Photoshop Actions
Want to speed up photo workflows? A Photoshop action can save you time and effort when it comes to processing multiple images at the same time. In this series, you’ll learn how to use Photoshop Actions and find professional examples to use in your own design work.
Use an action to create a specific filter or style or just about anything else that you can do in Photoshop. “Record” the process and use it repeatedly. Don’t want to create your own? There are plenty of great options out there ready to download.
Latest Photoshop Action Articles
14 Feb 2023
40+ Best Photoshop Cartoon Effects (Photo to Cartoon Actions & Plugins)
Photoshop offers many amazing tools for creating visual effects. For example, Photoshop actions let you transform your photos into paintings or cartoon drawings with just a single mouse click.
While these effects are fun to play with, they are also quite useful in creating attractive graphics for various designs like posters and flyers. That’s why it’s always a good idea to keep a few Photoshop actions and effects in your library to help create such graphics in an instant.
In this collection, we showcase different types of Photoshop cartoon actions, effects, and filters you can use to turn photos into cartoons as well as create unique designs. Have a look and add them all to your personal collection.
13 Feb 2023
60+ Best Portrait Photoshop Actions & Effects
Retouching and enhancing portrait photos is a time-consuming task, and starting from scratch with every photo can be frustrating. Using a portrait Photoshop Action can save time, and give you a beautiful result with a few clicks. Let’s dive into some of the best portrait Photoshop Actions available today.
These Photoshop Actions help you save time and improve your workflow when editing a portrait photo. You can use them to instantly retouch photos, add makeup, enhance colors, add effects, adjust toning, and much more with just a single click.
Say hello to a faster, simpler workflow (and some impressive end results!). And if you’re looking for more advice and guidance on using these, our Photoshop Actions feature is a great place to start.
We’re also sharing our tips for editing portrait photos to help give you a head start.
26 Jan 2023
35+ VSCO Photoshop Actions & Effects 2023
VSCO is one of the most popular apps for adding effects and editing photos for Instagram and social media. But what if you want to achieve a similar effect using VSCO style Photoshop actions?
We handpicked a collection of VSCO-inspired Photoshop actions you can use to easily recreate the same effects of the VSCO filters using Photoshop and make any photo look more vibrant and attractive.
We made sure to include both free and premium VSCO Photoshop actions in the list to let beginners and experts find high-quality effects that suit their design workflow.
4 Jan 2023
60+ Best Watercolor Photoshop Actions & Effects 2023
Whether you’re designing a unique website background, a poster, sketch, or creating an artistic photo composition, using a watercolor Photoshop action can make your design stand out from the crowd.
A watercolor effect it’s not an easy effect to master when created from scratch. It takes a lot of work, time, and skill to achieve a realistic watercolor effect in Photoshop. The good news is that using a watercolor Photoshop action can help you skip the learning curve and experiment with a watercolor effect in just a few clicks!
In this collection, we’re featuring some of the best watercolor Photoshop actions you can use to turn your photos into watercolor art, craft amazing backgrounds, and do much more.
We’ve also collected a set of tips for choosing watercolor Photoshop actions to help you make a decision on what type of action you need.
What Is a Photoshop Action?
A Photoshop action is a “recorded” command that you can use later to perform tasks in the popular editing software. Using actions can help you tap into creative techniques, cutting edge post-processing styles and beautiful effects.
Here’s how Photoshop describes it:
An action is a series of tasks that you play back on a single file or a batch of files—menu commands, panel options, tool actions, and so on. For example, you can create an action that changes the size of an image, applies an effect to the image, and then saves the file in the desired format.
Actions can include steps that let you perform tasks that cannot be recorded (for example, using a painting tool). Actions can also include modal controls that let you enter values in a dialog box while playing an action.
5 Places to Find Photoshop Actions
While you can create your own Photoshop actions, there is an abundance of them available from third parties, with paid and free options. The nice thing about downloading a Photoshop action is that it can help you get comfortable with this design technique if you haven’t used it before.
Here are five places to find Photoshop actions for your projects:
- Envato Elements has a huge library of Photoshop actions that are all available to subscribers at no extra cost.
- Fix the Photo has a good collection of actions for portrait touch-ups that are all free to use.
- Shutter Pulse has an extensive library of Photoshop actions, most of which are designed for photos of people with easy to see previews.
- Creative Market includes a library of nearly 300 actions in .psd format that you can purchase one at a time for as little as a few bucks.
- Creative Tacos has a collection of several hundred Photoshop actions that are grouped by category for easy search and filtering.
How to Add an Action to Photoshop
Adding an action to Photoshop is easier than you might think. Once you add an action it is part of your Photoshop library and available to use over and over again.
Here’s how you do it:
- Download and unzip the action file.
- Open Photoshop and navigate to Window, then Actions. The Actions Panel will open. (The placement often defaults to the top right.)
- From the menu, select Load Actions, navigate to the saved, unzipped action and select it. The file you want to install ends with .atn. Many downloadable actions also include readme or instruction files that are not installed.
- The action is ready for use.
