I was recently contacted by sleeklens to test out and review their Portrait Photoshop Action workflow. I typically have a super simple and streamlined workflow, but I was excited to try out a new set of actions to hopefully enhance my current post-processing steps. I decided to test the Photoshop actions out on two outdoor images and three indoor, newborn, images as those are both primarily what I shoot. I have described the specific workflow that I used below each image.
Equipment used: Canon 5D Mark iii, Canon 85mm 1.2L lens
Workflow:
COLOR CORRECTION: Reduce Reds (27%) – Paint on action to reduce the reds in the boy’s face.
EXPOSURE: bright (11%) – Change the opacity to brighten the overall image, or can mask on.
BASE: Golden Hours (24%) -Adds a nice, warm glow to the image
PORTRAIT RETOUCH: Soft Skin Smoother (34%), Brighten Eyes (17%)
ENHANCE TONES: Magic Garden (14%), Dark Island (13%)
Equipment used: Canon 5D Mark iii, Sigma Art 35mm 1.4
Workflow:
COLOR CORRECTION: Reduce Reds (15%) – Paint on action to reduce the reds in the baby’s skin, Reduce Greens (50%)-Paint on action to reduce the green color casts caused by the grass outside of the light source.
ALL IN ONE: Neutral -A powerful overall action that is exactly as described, All in One. One click and exposure, color, and contrast was enhanced.
BASE: From Scratch (21%) -Added contrast and some brightness
PORTRAIT RETOUCH: Glossy Lips -Adds some shine to baby’s pouty lips.
Equipment used: Canon 5D Mark iii, Sigma Art 35mm 1.4
Workflow:
COLOR CORRECTION: Reduce Reds (16%) – Paint on action to reduce the reds in the baby’s skin, Reduce Blues (80%)-Paint on action to warm up baby’s skin.
LIGHT GLOW: Cream (12%) – Added a movable glow that I adjusted and placed in the lefthand corner of the image where the light was located.
BASE: From Cloudy Days (8%) -Brightened the image and added some contrast
PORTRAIT RETOUCH: Glossy Lips- Adds a bit of shine to mom’s lips to make them pop.
Equipment used: Canon 5D Mark iii, Sigma Art 35mm 1.4
Workflow:
COLOR CORRECTION: Reduce Reds (15%) – Paint on action to reduce the reds in the baby’s skin, Reduce Blues (50%)-Paint on action to warm up baby’s skin.
EXPOSURE: bright (11%) – Change the opacity to brighten the overall image, or can mask on.
BASE: From Bright Sunny Days (28%) -Brightened the image and added some contrast
VIGNETTE: Toned Vignettes-Cream Haze (36%)- Added a nice creamy vignette to the image. I masked it off of the baby.
Equipment used: Canon 5D Mark iii, Canon 85mm 1.2L lens
Workflow:
COLOR CORRECTION: Less Orange Juice (17%) – Quick and easy tool to reduce the orange on the family’s skin.
BASE: From Native (14%) Warmed up the image and added extra saturation
PORTRAIT RETOUCH: Fast Retouch-Rosy Blush (7%)-brushed on a bit of blush to baby’s cheeks.
ENHANCE TONES: Summer Love (7%), Hot Kiss (18%) – Both added warmth to the image
Girl Like You (6%) – Added more magenta to offset the green color casts from the trees and grass
I really enjoyed this workflow as it was super user-friendly, colors came out beautifully, most everything was fully customizable, and I could tailor each action to fit my current style. I absolutely loved the PORTRAIT RETOUCHING workflow section, specifically, because it allowed me to easily add sparkle to eyes, soften skin, add shine to lips, and add some color to cheeks, which all really comes in handy with moms and babies. The VIGNETTE workflow section was also a great help, because it allowed me to easily add vignettes in different colors to images that were appropriate. I loved being able to click one button to add a cream vignette to the newborn image. The sleeklens Photoshop Action workflow also contains actions that easily resize your image to be web-ready, which is great for quickly preparing images to share on Facebook or Instagram. You can also find them on Pinterest. Overall, I had a great experience using this workflow, and I will definitely continue to use them with my future work. A link to all of their Photoshop Actions can be found here.
They also offer Professional Retouching Services (more information here), which I am excited to try in the future for those extensive editing tasks.
KariBeth, owner and photographer of KBG Photography, is an award winning member of NAPCP (National Association of Professional Child Photographers) and is based out of the Northwest Atlanta, Georgia area. KBG Photography primarily serves, but is not limited to the following cities: Marietta, Kennesaw, Acworth, Powder Springs, Smyrna, Vinings, Roswell, and Atlanta.
