Workshop Wednesday- How to use Actions in Photoshop CS (and Elements)

I have had a few questions about "actions" in photoshop, and I have to tell you- they are so fun and SO easy, I promise! Once you start using them you'll be addicted.

Basically, actions are a sneaky way to do all your editing with one click of a button. Someone else has edited a photo, for example: turned it black & white and sharpened it- and they "recorded" their actions of each step into one nice little bundle that can be "played" over and over on any picture. Make sense?

Let's try it out with a self portrait I did and my favorite actions, the free Pioneer Woman actions.

(And for what it's worth, PW has lots of free and easy tutorials on her blog, everything from photoshop to photography and understanding how your camera works- in really easy to understand language and small doses.)

Ok, download some free actions and open up a photo in photoshop and we'll load those actions!

To load the actions, click on the little tab in that window that says "actions". Then click on the tiny little right hand arrow. A drop down menu will come out, go down and click "load actions."

A browsing window will open ( I couldn't do a screen save of that one), and you'll need to find where you downloaded your free actions (mine usually go to my desktop or to the download folder) and click on it. It's that easy.

Then you should see in that little action window a set of actions call PW actions. Click on the arrow next to it to open it and show all the different actions.

Let's select the PW Black & White. You'll click on it, and then click the little "play" (it looks just like the one on your old VCR- a triangle pointing to the right) button on the bottom of the action window.

Photoshop will automatically start doing stuff- you just sit back and watch.

A window will open and it will say something along the lines of "play with the light layer, yada yada yada." Click ok or close, and then...
you will play with the light layer. You'll see it in the layer palette, labeled "light." You'll want to slide the opacity slider back and forth to see what it does. For different pictures it does different things. Here I slid it all the way to the right.
Then I slide it all the way to the left. You can see how much it affects the photo.
I really liked it at the pre-set of 75% opacity, so I put it back to that, then clicked "play" again to finish off the photo. Several windows may pop up, just click ok or stop for it to continue.
Once you are done, you can flatten the layers (shift+ctrl+E) and save it.

Behold, the before:
And after:

Here's another one of the actions on the same original photo- this is the "soft and faded" one.
You can also combine actions, such as the "sharpen" and "quick edge burn."The Pioneer Woman has set up a Flickr group with people trying out her actions, you can see them here: Flickr Group.

Please try it, it only takes a minute, I promise. Gretch. Oh woops . Heheh ;)


For those of you who want to try this in Elements, check out this link: click here! Or you can reproduce the Pioneer Woman actions in Elements, check it out here.

Leave me a comment & a link if you try this out with befores & afters, I'd love to see! I'm always happy to answer questions too. :) If I know the answer, that is. hehe

Workshop Wednesday: Tweaking in photoshop

Before I go into photoshop mumbo jumbo, check out these really great links for the non-photoshopper!

-Photography 101, led by my friends Jenney and Elizabeth. Great stuff there!
-If you don't have a photo editing program, you must go to picnik.com. (like, go there, right NOW- you can come back here later!). And there is no registration required- you can just get started right away. Click on the create button to get Holga, Lomo, Selective BW/color, doodling, 60s style, and tons more of options. Way cool.


Today's Workshop Wednesday is focused on those little changes you can make in photoshop to really make a good photograph turn into a great one!

Here is a slideshow I have made with a few recent photos of my sister that I tweaked, either with these ideas below, or just with PW's actions. If you take the plunge and mess around with either photoshop, picnik, or some other editing program this week, upload your photo to the slideshow!

Ok, on to Workshop Wednesday. Here is a cutie patootie photo I took yesterday of my Em:Pretty cute, and good colors on its own... but I am now addicted to photoshop so I needed to tweak it just a bit.

As I've learned from the Pioneer Woman, when it comes to photoshop, sometimes it's the little things you do that makes a photo look sleek and professional, not the huge edits. So I've been trying to be a little conservative with some of my edits to try that out. (It's so easy to get carried away!) (Click on any of the photos to see them larger) The first thing you want to do is open your photo:


Then I like to adjust the levels. (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels)
A little window pops up with your layer in it, click ok, and then this window opens. You can adjust the sliders back and forth to see the changes it makes. I usually like to take the middle slider and either go to the left or right to see how it changes the tones.
Once you're settled with a tone you like, you can click Ctrl-Shift-E to flatten your layers together. (By the way, layers are basically just ways of copying your photo and putting it right on top of your photo, so you can make an edit without adjusting the original photo. If you don't flatten your layers, you can go back and delete layers with edits on them if you don't like the end result, without having to start all over. )

Next, I like to adjust the brightness/contrast. Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness/Contrast.

