PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS 101

What are Actions?

Photoshop Actions are basically recorded keystrokes or mouse clicks that you can “play” at any point where Photoshop expects keyboard/mouse input. They may be created, given a name, and played back at any later point.

What is the Point of Actions?

Actions are basically time savers. They save you from having to repeatedly enter Photoshop keystrokes or mouse clicks to perform some sort of manipulation or action on your current image. They can be applied either to the current open image or “automated” via Photoshop's

• File -> Automate -> Batch, or

• File -> Automate -> Create Droplet

and applied to an arbitrary number of images.

What can you do with Actions?

Actions can “automate” any repetitive data entry sequence that can be defined by keystrokes, mouse clicks, or menu selections.

What can't you do with Actions?

Actions cannot:

• Perform input actions defined by mouse movements (e.g., Paintbrush, Pen, Clone Stamp, etc.)

• Make any sort of decision (i.e., no internal logic)

• Accept user input and act on it (although you can stop an action, modify the image, and then restart the action)

What about Photoshop Elements?

Actions can be used in Photoshop Elements if the action consists of steps supported in Elements, but they cannot be written within the program. The procedure for incorporating them varies between versions. (NOTE: More information in this regard can be found on the Web, just Google: photoshop elements actions.)

O.K. - I'm Sold – How About Showing me how to Create and Use an Action!

Glad you asked. Here is a quick example of how an action might be created and used in Photoshop:

We will assume we have some photos that we would like to process as follows:

• add a white 10 pixel border all around

• add an additional black 40 pixel border all around

• size the photos so that the horizontal width is 4 inches and the resolution is 300 DPI

We assume that an example, disposable image is loaded in Photoshop and that we have not yet built any actions. Here are the basic steps that we would perform:

1. Activate the Actions palette (F9 or Window -> Actions)

2. Create a new Action Set. (NOTE: All Actions must be contained in some predefined Action Set.)
   
   
   

3. Give the Action Set a name (e.g. - PrintPhotos)
   
   
   

4. Create a new Action within the PrintPhotos Action Set
   
   
   

5. Give the new Action a name (e.g.: 4x3)
   
   
   

6. The action is now in “record” mode, so we begin executing the appropriate keystrokes, mouse clicks, etc. We will record, in sequence, the following steps:

1. Image -> Canvas Size..., Width 10 pixels, Height 10 pixels, Relative, Canvas extension color: White

2. Image -> Canvas Size..., Width 40 pixels, Height 40 pixels, Relative, Canvas extension color: Black

3. Image -> Image Size..., Document Size 4 inches, Resolution 300 pixels/inch

4. File -> Save As... NOTE: leave the name alone and save to a scratch location. You will also need to decide what quality, etc. you will need to save the file.

5. You may now delete the “working” picture. Your 4x3 Action should look like the illustration below:

You should now stop the Action recording by clicking on the leftmost square icon at the bottom of the Action Palette. Additionally, you should always save your Action Set to a permanent location – otherwise the Action will not be available if Photoshop should crash.

7. Now that we have created a new Photoshop Action, we would like to employ this Action to prepare a number of photographs for printing. This is done via Photoshop's
   File -> Automate -> Batch...
   menu selection.
   
   This menu selection will yield the following window dialog:

8. The key items to remember when filling in the above window dialog are:

   1. In the Play top area, ensure that the Set is named “PrintPhotos” and the Action is named “4x3”

   2. In the Source area, make sure the pull-down is set to “Folder”, then click on the “Choose...” button and pick the appropriate input folder containing the pictures to be processed. Also check the “Include All Subfolders” check box if you have nested folders.

   3. In the Destination area, select “Folder” for the Destination, and then click on the “Choose...” button to select an appropriate output folder. (NOTE: If you choose the output folder to be the same as the input folder [not recommended], then you will need to fill in additional dialog to ensure that you do not overwrite the original files.)
      
      Also make sure the Override Actions “Save As” Commands check box is checked. (NOTE: The first time this is selected a pop-up window will be displayed as shown in the next illustration.)

   4. When you are finished, the window dialog might look something like the following:

9. At this point you need only click on the OK button in the upper right corner and, if everything has been defined correctly, you can sit back and watch Photoshop process all of the photos in the source folder(s) saving you minutes (or even hours) of keystroke drudgery.

Some Tips & Techniques for Actions:

• If you are planning to use an Action to be later applied against multiple files, you would typically employ the following scenario:

  • Have an example (disposable) file of the type you plan to work on already opened in Photoshop and processed to the point where the Action would be applied

  • Do NOT open the file in the Action itself (unless it is a standard reference file from which information will be extracted and copied to the already opened working file); this will later be done automatically when the Action is automated.

  • Don't worry if you make mistakes during the conduct of the Action. You can either stop the Action recording and make corrections in place or correct the action at a later point.

  • DO save the file with a File -> Save As... The save name won't really matter, since this will be overridden later when the Action is automated.

• You can't perform a “Copy/Paste” when editing an Action Step(s), but you can simulate this effect by:

  • Duplicating the Action Step(s)

  • Renaming the Step(s) as needed, and

  • Moving the Step(s) to the new desired location.

• Remember that if your Action is to be played against multiple files, then (typically) you should make all measurement selections “relative”. That is, use percentages where possible and avoid absolute measurements.

• You can always modify an Action Step by double-clicking on the step and changing the associated step parameters.

• Here are some keyboard shortcuts for the Actions Palette (NOTE: If you're a Mac user, then mentally translate Alt->Option and Ctrl->Command).

I'm really Impressed with Actions; how can I Learn More?

There are a number of very good sources where you can obtain extensive information on Photoshop Actions. A lot of the information is completely free and available on the Web. Here are some excellent sources of Web Action information (all free):

• Possibly the most comprehensive documentation on Actions that can be found anywhere is available at: http://www.atncentral.com/Zip_Actions/PhotoshopActions_ver1.1Btoc.zip

• Here are some Photoshop Action web references where you may find tutorials, downloads, etc.

  • http://www.atncentral.com

  • http://actionfx.com

  • http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?s=5&from=1&o=desc&cat=190&l=-1&event=productHome&exc=16

  • http://www.photoshopcafe.com/actions.htm

Most Photoshop books, unless they have specific sections on “workflow” or automating Photoshop, will not cover Actions. Some that do are:

• Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book (Adobe Press)

• Real World Photoshop CS3 (David Blatner, et. al.)

• Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers (Martin Evening)

There are Photoshop books that are devoted to actions and automation/workflow. Probably the best book, for Actions only is “Al Ward's Photoshop Productivity Toolkit”. Some other good Photoshop references that cover Actions along with scripting and other workflow components are:

• The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic (Matt Kloskowski)

• Working Smart in Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Conrad Chavez)

• Photoshop Workflow Setups (Eddie Tapp)

If you are really a glutton for punishment and want to learn more about Actions, how they may be structured, and how they can be integrated with Photoshop scripting, then stay tuned for the following (mercifully short;-) presentation on Photoshop Actions & Scripting.