"Magic" Photoshop Action for Layered Workflow

Do I use Curves or Levels first? O’Reilly author Ken Milburn got an email from a reader asking about his magically layer-creating action for Photoshop that he describes in the second edition of his book Digital Photography Expert Techniques, and I thought everyone might like to share. You can apply this action to any file you’ve just opened for processing, and you’ll have an ordered framework of layers for making your initial adjustments according to the good workflow procedures Ken outlines in the book. Here are the instructions Ken sent that reader for creating the action yourself:

1. Create a new action in Photoshop.

2. Create a new layer and name it Spotting, Retouching, or whatever. Have it selected when you’re spotting and have the “Sample All Layers” box checked.

3. Create another new layer and name it “Burn and Dodge”. Put that Layer into Overlay mode. Then choose Edit > Fill Layer and fill it with 50% Gray. Later, you will use the Brush tool with the default White and Black colors at about 8% opacity to do your burning and dodging. It acts more light Fill Light than the burn tool, doesn’t throw out anything, and you can restore the original by painting in 50% gray or simpling re-filling the whole layer and starting over. You can even make several of these layers…each to burn and dodge different parts of the image at different intensities. Talk about control!



4. Make a new Levels Adjustment Layer. It will label itself. After you’ve created the Action, follow my instructions in the book for adjusting Levels channel by channel first (which also color balances), then adjust over-all exposure with the RGB channel.

5. Make a new Curves Adjustment Layer. It will label itself. Change the mode for this layer to Luminosity (keeps your adjustments from affecting color balance). After you’ve created the Action, use this layer for overall adjustment of the contrast in the image for specific levels of brightness by adjusting specific portions of the curve. Later in the workflow, you can do the same for specific physical areas in the image by pre-masking them using any of the selection tools and then feathering the selection so that it blends.

6. Make a new Color Balance Adjustment Layer. It will label itself. After you’ve created the Action, follow my instructions in the book for adjusting Levels channel by channel first (which also color balances), then adjust over-all exposure with the RGB channel.

The image shows how the layers palette will look after you run the action. For more on the actual adjustments that take place at each stage, check out Ken’s book.