Click ok on the new dialogue box, and then this window appears. You can again adjust the sliders depending on your preference. Then flatten the image (Ctrl-Shift-E)

Looks pretty good, eh?

The last thing I like to do to boost up the contrast and sharpness a little bit is to do a trick I learned when I was trying out the Lomo Conversion (over on the left in the sidebar).

Click on Image>Mode>Lab Color
Then in that little box floating on the right, click on the Channels tab, then "Lightness."


Then I like to do the ol' trusty unsharp mask. (Don't ask me why it's called "Unsharp" mask, because it's for sharpening. I'm sure some computery geek would know.)

Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp MaskYou can go really extreme with this, I did 50 (amount), 50 (radius), 0 (threshold), or you can keep it a little less dramatic.
Convert back to a full color pic by Image>Mode>RGB color. Another nifty thing to do, if you think a photo is too warm, cool, yellow tinted, or whatev, is to do a photo filter.

I accidentally had my cursor on gradient map, but go one below and click on Photo Filter. (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter).

Click on the filter you would like to choose. You can experiment here... slide the slider at the bottom of that little window to increase or decrease the amount of the filter.
I thought this photo needed to be cooled down a little bit, but I didn't want to use the cooling filter because then everything looked too blue, so I chose violet. One way that I like to turn a photo black and white is to use the gradient map. It seems to make it look more distinctive and not as "flat." Layer>New Adjustment Layer, Gradient Map.Click the little downy arrow on that box, and then click on the third block to the right to make it black and white (or you could experiment with the other options). Make sure to flatten the image if you are done (Ctrl-shift-E)


For a vintage look, do Layer>New Adjustment Layer/Hue/Saturation

And then slide the saturation slider (and others, if need be) to take out some of the color from the photo. (Ctrl-Shift-E to flatten if you are satisfied)

Hope this helps you to see a few more of the fun little ways to tweak your photos in photoshop!

Sidetracked Home Executives

(Took this pic this weekend while on a walk in downtown Birmingham with Shaun's folks. Why are there more flowers in downtown than here in our little country town?)

I've been promising Cyndi a post on this for ages and ages, so I'm finally getting around to it.

Ages and ages ago, I heard about Flylady. In case you're unfamiliar with it, Flylady (the nickname of the lady that started it- she likes to fly-fish, or whatever it's called), set up an internet based reminder system for keeping up with your household and managing it.

I loved the idea of Flylady- rotating chores and decluttering based on the week and the day, but the sheer number of daily emails started to, well, kind of hack me off a bit. I was supposed to be managing my house, but instead, I started having to manage my inbox! She's changed up the way she does the system a little bit, I think, but I discovered that it wasn't fitting me- it was stressing me out more. I don't need extra pressure in my life right now.

I did a little research and checked out the book, Sidetracked Home Executives from the library. This is the book and the system that Flylady based her system on... but she incorporated the internet and email and all that fancy schmancy stuff.

(By the way, the book is pretty cute, albeit cheesy sometimes, describing the different ways we get out of control of our homes sometimes... they call it C.H.A.O.S.- can't have anyone over syndrome. I would check it out from the library or buy it cheap on Amazon - or click on my recommended thing over on the left and you can buy it through there.)

Now, before I get into specifics, I have to tell you a little about me.

I like structure.
I tend to be a perfectionist.
I love lists.
I love lists to the point of making up extra stuff on a list that I've already done just so I can cross it off.

Because of those things, a lot of times I would tend to get so caught up in the planning stages of running my home that I wouldn't get to the "running the home" part. And, since it wouldn't all happen perfectly, I would just give up.

S.H.E works by, instead of having lists, having an individual index card for each task you have to do around your home: daily, weekly, montly, and even seasonally/yearly.

I know, I know- some of you are thinking- uh, I don't even KNOW what I do every day or even need to do!

I felt the same way- but the S.H.E. book has this huge section with all the tasks anyone could ever want to do in their life with their home, so you don't have to think it up all on your own.

