Have you ever had a Photoshop action that gave your image a super cool effect or did
something amazing and you always wanted to learn how that action actually did it?
Well, there's a way in Photoshop that allows you to convert an Action to a step-by-step
tutorial.
Yes, there is.
No kidding.
It's automatic.
It's amazing.
And there's one more way in which you can see how the Action is doing what it's doing.
It's very easy to do.
Let me show you how.
So here we are in Photoshop with this portrait full of expressions.
And if you want to go ahead and download this photo, check the links in the description.
Now, I think it would look much better in black and white.
And let's say you have a black and white action.
So, let me just open up my Actions.
You can go to Window and then click on Actions to open it or click on this button right over
there.
Now, I have an Action collection - PIX - B&W Collection.
I just made it up for this tutorial.
And this is the Action - PIX - B&W.
Select that one, and if you play that, it's going to create an amazing, dramatic black
and white.
So you downloaded it off of internet and you always wanted to learn how that action did
it.
Well, the first way is saving an Action as a text file, so that you have the steps written.
And here's how to do it.
So, let's delete it all the way.
Not needed.
Now, click on Actions.
Actually, when you save an Action as a text file, all of the Actions are saved.
So select the set, PIX - B&W collection, and then whatever Actions that you have, and then
hold Alt and Ctrl.
First, hold the Alt, then the Ctrl / Option + Command on a Mac.
When you're holding those two buttons, click on this grid and select Save Actions.
Now, it's going to ask you for a location.
So I'm going to save it in PIX - Action Test.
I've made a folder and I'm going to name it Actions1.txt.
Let's save it.
Now let's see what that txt file has.
So if I open up that txt file, have a look at this, it has all the sets.
So, the first set is Horizontal Curve, the second set is PIX - Color Grading.
So, it has saved everything as I said before.
So, if I minimize it, have a look, all the sets it has saved, but we only need this one.
If you need all of them, you got them.
But if you only need that one, just delete them.
So PIX - B&W is the name of the Action.
So we're going to go back to our Notepad.
So for all the sets, so, the last set was PIX - B&W collection.
So, this is the only one you need.
And inside of that there are two actions.
So action PIX - B&W and there was one more Action which was Auto Everything.
We don't need that.
We just need PIX - B&W.
So what you can do, you can just simply select it, all right, and then press Ctrl or Command
+ X as cut.
Ctrl or Command + A, select all.
Delete all of them and then paste it, Ctrl or Command + V. Simple stuff.
Now, it has all the details right over here.
The first detail is Make.
What do we make?
We make a New Channel.
And how do we make the Channel?
Using Calculations.
So we have our first clue.
So, New Channel using the Calculations.
So, we're going to go to Image and then Calculations.
And then we are going to make New Channel.
Result = New Channel.
Let's open up the Notepad again.
And source is Blue Channel.
Calculation is Multiply.
Opacity, 90.
Alright, Source, we can select Channel - Blue Channel - Multiply.
It's okay.
Opacity was 90, right?
And then you can just follow along.
Source 2 is Red Channel.
Source 2, we have already selected Red Channel.
That's fine.
And once you're okay with it, hit OK.
And all you have to do is follow these steps and you'll be good to go.
Now there's one more way to do it if this is confusing to you, but having it as a text
file also allows you to have something solid.
Print it, maybe, and follow along.
Anyway, let me show you one more way, which also shows you what it does.
Alright, so let's close it and let's go back.
We don't want to save it.
So this was the thing right?
You can simply open up your Actions.
And this was the Action that we wanted to know, PIX - B&W.
You can just expand it.
Now, first one is Make.
You can actually expand it and see the exact same thing.
What were we making?
New Channel.
Using what?
Calculations, and all the detailed stuff.
If you want to learn, if you're still confused what that step does, you can actually double
click just on that step, and only that step will be finished.
See, the Calculations appear with all these settings that we wanted.
Right.
90% Blue over Red.
So on and so forth and hit OK.
Now, you wanted to learn what the second step does.
Second step just makes a selection of everything.
If you did not understand this, just double click on it.
See, everything is now selected.
So that is how you can reveal any action that you have.
You can learn the secret of any action and replicate it in your own way.
I hope this video helped you decode any Action in Photoshop and if it did, make sure to give
us a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not just subscribe, ring the bell so that
you, my friend, don't miss any other future tip, trick or tutorial.
Thank you so much for watching.
Thank you for your support.
I'll see you guys in my next one.
Till then, stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating.