Shaded Studio Photoshop Actions (Review & Giveaway!)

About two months ago, Dee from Shaded Studio contacted me to see if I’d be interested in reviewing and giving away a set of herPhotoshop Actions. Umm…of course I jumped at the chance! I am an actions junkie. After learning to perform a clean edit in Photoshop at the end of last year, I found myself better able to use and make the most of quality actions to shorten my processing time.

Dee’s actions were simple to use and implement into my editing process. She sent me a variety of different sets to test out and they all included something different and something useful. Here’s a shot of my biggest boy that I took the other day as well as the final product using only actions from Dee’s sets!

I started out editing this photo just like I do any other. Opening it in Lightroom and making any adjustments to exposure, coloring, white balance, etc. that need to be made. Then I exported it over to Photoshop. I use Photoshop CS5 but these actions work with some of the older version of Photoshop as well as Photoshop Elements! I did do a little blending, spot healing and cloning to remove the water hose hookup behind the big boy, but otherwise, the image remained untouched once I got into Photoshop.

>> Once I opened my image, I first ran the Film Workflow Action from the Perfect Workflow Set. I made a few minor adjustments to tone down some of the enhancement. I brought the Vintage Toning to 17% and the Mattify Level was left at 100%. All of the others remained untouched.

>>  Next, I ran the Chocolate Punch Action from the Workflow Creatives Set. I left it at the default opacity to bring out some of the brown tones in the image.

>>  Finally, I ran the Sapphire Action from the Bejeweled Set. I love my Little Guy’s eye color and anytime I use an action that brings too much warmth into the photo, his eyes get a few shades darker than they really are. This action brought out the blues in his eyes and his shirt without doing away with too much warmth. I took the blue tone to 13% and removed the “Little Bump” filter to keep that hazy, vintage feel.

Then, I just made my final adjustments (an Unsharp Mask to his eyes and an overall sharpening) and ta-da!

A great, artistic and clean edit using some great actions!

Now…you have the chance to win a $60 Gift Certificate to Shaded Studio’s Shop to use toward anything you wish!

Here’s how to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: Contest will end on October 23, 2012 with the winner chosen via Rafflecopter. Winner will be announced on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 and will have 48 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be selected. I was provided with these actions for free from Shaded Studio in exchange for this review. All opinions are solely my own.