Avon By The Sea & The Figura Sisters - Creative Edits

If you know me....you'll know that I love to put a little twist on many of my edits. I always do the classic color edit but when I really love a photo I can't help but give it some kind of twist in Photoshop.

Below are edits I did last night of the Figura Sisters from our beach shoot near Spring Lake & Avon By The Sea, NJ. To see more from their shoot click HERE.

I look at the photo and try to imagine what "emotion" I'd like to evoke with the photo. Sometimes it's a simple B&W conversion with the levels tweaked on the darker side, sometimes it's an action where I lower the opacity so it's not as intense and other times it's a texture applied - just because I like to be "different." LOL! These edits are not everyone's cup of tea but I love them. It's my way of being creative even though I'm "on the job."

In the examples below you'll see quite a few of the Pioneer Woman's Vintage action applied to quite a few of these (I didn't leave the action exactly as it finished...I lowered the opacity on it.). I felt it worked with a lot of these. Maybe it's because they reminded me a of a jean company advertisement from a magazine...and the softened antique look worked really well.

(click to view LARGER....much better that way!)

The same antiqu action as above, lowered opacity, and then B&W conversion over it.







I love a great texture. You can really do so much with them. It's not for everyone....but it's definitely for ME!



I really like the tones on this one! It's an action that I stop a 1/4 of the way through and then I undo a few more steps to get this coloring. I also burned the sky to make it more dramatic. My kind of sky.....



Sisters will be sisters. I love this conversion...I burned the sky a bit here as well.



The antique action again but this time I barely lowered the opacity.



Another texture!




Simple B&W conversion...



And another texture!

Pioneer Woman Photography Rocks!

My friend Cathy sent me THIS LINK because she thought I would be interested in the free photoshop actions.

I downloaded the free photoshop actions immediately began trying the actions on a portrait photoshoot I had been working on. I was sooooo impressed with the results!

I'm so thrilled with how much time some of these specific actions saved me on my work flow for this photoshoot.

I have tons of actions but sometimes there are so many that it gets overwhelming. This set is just what you need for that quick pop, boost, sharpen, color enhance, and also has a couple great B&W and vintage actions! Download them - I promise you that you will love them!

***Also, see this earlier blog post where I list more FREE PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS!

Here’s a very brief/quick rundown of the actions in this set:

1. Fresh and Colorful: Clean & crisp; works great for shots with skies and color. It has a dialogue box that pops up, so just follow the directions and go. Contains some
sharpening, so be careful about sharpening after the fact.

2. Lovely and Ethereal: Just like the name: soft, with a slight boost of color/contrast, and pleasing. Very nice for faces.

3. B&W Beauty: A nice, straightforward
black & white conversion. Fine on its own, or combined with other actions (”Boost”, for example).

4. PW’s B & W: A black & white with a little more contrast, with some burned edges at the end. Play with the “Light” layer at
the end to get the photo to the correct brightness.

5. Soft and Faded: Mellow, slightly desaturated, effect. Takes some playing around, but on the right photo it can be really nice.

6. Vintage: Old-time, weathered, aged look. It makes a pretty strong statement, so it’s usually not right for everyday snapshots. But used on the right photo, this action can be really dramatic. Also great at decreased opacity.

7. Boost: This is an awesome “pop” for just about any photo. Adds a “boost” in contrast and color, without overpowering the image. I run “Boost” after running many of the other actions in this set and I’m almost always pleased with the final result.

8. Define and Sharpen: Just like the name. Adds crispness and definition.

9. Flatten: I threw in this everyday “revert” tool to make it easy for you.

10. Slight Lighten: If the image is just a little too dark, I’ll run this at the end and it gives it just the brightness it needs.

11. Slight Sharpen: A mild unsharp mask action. Can be used twice in a row if needed.

12. Quick Edge Burn: Doug’s awesome burned-edge effect. NOTE: In many cases, the image needs to be flattened before running Quick Edge Burn or the action won’t work. So do all your other edits and save this for the end. Also, Quick Edge Burn works best when you adjust its opacity and allow the burning to fade into the woodwork a little.

13. Start All Over! Perfect for an indecisive middle child like myself who likes to try
lots of different actions on one photo. Let’s hear it for no consequences–woo
hoo!