20+ Action-Packed Photoshop Actions & Effects
Actions are one of the most overlooked features in Photoshop that most designers don’t often pay attention to. Yet, they are also one of the features that could help save you hours of your time.
Another great thing about Photoshop actions is that you don’t even have to spend time creating and perfecting them. You can simply grab one of the thousands of Photoshop actions already made by professional graphic designers and start applying them to your photos to create instant effects.
So, whether you’re a pro looking to save time or just want to quickly experiment with several advanced effects, here are a few of the coolest Photoshop Actions you can use to add magical effects to your designs and supercharge your workflow.
2 Million+ Photoshop Actions, Add-Ons, and Design Resources With Unlimited Downloads
Download thousands of stunning Photoshop actions and add-ons with an Envato Elements membership. It starts at $16 per month, and gives you unlimited access to a growing library of over 2,000,000 actions, presets, design templates, themes, photos, and more.
MoonStone Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
This Photoshop action adds an electrifying and a hipster-style look to photos that makes even the most boring portrait photos look like a Hollywood movie poster.
MoonStone comes with 10 different color variations and with a promise to give a unique result every time you run the action. It can be applied with two simple steps and it will give you lots of layers to customize the effect as well.
200 Pro Actions – Photo Master
- Price: $8
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS4
This is a massive Photoshop action pack that comes with 200 incredible actions for enhancing your photos instantly. All the actions can be applied with just one-click and it even includes 19 tutorial videos for learning how to apply the effects to your images.
TechniArt Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
Want to make your photos look like a modern painting? Then this Photoshop action will help you get that job done instantly. This action adds a realistic abstract art effect for photos and portraits that turn your photos into beautiful paintings.
25 HDR Photo FX V.2
- Price: $5
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
This Photoshop actions pack includes 25 non-destructive actions for giving your high-resolution photos an amazing HDR look. You can also easily edit and adjust the sharpness of the effect to achieve the perfect results.
Skin – 25 Retouching Actions
- Price: $14
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
This is an incredible Photoshop action pack that you will probably use for a long time. With this action pack on your hands, you can skip hiring a makeup artist for your photo shoots because these actions have everything you need to enhance your look, including actions for reducing freckles, reduce pores, airbrush skin, and much more.
Low Poly Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
The low poly effect is popular among both graphic and web designers it’s a well-known effect for stylizing background images. This Photoshop action, however, features an advanced low poly effect that can even be applied to portraits.
Renegade Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
If you’re a fan of sci-fi movies, especially Tron, then you’ll definitely love the neon glow effect this Photoshop action gives to your photos. The action is also easy to apply as it can be done in two simple steps: 1. Apply a mask by brushing over the photo. 2. Play the action. That’s it!
Shatter Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS5
The shattered effect is a common effect that you see almost everywhere these days. But, admittedly it does make any type of photo look cool. This Photoshop action will allow you to achieve that same effect almost instantly. The only downside is that you’ll need Photoshop CS5 or better to run it.
ModernArt 4 Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
This Photoshop action gives your photos a modern art effect, giving portraits a digital artwork look. The action also comes with a tutorial video that will show you how to easily customize the effect to match your preference.
AfterBurn Photoshop Action
- Price: $5
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
AfterBurn effect is yet another popular effect among graphic designers. Usually, it can be seen on posters and banners. It’s not an easy effect to master, but this Photoshop action will let you apply the effect to your images within a few seconds.
Acrylic Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
This Photoshop action makes your images look like an acrylic painting by adding an effect mixed with realistic paint drops, splashes, and streaks. You can also customize it pretty easily with the many layers that the action creates for the effect.
Instagram Filter – Photoshop Action
- Price: $29
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS5
Time to delete your Instagram app because once you have this Photoshop actions pack you won’t be needing those Instagram filters. This Photoshop action pack includes 30 Instagram filters and 37 workflows for applying beautiful Instagram-style effects for your photographs.
Hypnotize – Ink in Water Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
This effect adds a smoke cloud like effect to your photos, or as the creator explains it an “ink in water” effect that gives a colorful and a stunning look for portraits and many other types of photos.
It’s the perfect effect to be used for academic displays, professional sports presentations, personal portraits, and much more.
Synergy Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
Synergy is a unique Photoshop action that mix polygon patterns with paint textures to give a digital art-like appearance to your images. It also comes with a tutorial video for learning how to customize the effect.
This action will create something never before seen out of your photos. Is it a cartoon image? A digital drawing? A polygon effect? No one will be able to guess it.
Grand Theft 2 Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
If you’re a fan of video games then you’ll instantly love this Photoshop action that makes your photos look like something out of the Grand Theft Auto video game.
As a bonus, this Photoshop action also includes an additional PSD file that will allow you to create your own GTA style logo.
Sketch Effect
- Price: $4
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
This Photoshop action adds an effect that turns your photos into a hand-drawn sketch drawing. Designers know how difficult it is to achieve a realistic hand-drawn effect. But, this may be the best action with a drawing effect that comes close to the real thing.
Make it Gold Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
What if you get a superpower to turn anything into gold? Well, this Photoshop action lets you do just that. But, you’ll only be able to use that power on your photos.
This action is non-destructive and it will give you plenty of layers for adjusting the effect.
Fairy Tale Photoshop Action
- Price: $5
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
Fairy Tale is a Photoshop action that comes with 12 different color variations with 12 background build up layers for adding an exceptionally beautiful effect for your photos, mixed with particles, light beams, and lots of layers.
This effect would look great on children’s photos, portraits, and even digital art.
Fashion – Photoshop Actions [BUNDLE]
- Price: $12
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS
With 50 different and incredibly Photoshop action, this bundle is a must-have for every graphic designer who works with fashion related photos and photoshoots. The actions in this bundle are capable of transforming photos into beautiful and professional looking portraits.
Christmas Photoshop Action
- Price: $6
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
Designing a Christmas card or a poster for the new year? Then try this Photoshop action to add luminous colored lights to bring that Christmas spirit to your designs.
It’s easy to apply and can be applied in 5 simple steps. It also comes with a tutorial video, in case you have trouble configuring the effect.
Weatherizer | Photoshop Actions
- Price: $4
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
This is a one of a kind Photoshop action that you can use to apply different weather conditions to your photos. Want to make a photo you took in the summer look as if it’s from winter? This action can do that. Although, we are not sure if it would work the other way around.
PRO Vectoring – Ps Action
- Price: $5
- Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS3
Pro Vectoring is yet another useful and a time-saving Photoshop action that is capable of creating fully pathed and resizable vectors out of your images.
This will allow you to create simple vector drawings or objects out of your raster graphics quite easily without having to use another app like Illustrator or CorelDraw.
The Best Photoshop Actions
All the actions featured on this list will apply the effects in separate layers, allowing you to easily customize and edit the effect to match your images of any resolution. We assure you, it’ll be worth the price.
Of course, you can find tons of free Photoshop Actions online. But, you have to actually apply them on your photos to realize that they can be lacking a little in quality! You won’t have any issue like that with any of the actions above.
If you’re looking for more examples, our list of the best Photoshop actions of the year is a great place to start!