Photoshop Actions

I have never been patient enough to learn how to adjust and edit images in Photoshop.  maybe it’s my need for instant gratification, but fiddling with contrast, balance and curves is just not my thing.  So, when I discovered this very neat feature of Photoshop called “Actions” I was exhilarated.

Actions are a basically macros. . . ok, I realized that is not definitive. Actions/macros are a series of events that are executed in a specific order. So, an action/macro might follow the series: color balance, lighten the contrast, sharpen, etc. An action will play the same series every time.  BUT it will look different on every image because each photo has a different starting point!

Anywhoo, the point is that actions allow lazy bums (like myself) to have beautiful photos at the touch of a button. And the magical thing is, there is still an element of creativity and control.  Actions can be run on top of each other in differing orders to create spectacular effects.

So here are some before and afters.  All the actions are courtesy of the blogging goddess, The Pioneer Woman.

Case File One: Summarily Summer

I am officially intolerant of heat.  The long, dragging days of endless sunshine bore me. I want to curl up and sleep until the mornings are crisp and the breeze brings the portent of cooler weather. All this agnst and I live along the southern California coast, where, by most anyone’s standards, the weather is mild.

I suppose that beginning is sufficient to establish my rather cry-baby nature. That’s ok, I am a cry-baby. I am sentimental and a sucker for the maudlin.  I cried in Terminator 2 when poor Arnie was being melted into scrap. Oh well.  Re-reading my opening paragraph, I realize it also reveals my tendency to over-elucidate. I can muddle the clarity out of ice-melt, if that makes any sense.  Luckily I have a well developed sense of irony and I love to laugh at my silly dorkishness.  I think that accepting my flaws rather than going through the hard work of bettering myself cements my membership in the generation raised on self-help books which celebrate personal successes and self-esteem.

So my little blog is my way of waving a flag in the virtual world. I’ll stop before i get too “meta.”  Four years at university and I can’t find a job, but I can editorialize the hell out of the self-referential nature of a personal blog.

And as a special, First Post Celebration, I introduce my dog, the Astounding G.