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Stacy
FotoDogue
Premium Member
join:2001-11-02
New York, NY

Stacy

Premium Member

More Good Photoshop Actions

A friend introduced me to these actions and they're really helped me speed up post processing

Not free but certainly worth the money

»actions.home.att.net/

MLOK5
My Reality Check Bounced
MVM
join:2000-08-17
Allen, TX

MLOK5

MVM


I think that fractal sharpening alone is worth it! I'm about to order it. Thanks, Stacy!

Stacy
FotoDogue
Premium Member
join:2001-11-02
New York, NY

Stacy

Premium Member

Glad you like it Fritty. I've been using Shadows Plus whenever I shoot under high contrast theatre type lighting.

CurranDJ
Premium Member
join:2001-11-23
Smyrna, DE

CurranDJ to Stacy

Premium Member

to Stacy
Thanks Stacy!! Those are a great set of actions. I ordered them both.

Definitely speeds up post processing.

ChrisJT
Premium Member
join:2001-12-20
Torrance, CA

ChrisJT to Stacy

Premium Member

to Stacy
I'm still new at Photoshop... and I don't quite understand how these actions work. Is it like a macro (in MS Excel terms) that's already been scripted, and all I have to do is select which "action" I want, and it does everything for me?

Stacy
FotoDogue
Premium Member
join:2001-11-02
New York, NY

Stacy

Premium Member

Yes these are sets of scripts that you put in the Actions folder. Then you click on whichever you want and PhotoShop automatically performs the action. If you don't like the results, you can go to History and click on the preaction poinr.

As I mentioned to CurranDJ, I first used these on a series of photos shot in a club with very frontal lighting. I've been using PhotoShop for six years or so but, the Shadows Plus gave me far more shadow detail that I thought I could have brought out of the image. You can do all of these yourself, but it's helpful to see where these kinds of adjustments can take you.

Actually it's $15 per set of actions.
Whether or not it's worth the money is really up to you
[text was edited by author 2003-09-01 05:11:21]

CurranDJ
Premium Member
join:2001-11-23
Smyrna, DE

CurranDJ to ChrisJT

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to ChrisJT
To me it is well worth the money to be able to run the action on multiple different shots and be able to get predictable results.

The ability to increase/decrease exposure in 1/2 stop increments and raise shadow detail in a predictable manner is easily worth the money ... to me. The shadow action raises shadow detail without blowing out highlight detail.

Of course you can accomplish all of these same results manually (adjusting curves and levels using layers and/or the history brush), but it will take A LOT of time per image.

Like Stacy said ... the worth will be up to each individual.

tmpchaos
Requiescat in pace
Numquam oblitus
join:2000-04-28
Hoboken, NJ

tmpchaos to Stacy

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to Stacy
Click for full size
NIKON E995
27mm 1/6th F4.7 ISO100

Click for full size
He's received my money...this was done with the Genuine Fractals based action, using the medium setting.

MLOK5
My Reality Check Bounced
MVM
join:2000-08-17
Allen, TX

MLOK5

MVM

said by tmpchaos:
He's received my money...this was done with the Genuine Fractals based action, using the medium setting.
Wow - it really makes a nice difference. Thanks for posting the examples.

Stacy
FotoDogue
Premium Member
join:2001-11-02
New York, NY

Stacy to tmpchaos

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to tmpchaos
said by tmpchaos:
He's received my money.
If nobody mentioned the Digital Imagine Forum he's probably wondering where this flurry of Labor Day sales are coming from

tao
Frazzlebats
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Lansing, MI

tao to tmpchaos

Premium Member

to tmpchaos
Click for full size
I don't really get what this action did. Here is my image sharpened using unsharp mask at 2.0 pixels... Is there a difference anyone can see? (A lot has to do with your monitor and I admit that my old monitor has some shadowing.)

rockotman
...Blown On The Steel Breeze
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06
DSotM

rockotman to Stacy

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I am inclined to agree with Net123 - Here is a close-up comparison at 100% resolution of a couple of areas of the photo.

Bottom line - there is still no substitue for a good, clean, steady-handed shot.

tmpchaos
Requiescat in pace
Numquam oblitus
join:2000-04-28
Hoboken, NJ

tmpchaos

Numquam oblitus

Click for full size
said by rockotman:
Bottom line - there is still no substitute for a good, clean, steady-handed shot.

Absolutely! What he's done, though, in addition to the sharpening, is to cut the noise level down quite a bit. and since it is an action, it can be used for batch processing.

tao
Frazzlebats
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Lansing, MI

tao

Premium Member

 
Click for full size
Okay, I see how there is less noise. But wonder if this reduction is due to some tool in PS 6 and up that is not available in PS 5.5? If not, I will attempt to mimick the action for 5.5.

The blocking is another issue - maybe. It is noticeable in both my simple Unsharpmask image and the Fractal image. Much more severe in my image. Perhaps that is a clue to the noise reduction, I don't know...

The image is presented as two images: one is 400x and the other is 400x plus resized 3x.

tmpchaos
Requiescat in pace
Numquam oblitus
join:2000-04-28
Hoboken, NJ

tmpchaos to Stacy

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Canon EOS D30
28mm 1s F3.5 ISO100


before

Canon EOS D30
28mm 1s F3.5 ISO100


after
I've been given permission from Noel Carboni, author of those actions, to post an example of the next one he's working on...

CurranDJ
Premium Member
join:2001-11-23
Smyrna, DE

CurranDJ

Premium Member

That is a nice effect ... great action. I have purchased both the dSLR Tools and the dSLR Fractal Sharpen Photoshop actions from Noel.

They are GREAT. The dSLR Fractal Sharpen does require allot of processor power on large files. 2000x3008 300dpi files take several minutes to run on my P4 2GHz box, but the results are terrific.

Glad to see that Noel is continuing to work on more actions. He is very prompt about sending out update notifications to his actions.

ChrisJT
Premium Member
join:2001-12-20
Torrance, CA

ChrisJT to tmpchaos

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to tmpchaos
Wow, that's a really nice looking effect!