Action review ~ The Simple Set by Lilyblue...

Hi all! I bet you thought I forgot I had this blog! Ha! I think that's my usual opener when posting! So I'm here with yet another action review. I'm thinking of changing the name of my blog to Momaziggy's Action Review Blog...lol!

As many of you know, I'm a HUGE Lilyblue fan! I have all of her actions. And I still use them all the time. Her sets just keep getting better. I love her Wallflowers set and use it a lot. The Lily action from that set is a big favorite of mine! But I think she's out done herself with her newest set...

The Simple Set! It's exactly what it says it is...but SO much more! I love this set and think it's her best set to date! Since I've gotten it I've used it on almost all of my pictures! It's simple and perfect! Here are a few posts on my Ziggy Blog that I used just her actions for the entire post...

Slave Labor ~ all images edited with Simple Three {some adjusted}

My Nugget at McDonald's ~ edited with various actions from the set all which are stated above the image

Lunch date with my girls ~ edited with various actions from the set all of which are stated above the image

The set hasn't been out long and as you can see, I'm using it a LOT! What I love about this set is that it's simple...but still fun and creative. I did wait a bit before buying these and had actually decided I probably wouldn't. As you all know, I have a TON of actions and need another set like I need to gain 10 more pounds! Lol! I worried that they would be too simple for me because I like creative actions. But I kept going back to them and looking through the examples. Then fate stepped in and I sold another set of my Ziggy Licious actions {which you can click in the nav bar to see} and decided that I'd use the sale of the set to buy the Simple Set.

And no joke, the second I ran them I was in LOVE! Sometimes that happens but most times I have to play with a set for a bit before I truly fall in love! But these from the get go made my heart swell with happiness. The look they give my images is so clean, simple yet creative and they do a great job of creating the "Film" look without looking too thick or fake. In fact, I posted the images from the first four examples that I will share below and one of the girls stated that if she didn't know I shot digital, she would've thought that I shot those with a film camera! So way to go LB! :)

I did one example for each action in the set! I don't normally do that but felt I really wanted to show each action. I do have my favorites in the set so far but have an open mind to the others. I think that where I shoot mostly just doesn't suit those couple of actions. But I know that when I shoot the right location, they'll be perfect! So I'll state my favorites quickly then post my examples. I also wanted to state that the other thing I love about these actions is that I almost always run them on my SOOC images and love the results right away. I used to do touch ups and editing before running my actions because they always needed that extra before running or they just weren't where I wanted them. Not with these. I do my ACR edits on my RAW files, open in PS and do any patch work, lighting of shadows under the eyes etc and things of that nature, but nothing else. I do not brighten, add contrast etc!

Simple 1 is GREAT and I LOVE it! It's great for a clean quick simple edit that looks yummy with a very slight film look. I rarely ever tweak this action! I use this one a LOT!

Simple 2 is AWESOME too on the right image and I use it a lot too but less than Simple 1 & 3!

Simple 3 is a bit more creative and that makes me HAPPY! I use this one a LOT too and usually run it as is but sometimes do minor tweaking!

Mulberry is great on the right image and I do use it. But do find this one, for me, needs some adjusting!

Bisque & Bisque Softer are great actions and I like them on a lot of images. Very little tweaking needed!

Now onto the BW actions which LB always ROCKS!

Just BW is probably my VERY favorite! I use it a LOT and LOVE the contrast and film look it gives! Every time I run this action my heart melts...really!!!!!

Soft BW is great for a really light soft airy filmy sort of BW. And on the right images it's so fun and artistic. I love it for shots where the lighting was really bad but I wanted to take the shot anyway because it's my kids!

Rich BW is just plain YUMMY and rates up there with Just BW! My heart melts when this action works on my photos!

I left out Olive, Earth, Basic BW & Darker BW. Only 4 actions out a set that I don't LOVE. I like them, but for my shooting editing style, they just haven't found their place...YET! Basic BW & Darker BW are great but the other 3 are just better to me! Olive & Earth are tough ones for me for some reason. They just don't fit the locations I've shot in yet. But again, it's just a matter of time! So really only 2 actions from the set don't fit me totally! Not bad for $60 if you ask me!

Now here are my examples...

Simple 1...



Simple 2...


Simple 3...


Mulberry...


Olive {lowered folder opacity to 70%}...


Earth {lowered folder opacity to 70%}...


Bisque {lowered contrast layer to 20%}...


Bisque Softer...


Basic BW {layers adjusted & masked some layers off of her eyes}...


Just BW...


Soft BW...


Darker BW...


Rich BW...


So...there you have it! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LB's Simple Set. It fits me like a glove and I have a hard time using any other set in my panel now for my daily shots of our life! Not to mention since getting this set, I spend SO mush LESS time editing. Which actually kind of bums me out since I LOVE to edit. But what it does do is push me to shoot more so I have more to edit! LOL!

Now as I say that I use this set most and have a hard time using other sets I have! I am not knocking any of my other sets and still use my Red Leaf actions {workflow and Film Shift}, my Michelle Kane actions {both sets} and my MCP Fusion! These are my top actions in my panel that I use on a regular basis and love the variety I get with all of these actions makers including LB of course!

Hope this was helpful! Happy Wednesday! :)