Current music:	Brett Denner - Fig Tree
Entry tags:	actions, tutorials

Action: DarkBase (for Photoshop)
Action: to brighten dark caps quickly

Sample:


Working with Supernatural caps can be horribly tedious because they are so dark. You always have to brighten them a lot before you can actually start working with them. Whenever I make SPN icons, I always get a bit robotic at first where I start by opening up a bunch of caps I want to use and then I crop them all before I start working on them.

Because I usually make really big batches, I often create Actions for myself to speed up the process and save me some valuable time.

I thought I might share one of my actions with you, just in case you'd appreciate the time you save by using it ;-)

This action is for brightening dark Supernatural caps. It's easily customizable.

In case you aren't familiar with actions, I hope you'll still be able to follow this tutorial because actions are a beautiful thing when it comes to making large batches.



Step 1: Download this action DarkBase


Step 2: Press the little arrow in the Actions window and select "Load actions". Find the action you downloaded from me (DarkBase.atn) and load it.

At the bottom of your actions, you will get a new folder called "DarkBase" and under it one "Set" of actions called "DarkBase".

PS screen cap for visual help:



Step 3: In order for you to use this action, the picture you are working with must still be "locked". In case you don't know what that means, it's when you open a picture in Photoshop and the layer is called "Background" and has a small lock beside the name. Unlocking the layer is a feature in the action. If your layer is already unlocked and you try to play the action, you will get a pop-up window asking you if you still want to continue, and if you press yes, it will simply skip the step of unlocking the layer and continue on with all the steps in the action.


Step 4: When you have your image ready, all you have to do is make sure you have the action selected and then press the little Play button below the action.

What this action does is very simple and easy (but tedious after awhile):

i) Unlock the base
ii) Duplicate the base and set it to "Screen"
iii) Duplicate the screened layer
iiii) Duplicate the screened layer again
iiiii) Duplicate the base layer, drag it on top and set it to "Soft Light"

Simple and easy!! :D

Based on the original image you used, you might have to delete one or two of the screened layers or even add some more. Just depends. Play with it.