How To: Create Photoshop Actions

I wish I’d known how to do this my first year in business.  So in case someone else can benefit from the knowledge, here’s a quick little How To.

You can save LOADS of time editing images by batching them in Photoshop using actions.  There are a few somewhat generic adjustments that I tend to like on particular types of images, so I create custom actions with the exact steps I like built in.  Once I export and image to jpg, all I have to do is run the action on a specific folder and leave to do something else  (like make soup) while my MacPro does all the work.  It’s so easy, and a serious time saver.

Actions can get highly complicated, but for this demonstration I’ll show how to build a simple custom action for converting color images into black and white.   (Click the images to see them larger so you can read text!)

Step One: Select a jpg file to use as a sample image and open it in Photoshop.  Click on the Actions Palette, and select Add New Action.  Name your new action – in this case “Black & White.”

Step Two: Your custom action is now “recording,”  so you can edit the image how you’d like.  For a basic black and white conversion I would play the Totally Rad Action Boring Old Black and White, and lower the opacity of the Contrast Up layer.  Then I’d run the Kevin Kubota Edge Burner action, and adjust opacity. (Yes, you can use actions within your action.)

Step Three: Flatten the image.  Then be sure to hit Save while the action is still “recording.”  This will include the saving step within your action and prevent you from having to click Save on every image.  Close the image.  Only after saving and closing do you hit “stop recording.”  Now the action is complete.

Step Four: To use your new action, arrange the desired files into a folder.  Then go to File -> Automate -> Batch.  Select the action you’ve created and the folder you’d like to use it on.  Check the “Override Save As Commands” box, since we’ve included the saving step within the action.  Either allow the images to save in their current file, or set a new destination folder for the adjusted files.

Now leave your computer and let it do the work.  DO NOT sit and watch Photoshop batch your files.  If you do this you are not taking advantage of the time you are saving!  (Ok, maybe watch it once ’cause its kinda cool.  But only once.)  Go make dinner, do push ups, pay bills, whatever.  Enjoy time away from your Mac :)