Quote:
Originally Posted by adrianka
Very true. Sometimes I even like the "before" more than the "after". Even with some of my favourite action authors.
Still, with some shots actions can help to improve the quality. My favourite set is Blessings by Paint the Moon. But before investing into actions I'd try some freebies. Paint the Moon had a freebie called Wonder Quickie, which is a totally great one for basic tweaking. I don't know if it's still online. But it's good to play with the freebies to learn if the particular author's products are worth investing into.
As far as non-action tweaking is concerned, I love Curves in Photoshop + duplicating pictures and playing with their Overlay / Opacity. |
I'm also a weird one who most of the time likes the photo pre-actioned. They usually just need a white balance adjustment and a curves bump and some sharpening in my eye. I think in the photography world (correct me if I'm wrong) I prefer a more "clean edit" than a artistic one that you often get with these actions. Part of me wants to invest in some of these (TRA ones especially) but then another part of me is like "learn your freaking program and make your own!! Actions aren't magic, they are just a series of steps!!" So that is my own internal debate on the subject, it just depends on the day, which way I lean.
I do have to say though I do love my MCP Facebook Fix action. It does the job well and I don't have to remember sharpening setting for the FB size. It was free from her site.