Photoshop Actions

The Photoshop actions called "Dbook Collection" included in this package apply photographic and other effects to image files. The actions can be used in Photoshop for Windows or Photoshop for Mac OS X.

System Requirements

The Photoshop actions in the Dbook Collection require Adobe Photoshop CS2/version 9.0 (or later) for Windows or Mac OS X.

Loading the Actions in Photoshop

1. Start Adobe Photoshop

2. Load the Dbook Collection into the Actions Palette

If the Actions Palette is not displayed, select it by clicking the "Actions" command in the "Window" menu.

Click on the "Load Actions" command in the Actions Palette menu and navigate to the downloaded folder. Select the "Dbook Collection.atn" file and click "OK".

Your new Photoshop actions will then appear in the Actions Palette as a set called "Dbook Collection".

3. Apply the actions

Load the desired image or, if several image files are already opened, select the image to be altered thus displaying it on top of the others. Open the "Dbook collection" actions set and highlight the desired action. Click on the "Play Selection" button at the bottom of the Actions Palette to apply the action to your image.

About Your Dbook Actions

Lossless Effects

All Dbook actions apply their effects to duplicates of your files, so that the original image is not altered. If you want to save the adjustments made by the actions, you have to save the duplicate file separately.

Color Space

All adjustments and effects are applied within the Adobe RGB color space, thus ensuring correct color rendering. If you shot your digital images with your D200 set to the Adobe RGB color space (set in the "Color Space" menu in the camera's shooting menu), image processing will take place in the image's original color space. For images that were shot using the sRGB color space, any duplicates will be automatically converted to the Adobe RGB color space.

Effect Layers

The Dbook actions create a layer group called "Effects" on top of the background layer. Actions that consist of multiple adjustments create a new layer or group of layers for each effect that is applied. You can thus re-adjust or switch off individual action layers to change the overall effect of the action.

You can check the before-and-after effect by switching the "Effects" layer group on and off. Altering the opacity of the layer group can diminish effects that are too strong for your image. If an effect is too weak, you can duplicate the layer group and strengthen the effect by increasing the layer opacity of the second group. This technique is not possible for all effects, but you can always apply an action twice if necessary.

Once you are satisfied with your result, you can flatten your image to a single layer and save the image under a new name.

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