Photoshop Actions

Stop Repeating Yourself: How Photoshop Actions Can Cut Your Editing Time in Half
Workflow & Automation

Stop Repeating Yourself: How Photoshop Actions Can Cut Your Editing Time in Half

Last year I timed myself doing a standard skin retouch pass on a portrait. Frequency separation, a curves adjustment, a sharpening layer, and my usual export setup. Eleven minutes. Not bad. Then I multiplied that by the 40 portraits in the batch I was working through. That’s over seven hours of the same eleven steps, in the same order, every single time. I already had an action for most of it.

How Photoshop Actions Saved Me 6 Hours a Week (And How to Build Your Own)
Workflow & Automation

How Photoshop Actions Saved Me 6 Hours a Week (And How to Build Your Own)

Last year I tracked every click I made during a client retouching project. Not obsessively, just enough to get a rough picture. By the end of the week, I had opened the same Curves adjustment layer 47 times. Forty-seven. Same move, same starting point, same general direction every single time. That’s not editing. That’s data entry. If you’re doing anything more than a handful of images a week and you’re not using actions, you’re leaving real time on the table.

Stop Clicking the Same 12 Steps: How Photoshop Actions Actually Work (And How to Build Ones That Don't Break)
Workflow & Automation

Stop Clicking the Same 12 Steps: How Photoshop Actions Actually Work (And How to Build Ones That Don't Break)

I used to spend 20 minutes on every portrait just getting the file ready to edit. Open the raw, run the sharpening, convert to 16-bit, set up my layers, name them. Every single time. Same steps, same order, same mild frustration. I knew there was a better way. I just kept putting it off because learning actions felt like one more thing to figure out. Then I ran a batch of 200 headshots for a corporate client with a two-day turnaround, and I figured it out fast.

Master Photoshop Actions and Automation to Save Hours on Your Editing Workflow
Workflow & Efficiency

Master Photoshop Actions and Automation to Save Hours on Your Editing Workflow

Master Photoshop Actions and Automation to Save Hours on Your Editing Workflow When I first started doing professional retouching work, I was spending eight hours on tasks that could be done in two. The culprit? Repeating the same steps over and over—creating adjustment layers, naming them, adjusting curves, desaturating backgrounds. Then I discovered Photoshop actions, and honestly, they changed everything about how I approach my workday. If you’re not using actions yet, you’re leaving money on the table.