Image Enhancement Downloads
Descriptions marked with an 
image icon link to a web page, snapshot or rollover of the effect.
Descriptions marked with an 
info icon link to a PDF or webpage set of instructions.
3-D BW Action , George Rosema, 11/25/2004 
3-D Color Action
Create 3-D images. The PDF contains instructions and a link to George's website for free glasses and other examples. 
A2D Infrared, Addicted to Design, 2/11/2007
Creates a copy of the open image, then applies a steps that produce an approximation of an infrared shot. Examples on the Addicted to Design website.
A2D Lomo, Addicted to Design, 2/11/2007
Mimics the effect of the Russian Lomographic camera, stylized with image drop-off at the edges. Alex of Addicted to Design provides other examples on his website.
Airbrush, Shannon Beauford, 6/20/2008
A portrait action that allows the user to remove blemishes without losing skin texture.
Airbrushing Action set, Ronald Clercx, 6/5/2004
An action set that helps automate airbrush effects. These are not one-click run-stop actions, but guide an iterative process.
Alabaster Portrait, Feivel, 12/13/2003
Feivel's venerable portrait action creates a high tone image with a distinctive, romantic look.
Aly's Color, Alyson Comacho, 6/12/2006
Simple, straightforward action that gives a very mild color boost. Alyson Comacho tells us, "I use it routinely on most of my color images and don't do anything else to it after that."
Aly's Vintage, Alyson Comacho, 5/7/2006
A set of six actions that apply various "vintage photo" effects to digital images.
AutoColor, Shane Metler, 1/6/2004
Improvement of Photoshop's auto color adjustment that separates light, dark, and mid-range tones and applies individual color correction. Best on undersaturated natures and scenics.
Basic Workflow v.20, (includes batch version) Jim Reynolds, 8/16/2005
Jim's basic workflow which runs Neat Image, if installed, TLR Sharpening, available on this site, auto color with a blend layer, and changes the saturation level back to default. Uncheck features you do not use. Batch mode version included i the set.
Bloom Effect, Shannon Beauford, 6/21/2008
Causes highlights to bloom. Works best with landscapes, providing greater contrast.
Bruce's HighKey Action, Bruce Neville, 2/27/2006
Creates a sketchlike effect by dropping out colors and emphasizing hightones.
Burke Line Drawing Resize, Burke/Jim Lewis, 1/28/2005
Resizes low rez line drawings, such as gif files, with little loss of quality. Works well on scanned line art.
Canon Soft Recovery, Andrea Walter, 4/12/2009
Andrea's action is specifically designed for Canon digital cameras to increase saturation and contrast, recover shadows, and maintain the details. Andrea designed this to give a "Nikon-like" look.
Caponigro Adjustments, v.2.0 Jim Lewis, 3/19/2006
Based on selective dodging and burning technique outlined by John Paul Caponigro in the January/February, 2006 issue of Digital Photo Pro. Subtle and Intense versions. Adjust layer opacity at end.
Carnival Action, Michelle Nicole, 6/03,2009
Designed to give a vintage look and feel to your outdoor photos. Requires 8-bit mode. Adjust opacity of the "carnival" layer as needed. Effect can range from slightly warm (10-20%) to classic faded Kodachrome (100%).
Cartoon Action, Maureen Barberio and Sharon Lee Core, 9/26//2004
Turns a photo into a cartoon or comic.
Color Boost, Shannon Beauford, 10/27/2007
One-click action to boost color saturation in your image.
Comic Effect Action, A90Six, 7/28/2007
This comic effect for his son works in CS2+ and must be used on an 8-bit image.
Contrast Mask, Chip Springer, 11/18/2007
A contrast mask is a tone mapping technique that lightens dark areas and darkens light areas. You can run this action on every image and reduce the effect as needed.
Dave Beaman's Ethereal Glow, Dave Beaman, 3/27/2004
A one-step action that creates a glow effect in either b/w or color.
Dave's IR Actions, Dave Jaseck, updated 3/21/2006
An updated version of one of first actions contributed to Action Central. Fakes an IR look and optionally color by reducing layer opacity. Your image must be in 8-bit mode.
Dave's Simplifier v.2, Dave Jaseck, 5/8/2004
Provides a painted effect by eliminating unimportant color detail. Unlike posterization, the histogram shows a lot of detail.
Distortion Correction Nikon 18-105, Joel Karnofsky, 8/14/2009
When run within PanoTools (free), provides accurate, radial distortion correction for the Nikon 18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens based on focal length and focus distance inputs. Archive includes installation instructions, script, and action that calls the script.
DK Color Vibrance, Daniel Kvarfordt, 5/4/2008
Creates a saturation layer with a mask that targets the low saturated parts of the image, an effect similar to the vibrance option in ACR. .
