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The modern magic wand for any graphic designer, Photoshop actions easily turn any basic image into an artistic miracle.
I bet none of you imagines your work without Photoshop actions. These handy instruments deliver fantastic results in a matter of seconds and don’t require any special skills — isn’t it amazing?
Among different kinds of Photoshop actions, we distinguish two main groups. The first tends to enhance or refine the existing image to give it a certain mood without adding too much. The second, though, goes all the way and indulges in epic photo effects meant to impress the audience.
It’s hard to say, which type of Photoshop actions is more popular or more valuable — everything depends on your specific needs and the project. Using both free and paid options is absolutely fine. However, it’s worth noting that free resources often lack originality, plus, they’re really difficult to come across. Sometimes finding just one makes you want to whisper “My precious”.
In the compilation below, we gathered the best free and premium Photoshop actions hoping to help you expand your creative horizons.
What is a Photoshop Action?
Have you ever wanted to make your photos more dynamic? Let’s say, make a part of it fade away in pieces of ash just like what Thanos did to half of the Universe — which tools would you use? It might sound like a challenging gig, but with Photoshop actions your worries are pointless!
Photoshop actions are a valuable tool in design, allowing you to add any effect to your image by running the prepared set of steps, merged together. These steps are recorded and delivered in the .ATN file and can be played on any photo. With the help of actions, you can, for example, turn your image into a knitted blanket, watercolor-effect illustration, mosaic, and more!
Photoshop actions save tons of time, liberating you from going through the editing steps in Photoshop manually to achieve the desired result. The action can vary: some examples of what you can do are adding the photo effects, exploring the color options, changing the structure of the image, etc. Once you figure out the instructions, you can sit back and watch your designs transform as if by magic.
For your convenience, we split the Photoshop actions into three categories:
Our Team’s Top Pick
Guardian Photoshop Action
Guardian is one of those Photoshop actions you can use to create photo manipulation artwork including explosions, light leaks, clouds, and amazing color grading that’ll add suspense to your projects. With this effect, you will get a professional result without any comprehensive skills and be able to give a unique look to CD covers, posters, flyers, ad campaigns, social media photos, and other designs.
Themed Actions
Photoshop actions have endless aesthetic potential! On your trip to the most iconic illustrations and images, try to explore and make the best of them, even if it’s something you’ve never thought of experimenting with. Join us in search for the best Photoshop actions that’ll breathe new life into your graphic designs — below.
Warfighter Photoshop Action
If you want your images to be charged with force, simply let this amazing Photoshop action do its job. What it does is add the dust and mist flying around in dramatic shapes. Compatible with different Photoshop versions, it’ll let you easily create any designs like posters, ads, cards, banners, and more. With this effect, you won’t have to fight for attention.
Animated Glitch Effect
Animated Meteor Shower Photoshop Action
Animated Meteor Shower Photoshop action is an effect you’ll definitely enjoy. It offers a 700-pixel final result that’ll take your work to another level. This animated action works with most Adobe Photoshop versions, from CS6 to CC 2019, so it will get the job done regardless of the software you are using. It can be applied in various fields, from advertizing campaigns to space-themed photoshoots.
Cloud Photoshop Action
Pop Art Photoshop Action
Brave colors, a rebellious spirit, and absolutely no boundaries — that is how the creators describe this unique Photoshop action. Pop Art offers 40 gradient variants and pays homage to the art movement of the same name. It’ll also give you the freedom of self-expression by providing 3 posterization options. The effect will add a vintage look to your images and can work for anything from editorials to album covers.
Cyberpunk Photo Action
Risograph Grain Photoshop Action
Explode And Shatter Photoshop Action
Cross Stitch Photoshop Action
Introducing the Cross Stitch, the easiest way to make your designs funky and fun! It will transform your photos into old-fashioned cross-stitched images with a bit of a vintage touch. This Photoshop action provides different and unusual patterns for you to use on your pictures and gives you a detailed user guide in case you have any troubles. Besides funny and original portraits, this tool can also help create logos and ads.
Glitch Photo Effect for Posters
Haunted Photoshop Action
Meet another cool Photoshop action that will transform any photo into a scary ghost shot! You can use this easy-to-apply effect with no fear, it does no harm to the original image. Scary images and horror effects are guaranteed to impress any tempted audience. Gloomy and faded colors look mysterious, so you only have to choose a picture and let the action do its work.
