Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice! Are you ready for all that daylight? Personally, the more natural light around me, the better. I could do without the heat, though.
To celebrate the day of the year with the most daylight, I thought it would be appropriate to share something photography-related with you. How about some Photoshop fun?
This is a simple little action I created to help tweak your photo(s) to get that summery feel. I think it works particularly well with images that have yellow. I usually have A LOT of trouble with yellow. It’s just always so bright and over powering. I think it looks pretty good with a bit of haze and a slight color adjustment.
Download the action with this link (right click, Save As…). If you’ve never installed actions in Photoshop, don’t worry–it’s pretty easy! Just open the program (I have CS3) and then double click the file in whatever folder it was downloaded to. Open up the Actions palette (Window>>Actions or ALT + F9) and select the ‘Summer Haze’ action. Press the play button (triangle) and voila! Magic!
I hope you enjoy it. Run it and mess around with the layers to get your desired effect. I am no Photoshop pro, but I DO feel comfortable messing with layers and whatnot. Playing with actions has helped me get to this point where I can create my own!
The image above (see original here) and the ones below were edited with the action. Hover over them (let it load) to see the originals! [If the hover effect does not work with your browser, click the link below each photo to view the original.]
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The effect is very subtle, but I like it! I did minor editing in Adobe Camera Raw (fixing white balance and exposure when needed) and then ran the action. All of these were saved as-is without tweaking the layers further. It has slightly different results on each image! Play around with it and let me know what you think!
Happy Summmerrr! As if it weren’t hot enough already.
***p.s.! I won that skein of Manos Wool Classica from Flint Knits! I had completely forgotten about the giveaway, so it was SUCH a wonderful surprise! This color (citric) is absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to knit it up.***
How wonderful! I love the look and feel of all your photos and have been thinking I should start looking into using Photoshop actions… Now I have he perfect way to start, thank you so much for sharing! :)
I love how you did the rollover before/afters!
I’m going to try the photo stuff. I barely edit my photos because I’m always so unsure of what to do.
Oh yay! I can’t wait to get home and try it!
I love it! how did you do that roll over before/after thing…awesome!
also…are you doing the no heat curl thing?! You look so cute in the headband.
lastly…I’m in love with that hat…love, love, LOVE the color combination!
I love photoshop actions! Never dared to make one myself, though :) I love the effect this one has on shadows.
OH I ♥ Photoshop actions!!!! Just started creating some of my own and will gladly share them when I get them down pat. Thank You! While I have not yet tested your action, I love the affect on your images. Very nice.
I love this so much! It’s winter here in Australia but this lovely summery action will warm things up nicely. Thank you so much for sharing – can’t wait to try it out!
Katie x
What a wonderful find – just tried this out in my photoshop. Brilliant, thank you for sharing this!
so subtle, yet so nice!
I really love this action…beautiful! thank you so much for sharing! :-)
Thank you so so so much for posting this! I can’t tell you how excited I am to try it, and it is really helpful to be able to expand the action and see what you did to get to the final product.
love these actions. I need to figure out if/how I can get them into lightroom or elements….
awesome work, thatnks for sharing your creativity!
I just downloaded your black & white and tried it out and LOVE it. It’s wonderful. So I am back to try this. Thank you!
So glad you like it! It’s all adjustment layers, so it’s easily tweakable! :)
just gorgeous! im going to try this right away. i’ll credit you when i use
thanks for sharing
Wow this photo action looks amazing. I will be downloading it stat. Thanks for the share!
Is this compatible with PS Elements?
These photos are beautiful! I’m just wondering if this action is compatible with elements 9?
Thanks!
Gillian
I would love to download this but when I click on the link it opens in a new tab with a whole lot of text that doesnt make sense. Not sure why.
Cheers
Donna x