I have had a few requests from photographers wanting to know a little more about my post processing. I don’t keep it a secret since essentially all I do is use actions other people have created. This post will not be as detailed as my last one, I suggest reading the first post I did on my signature images if you want to know more about what I do in lightroom and photoshop. My first post lacked details on my final step in photoshop where I give my images a final ‘tone’ or ‘colorshift’. This was mainly because I forgot which actions I used exactly and didn’t want to attempt to recreate them again. I mentioned in my last post that right now I am using The Colorshift Actions from Jesh De Rox to add the final look to my images. One of the main reasons I love this set of actions is how flexible they are and how they allow you to experiment and create an action mix that is your own. Experimentation is the key word in my post-processing, I do not like to use an action as it is, I enjoy getting to manipulate each part of the action until I get the ‘feel’ I am looking for in the end.

Below I have 2 images that I made sure and saved my process as I was going along.

In this final image I used the Rainforest action from the Colorshift Action Set and added the Get Faded (autumn) action from the Totally Rad Action Set 2. I am not going to spend time going through each adjustment layer and what opacity I set the action at because I want to encourage you to experiment yourself and find a mixture that you enjoy.

The image below is an example of the post-processing I used on several of the images from this particular set, this is a great example of me experimenting with an action and making it my own. You will notice I used the action Blueberry Night from the Color Shift Actions, I added 2 additional fill color layers to give the image the final look below. Setting time aside to experiment with the actions you own is great because you start getting an idea of what each action does and then you can decide how you can add to each action to push it further.

I hope this little behind the scenes look at my post processing was helpful for many of you. Just have fun and experiment with actions and see what you can create. I highly recommend using Totally Rad Actions and the Color Shift Actions in order to have the ability to experiment and make these actions your own!