Commando Photoshop Action
Double Exposure Action
Perfect for portrait photographers and designers, this Photoshop action helps develop overwhelming designs in just a few seconds and offers an innovative way to create CD covers, posters, flyers, and social media posts that’ll blow everyone’s mind. This double exposure effect works with Photoshop CS2 and later versions and comes with a help file.
Mixed Media Photoshop Effect
From Photo to Draw Action
From Photo to Draw is one of the best Photoshop actions for detailed digital illustration that’ll help you easily create posters, t-shirts, books, magazines, and even websites with exceptional designs — all in just a few clicks. Not only does it transform usual pictures into detailed drawings, but it also balances the light and shadows to make for the best quality possible.
The package contains 13 actions, 7 overlay textures, and 25 impressionist paintings with a PDF manual to guide you through the process.
Sandstorm Photoshop Actions — Free Collection
Sketch Creator Action
Introducing a watercolor Photoshop action meant to create unique urban sketches providing a fantastic result. This is a crucial product for graphic designers engaged in architectural and interior projects: the level of detail this watercolor effect provides is insane, especially considering how easy it is to use. What’s great is that you can adjust all kinds of elements — opacity of sketch lines, shades, color balance, and tones.
Color Festival Photoshop Action
Oil Paint Machine Action
Repeat the classic celebrated oil painting styles of the great artistic masterminds with this unique Photoshop action, commemorating the time-honored techniques. The effect offers 3 oil painting styles — Chiaroscuro, Glazing, and Alla Prima — that enthrall with picturesque stroke-like outlines, merging colors, transforming photography into a piece of art! Try all of these styles for your portrait photos, and you won’t be disappointed.
Vintage Art Photoshop Action
Holographic Iridescent Photoshop Action
Inspired by the hologram designs, this Photoshop action will add an iridescent touch, geometric shapes, and typography accents to your photography. Innovative and original, the holographic action generates tons of muted and neutral gradient presets for you to try. Apart from the action and pattern files, the package includes a video tutorial and a help file that’ll assist you in case you have any troubles.
Color Fusion Photoshop Actions
Blueprint Photoshop Action
All great buildings start from the idea expressed on a blueprint, while all genius designs begin with suitable tools. This amazing Photoshop action is just what you need to create a true masterpiece! It will give your designs a modern look — plus, you’ll get high-resolution images that’ll work for both web & print media. Sit back and watch your artwork being drawn as detailed architectural projects!
Renaissance — Oil Painting Photoshop Actions
Engrave and Halftone Creator
Introducing a Photoshop action that’ll create an excellent engraving or halftone effect on your images in three short steps! All you need is open the Photoshop file and add your image to the Smart Object. It offers 4 types of engraving — vertical, horizontal, angled, and wavy lines that are also called a currency style.
What’s more, you’ll have a stunning halftone for a realistic newspaper print effect. As a bonus, these actions include 27 decoration frames and 150 pre-made gradient options. Plus, you’ll get all of these in high-resolution images!
Double Light Photoshop Action
Double Exposure Free Photoshop Actions
These amazing Photoshop actions are a huge time-saver for those who want to create something unique and astonishing. After all, the double exposure effect is one of the most challenging techniques to master. However, with this action, you can achieve the same result with just a few clicks: all you need is to download the file and apply it to one of your photos.
This set of Photoshop actions is compatible with CS3 and higher. You’ll be amazed by the quality of your graphic designs! Go ahead and turn your portraits into eye-catching pieces of art.
Realistic Pencil Sketch Photoshop Action
Watercolor Creator
Watercolor painting has been around for ages, and it isn’t going anywhere any time soon. However, not all of us have the talent or the time to pursue that skill. But do not despair. The Watercolor Creator offers a realistic watercolor painting effect that’ll turn almost anything into a piece of art. And it is even easier to use than you think!
There are no actions and no brushes: just open the PSD file, add your image, and get the illustration. No one would ever know you didn’t paint those! The effect will also be useful for landscape photographers who want to turn their photos into paintings.
