HoneyBee

You know my friend, Becky? Of course you do. I talk about her a lot. Well, here's the thing about Becky. She is very talent and super creative. She sews, cooks/bakes like the best of them (aka makes up her own recipes) and is a really good photographer. Her husband started his own film business and he travels the world creating films. But this isn't about Travis. This is about Becky. I'm telling you about them to illustrate the fact that they are creative people and know cameras. Becky recently sent me some Photoshop actions she created to try out.

Here's the thing. I usually never use actions. 

BUT guess what?

I love Becky's. 

Usually for editing, I fiddle with the levels a bit (usually making it brighter) and call it good. Because of that, 99% of my pictures look exactly the same. You can purchase Photoshop actions that automatically edit your pictures for you. I've seen some crazy actions. Ones that cast a pink overlay across the entire picture. Ones that put fake butterflies on children's noses. Really, really crazy ones. However, I've been playing around with Becky's actions for a few weeks now and I'm really impressed. Most of them are very, very practical for every day pictures. She's got a variety of black and white actions, some that use basic editing techniques that play with curves and levels, some that give the picture a slightly warmer feel, some that give the photo a slightly cooler feel, but possibly my favorites are the ones that re-size your photo for a blog button. I mean seriously? Maybe I'm that computer illiterate, but I've never been able to get it right when I've tried to re-size photos. The other actions she has that I would categorize as more 'artsy' have an instagram feel to them (which by the way, I've joined the 21st century and am now on instagram. Awesome pictures coming to this blog soon!). Several of the actions have a crossed process look to them that I really, really like. And the craziest part? She's got 25 actions in the Honey Bee line and she's selling it for $35! That's a steal, especially for good, usable actions.  Here's a small sample of how I've played with them...

Straight out of my camera

White Rabbit Action

Morning  Lights Action

Snuggling Babies Action

 Intensify Action

Christmas Cardigan Action

Softly Action

That's 6 out of the 25 she has. 

Becky's currently having a photo contest over on her blog and she's giving the winner her actions for free! You'd probably want Photoshop if you're going to enter or buy these actions. Actually, you really would want it. Photoshop is required for Photoshop actions... I've got CS5, but I'm fairly confident you don't need that version in order for these to work. Oh and remember, you can change the opacity and intensity of whatever actions you choose, so you still have a fair amount of creative control. So head on over to Becky's blog and check out examples of the other actions. She uses them all the time and her pictures have much more of a variety and are much more exciting that mine. I really need to start using these because they're easy, quick and really would bring a variety to my pictures. 

So yeah, go check it out.