Photography is one of my favorite hobbies, and while I am not a professional, I have spent the last 2 years learning everything I could and trying to improve my skills. Occasionally people will approach me about taking family, or senior pictures.
This past weekend I did a quick shoot for a friend of mine, and it was the first time I got to try out my 85mm lens (which I LOVE). I also got to try out my newly-purchased action set from Greater Than Gatsby.
I have been eyeballing their action sets for a LONG time, but didn’t feel like I could justify buying them until I had more steady photography jobs. Well, that day finally came and I decided to go with the Innocence Collection retouch and workflow sets.
I LOVE them! They completely changed the way I edit, and what I am able to do with my shots.
Here is one before:
And here is the after:
I used several of the retouch brushes on her face and hair, and then used the emotional color base. I use the artistic enhancements Amelia Bedelia, Paddington, and Strenga Nova at varying opacities. I masked the enhancements off of my subject, and then used the revive skin, and fill flash brushes. Isn’t she a cutie?
Here is another before and after:
I used largely the same editing process as I did in the first picture, but I reduced some redness on him because he had a sunburn. I worked her skin more than I usually would for an adult, but I was just having fun and playing with my new tools.
So, you may be asking, what the heck are Photoshop actions? Actions are a series of editing steps that have been “recorded” and then flattened into one step, so you can perform sometimes difficult Photoshop techniques with one click. To utilize these actions you need to have Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or Lightroom.
You need to have a basic, rudimentary knowledge of Photoshop to use actions, but this is by far the easiest action set I have ever used. A pop-up box tells you exactly how to use the action you choose, and what the recommended opacity is.
There are some great tutorials on the Greater Than Gatsby site that walk you through how they edited a picture in the collection as well.
I am not a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination, so don’t be harsh about my photography and editing skills. I am just a mom and blogger with a camera who has a lot of fun taking pictures. I know that I have room for improvement. But this action set made is SO MUCH easier for me to achieve the look I was going for. While many professional photographers use Greater Than Gatsby’s actions, they are also accessible for us moms who just want to take nice pictures of our kids.
As beautiful as their actions are, what impressed me most about the company was their stellar customer service. I contacted them about doing this review, and not only did the owner personally email me back with a coupon code for my readers, he did it within 15 minutes! I love supporting small businesses, but even more so when they are such awesome companies!
So whats that I said about a coupon code? Click here to check out their amazing products, and then use the code RICHEDIT for 15% off your order!
Normally I would just add a little disclaimer, but I want to clarify something. While I DO receive a commission on purchases generated from this post, I did NOT receive the action set I purchased at a discount or as a promotion. I contacted THEM about their products because I loved them that much! So this is a completely unbiased, and unsolicited review.
And here is one more pic of my daughter that I took to check the lighting and hastily edited:
If you want to boost your editing, or have been eyeballing these actions for a while, go get them! You will not regret it!
This post contains affiliate links. I am compensated for purchases made from clicking these links. This enables me to keep this blog going and helps me to support my family. Thanks!
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