{"id":3613,"date":"2016-09-14T05:15:28","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T12:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debbielundphoto.com\/blog\/?p=3613"},"modified":"2018-02-03T17:31:59","modified_gmt":"2018-02-04T01:31:59","slug":"sleeklens-review-photoshop-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/debbielundphoto.com\/blog\/sleeklens-review-photoshop-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"A Review of Sleeklens Photoshop Actions – Portrait Perfection Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sleeklens Portrait Perfection Collection Photoshop Actions.<\/h2>\n

A Review<\/h4>\n

I was recently contacted by Sleeklens and asked if I would like to try out their Portrait Perfection Collection set of Photoshop actions.  I’m not a big actions user.  For portrait work, I kind of have my workflow down, and I know my way around Photoshop, so if there’s a look I want, I can pretty much make it happen.  And honestly, in the past, I’ve tried some actions and wasn’t all that impressed.<\/p>\n

But I love trying new things, so I agreed to do the review.  I really went into this with an open mind.<\/p>\n

[Sleeklens provided me with these actions in exchange for an honest review. Complete disclosure information can be found here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

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Sleeklens Portrait Perfection Collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sleeklens Photoshop Actions<\/a><\/p>\n

Before I go on with any technical stuff – here’s a sample image with the before & after.  The before is just the RAW file without any adjustments.  I also left the white balance as it was straight from the camera; auto white balance.  I am really a sucker for backlighting in portraits.  And if you’ve done this at all, you know that unless you fill in the light on the face somehow, either with a reflector of some type or a fill light, the faces can go dark and the color temperature goes cool.  In fact, in this image the face is dark and also picked up a lot of the green reflecting off the plants and grass all around her.  That’s not a good look.<\/p>\n

I’d love to tell you that I have the exact recipe for how I processed this image with Sleeklens, but I can’t.  Like I said – lots of playing around.  But this much I can tell you – every thing on this image was done with the Sleeklens actions.  I didn’t do any adjustments at all.  No levels, curves, color adjustments – nothing – outside of the actions.   Maybe I went a little overboard with this file, but I still like the results.  <\/p>\n

\"Sleeklens<\/a>
Sleeklens Action Review<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Installation<\/h2>\n

The actions loaded up like any other action – no problems there. If you need assistance in loading actions in Photoshop – I’ve got you covered.  Here’s a step by step guide.  <\/a><\/p>\n

Once installed, I spent quite a bit of time playing round with these actions.  The structure of the actions is very logical, which I like.  They’re clearly labeled and I used them in the order they were offered (for the most part).  By that I mean I used the actions towards the top first, and then layered the effects as I moved my way down the list, selectively, of course.  Here’s a screen capture of the actions installed.  If you click on the image you can view it larger.<\/p>\n

\"sleeklens-screenshot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I experimented a lot with the Sleeklens actions.  It was actually very fun.  And that’s saying a lot – because I spend a lot of time in Photoshop for work.  And I mean a LOT of time.  My poor Fitbit<\/a> does not see nearly the numbers it should because I’m at the computer so much.<\/p>\n

Sample Images – Before & After<\/h2>\n

After spending some time with the actions, I can tell you this – if you like a warm, sun-kissed look to your portraits, you’ll like these actions.  The images I tried that I liked the best were the ones where the focus was really on the face.  Like this one (it’s on the screen shot above, but it was my favorite one so you’ve got to see it by itself.)  Look at that warm glow!  And look at her skin – I didn’t clone any blemishes & I didn’t use the healing tool.  I also didn’t use my Portraiture plugin on her skin.  Everything you see here was accomplished with the Sleeklens actions.  <\/p>\n

\"Sleeklens<\/a>
Sleeklens Portrait Perfection Photoshop Actions Review<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One thing to keep in mind is this – the actions add adjustment layers with masks – so if you like how an individual action looks on part of the file and not on another part, you can simply mask out the part you don’t like – either completely or partially. You can also adjust the opacity of the action-generated layers to reduce the effect if it’s just too much for you.<\/p>\n

Here’s another sample:<\/h4>\n
\"Sleeklens<\/a>
Sleeklens Actions Review<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like the first file in the top of this post, the file right above has a color cast on her skin from all the greenery around her.  There’s also a strong green cast on the right side of her dress.  In the after photo, the color cast from her skin is gone, and mostly gone from the dress.  The color of the portrait overall is softer, warmer and in my opinion, more pleasing to the eye.    <\/p>\n