How to Create Photoshop Actions

Photoshop actions are extremely useful. With the right actions, you can save a lot of time and effort. Not to mention they’re incredibly fun to use.

To me, the best part about actions is their ability to capture certain looks and styles though. Every photographer in the world can keep a little collection of preset looks just for their photos. Then they also have the option to pick up some specialty actions from stores like FilterGrade. Pretty awesome, isn’t it?

We put this little tutorial, and infographic, together so you can create your own Photoshop actions. Don’t forget to check out our other Photoshop action related tutorials as well:

Step One

To start you’re going to want to open a photo or design to make the action with. For this tutorial, I went with this lovely photo from Barn Images.

Step Two

Next we’re going to head to the actions panel and get started! If you don’t see the actions panel, click Window > Actions and it will appear.

To start either click the drop-down menu and select “New Action” or go to the bottom of the actions panel and click the icon to the left of the trash can.

Step Three

After clicking one of the icons to create your action, give it an appropriate name and click record. Don’t worry about the set until you have groups of actions. You can also leave Function Key set to none and the color set to none while we’re getting started.

Step Four

After clicking record, you should see a little red icon appear along with your new action in the Actions Panel. When this red dot is selected, it means you are recording. Be aware of every effect you add, button you click, and layer you make while doing so as they all get captured and recorded into the action.

Step Five

Now you are ready to go. Start adding adjustment layers, effects, and other custom edits to your photo.

Step Six

After you’ve finished adding everything to your action click the stop icon directly to the left of the recording icon. This will complete your Photoshop action and stop recording.

Step Seven

That is about it for creating the action. To see it on your photo, click the play button, directly to the right of the recording icon.

Step Eight

Boom! You’ve successfully created and played your first Photoshop actions. Congratulations! After you click play, the action will go through your recorded steps and apply them to your photo or design.