This is how my card file looks:



The designer in me is cringing because this is old and not as cute as I want it to look, but as Katie says- that's a "B item." ;)

The inside has a little divider for each day of the month, like so:



As each day ends, I move the dated divider into the back of the numbers (so that they are constantly rotated into the correct order for the rest of the month).

Inside "today's" divider, I have my white daily tasks.



These are broken down to as basic as you can get. This is what works for me. I imagine some of you don't need cards to remind you to "get dressed, brush teeth, and put makeup on," but for me, it's nice to have a reminder of what's next in my day... otherwise noon will roll around and I might have *forgotten* that small detail of my day. Hehe

As I complete each task, I pull it out



and then move it to the correct spot for tomorrow, so it'll be ready to go for me when I wake up tomorrow.



I go through all, or as many, of my daily tasks in this fashion. Typically, this is a good portion of my morning (including a 30 minute internet break, hehe) and a little of my evening time. It seems a little micromanaged, but I need this to get on track during certain periods of my life. It kind of "thinks" for me, so I don't have to think of what I need to do next.

Each day of my week has different things alloted for it. Some days are for more cleaning (I have moderate and heavy cleaning days, because there is no way I'm going to end up cleaning all day long!) and some are for doing other stuff.


No matter what, the white cards have to be done every day- they are the absolute necessities I have for running my household.

These orange cards are for the "extra" things that need to be done on a weekly basis.



On Mondays, or sometimes the weekend, I look at my plans for the week and go ahead and slip these orange cards in on the days that I think they will work best (in the moderate or heavy cleaning days). I try to keep tasks in the same room together on the same days (like, dust master bedroom, sweep & mop master bedroom). I used to work by task (doing all the dusting on the same day), but I like that I can completely clean at least one room and feel like I've accomplished some small miracle.

I've got other cards that are for monthly tasks and seasonal tasks (like: monthly- clean out magazine rack; seasonal- wash windows & dush ceiling fans) that I try to fit in too.

To sum that all up: it works for me. You have to find a system that works for you. I discovered over the past few years that I get overwhelmed by seeing all the stuff I have to do and I pretty much just give up, so seeing one small task at a time really helps.

If I don't get through all of it- I know that I at least accomplish a few things each day, and that's better than nothing.

(Caveat: do I do this all the time? Heck no. I go through phases where I'm really gung-ho and then phases where I feel like I've got things under control and then phases where I am sick and pregnant and it all goes to h-e-double hockey sticks in a handbasket. Just fyi.) :)

------Edited to add 9.2010: Here's a link to my current version. It's much less micromanaged and a little more flexible! And you can click HERE to see my current list of cards.)


Here are a few helpful links to other peoples' versions of it:

Housewife Ink

This is kind of cool- but I have a feeling I would waste a lot of time fiddling around with it

Here's a yahoo group based on it- lots of great resources in the files

If you google "sidetracked home executives," it comes up with many results and different peoples' thoughts and plans with this.

Workshop Wednesday- the Grocery Game

I've had several people email me and ask me about the Grocery Game after I mentioned it a while back, so this week's "Workshop Wednesday" will be a little introduction to that.

Before I continue, I do want to mention that my Workshop Wednesdays are probably going to be kind of random.... I just figured I probably don't have enough expertise in one area to keep an on-going tutorial happening every week, but I do know a lot about random things, so you will get a little peek into the inner workings of my brain through these weekly sessions with me. Hehe

Upcoming topics: SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive- the system and how I make it work for me), creating your own hand-drawn titles, step by step project tutorials for scrapbooking, card-making, and altered items, and a step by step tutorial for altering a t-shirt to make it more fashionable...

if you have a suggestion for Workshop Wednesdays, please email me at 2blackflipflops@gmail.com or leave it in the comments here! :)

Okay, on to today's Workshop....

The Grocery Game is something I had seen mentioned on message boards many times, but never was super interested. For one- I don't really like to cook, so I figured wherever there was a group of women chatting about groceries, they were also probably talking about cooking and I wouldn't really fit in to that conversation.

