Momaziggy's Photoshop for FUN!: July 2011

I know it's been SO long since I shared an action! Sorry, but I haven't made any to share! Lol! This one I actually started working on at the end of last Summer...September 2010! Yikes! I kind of forgot about it, then when I thought about it I was too lazy to finish the layers then record the action and do the examples.

But tonight I finally did it! This is of course FREE which I know makes many happy! It is only one action and not a whole set. This action is meant to be an all in one action for back lit photos. It has layers that are turned off so that you may personalize this action to suit your needs per photo. You can embrace the haze and keep it light & airy. Or you can turn on other layers and upping the layer opacity of others to remove some of the haze and get more contrast and depth. You can turn layers on, off, up or down and even go into the adjustment layers and fiddle with the settings to make it truly your own!

I love this little action and find it very easy to use and I love the ability to go more clean and subtle or really bump on the layers and get a creative look! You can also, as you will see below, use this action on front lit images as well, but you will need to do a bit more tweaking to get it right! And don't be afraid to mask. On one of my examples I didn't like the tones on Nugget's face, so I masked her out of one layer and then with the alt key, dragged that layer mask to the others where I did not want the tone on her face and was able to quickly remove the colors I didn't want on her. And for those who are just learning or want to get better at really learning your actions! Try this...

Download this action and open a back lit shot. Run the action and open the folder. Start at the very top layer. Click that eye on & off a few times while looking at your image. Do this for every.single.layer in this action. Then turn on & off the ones that are already off and watch to see what they are doing to your photo. Also as you do this, take the opacity slider and go from left to right to see how playing the opacity of that specific layer affects your photo. As I edit I will often turn the whole folder opacity on & off to see my before and after shot quickly! And if you love exactly how the action looks but feel it's just a bit too strong, just lower the opacity of the whole folder. I did that on the shot of Nugget holding the coffee cup in her black/gray outfit. The action was perfect but just a tad strong, so I lowered the folder opacity to 85% and that was it. And do this every.single.time you run this action, or any action, until you've gotten to know what that action does. This is how I am able to have such a large actions panel filled with wonderful actions from amazing makers and be able to get the most out of them. I know when to run which one and maker for that matter and when to combine to get a look special to only me! Don't be afraid to play around and experiment! If you don't like it, just hit delete! But you are not doing your checkbook or your actions panel, or your images for that matter, any justice if you have all these actions and don't know them well enough to really use them!

This action does NOT work in PSE!! Users with CS3 or lower may get an error at the end of the action, due to a Vibrancy layer that came out with CS4. I am hoping that you will still be able to use the action but I cannot make any promises. But since it's FREE, it doesn't hurt to download it and try it out right! This action will also work best on SOOC images that have only RAW editing done to them! Make sure your white balance and exposure are adjusted and where they need to be from your RAW processor before you run this action. If you shoot jpeg, this action will be pretty strong on your already edited {in camera} images and will require more tweaking and lowering of layers and possibly folder opacity!

I have 10 examples to show you of how I use this action! Again, there are several possibilities with this action that I could've gotten different looks per photo depending on what layers I use and don't and layer opacity. I won't be going into specific layer detail for each of my examples.

This was the photo that actually inspired the start of this action. First day of school. Can't believe the year is already over and we in the middle of summer break...

I went a little more extreme with this one and I could have gone light & airy if I'd wanted that look...

Here since there are not any large shadow or dark areas of the photo, I kept it light and airy...

This is one where I masked a bit of the tones off of her face and dragged that mask to the other colors that I wanted to remove off of just her face...

I also removed the haze and some of the tones off her only her in this shot too again using the alt key to drag the layer mask of the first mask I painted on so I wouldn't have to paint her out of each layer I didn't want on her...

This was a bad shot that ended up a favorite. I have it edited as a grainy low contrast bw. But I wanted to see what it would look like with this action on it and I loved it. I turned on the "Darken the Shadows" layer and lowered the opacity to 50%. I initially meant to lower the opacity of that layer to 15% as the action recorded but I totally forgot and was too tired to record the whole action over again. And the great thing about it being a FREE action, I don't have too! Ha! So when you turn that layer on, it will be strong and in most cases will need to be turned way down unless you have a tone of haze on your image...

And here are two examples of well lit, front lit images that this action worked great on. On this image I had to tweak a lot and turned off several layers, lowered layer opacity and turned on some of the other layers that come turned off. But it didn't take too long and I really like the color tone of the edit...

