13 Free Photoshop Actions That Will Save You A Lot of Time

Have you ever heard of Photoshop actions? If you haven’t, wow, you’re missing out on a lot! Photoshop actions are the universe’s gift to photographers and avid Photoshop users. They’re simply a series of recorded Photoshop steps that will achieve a look without the user having to manually apply each process. For example, if you want your photo to have a certain vintage look, you just can click a single Photoshop action button and, bam, it does all the work for you! Photoshop actions are a powerful time saver.

Of course, you’ll have to create a list of Photoshop actions in the actions palette first. Instead of spending hours creating each action, you can easily download already-made actions. We compiled a list of the best free Photoshop actions we’ve ever seen online. Want to create a certain type of photo? We probably have an action for it! Check out the following list to see some of the gems we’ve found.

Polaroid

Many of us are still grieving over the death of the Polaroid camera a few years ago, so that’s why we became all giddy when we came across this action. Now we can pretend that we’re in the 80s by effortlessly churning out Polaroid-style photos!

Reddish 1970s style

If you want your photo to look like it stepped out of the 1970s, this action is the perfect thing to use!

Black and white

Sure, it might be easy to remove color from photos on Photoshop, but this action helps your photos achieve the right contrast and keeps it from looking flat.

Faded-out vintage effect

A lot of Photoshopped vintage photos look flat and dull. That won’t happen with this action! This action has the ability to add a faded-out vintage effect to your photo and still keep the contrast found in modern photos.

Sun kissed

Some photos may come out too harsh and cold. This action will fix the problem right away! It adds a softer “sun-kissed” hue to the photo.

Retro

There are many retro Photoshop actions floating around the web, but we’ve found this one to be among the best. It actually adds depth to your photos.

Neon vintage

Add a splash of color to your photo with this neat action! This look would be perfect for a print advertisement or an album cover.

Early 1900s style

If you want to add an early 1900s effect to your photo, this is the perfect action to use. After you’re done with it, no one will even figure that your photo was actually taken within the past 50 years!

Washed out

When it comes to photography, the term “washed out” has a negative connotation. A washed out photo is overexposed and usually looks terrible. Once Photoshop came around, people started realizing that washed out photos didn’t always have to look bad! They can actually make something in the photo pop out against the background. This action washes out your photos, adds a vintage filter, and leaves your photo looking whimsical and beautiful.

Professional portrait

This action will have your portrait looking like it came out of a magazine. You can play around with the sharpness and saturation, and the action will do the rest.

Bold & colorful

This action removes the dull grey aspect of your photo, increases contrast, and performs other magic tricks to make your photo come out bold and colorful.

Pop Art Comic effect

How cool is this action? It turns any ordinary photo into something that looks like it came out of an old-school comic strip!

Framed

Have you ever struggled to add a simple white frame to your photos? If so, this action is for you. You can choose a frame size and then sit back while it does all the dirty work.

So, there, you have the 13 best free Photoshop actions we’ve found on the Internet. If you know of an action that you feel should belong to this list, please don’t hesitate to let us know!

This guest article was written by Simon (better known as SimonTheSorcerer online). He is working for Jangomail a mass email service provider. You can check out more of his work at his own blog.