My aunt became really interested in the concept earlier this year and quickly became addicted to this shopping technique... so all of the info that I have learned about it I have to attribute to her teaching me about it. :) I should've just asked her to do a guest spot here and explain it to you! She has ministered to me tremendously by offering to double up her shopping and pick up the same things she gets, for me. I'm hoping one of these days I can pick it up myself, but for the time being, juggling the three littles is pretty time consuming. ;)

In a nutshell, the Grocery Game is basically a way to save you money in grocery shopping- and it has expanded to a lot of other items and stores. The official website and its many spin-off sites have created lists and scenarios for you, matching up advertised and unadvertised sales and low-priced items with coupons available online or in your Sunday paper... basically, when it all comes out in the wash, you never buy anything for full price and you often end up with items for free.

The official website, The Grocery Game, offers a wide array of information... for a very small monthly fee. I even think that if you are just starting off, it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get a month's subscription. Here is the pricing from their site:

For only a dollar, you can try Teri’s List for 28 days. Most report saving hundreds of dollars during this period. To continue receiving Teri’s List, you don’t have to do anything; you’ll automatically become a full member. If you don’t want your membership activated, simply cancel before the 28^th day. Once your full membership is activated, you will be billed $10 every eight weeks for a single store List. That’s only about $5 a month. For each additional List add $5 every eight weeks.

In a minute, I'll explain about the lists, but I wanted to first go ahead and explain what other options you might have as far as free internet resources.

Hot Coupon World is a fantastic site that is free and full of a lot of information (I'm also aware that their name is kind of funny... or maybe that's just me). It's a message board primarily, divided up into sections so that you can easily and quickly go to the areas that you need. (There's a "Newbie" section for those of you first starting out, and individual sections for drug stores, grocery stores, national chain stores, deals for family needs, and much more.)

Another similar website is A Full Cup. Just like Hot Coupon World, it offers links to online printable coupons, and a coupon generator and database.

Back to the Grocery Game Lists, I believe (as I haven't signed up for this one personally), you pay for a personalized list sent to you weekly, with your grocery store, the deals available, and the coupons you will need. You can pay additionally for each other store you want to add (like, you could do Walmart, Publix, and Target). However, as I mentioned before- there are a lot of other websites out there doing these types of services for free, so it's really up to you- do a teensy amount of internet browsing, or just pay a buck or two for something emailed to you.

I have to say, it personally overwhelmed me at first, and I haven't fully delved into the world of "BoGoing," as Ginge and I call it. (BoGo stands for -buy one, get one free, and it's become our silly term for going out and doing the different shopping deals.) But- to me- it seems like you just need to pick and choose which areas you want to focus on first, master those, and then continue to expand.

Ginge is a master at it, and I've seen from watching her that yes, it does take a lot of hard work, but it also definitely pays off in the end. Basically, you have to trade a little of your time for a lot of money and free stuff. I think it's something we can all benefit from, especially with the economy being so wacky these days.

I have been trying to find a picture that I had on my harddrive of some of the stuff I've gotten, but I can't find it. It's kind of driving me crazy, actually. But for example, I got $250 worth of stuff for $38 by using these systems. Stuff that I need and use, like wipes, formula, shampoo, razors, vitamins, etc.

I haven't tried it in the grocery stores yet, but we have done it in the drugstores. I used to never shop in Walgreen's or CVS, because I thought they were a tad bit overpriced. Now, they are still overpriced, but when you are getting stuff for FREE or pennies, well then, it doesn't really matter, does it?

Trust me, I know some of you are sitting there with your arms crossed, thinking, "Yeah right" but I promise- it's worth it.

The best one, in my opinion, is CVS. The reason why, is although it is confusing to begin with, you get the best deals for your work there.

Here's a really good summary for how CVS works.
Here's a really good summary for how Walgreen's works.

Here's an article about CVS Q&As.

Organizing your coupons (pretty vital to this whole thing).

Currently, and I am not exaggerating, I am stocked up for at least a year, probably more, on: makeup, shampoo & conditioner (yeah, for like, several years, no joke), body wash, and razors.

I have also not had to buy diapers or wipes for nearly 4 months.

I also have several nice little gift stashes, candles, tons of cleaning products.... all for free or literally pennies.

The cool thing about this, is if you are brand loyal or particular about a certain item (but find it a little pricey), this frees you up from having to spend the money on those other things and you will have the cash to splurge on that favorite shampoo.

The way I follow the deals each week is by following a few blogs. I don't really have enough time to peruse the message boards at Hot Coupon World every day, not with all the time I need for perusing scrapping blogs and MBs ;), so I subscribed to several blogs on my google reader. That way, once they update, I don't even have to go searching for the info... I can read it, email it to myself, or make a note of what it is I want to try (or to get Ginge to try out for me).

