Creating Actions for Productivity and Fun in Photoshop

Practice makes perfect, but when it comes to repeating the same steps in Photoshop over and over, the result is often tedium and impatience. You wouldn’t want to have to reinvent the wheel each time you wanted to go for a spin around the block, so why repeat the labor needed to carry out specific tasks if you don’t have to? Photoshop lets you record steps by using a fast and fun feature called Actions.

Photoshop actions are similar to the macro recording features found in your word processing or spreadsheet program, but they’re usually easier to create and have capabilities custom-tailored for image editing and customization.

For example, Photoshop has preset actions to create a wood frame, simulate water reflections, or provide a molten lead look. You can also use preset actions to create filterlike effects. And then there are the chores you can automate on your own.

Using the Actions Palette
Not surprisingly, a palette is dedicated to the automation of various chores. To view the Actions palette, choose Window➪Actions (or press F9), or click the Actions tab in its palette group or in the Palette Well. You can view the Actions palette in two different modes, each of which is useful in its own way.

Here’s a short description of each mode:
-->List mode: List mode is the default display in which each action is shown as a folderlike heading. You can open the heading to reveal all the steps within the action or collapse the heading to hide them. You operate in List mode when you record an action and when you edit individual steps. List mode also lets you perform only some of the steps in a macro.

-->Button mode: Button mode, shown in Figure 6-2, is a convenient, compact mode that hides all the inner workings of the actions, presenting only a button face that you can click to trigger a particular macro. Button mode is fast and easy; just click and go.