But I’m finally coming round the bend and putting the finishing touches on my eighth (wow!) set of Photoshop actions. Really, I couldn’t've done it without you guys. Your support means the world to me and it’s great knowing there’s a world of folks out there who love to play around in Photoshop as much as I do.

And now, on to the good stuff! Here’s a peek at the actions I have in store for this new set, Summer Breeze. As the name might suggest, this set of actions is meant to be much more subtle compared to previous sets — most of these Photoshop actions are for when you want to whisper instead of scream.

My absolute favorites of the bunch are Minox — my new go-to vintage black-and-white action — and Verbena — for that washed out look with some cool green color shifts. I also really love Bubble Gum and Root Beer for their subtle vintage goodness, too. Really, I can’t pick a favorite. I love them all! I hope you will, too.

And as with the last set, Reverb, all actions are set into groups so you can easily adjust the intensity of each action.

Hi-Res Samples

Below are some before and afters I put together using only actions from the Light Leak set. Each image is between 4000 and 6000 pixels wide.

What if my native file size isn’t big enough?

If you’re working with images that are too small for the Light Leak action set, a quick workaround I recommend is resizing your image to at least 2000 pixels, running the actions and then sizing it back down to the original file size before saving.

Then again, the unpredictability of it all is what draws us to light leaks in the first place, isn’t it? So maybe it’s best to just throw caution to the wind and see what happens!

Light Leak Photoshop Actions are available for purchase here for $15.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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%.

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.

Going through the drop-down menu in Photoshop, you’ll first go to

Menu > Select > All Layers
and then simply click Menu > Layer > Group Layers.

After that you can simply adjust the Opacity slider to make an action less intense.

I hope you enjoyed this quicky Photoshop tutorial!

…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!