Tutorial: Creating an Action

For those of us who edit photos constantly, Photoshop has a great way to edit your photos using what's called Actions.  Actions are basically recorded processes or effects that you can apply to your photos with one click.  In this tutorial, I'll show you how to create one or fifty of your own.  


Step 1 - Open an image in Photoshop, and click on the actions panel.  

Step 2 - Click the list icon in the upper right hand corner of the actions panel and choose New Set from the pull down menu.  Name the set and click ok.  We'll call this Jonathon's Actions.

Once you click ok, a new title for the action set should appear in your panel, like this:

Now, we need to create the actual action we're going to use.  In this case, I'm going to create a copyright text action for the photo.


Step 3 - Make sure you new action set is selected, and back under the same list icon, choose new action.

Now, I'm using Photoshop CS5.  Previous versions might be slightly different, but the process if virtually the same.  In the dialog box that comes up, type in Copyright, then choose Record.

This is where you have to be incredibly mindful of what you click on.  Because essentially, Photoshop is remembering each and every click you make at this point, no matter what it is.  


Step 4 - Click the text icon in your toolbox.  Choose your font, color, size you want, then click on the image and type JONATHON ROSE © 2010 (Or your name) and size/move the type where you want it.   

You'll see that in your actions panel, it's recording the steps you make.  Sweet eh?  Hold on, we're not done yet.  I don't like to take away too much from the actual photo with a distraction of text.  What we're going to do is lighten the opacity on the type layer.  


Step 5 - Make sure your type layer is still selected, and drag the opacity down to 60%.  This will make your text appear lighter or more transparent.  

Step 6 - Now, to finish this up, we have to stop recording what we're doing.  In the lower left hand corner of your actions panel is a stop button.  Choose stop.

Photoshop now stops watching/recording what you're doing.  Now, if you're new to this, you're probably asking yourself, what the heck did I just do?  I'll show you why this rocks.  


Step 7 - Close your current image and open a new one.  Under the actions panel list icon once more, choose Button Mode.

Now your actions should look something like this:

I have a lot that I've either downloaded or created myself, so my list is rather long.  But at the bottom of the list, you can see where it says Copyright.  That's the new Action we created.  Click that, and watch what happens.  

Sweet right?  Why is this useful?  Try adding that copyright logo to 20 photos you want display somewhere the long way from one photography shoot.  Have fun with that.  Let me know how that goes for you.  This saves a ton of time.  You can apply this tutorial for actions in anything you want in Photoshop, like different filters, sharpens, layer masks, whatever you want!  And it saves the Actions automatically.  You can also build on top of, or change your current Actions by recording more steps in between steps later in the panel itself.  I don't know about you, but my skill level for editing is always changing and evolving.  What may have looked good last week or last month, might have changed today from what it was, and will continue to do so.  


At some point, I'll do another tutorial once I figure out the best way to do it for myself on how to do use Actions with batch processing.  (In other words, you can apply your actions to a batch of photos at one time rather than one photo at a time.)  But that's a whole 'nother can 'o worms for 'nother day.    


Enjoy!