Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Using Actions

Photoshop comes with dozens of built-in actions, although only a smidgen of them initially appear in the Actions panel. Nine additional sets of built-in actions are tucked away in the panel’s menu (shown in Figure 18-2): Commands, Frames, Image Effects, LAB - Black & White Technique, Production, Star Trails, Text Effects, Textures, and Video Actions. To load one of these sets, simply choose it from the menu and Photoshop adds it to the panel’s main list.

Each set includes several actions that you can use as is or edit to your own personal taste. For example, if you think the Spatter Frame action (part of the Frames set) is a little lame with its 15-pixel spray radius, you can bump it up to 25 pixels instead. (Editing actions is discussed later in this chapter.) Or you can duplicate that particular step to make the Spatter filter run twice.

Tip

An easy way to duplicate an action that you want to customize is to Option-drag (Alt-drag on a PC) it to a different set in the Actions panel.

To use one of Photoshop’s built-in actions, follow these steps:

1. Open an image.

   With most actions, you simply need to open an image and then you’re ready to invoke the action’s magic. You don’t even have to unlock the background layer because Photoshop duplicates it for you.

2. If necessary, tell Photoshop which part of the image you want to work with by creating a selection.

   For some built-in actions, you need to create a selection before you run them. You can tell which ones these are because they ...