I have a soft spot for post-processing and love editing just as much as I like taking the image. I recently spoke with senior photographer Krista Campbell and loved hearing about her favorite action sets to use in Adobe Photoshop. I have my own post-processing workflow down to almost a science and but I always enjoy hearing about how others process their images. I especially love Krista’s vibrant colors that she brings out in her senior photography. She’s sharing her three favorite action sets and what she likes to use to enhance her photography style.
What are your favorite action sets that you use for your senior images? I have three I love to use when editing my senior images:
Michelle Kane’s Botanical Blends $85
Florabella- Colorplay (I used Perfect Color’ and Matte Film) $129
Paint the Moon — Luminosity (here I used ‘Adeline’ and ‘Deep Rich Matte’) $179
What makes each set different? Do they work well together or separately in your workflow? Michelle Kane’s Botanical Blends are the perfect set to add beautiful color and rich tones to my images. In the images above I used the Spicy actions with a lavender tone to give a beautiful finish.
Florabella’s Colorplay actions are so versatile. There are actions for every image in this set! I love these actions for their crisp, clean, look. They make my images pop and enhance the color beautifully. They are perfect for backlit and hazy images, too. Here I used Perfect Color (my favorite!) and matte film. I also love to add Matte Film to my black and white images.
Paint the Moon — Luminosity action set adds a touch of whimsy and light to my senior images. When I want a soft, sweet action to use on my images, I always go to a Luminosity action. In these soft, romantic images of seniors in flower crowns, I wanted to add a touch of soft richness. I used Adeline and Deep Rich Matte to bring out the rich colors of the roses.
Are the layers adjustable in each set? Each of these action sets is customizable and adjustable, which is what I love about these three. They give me the freedom to customize each action to my own taste by decreasing the opacity or even turning off different layers to give me a look that fits my style.
Do you find you need to adjust them a lot or do they need minimal tweaking? I typically reduce the opacity of each action set to 30% to 50%. I never run an action at 100%. Because I work hard to get my exposure right in camera, I don’t need to add a heavy action to my images. I use an action to add vibrance to each image and a touch of softness to enhance the light that is already there in my image.
All photos by Krista Campbell
