Free Photoshop Action {Artistic Captures Photography} by Dayna Titus

This is a little side project I’ve been working on this summer while I take time off from sessions.   If you are a non-photographer or not a Photoshop user, you may want to stop right here, as it won’t be of much interest to you.   But if you are like me and always looking for new actions to improve/enhance your work AND you are a Photoshop CS user (this will not work with Elements, sorry!), then read on.

I often like to create background blur in my images and that can sometimes be done in camera – but in some situations it can’t.   I had used a few actions to “imitate” background blur (i.e. shallow Depth of Field) but was never satisfied.   They were often more complicated and longer than they need to be.   So, I wrote my own!    And I’m happy to say I am offering to you for free.    This is my way of saying thank you to the photography community in general – all of you have been such an inspiration to me.    Simply download the ATN file and install the action and you are good to go.   If you are not familiar with actions or don’t know how to install them, please do a web search, there is tons of information out there.   

This action will create background blur and you can control how much and where you put it – and you can selectively remove it from areas afterwards if it needs to be tweaked.  I find this action really makes the subject “pop” without having to do anything else to the image.  

Now, want to see a before/after example of what this action does?   Here ya go:

   This action is fairly subtle, and therefore looks realistic when applied.     

One favor that I ask, if you download the free action “Fake the DOF”, please take a moment to leave a comment on my blog.   I love hearing from my blog-watchers and it would be great to hear some feedback on how you like the action too!

Now the fine print:  Please do not sell this action or claim it as your own.   It is for personal use only –  to use on your own images and those you edit for your clients.    If you like the action and want to share it, instead of emailing it to others, I would appreciate it if you could direct your friends and other photogs to this blog; or post the link on your Facebook or blog so that others can download and enjoy the free action as well.    Do not under any circumstances offer the file for download on your own site!

To download, simply click the following link:  (It will take you to mediafire which is hosting the action and allow you to download it to your computer):   Fake the DOF Photoshop action