This is the one that I loved the second I ran it exactly as is. It was a bit strong so I lowered the whole folder opacity to 85% and didn't anything else! I also love depending on the tones and light in your photo, the different types of looks you can get with this action...

Perfect for the look I wanted here. I adjusted a few minor things and turned on the "Darken the shadows" layer and brought the opacity down to 30% I believe...

This one I turned off the edge burn, lowered the dollop of whip cream and I believe that was it...

And this one makes me really happy! I think this action would work GREAT on beach sunset pictures {with or without people} but I don't have any. So this sunset shot is as close as I can get for now! I apologize ahead of time for the power lines. On the image I'd already edited, I removed them. But didn't have it in me to do it again! But I'm in LOVE with the colors tones and overall image after the action. I made a few small adjustments but not many...

So if after seeing all my examples and babble..you want to download it for FREE, head on over

DOWNLOAD ME FOR FREE!!!!!

I hope you like it and don't have any problems with it. You can email me at momaziggy AT yahoo DOT com with any questions or if you'd like to share before & after images with me. I always LOVE to see people's before & after images. I'm not in business so I don't have a Facebook Fan page or anything, so emailing them is the only way I believe I can see them. I don't think you can attach them to the comments but if you load them somewhere, you can link me in the comments!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

*****I posted this on the wrong blog...I meant to post it on my Ziggy blog! Oops..lol! Too tired to move it now but will soon! Sorry PS people! :) *****

I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe and fun 4th of July...well to my American friends that is! :) We had a great 4th of July. We stayed home, did crafts in the cool house during the day and headed out to BBQ with friends in the heat of the backyard later in the day.

I was sick all week so I wasn't prepared for the holiday this year. I wanted to have the girls do crafts and make some fun themed food. But since I was in bed all week, Eric had to go shopping the morning of the 4th and my supplies were limited. But the girls had fun with the crafts and food we did have to make, so that's all that matters.

All day time shots were edited with Lilyblue Simple Three and the night time shots were edited with Lilyblue Simple One, both from her Simple Set!

The flag fans they made for our guests. Haylee up top and Avyree on the bottom...

I made a demo the night before so they could see how to do them...

The paper lanterns were the big hit though. The girls loved making them...

I had found a really cute craft to do on these round cardboard cut outs that would've covered them up. But I didn't have the right supplies and it just didn't work out. So we wrote Happy 4th of July and the just stuck stickers on them...lol...

And here are all three of the crafts they made...

4th of July Strawberries! These were a big hit with everyone and they didn't last too long...

When Eric went shopping, all the 4th of July cookies were gone so he got his favorite, Peanut Butter cookies. These may not look festive but they were yummy...

And I made my very first red white & blue jello cake. I didn't take pictures of the final cake decorated because I forgot. Here it is as it was sitting. When we flipped it over we forgot to sit it in warm water for a few to help the red separate from the tin. So the red fell apart and the blueberries just rolled off the red jello...teehee! But the whip cream looked good for the white part..lol! I'll make it again next year and hopefully will do better and be feeling better as well. But all in all, it still tasted yummy and the girls loved it...

Here are the decorations hung up on our back patio. I still wasn't feeling good and it was so hot and humid I didn't take time to hang them up nicely. Just literally taped up the string. But hey, it's festive and it made the girls happy so it'll work...

And speaking of hot & humid. We had already gone through several bags of water balloons. But if felt like back East, it was so hot, muggy and humid. So the girls jumped into our buckets filled with water. Gotta do what you gotta do to keep cool right...

I didn't take any pictures of our BBQ or our guests. Now I wish I had of course. But between the heat, me not feeling good and getting all the food ready and on the table, it just didn't happen. But the ribs, tri tip, pasta salad, potatoes and beans were YUMMY! You'll just have to take my word for it! Lol!

Then our little backyard fireworks before the big ones from the local high school. These are the only firework pictures I shot. My friend even brought me her tripod so I could shoot the big ones. But I just wasn't feeling it...same story for the past few weeks. So I had drinks instead and just sat and watched them in the front yard. I shot fireworks 2 years ago and since we live in the same house, it's the same show from the same school, I figured they wouldn't look any different than those so why bother...lol. But here was our pre show...

And that was our 4th of July! Thanks for looking! :)