Thursday Tip: Best Actions for Dark Pics

Last week I was talking about which actions I think are best for very bright photos, so today I thought I'd talk about which ones are best for dark pics. Now when I say dark obviously I don't mean under-exposed photographs but rather pics like this one below where there's no white dress and no sky and quite dark tones in the background.

Now the great thing about pics like this is that they can actually take the strong actions on better than bright photos and you're less likely to lose any content. I found that most of our actions worked on this particular photo but settled on these 8 as the best of the bunch!

Actions used:

From Set I & II - Basic Pop, Vintage Rose and Pistachio Haze

From Set III - Vanilla Milkshake and Petal

From Set IIII - Silver Plate, Super 8 and Malibu

Categories: Actions Advice, Actions for Dark Photos, Devlin Photos Set I and II, Devlin's Actions Set III, Devlins Actions Set 4

Featured Actions: Mint Julep + Silverback (both Set III)

At the very first Photography Farm Lisa photographed the lovely Heather and Rob's engagement shoot, so she was super excited for their wedding at Grittenham Barn last week. 

She whipped out a couple of favourites from Set III for the processing - Mint Julep for the colour pics and Silverback for the black and whites! Here's a couple of examples for you to swoon over!

Mint Julep and Silverback are both available for £5 each or as part of Set III for £50.

Here's a little pic from their engagement shoot last year too, well it'd be rude not to...

Processed with Cinnamon Toast (Set III) and 35% Chocolate Wash (Set I & II).

Categories: Actions, Black and White Action, Classic Actions, Devlin Photos, Mint Julep Action, Silverback Action

Action Of The Week: Venice Beach

You may remember we featured Venice Beach last Wednesday - Lisa used it on Steph and Russell's very cute engagement shoot in Brighton, so today we're adding it to our set of individual actions available for just £5 each! A little warm, a little hazy, a little grainy... enjoy!

Categories: Action Of The Week, Actions, Cheap Actions, Devlin Photos Set 4, Photoshop Actions, Venice Beach Action

Friday Action

Yaaay! It's Friday! And have we got a treat for you today... this lovely little action Basic Cool for just £1! Great for accentuating blue eyes, cooling down pics with strong warm tones or just adding a subtle colour tint.

Happy Friday!

Thursday Tip: Best Actions for Bright Pics

I'm sure like us here at Devlin Photos Photoshop Actions you all have your favourites to use on specific types of photos, some are better at brightening a pic, others work best at knocking back warm tones, some are particularly flattering on skin tone etc etc. 

This week I've been experimenting with which of our actions are top for using on photographs that are already very bright (have lots of highlights or are shot into the light) and below is what I found! I think all these actions work really well on this photograph that Lisa shot of Claire into the low evening sun, 

Let me know what you think,

Actions used:

From Set I & II - Dusty Black & White and Chocolate Wash

From Set III - Mint Julep and Toffee Apple

From Set IIII - Stardust, Venice Beach and California

Categories: Actions for Bright Photos, Devlin Photos Set I and II, Devlin's Actions Set III, Devlins Actions Set 4, Shooting into the light

Featured Action: Venice Beach (Set IIII)

As I'm sure you're all aware by now our most recent set of actions was inspired by our lil trip to the States earlier this year (if you haven't already seen our video, check out it out here) and Lisa is loving playing around with them on her latest e-shoots and weddings! Here is "Venice Beach" in all it's glory on this super cute Brighton e-shoot...

Click on the image to view full shoot.

Categories: Devlin Photos Set 4, Venice Beach Action

Action Of The Week

Woah! Today we're putting Silverback on sale for just £5! Lisa used it last week on Christine and Fadi's wedding pics and it's a firm favourite of ours at Devlin Photos Photoshop Actions. Enjoy this simple but very classic action...

Categories: Black and White Actions, Cheap Actions, Classic Actions, Silverback Action

Making the most out of your Freebies

Morning everyone! So you've downloaded Basic Pop, Highlight Rescue, and Basic Haze for free and Basic Warmth for £1? Now it's time to make the most of them. Well I've rustled up some examples here of how to use them in different combinations, basically - how to make the most of them! See how I've created 4 different but simple looks on this one image. Have fun experimenting!

Categories: Basic Haze Action, Basic Pop Action, Basic Warmth Action, Combining Actions, Highlight Rescue Action, Using Actions

Vegas Revisited!

On Thursday and Friday we had the perfect excuse to revel in memories of our trip to Vegas earlier this year. The lovely Danielle (who Lisa shot with her husband Jose in the Nevada desert while we were out there) posted a two part tale recounting the trip. Well we both LOVED looking through her pics and watching her very skillfully edited home-video which totally encapsulated it all. 

We thought we'd share this little gem of a photo from the desert shoot taken by Danielle, we feel it sums us up nicely! 

Read Danielle's posts here:

Adventures in Las Vegas by Danielle

Rock N' Roll Las Vegas Day 

See all the pics from Lisa's shoot of Danielle and Jose here:

Nevada Desert Love Shoot

And read my account of our trip here:

Viva Las Vegas

Happy Friday!

