Fabulous Fridays: Free Actions For Photoshop

I know that I’ve said in a fairly recent post that I have no clue how to use Photoshop. And that is still true. I do, however, like to use Actions specially created for Photoshop. These Actions are used to enhance a photo, to give it a vintage look or to just create a bright summery look. Actions are created by people who have mastered Photoshop and can play around with it. For those of us who are more technically challenged, like me, downloading these actions is both easier and much, much faster than experimenting with Photoshop itself. I did some research on Google and, at first, all I could find were actions that you needed to pay for. I did not want to fork out cash for something which I knew I would not be using every day. So I searched a little more and found out that there are some sweet souls out there who have actions that you can download for free.

Ree Drummond has several such free actions for Photoshop on her blog The Pioneer Woman. You can go to her photography page here to download these actions yourselves (if you are so inclined).

Here are some examples of what photo actions can do:

Original photo

After applying ‘Soft and Faded’ action

After applying ‘Old West’ action

After applying ‘Seventies’ action.

You can play around with the actions to get the exact mood that you want to project. I did not re-touch these photos after applying the actions so you can see the end results for yourselves. Once you get the gist of it, they are pretty easy to apply and you will find complete instructions on how to download the actions to your computer in Ree’s article: Pioneer Woman’s Actions Update. 

You can apply the same action twice to the same photo or apply two or more actions on top of each other to get the look you are going for. Using actions on photos is fun and enables you to use the same photo a number of times while always having a different look. I will now stop rambling and let you discover and play around with these actions yourselves.

Oh, one last thing. Even if you are not into photography, I suggest you visit The Pioneer Woman blog because you will find a treasure trove of interesting information from recipes to the confessions of a self-proclaimed desperate house-wife. The Pioneer Woman blog is a fun find by itself.