These blogs post a weekly preview for the next week of the deals available, scenarios to try, and the out of pocket cost and coupons you would need. Pretty neato and a great service.

Be Thrifty Like Us

Money Saving Mom

BeCentsable

There are tons and tons of these types of blogs out there- I suggest you look at the blogrolls/links those particular blogs have in their sidebar, and check out some other ones. It helps to find someone who is hosting a blog that has similar needs to you... they tend to post deals that are more suited to what you need (like I like to watch the ones with small kids).

One question that I've seen come up before is- why do I do all this work for something free that I don't need? Most of the time, you are going to be able to use the deals. To me, free is free. If I get something for free that I don't personally need, there is always someone else out there that can use it, whether it be in my immediate circle of friends, my family, my church, or even the local shelters, nursing homes, and charities. And hey- I can get a little warm fuzzy feeling. ;)

Please feel free to ask questions and hopefully I can point you in the right direction. I hope this info helps you out!

ETA: Elizabeth posted something in the comments I thought was really helpful: check out her blog entry about this same subject here! >> Elizabeth's shopping secrets

Photography Tip #2- Editing in Photoshop Express

I discovered this cool little tool that Photoshop put out sometime this past year, called Photoshop Express.

Basically, it's a pared down version of PS, available for free and on the internet. It's got a lot of great pre-set conversions on there to adjust your photos with a simple click of a button, without having to commit money, space on your hard drive, or time.

I highly recommend that you just go over there and play with it some, but because I know there are always links thrown at you on the internet with the persuasions of "Go on, try it, you'll like it!", I have a few sample shots of what this can do for you.

Registration is easy- just some basic information and then you're ready to go. This program seems really user friendly to me- I really like it a lot. Once you've gotten onto the actual editing program, you'll need to upload a photo.

You can upload by either bringing one in directly from your computer, or from flickr, photobucket, picasa, or facebook.

This is the one I am using... straight out of my camera.
My word, she is such a little beauty. I do not want to think of what it's going to be like around here in about 12 years.

I opened it to "edit" and then started messing around.

The first thing I did to play with this picture is to play with the saturation by clicking the "saturation" button on the left tool bar.

The neatest thing (to me) about PS Express is that every time you want to make an edit on a photo, it does this little filmstrip looking thingamajig on the top of the page. It basically is showing you different options and varying degrees of editing within that section.

The top of this one so all the different saturation options, from entirely desaturated to over-saturated. Whenever you mouse over the different mini-photos, it'll show you on the big screen what it looks like. You can always revert back to the original photo by clicking that one.

This version of the photo is with having the "Preserve Skin Tones" box checked- it makes the background black & white and the cute little model in color.
This one is with it unchecked- totally desaturated. You could do this version instead of just the "black & white" button that is further down if you wanted to tweak it more with the other buttons (like highlight, soft focus, etc.).


Another nifty little feature is the white balance adjustment... say that you always keep your camera set on the "auto" function... that usually works out best for you. But sometimes- in weird lighting- it gives you a funny tint. Or maybe you are learning the manual settings, but like me, you don't really know what you're doing yet.

This button is for you. ;)

You can select the sort of light it was taken in- or just pick the one you think looks the best from the film strip on top. It will automatically adjust it so that the color white (and all the other colors) are "true". You've also got a fill light button, which I don't really have a good example for here, but basically it means that you've taken a photo where the subject has a lot of dark shadows on their face (say, your hubby wearing a ball cap)... the fill light button will add light to the face of the person to fill in those shadows.

There's a sharpness button- with varying degress of sharpness.

(Pretty self-explanatory, huh? I told you this was user friendly!)
Some other fun stuff:

Color Pop (aka Blue Meanie Conversion)Distort:
Sketch:
Tint:
One final note- remember, you can combine several of these different options to have one final product that has a great look....

Photo turned black & white (I picked one of the versions that had more contrast):



Photo sharpened:Photo highlighted:
Photo crop & rotated:
Hmmm... a few little crumbs on that left cheek:

I'll just use the touch-up tool:
Voila!
From this:

To this:
(I personally favor the color photo a little more, but this is all just an example to get your mind going!)

Have fun and do a little playing! :) Let me know if you try it out and what you think...

p.s. I get no endorsement from Photoshop for showing this! hehe