Blogger How-To Series: Easily Edit Blog Photos with Photoshop Actions

I’ve been wanting to add more how-to’s to A Good Hue and thought a Blogger How-To series would be perfect. For my first post, I wanted to share how easy it is to edit photos using Actions on Photoshop. Even if you’re not a blogger, these tips can help beef up your own photo editing skills!

Photoshop Actions are a series of steps that can be applied all at once to an image you are working on in just one click. They’re super easy to use and make editing a breeze– similar to filters, they can add different effects and colorings to your photos. For my blog photos, I usually use the same action so that all of my photos have a consistent look, but you can be creative and mix it up, or even layer actions for your own customized look. At the end of this post, I’ll link to some of my favorite action packs, most of which are free! Keep reading for the how-to:

You’ll need to first download and install the action packs into your Photoshop program. When you download these, there is typically instructions on how to install them. You can find the action menu under ‘Windows’ then ‘Actions.’ I keep mine handy on the side panel for easy access.

Step 1: First, open the image you are going to edit. Above is my image without any editing.

Step 2: Prior to using actions, I may apply some slight editing (color-correcting, etc.) if needed. I then duplicate the layer and sharpen the image using ‘Unsharp Mask’ found in the ‘Sharpen’ sub-menu in ‘Filter’.  I then adjust the opacity of sharpen, usually between 40% – 60% depending on the image. I then flatten the image to merge the layers together.

Step 3:  Once my layers are merged, I apply my action. I really like the Fresh & Colorful action from Pioneer Woman, but there are so many others to choose from! In your actions bar, select the action you want to use and then press the ‘play’ icon to play the selection. You can see all the specific steps within the action that are being applied to your image.