KMP

Action Spotlight: Crema

Kim — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:45:26 +0000

This month’s Action Spotlight features Crema, from Chunfen‘s set of Photoshop Actions. Crema is a personal favorite of mine. Its hazy brown quality gives your photos an old and cherished look, like you just dug them up out of your grandmother’s attic.

As you can see, it works very well with photos of daily life. Everything from a well composed and thought out photo, to a snapshot will look great with the brown wash of Crema.

Action Spotlight: Lollys

Kim — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:39:58 +0000

Reverb was the seventh set of Photoshop actions released, and with the abundance of options I have available now it got me thinking that maybe a small slideshow of before/after samples just isn’t enough these days. For that reason I’m happy to debut the first of many Action Spotlight posts. Here, I’ll be offering up extra samples from one action at a time.

To kick things off I chose Lollys, from the aforementioned Reverb set. Like many Photoshop actions in this set, Lollys has a vintage appeal, with a retro split tone of yellow and blue. I especially like using Lollys on photos with indoor lighting, for an extra boost of nostalgia.

As with all Photoshop actions in Reverb, you can easily adjust the intensity of the entire action. Or, you can tweak each individual layer to taste.

If you’d like to see a Spotlight on a specific action, leave a comment below or get a hold of me via email!

Using Multiple Photoshop Actions

Kim — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:19:39 +0000

Combining Photoshop actions is a great way to achieve unique effects and get extra bang for your buck. I design a lot of my Photoshop actions to work well together, and have found a few favorites that I almost always use.

To use two or more Photoshop actions, simply run the first action, flatten the image and then run the second action. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Here are some of my favorite combos:

Crema + Saffron

I’m always happy to recommend combinations from a single set, and both of these Photoshop actions are included in Chunfen.

[top]

Ommadon + Crema

Another combo from Chunfen, this creates a gritty monochrome image with a heavy brown toning. The final image has an antiquated look that I just love!

[top]

Carbon + Rosewater

Carbon is one of my go to B&W conversions, which you can get in Fauxtography. The bonus color tone actions from Solstice are awesome for laying over black-and-white images.

[top]

Panis Rahl + Kelp

… But that’s not to say the color tone actions in Solstice don’t work well with color photos! Panis Rahl delivers the muted tones while Kelp adds an extra lick of personality. I think this combination gives a very film-like feel, too.

[top]

Light Leaks + Vert

It’s no coincidence that you can buy Light Leak and Fauxtography in a bundle. This image was made with 3 random light leak actions plus Vert, with the tone + haze layer set to 20%.

[top]

Quick Tip: Grouping Layers

Kim — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:56:46 +0000

Starting with Reverb, all of my action sets will have their layers grouped automatically so you can easily increase or decrease the intensity of any given Photoshop action by adjusting the opacity layer of the group. Here’s a quicky Photoshop tutorial so you can apply this method to any Photoshop action.

Understanding Group Layer Opacity

If you’re a little confused, click on the screencap to the left to see what I’m talking about.

By default, my Silent Movie action is a B&W conversion. Here, I’ve set the Group Layer Opacity to 50%. Now the intensity of the action is decreased and some of the color from the original photograph is starting to peek through.

This is especially helpful when you want to whisper, instead of scream.

The Shortcut

If you want to adjust a Photoshop action’s effect as a whole instead of tweaking individual layers, all you have to do is hit CTRL + ALT + A and then CTRL + G. After that you can simply adjust the Opacity slider to make an action less intense.

I hope you enjoyed this quicky Photoshop tutorial!

Hello!

Kim — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:30:16 +0000

Hi there, hey there, ho there!

…Now that the formalities are out of the way, welcome to the new blog for K. Miller Photoshop Actions & Presets! After the dust settles from the Summer and Fall photo seasons I hope to fill this blog with lots of information about workflows, tips and tricks on editing, Photoshop tutorials, Photoshop actions spotlights and other fun stuff regarding the more technical side of shooting and editing.

If you have a suggestion for a topic, feel free to drop me a line in the comments below or via email.

Til then, happy shooting!