Last night I photographed a beautiful electric storm from my balcony. I got some really great bursts of lightning, and while analyzing them I realized that three of them would work perfectly as a composite. I haven’t had a huge opportunity to photograph lightning since I was a kid living at home, and actually got one of my best lightning photographs in my backyard with my Nikon F4 film camera. (Here’s the link to that image in my archives if you want to check it out: http://nicolesyblog.com/2005/07/11/favorite/)

The composite was relatively simple to put together, the only tricky part was blending the main “bolt” and its surrounding clouds in with the rest of the sky (the layer called “lightning strike”) because it was a different color of light. I ended up just adjusting that layer so that it had some massive contrast (with a levels adjustment), and then changed its blending mode to “screen” so that only the lighter parts showed through. Then, I added a solid color fill layer that was the same color of the sky, change the blending mode to “color”, and masked it in around the bolt.

You can click on the image to see a larger preview, and feel free to ask questions in the comments if you’re curious about any other methods I used to photograph or put this image together in Photoshop.

I oftentimes will see photographers say (with their nose slightly upturned?) “I NEVER use actions with my photographs!”. This always kinda makes me chuckle. I think I understand some of what they’re saying, I really do. Yet I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using actions, or with not using actions … and maybe it would be helpful to have an honest conversation with one of these photographers to pick their brain on the topic.

You see, my guess is that when they say they never use actions they mean they never us other people’s actions. You know, the ones you can buy and install into Photoshop, press a button and “voilà!” their photo is magically transformed into Photoshop “awesomeness”. But … could they also mean that they don’t use actions at all? Do they never open up the actions panel out of some inner principle that they shouldn’t automate anything in Photoshop?

You see, while I don’t use pre-created (by other people) actions in my work in Photoshop, I do create my own actions all the time (many of them are in screen-shot above of my actions panel). There are a lot of things that, even if I had to do them to a hundred photos, they would be done exactly the same. Since most of what I create are stock photographs then a lot of the edits I do are similar … some things like levels adjustments will always be different, but if I want to whiten teeth, add a dodge burn layer or even sharpen my image then they are all going to be the same steps repeated over and over. So, the way I see it, it would be time-consuming for me to not use any actions with my photographs.

The more you can automate repetitive and mundane tasks in Photoshop, the more time you have to push your brain cells towards being creative. This doesn’t just apply to actions … I use keyboard shortcuts, sync RAW edits in Lightroom and use some of the Photoshop scripts, like merging photos into a panorama. In my opinion it’s best to work smarter, not harder. :)

(For tutorials on creating your own actions in Photoshop, check out my video tutorials section here on my blog.)

In this tutorial I demonstrate how to create basic actions using Adobe Photoshop.

Actions, Part 1: Creating Basic Actions
Actions, Part 2: Merge-Visible Command with Actions
Actions, Part 3: Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts with Actions
Actions, Part 4: Selecting Tools with Actions

Click here to view this video on YouTube.

In this tutorial I demonstrate two ways to add film grain: one by using Photoshop, and another by using the new “Effects” panel in Adobe Camera RAW.

Click here to view this video on YouTube.

The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida (photo taken w/ iPhone 4)

For the past two days I’ve been hanging out at Photoshop World in (sunny?) Orlando, Florida! As usual, these events are so much fun. PSW has classes on Photoshop, photography, design, digital painting … and then there’s the expo with even more classes and booths. If you’re into digital art then this is something you should really check out.

Here are a few more photos from the first full day (Wednesday) and a few from this morning (and be sure to head over to Scott Kelby’s blog with more info and photos!):

Scott Kelby at the opening ceremony.

Rob Sylvan giving a presentation at the Peachpit booth on the expo floor.

Photographers at the Westcott Booth.

RC chased down this woman to sign her book at the Peachpit booth. :)

Balloon drop at the opening ceremony.

Larry and RC filming an episode of D-Town at the Tweetup on Tuesday night.

Felix rockin’ the bass at the after-hours party.

In this tutorial I demonstrate how to hand-stitch a panorama in Photoshop.

Click here to view this video on YouTube.

In this tutorial I demonstrate two different methods you can use to straighten a photo using the ruler tool in Photoshop.

Click here to view this video on YouTube.

Here’s a quick video tutorial on how to use the crop tool in Photoshop to crop to a specific size and resolution, or to change the photo’s perspective.

Click here to view this video on YouTube.

Here’s a quick video tutorial on how to use the TWAIN plugin to scan files into Photoshop.

Click here to view this video on YouTube.

Windows users:

You’ll likely need to open Photoshop in 32-bit mode in order for TWAIN to work. Here’s how:

To scan files, go to “File > Import” and select your scanner.

Here’s a quick video tutorial on how to create a brushed metal type effect using Photoshop.

Click here to view this video on YouTube.