Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers Tutorials
Techniques / Actions
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Subtitles of the Movie (Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers / Techniques / Actions)
Actions save time by recording repetitive steps so that they're performed automatically when you play the Action. Essentially, an Action is a recording of a series of steps that you perform so that you can just select the Action and press Run and have Photoshop perform all the steps for you. For example, you could create an Action to create safe Dodge and Burn Layers for you. If the Actions Panel is not visible come up here to Window and toggle it on. To begin, understand that Actions are organized into groups of actions called Sets. By default, Photoshop comes with a set of Actions that you may want to check out called the Default Actions. There are also some more available from the fly-out menu over here, such as these different options. You can also create your own set or as many sets as you'd like. We're going to create a set right now called Ellen's CS4 Adjustments. I'll come over here to the Folder Icon, and if I hover over it you can see the tool tip comes up that says Create new set. The new dialog appears and I'll give the Set a name and click OK. My new set appears up here. I'll put any Actions dealing with image adjustments in CS4 right there. Now I'm going to click on New Action and I'm going to give it a name. We'll call it Save D and B for Dodge and Burn Layers. Next you specify the Set and since I just created this new set, that's what appears by default. I could also assign a function key along with modifier keys if I want to access the Action via a shortcut, or a color to color-code it in my Windows Panel, but I don't normally take advantage of either of these two options. I'm just going to go ahead and click Record. Photoshop is going to record every step, but there's no rush time-wise so let's go ahead and create the Layers. Remember I create empty Adjustment Layers, go to the Masks Panel, Invert them, change the Blending Mode to Multiply on this one, and we'll call it Burn; I'll repeat the process again, this time changing the Blending Mode to Screen and call this my Dodge Layer, and then I'll come over here and click on the Brush Tool so that it will already be selected. I can even lower its Opacity to 10 percent, and make sure that it's a soft brush. I'll also click the default colors of black and white to make sure the Color Picker's set correctly, Swap to make sure white is set to my Foreground color. And now my Dodge and Burn Layers would be all set and I'd be ready to go. I'll come up here and click this Icon to stop recording. You can see that this Icon which was red a minute ago, and is another way of choosing to begin recording, is now off. Your Action is now stored up here, and as you can see, all the layers are right there. If you wanted to skip a layer you could toggle the item off. If you want to run an Action on a batch of images it's a good idea to record a Save and Close step in the Action to make sure images are properly saved, but actions running on individual images such as this type of action don't need that step. There are times when you might want to run an action that allows you to enter a custom setting in the middle of it. To do so you enter a Stop by clicking this box. When Photoshop gets to that step it will stop and wait for you to do something before proceeding. For example, you could Crop an image or choose the strength of a Slider. To run an Action open the image, select the Action and click Run. You can see just that quickly Dodge and Burn Layers were added to this image, the Adjustment Brush is set, and we're all ready to go. Using Actions can be a time saver to avoid having to do repetitive tasks.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers |
| Author: | Ellen Anon |
| SKU: | 34036 |
| ISBN: | 1-935320-74-2 |
| Release Date: | 2009-09-23 |
| Duration: | 8.5 hrs / 112 lessons |
| Work Files: |
Yes |
| Captions: | No |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
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