Well would you believe it's Friday again! And as usual we have a little something for you. However, we have had to make a minor adjustment. Due to being completely inundated with sales from our previous freebies our admin duties have risen considerably so we've had to make this a £1 action instead of a freebie. 

Many apologies but hey, £1 is still a bargain right?! Today we have a lovely little tone called 'Basic Warmth' for you, great for adding that little something extra to a slightly cool photo or a grey day :)

Have a great weekend,

Categories: Cheap Actions, Warming Action

Thursday Tip: Experiment

So you've bought some of our actions? Well now it's time to experiment! The best advice I can give is to try them all, make some favourites and figure out what works for you. Remember not all of the actions will look good on every photo! It depends on the light, the colours and so much more, so remember to revisit actions that may not have worked for you before. We'll be giving you more advice soon on what we think are some of our best actions for specific light conditions. As well as all this, don't forget to try the actions on other images besides weddings. Lots of them are super flattering on skin tones so are perfect for portraits - especially of little ones (see below for an example by Lisa), and we LOVE using them on still lives. 

Have fun guys!

 Sunset Boulevard is part of Set IIII.

Categories: Actions Advice, Actions for childrens portraits, Devlins Actions Set 4, Sunset Boulevard Action, Thursday Tip

Featured Action: Silverback (Set III)

This has to be one of my favourite black and white actions of all time. I like to use something a little bit different to traditional black and white but also like to keep it classic. I think Silverback really fits the bill for this. It softens an image but also adds atmosphere. Below is an example from a wedding I used it on recently...

(click on the image to see all the pics from this wedding)

Silverback is available as part of Set III and we have also created a variation of it with added grain (Casablanca) for our new Set IIII. 

Categories: Black and White Actions, Devlin Photos Set 4, Devlin's Actions Set III, Silverback Action

Action Of The Week

After featuring a stunning example of Vanilla Milkshake on one of Lisa's shots from a Brighton engagement shoot last week we thought it only right to make it Action of the Week. So here it is, Vanilla Milkshake for just £5! Go crazy guys!

(Below is another example of the gorgeous creamy-ness this action adds and it's also great for evening out skin tone!) 

Vanilla Milkshake and 9 more actions are available in Set III.

Categories: Cheap Actions, Creamy Action, Devlin's Actions Set III, Vanilla Milkshake Action

Landscape Processing

A couple of weeks ago, during a holiday in Palm Springs, me and the fella decided to avoid sitting by the pool during a wind storm and took a little trip up to Joshua Tree National Park instead. 

It was out of this world! Truly like being inside a Dali painting! 

I couldn't wait to get home and process my pics. I decided to keep it simple but dramatic with Heavy Black and White from Set I & II... I think it works quite nicely...

ORIGINAL:

 

with HEAVY BLACK & WHITE:

Categories: Black and White Actions, Devlin Photos Set I and II, Heavy Black and White, Photoshop Actions

Freebie Friday

Happy Freebie Friday everyone! 

Our gift for you this week is 'Basic Haze'. A handy little tool we've cooked up to give your pics a nice soft light, very simple and very effective. Use it over the top of other actions or on its own to add a subtle dreamlike quality...

Categories: Basic Haze Action, Free Action, Hazy Actions, Photoshop Actions

Thursday's Tip: Opacity Is Your Friend

Firstly a heads up, pro-photoshoppers this ain't for you! But not everyone's a pro right? So...

Today I wanted to chat about what we here at Devlin Photo's Photoshop Actions consider one of THE most important tools when it comes to using actions. And that is opacity.  Here it is look...

If you mess about with your opacity tool you can hugely diversify your set of actions, 10 can become 30!

Below is a couple of examples of what I consider to be 2 of our heaviest actions and how to use them to their maximum potential.

Get creative guys, opacity is your friend ;)

 

Pistachio and Cookies + Cream are both part of Set I & II which you can buy here.

Categories: Cookies and Cream Action, Devlin Photos Set I and II, Opacity, Photoshop Actions, Pistachio Action

Featured Action: Vanilla Milkshake (Set III)

I've been all about our new set of actions lately so last week I decided to tear myself away from them and revisit set III. I'd forgotten how much I love Vanilla Milkshake so I used it to process this engagement shoot on Brighton Beach. I knocked it back to 50% and just love the creamy tones - perfect for a super sunny day like this to soften the light a little...

Click on this image to view the whole shoot.

Categories: Brighton Engagement Shoot, Devlin's Actions Set III, Vanilla Milkshake Action

Action Of The Week

You may have noticed lately that I have been using CALIFORNIA like it's going out of fashion (see our Featured Action post from last week)! So I thought why not have it as Action Of the Week so can use it for yourselves for just £5.

It's from our spangly new Set IIII so it's a great opportunity for you to experiment with our latest efforts without splashing out too much cash.

Below is California on a pic from our recent trip to Vegas (the trip that inspired this new set!)

Enjoy,

Categories: California Action, Cheap Actions, Devlin Photos Set 4, Photoshop Actions