Doug's File Handling Actions, Doug Bardell, 8/14/2005
A set of actions the contributors Doug Bardell uses in everyday Photoshop® operations.
Draganizer, Sharon Lee Core, 11/15/2004
Creates the Dragan effect.
Dynamic Mask, Shannon Beauford, 2/12/2009
Increases the dynamic range of an image and adds color contrast. Groups all adjustment layers, adds a mask and leaves original background image untouched. If color contrast is too intense, change layer 2 from overlay to soft light.
Edgarian Blur, Howard Owen, 5/3/2004
Attractive blur action for portraits, named it for the man who described the technique, Albert Edgar, PhD. Instructions in the action.
Editorial/Lomo, Shannon Beauford, 10/14/2007
Set of two actions. Editorial creates the look of a fashion editorial. Lomo creates the look of lomography through cross processing.
Ethereal Effect, Juan García Gálvez, 8/10/2006
Provides selective blurring of the highlights, which softens facial tones. Adjust opacity and paint out the effect on the layer mask in black. .
Flawless Portrait, Shannon Beauford, 10/14/2007
Removes skin imperfections without blurring hair or eyes. Action includes step-by-step instructions. I recommend practicing to get the mask right. The effect can be quite subtle.
FX Pastel Transitions, Creative Drawer, 4/24/2009
Beautiful, soft, effect with twenty pastel color variations (twenty actions) for PS7 through CS4, English only. Easy to run with no stops or dialog boxes. Effect can be applied with the gradient right to left or left to right. PDF includes color swatches and instructions for making adjustments.
Glamor Blur, Edgard Berendsen, 4/16/2005
Blurs skin tone but, by finding edges, keeps details in place. Can also be applied to an inverted selection or painted out on the mask.
Gothic Glow, Feivel, 12/6/2003
Gives a glowing and feathering effect to an image. Can be applied to the entire image or a section, depending n which version of the action you select.
Hasselblad Softar #2 Filter Effect, Dave Jaseck, 11/7/2008
Allows selective softening of skin and provides a slight glow around highlights.
Haze Cutter. v.2, Jim Lewis, 4/10/2009
Uses a method described by Tim Grey to selectively reduce haze in images, with enhancements by JJ McAssey. Action is self-guiding.
JGG Sunset Optimizer, José Fàbreba & Juan García Gálvez, 8/22/2008
Brings warmth and vitality to color landscapes through LAB adjustment. Run twice to intensify effect.
Kent's LensBlur, Kent Christiansen, 11/15//2004
Mimics the effect of the popular “LensBaby.” The action has 3 main aspects, explained in the PDF.
Kent's Quick Retouch Batch Processor, Kent Christiansen, 10/2//2005
Quick batch processing of multiple images that gives images a quick 'snapshot' adjustment. Great teaching tool for batch processing. Archive contains the action, instructions, and an image showing batch dialogue settings.
Kent's Sketch and Charcoal Smudge, Kent Christiansen, 9/6/2007
Sketch and charcoal smudge action set with separate versions for CS3, CS/CS2 and PS7, which do not. Archive contains a PSD file that contains the texture and a readme file with instructions. Mike Warren provided workflow help.
Kent's Skin Fix v.1, Kent Christiansen, 10/20/2004
A set of actions for smoothing skin. Complete instructions.
LAB Saturation Actions, Alessandro Di Sciascio, 9/24/2006
First action boosts saturation of all colors through a LAB boost, the other does the same, but protects skin colors by isolating them. Adjust opacity from default 60% to heighten or reduce effect.
Local Contrast, thejaybird, 11/18/2007
Enhances local contrast through the "local auto levels" technique uniformly throughout the image. Instructions for b/w and color. PS6+.
Midnight Action Set, v.3, Dave Jaseck, updated, 6/21/2008
V 3 of popular "midnight" actions—Midnight Blue, Sepia and Black. Adjust color tone be placing action stop at the color balance step.
Midnight Black v2, Dave Jaseck, 11/5/2005
Alternative version of Dave's Midnight Sepia action, but without the sepia tone.
Midnight Sepia v2, Dave Jaseck, 2/22/2005
Updated version of Dave's favorite, Midnight Sepia.
Morning Mist, Shannon Beauford, 6/21/2008
Creates a photorealistic mist over lakes or landscapes.
Muted Fashion, Shannon Beauford, 10/27/2007
Uses in Shannon's fashion work to turn down color intensity. Imparts a mild siena tone to images, even working with landscapes.
Orton Effect, Jim Lewis (with Danny Raphael, Dave Jaseck, from a technique by Chris Empey, 6/21/2008
Two actions sprung from a technique outlined by Chris Empey for the Orton effect, which originally involved sandwiching two overexposed images, one of which was out of focus.
Paint with Light and Paint with Light II, Chip Springer, 12/28/2004
Chip's much used Paint with Light actions that bring out detail in highlights and shadows.
