see what works.
In my experience, this works as well as, if not better than, the Nik sharpener for web images at small size. The Nik sharpener is fantastic for "real" sharpening but it takes conscientious work.
Forgive my ignorance Bear, I've just played with USM, so I'm used to adjustment sliders...figured it would be the same with all the sharpening tools.
How are you sharpening and what values are you using?
EXACTLY what I said, dude: filter>sharpen, the simplest one in the book, no adjustment possible. Hit it 3x on 3 layers at 1600 then resize to 800 and sort it out to see what works.
In my experience, this works as well as, if not better than, the Nik sharpener for web images at small size. The Nik sharpener is fantastic for "real" sharpening but it takes conscientious work.
Forgive my ignorance Bear, I've just played with USM, so I'm used to adjustment sliders...figured it would be the same with all the sharpening tools.
No problem, I'm just funning ya :-) Besides, we're ALL supposed to know about the "sharpen" tool, since it's the ONLY one that's legal in minimal...
How are you sharpening and what values are you using?
EXACTLY what I said, dude: filter>sharpen, the simplest one in the book, no adjustment possible. Hit it 3x on 3 layers at 1600 then resize to 800 and sort it out to see what works.
In my experience, this works as well as, if not better than, the Nik sharpener for web images at small size. The Nik sharpener is fantastic for "real" sharpening but it takes conscientious work.
Forgive my ignorance Bear, I've just played with USM, so I'm used to adjustment sliders...figured it would be the same with all the sharpening tools.
No problem, I'm just funning ya :-) Besides, we're ALL supposed to know about the "sharpen" tool, since it's the ONLY one that's legal in minimal...
The new smart sharpen filter is PS6 is supposed to be the best sharpening tool to date based on Adobe's Lead engineer. Just thought I would share. And yes we have to explain things several times to Garry before he asks a third time :)