Anaglyph Photoshop Actions
Architecture Sketch Photoshop Action
This Photoshop action is a must-have for those who love raw architectural designs and wish to turn their photos into professional sketches. It works perfectly with both interior and exterior designs. When the action finishes the work, you’ll get a well-organized file with many layers, folders, and settings to adjust the final result. It has been tested on Photoshop CS3–CS6, as well as CC 2014 and higher. Please note that the action only works in the English version of the program.
Embroidery Photoshop Action
Photo Filters
Sometimes a photo lacks just a couple of adjustments and you’re not keen to change the core settings or ideas put into the composition. When it happens, it’s important to be equipped with the right instruments that’ll do the job.
From smart changes in brightness and ambiance to skin smoothing effects, go through our collection of the best free Photoshop actions as well as the premium options — and something will catch your eye, we promise.
Indie Camera Photoshop Actions
The Indie Camera Photoshop actions are a set of tools designed to give your digital photos a vintage, indie-style look. The possible adjustments include adding grain and noise to your photos, warm matte effects, a vignette, and a faded retro look. These can be applied individually or in combination to create a unique look for your photos.
These amazing Photoshop actions come with a set of instructions to help you get started, and they are compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS6 and later versions. However, it’s important to note that these actions are designed for use with high-resolution photos, so they may not work as well with lower-quality images.
Paris Travel Photoshop Actions
Traveling to Paris is an unforgettable experience: it’s considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world for a reason. The creator of these PS actions was so inspired by their trip that it pushed them to help others have just-as-beautiful content.
The bundle offers 5 stunning effects — from black-and-white to sunset purple. These several color presets are specifically designed to bring out the unique look of the city and make for great prints and social media posts. And, you won’t believe it, these are free Photoshop actions!
Dark Mood Photoshop Action
This is an advanced Photoshop action offering one of the coolest color presets for portrait photography you’ve ever seen. What it does is give photos a dramatic feel by making for dark backgrounds and colder colors. The great thing is, you can change light direction, density, and width, or add more light sources if you like — all in just a couple of clicks. Plus, all the files are well-structured and fully customizable.
Reddish Lite Photoshop Action
Introducing a free Photoshop action that offers film-like color correction for portrait photos. The package includes several color presets designed to create a warm, reddish-orange tint, giving images a vintage look. It will also adjust the saturation, brightness, and contrast, with a focus on bringing out the details and texture.
The end result will provide you with perfectly fresh skin tones that’ll work for many types of photoshoots — from natural-light outdoor portraits to fashion studio shots and travel photography. Once you download Photoshop actions, it’s smooth sailing.
Faded Film Free Photoshop Action
This Photoshop action is designed to emulate the look of a vintage or old film photograph that has faded over time. It will adjust the color balance of the photo, decreasing the saturation of certain colors and adding a warm, yellowish tint to the overall image. It will also add a subtle grain and vignette effect, which can further enhance the vintage feel.
With this PS action, you can quickly apply this style to your photos without having to manually adjust the various settings. It can be a useful tool for photographers or designers who want to add a vintage or nostalgic feel to their images, or who want to experiment with different styles without investing a lot of time in post-processing. The action works with CS3 or any later Photoshop version.
PRO Skin Retouch Photoshop Action
This modern Photoshop action provides a skin-retouching effect for fashion photography and advertizing campaigns. This file has been tested on a variety of photos and is proven to deliver an awesome result. It also means that the effect is super versatile and will definitely work for your projects whatever they might be. The file comes with a detailed guide to help you through the process.
50 Winter Wonderland Photoshop Actions
Winter is the time of fairytales, magic stories, and miracles happening all around! If the nature of this beautiful season has let you down and doesn’t appear to be as festive as you expected, worry not: just let this Photoshop actions bundle do its job.
The set includes 50 different actions, each of which has a unique touch. Some of the effects include layering realistic snow, adjusting the color temperature to achieve a cooler, wintry look, as well as adding text or holiday-themed graphics. As a result, you’ll get amazing photos that look as if they were shot in a magical light. These actions would be easy to use for anyone from beginners to professional photographers.
Sunset Free Photoshop Action
This cool Photoshop action will enhance the warm and vibrant colors of your sunset shots or make your other landscape photos look as if they were taken during golden hour or at sunset.