Photorealistic Clouds, Shannon Beauford, 6/21/2008
Creates a 6MP image of clouds over a gradient blue sky from scratch. Use on a layer and create a layer mask to paint it in over an image where the sky has been burned out or for other uses.
Photoshop Facelift, Shannon Beauford, 12/26/08
Action set consisting of six actions designed to take years off a subject's face.
Platinotype, Steven Almas, 5/7/2006
Mimics a platinotype look in two versions. Version 1 has slightly more green in the toning, Version 2 slightly more yellow.
Portrait Effect, Paul Bleicher, 4/26/2004
Desaturates a portrait and gives you control over degree of saturation, contrast, background blur and soft focus.
Portrait Pop, Shannon Beauford, 9/28/08
Brings out features in a portrait you want to pop, such as eyes, hair, lips, etc.
Professional Retro, Michael Van De Carr, 2/16/2007
Produces a 60's-70's retro style effect. Can also be used for earlier vintage looks. DO NOT apply sharpening after running this action as it uses both Unsharp mask and a High Pass sharpening effect to achieve its result.
Rich Color Landscapes, Shannon Beauford, 9/10/2006
Simple, one-click action that makes your landscapes pop by bringing out the rich colors. Adjust opacity to tune saturation.
Ronny's Dual Method SkinFix, Ronny Harris, 5/23/2008
Utilizes two methods of skin fix, Degrunging and Surface Blur with darken and lighten modes. CS 2+
Selective Focus, Shannon Beauford, 6/21/2008
Creates a Lensbaby-like effect in Photoshop.
Simple Color Pop, Anna Bottoms, 10/18/2007
Provides a soft light layer to give portraits a slight color pop. Adjust the layer opacity to fine tune the results.
CSpringer's Portrait Actions, Chip Springer, updated 4/1/2008
Latest versions of all Chip's portrait retouching actions in one set to serve as a workflow for retouching images of people.
CSpringer's Skin Repair Action, Chip Springer, 5/30/2007
Will fix skin problems while retaining texture. Also adds additional Healing Tool and Texturizing layers for further tweaking. (Not tested on version prior to CS3.)
CSpringer's Wrinkle and Blemish Repair, Chip Springer, 1/06/2008 (requires Polaroid's Dust & Scratch Remover)
Similar to the second part of Chip's Skin Repair . Fixes wrinkles and blemishes, but is not a substitute for the Skin Repair Action.
Soft Focus Action, v.2, Daniel Chui, 8/7/2004
A set that provides small and large photo versions for each of several effects—color, monochrome, and cross-toned images. A quick, easy approach to light portrait retouching.
Soft Light Portrait, Shannon Beauford, 9/11/2006
Simple, one-click action deepens color of portraits without over-saturating skin tones. Layers are left unflattened for adjustments to suit personal tastes. Tears, Shannon Beauford, 10/14/2007
Star Filter, Shannon Beauford, 9/11/2006
The star filter action emulates a traditional photographic star filter.
Tears, Shannon Beauford, 10/14/2007
This takes a bit of practice to get right, but it's a lot simpler than feeding your model onions ... and will make the model more willing to work with you in the future. (Follow the steps included in the action.)
Three Mask Saturation, Kelly Chamberlain, 8/4/2009
It doesn't get much easier than this. Action creates a group with three layers to boost saturation. After running, adjust opacity of the Layer Group. toggle individual RGB layers on and off ... or lower their opacity), shift-click on the Layer Masks to toggle them on and off, or paint an additional mask on the Layer Group. to adjust overall saturation and saturation
TLR Color Compensating Filters, Glenn Mitchell, 5/21/2006
Replicate the CC correction filters (filter pack) used in the color darkroom. Designed for specific RGB Workspaces, with separate sets of actions for Adobe RGB, sRGB, ColorMatchRGB, and ProPhotoRGB.
Tracy's Fill Flash Action, Tracy McGee, 3/28/2007
Designed to lighten faces and other elements without blowing out backgrounds. On images smaller than 300dpi images, use a smaller, softer brush when prompted.
Urban Acid, Steven Almas, 7/9/2005
Mimics glamor and fashion cross-processing technique b skewing and saturating colors, while dramatically increasing contrast. Aggressive curves adjustment layer is user adjustable. Change opacity of black layer to desaturate colors.
Velvia Portrait, Shannon Beauford, 6/23/2008
A Velvia-like effect for portraiture that doesn't oversaturate skin tones .
Velvia-Provia v. 2, Velvia-Provia for Elements, Paul Bleicher, 4/25/2004
Reproduce the selective color, contrast, and saturation boost of Velvia film and the shadow detail of Provia film. Adjustable effects done on a copy of the original photo. Use as the last step in your process, before resizing and sharpening.
Whiten, Shannon Beauford, 10/17/2007
A simple action to whiten teeth and eyes.