Most photographers enhance their photos by using Photoshop or a similar tool.  In Photoshop, you can either painstakingly adjust each photo by adding layers of adjustments until you get the desired effect… or you can use an Action to do the same thing!

An Action is a pre-recorded set of layers and effects that you can apply to a photo.

You can either make your own actions by recording your steps and replaying them (which is not covered in this article) or you can use preset action sets.

There are hundreds of sites on the internet that provide Photoshop Actions, so choosing a good set is quite a task!  One has to pay for most of the very good action sets that are available, but there are a few places that I’ve found that provide EXCELLENT FREE ACTIONS!

Here are some examples of how Actions have been used to enhance this photo of my son:

1.  The original photo SOOC (Straight out of camera)

2.  After using the Perfect Portrait action from Coffee Tea Photography. This site has also got presets that work in Photoshop Elements too.

3.  After using the Vintage White action from Mulletgod

4.  After using the Seventies action (with reduced opacity) from Pioneer Woman’s Action Set 2 and Burnt Edges from Pioneer Woman’s Action Set 1.

5.  After using PW’s B&W from Pioneer Woman’s Action Set 1

The changes in the photos shown above are not MASSIVE, and they don’t detract from the photo, but they all make the photo more memorable… and that’s what photography is all about!

So try some actions on your photos, they’re easy to use and most of them have instructions that explain the steps along the way.