When applied, the action adjusts the color balance, contrast, saturation, and other settings to achieve a visually striking image. It’s worth noting that this particular action is a sample from their set of 15 Sunrise and Sunset Photoshop Actions and is offered for free, but other actions may require a purchase or subscription.
Skin — 5 Retouching Actions
Retouching skin can be easy, and you can do it like a pro with these Photoshop actions. It is designed to enhance portraits and close-up shots and can be applied to achieve a variety of skin retouching effects, from smoothing out blemishes and wrinkles to adding depth and texture to skin tones. It also offers a beautiful matte effect.
Using it can’t be easier: just play the action and paint over the areas that you want to retouch. The actions are highly customizable, so you can adjust the settings to achieve the desired result.
Majestic: Black & White Photoshop Actions
Monochrome photos don’t have to be boring! Or difficult to produce. This set of Photoshop actions has been hand-crafted and tested in order to produce a diverse collection of presets to suit a variety of photographic genres. From intimate portraits to breathtaking nature photography, this collection of 10 different actions is guaranteed to take your photos to the next level and smooth out your workflow!
Cinema Free Photoshop Action
This cool Photoshop action is designed to give your images a cinematic look as if they were frames from a movie. The effect is sure to bring out rich and deep colors in any image and simply works like a charm. Whether you’re a professional photographer or just someone who wants to take your Instagram feed to the next level, this effect is sure to impress. Best of all, it’s free, so you can try it out without any risk or investment.
HDR Real Estate Photoshop Actions
Whether you’re busy reviving a project you never finished or selling your parents’ place, the best option to edit the shots of the buildings, apartments, and any other architectural structures would be applying these high-quality Photoshop actions.
This HDR effect is meant to showcase real estate listings by combining multiple photos of the same scene taken at different exposures, resulting in an image with greater detail in both the highlights and shadows. The bundle contains 40 HDR Photoshop action solutions to explore. Remember that no one stops you from using it on more diverse projects.
Shifted Free Photoshop Action
Shifted is one of the free Photoshop actions that’ll transform your multicolor photos into black-and-white and create a color cast that can be either warm or cool. This results in a surreal and dreamy look that can be used on anything from your smartphone photos to nature photography, but mostly for portraits.
The action is customizable, allowing you to adjust the intensity of the effect to your liking. Overall, this is a great way to add a unique and creative touch to your projects.
Instant Hipster — Instagram Actions
Meet 27 amazing Photoshop actions! Give your photos a retro look similar to those found amongst Instagram filters. Play one action and all of the effects will be automatically generated for you. Using Photoshop’s snapshots feature, you can switch between the effects instantly without running another action.
These actions use RGB curves to change the color and contrast and give you the maximum image quality, dynamic range, and consistent results with any photo.
Vintage Filters
Who doesn’t indulge in nostalgia from time to time? Vintage photo effects let us travel through time and never leave anyone indifferent. These filters mimic the look and feel of traditional film photography, with their characteristic softness, warm colors, Polaroid-style frames, vignettes, etc.
From wedding photos to portrait and landscape images, there’s nothing that vintage effects won’t work on. So, without further ado, discover our collection of the best Photoshop actions with a retro touch below.
Retro Prime Photoshop Action
Get this bundle of amazing Photoshop actions and textures to rejoice yourself with retro-looking images that won’t go unnoticed. These effects transform ordinary photos into retro films with a few clicks without reducing their quality and would be useful to anyone looking to add a touch of vintage charm to their designs.
It’s easy to use, versatile, and best of all, it’s completely free. Whether you’re a professional designer or just starting out, this action is sure to inspire your creativity and help you create stunning designs.
Free Vintage Matte Photoshop Action
80s Retro Catalog Action
This unique Photoshop action will take you to the good old days when shopping was done via catalogs. It’s all about their visual style: perfect for fashion shootings, slightly blurred and soaked in retro!
The effect comes in a high-quality ATN file and will transform your images in no time. Its primary scope of use is fashion photoshoots, but it can definitely work for any digital art project: just use your imagination.
Polaroid Generator Action
Retro Engraving Photoshop Action
Extend your collection of vintage and retro items with this unique Photoshop action. It’s designed to add the engraving effect to your images — and submerge you in nostalgia as a bonus. Use this action to play around with commercials, prints, apparel designs, branding, labels, and anything that comes to mind!
