Introduction
Use the tabs up above to navigate the site.
This online tutorial provides a hands-on guide to creating and using Adobe Photoshop Actions. Actions, a Photoshop tool, allow the software user to record a set of instructions. This set of instructions can then be reused several times and provide some automation to one's Photoshop project. Many designers and Photoshop users find that many tasks are repetitive. These tasks can include rotating a photograph, adjusting the contrast, making a contact sheet or even combining several files into one PDF file. This tutorial will give you the working knowledge you need to create and use your own Photoshop Actions.
Before we get started, let's set the groundwork for this tutorial:
Audience: This document is written for Photoshop users who wish to add a level of automation to their Photoshop work.
Assumptions: This instructional document is intended for people who have a basic understanding of Adobe’s PS software. Advanced knowledge of the product is not necessary to use the information presented in this document. It is recommended that the readers of this document have ‘some’ previous experience with the software. Also, this document includes images of Photoshop CS in the Apple OS X Operating System environment. Although the Photoshop CS software is very similar in the Windows operating system environment, I cannot guarantee that all instructions are exactly the same for each platform.
Purpose: In this document, I will detail and present one method for creating and using Adobe Photoshop Actions. The purpose of this document is to instruct the reader so they can create Actions and add a level of automation to their Photoshop projects.
Task List:
- Task 1: The first task is to open an image file in Photoshop and become familiar with the Actions panel
- Task 2:
The second task is to: Start the recording of an Action that rotates
the image file 90 degrees clockwise, applies a Photoshop effect
to the image that automatically adjusts the image’s contrasts
and then stops the recording of the Action.
- Task 3: The third task is to open another image file and then to run the Action.
Navigation: You can use the tabs above to go from task to task. Each task has a few secondary pages. Thos links are located just below the tabs in the light-orange bar. An alternative to this is to just use the 'Next' button at the bottom of each page. These buttons will guild you through the tutorial in a linear fashion.