Buying Actions

[linpelk]

I was just wondering how many of you "pros" buy/use actions? I only have one photographer friend who does this for a living and she uses them on almost all of her photos that she distributes to her clients. She shoots children/families and I DO like some of the results, but I'm wondering if it is worth the money that some of these places charge? Do you use them much with your own work or do you just do it yourself? I am so new to Photoshop that it's tempting to purchase some for that "instant gratification". What is YOUR opinion about them? Worth it?

I guess I should also say that the reason I ask is I thought it was kind of "cheating" so to speak, but I just bought a photography book last week and the author is giving credit on a lot of their photos to Kevin Kubota's actions. Just made me curious about how often "purchased actions" are used.

 

[gravity0]

I still new but what are you talking about?? I have never heard of this, explain?

 

[Big Mike]

'Actions' are a list of saved steps in Photoshop. They are especially useful for repeating a process rather than doing the same steps over and over. Many photographers/photoshop experts are selling actions which can give your photos a certain look but running though the steps.

On one hand, it can be great because you are getting steps that you wouldn't have known about or done yourself. But on the other hand, you could do them yourself and create you own actions.

I haven't bought any but I have found many that are offered free. I think they are interesting but I really don't use them all that often.

 

[dcclark]

I'm assuming that the OP is referring to purchasing pre-made Photoshop actions.

However, I can't contribute any more, because I use Gimp!

 

[gravity0]

'Actions' are a list of saved steps in Photoshop. They are especially useful for repeating a process rather than doing the same steps over and over. Many photographers/photoshop experts are selling actions which can give your photos a certain look but running though the steps.

On one hand, it can be great because you are getting steps that you wouldn't have known about or done yourself. But on the other hand, you could do them yourself and create you own actions.

I haven't bought any but I have found many that are offered free. I think they are interesting but I really don't use them all that often.

Sweet so this could be a way of learning a little about PS. You have any acttions I could have Mike?? :thumbup:

I will say this though not all actions would work for all pictures. I mean one may have to tweak one action a different way given the conditions.

 

[Jon, The Elder]

Fred Miranda was the first to sell commercial quality "actions". I still have a bunch made specifically for the old Kodak line of P&S cameras from the 90's

Actions can be fun to create, almost any Photoshop book has at least a few pages devoted to the subject.

There is a ton of free ones out there, just do a quick google.