Classic Halftone Photoshop Action
30 Dust and Scratch Overlay Textures
Add that vintage feel to your images using the optically captured dust & scratch overlay textures. It’s made as a Photoshop action to make the workflow as easy for you as possible.
The overlays will transform anything from wedding photos to portraits into realistic retro photographs that’ll everyone enjoy. Here, 30 high-resolution JPEG files are all at your disposal.
Daily Mail Print Action
Vintage Effect Photoshop Action Set
This bundle of Photoshop actions will give your photographs that authentic old-time look. From the sepia-drenched Wild West to the black-and-white swinging sixties, the action offers different colors and effects, so you’re sure to find something to your liking.
And don’t worry about damaging or altering your photos — all actions use Smart Object layers so your original image is never directly affected.
Old Photo Effect Overlays + Actions
Vintage Grain Photoshop Action
Welcome a magnificent collection of 48 Old Photo Effect Overlays Actions designed to add a vintage and nostalgic look to digital photos. The bundle contains 10 high-resolution overlays offering various textures, scratches, and dust particles that’ll give your projects a weathered appearance.
In addition to the overlays, the package includes 10 Photoshop actions that automate the process of adding the overlays to your photo and adjusting their properties.
Vinta-Tone Printing Press Action
Plug & Play – Halftone Action
An array of CMYK halftone dots is yet another retro-inspired technique, easily recreated with this cool Photoshop action! With this effect, graphic designers can prep full-color images for silkscreen or RISO in less than 30 seconds.
If you’re not pursuing any professional goals, you can simply use it to give your portrait photos a retro print look. The action includes dot and line halftone actions in high resolution. Simply open the project, load the actions, and press play!
Frequently Asked Questions
Photoshop actions are a series of recorded steps that can be applied to a photo or set of photos in Adobe Photoshop with just one click. These actions can be used to automate complex or time-consuming editing tasks, saving photographers and designers a lot of time and effort.
Photoshop actions can include a wide range of effects, from subtle enhancements to dramatic transformations. For example, adjust the color balance, brightness, contrast, and sharpness, along with other effects like blurs, textures, and filters. Once an action is recorded, it can be saved and reused on any image, making it a powerful tool for batch editing. Photoshop actions can be created by anyone and applied to any project, from portraits to newborn photos.
There are a lot of websites with collections of Photoshop actions. In the end, the best place to get them will depend on your specific needs and preferences.
If you are a beginner, the easiest would be to search for any free Photoshop actions and download them from whatever free resources you might find — for instance, Brusheezy, DeviantArt, and FilterGrade. There also are several online marketplaces like Creative Market, GraphicRiver, and Etsy where you can buy Photoshop actions. These are usually created by independent designers and photographers. Adobe’s website offers a wide range of free and paid Photoshop actions too. Another option would be to create your own by recording your editing steps and saving them as an action.
Like any elements used in digital art, some Adobe Photoshop actions are free and some are not. Often, the creators of effects offer single samples for free encouraging you to use them, after which you might want to purchase the full bundle.
Premium Photoshop actions usually offer comprehensive effects and a better result. Experienced designers tend to use paid options in order to complete their regular tasks quickly and smoothly. Free Photoshop actions, on the other hand, can be a good starting point. This way, you can try a wide range of cool photo effects — from the light leak to the prism effect — without any investments and decide which ones you actually need. Plus, since they all come with detailed instructions and organized layers, they will be easy to use even if you are a complete beginner.
It’s relatively easy to create an action of your own. Depending on your level of experience, it can take from one hour up to 3–4 hours. Here is what you need to do.
- Open Photoshop and click on the Action panel.
- Click on the New Action icon.
- Type in the name of your new action and click on Record. To stop the record, press the Stop button.
- Play the record and edit the action. You can either add or delete stages of your design and save these settings for future projects.
- Remember to save your new Photoshop action. You’re all set!
Excellent article. My favourites are sunrise/sunset, warfighter and faded film 🙂
Thank you, Juliet! Guess time is coming to bring another selection with the actions — already have a few great ideas on what to feature there 🙂
Hello, is it free? Do you need to register to pay for the download? thanksgiving
Hey Guo!
In this post we selected Photoshop actions available for free download. But note that some of the included websites require your email address to download the resources.