CoffeeShop Little Perk PS/PSE Action!

Sometimes you want a quick and easy pick-me-up for images that appear dull. The CoffeeShop Little Perk is a little action (with a lot going on "behind the scenes") that gives your image an adjustable boost of color, contrast and sharpening. The Little Perk layer adds a boost of color and contrast and the Sharpen layer sharpens :-), you just adjust the opacity of each layer to taste (preset to 50%). Both Little Perk and Sharpen have layer masks so you can use a low opacity soft black brush to "paint" out the effects if necessary.

This is a nifty little action that should work on all of your images. I use this one all of the time in my workflow when I just want a great little boost and don't want to mess with much. And this action works in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements!

Click HERE to download the CoffeeShop Little Perk PS/PSE Action, or click on the image above!

If those downloads don't work, please click HERE!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

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Information on Adding a Blogger Template With a Horizontal Menu Bar!

I am a huge fan of horizontal menu bars (as seen above under my header), but the standard Blogger templates don't include them. I have absolutely no idea about XML and CSS coding (or even what that means...) and I am much too stubborn to pay anyone to design my blog because I want to be able to change it whenever I want. So what is a girl like me to do?

Luckily I discovered Our Blogger Templates . This site is great and full of free templates that all include horizontal menu bars and are completely customizable and idiot-proof. They provide tutorials on saving your old template, keeping your widgets when you install one of their templates, removing the blogger navigation bar, making money adding Adsense ads and other ads and affiliates, and great Photoblogs where you can post large images rather than be limited by the sizes Blogger sets. And every template is completely customizable from the colors, headers, columns, etc.

If I can design my own blog ANYONE can! Please check out this site, the people who run it are so incredibly generous.

And I never endorse political statements made on any blogs I link, I just visit these blogs for their editing/photography/blogging goodies!

I am posting the CoffeeShop Little Perk Action for download in the next day or two! I love this and use it all of the time after putting my RAWs through ACR. It gives them that extra boost of color, contrast, and sharpening without going overboard. Plus, like most of my actions, you just dial in the amount of "perk" you want!

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Simple Life

I sometimes get so wrapped up in my editing and blogging and emailing and household chores that I almost forget the reason I decided to stay at home with my two sons. Then I am outside watching them interacting with this amazing world and I realize that these are some of the most beautiful and satisfying days of my life. I cherish every minute of their childhood because I realize that it is so fleeting, and before I know it they will be grown-up and gone.

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CoffeeShop Blue Bird Card Template!

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CoffeeShop Bracket Frames Set 1!

Update! I have added a secondary downloading site on the bottom of this post if the first one does not work for you! If you have any issues downloading anything from my blog, please comment in the post where you are having the issue and I will add an additional download link.

The other day I was trying to find some plain bracket frames to use in designing CoffeeShop Blog Headers Pack 1. I was able to find some for purchase on scrapbooking sites, but I decided I wanted to learn how to create my own custom ones. I luckily found this great tutorial and I spent the evening making the bracket frames you see above. These are all high resolution Photoshop .psd files that you can use in your digital scrapbooking designs such as greeting cards and storyboards, or even use them in your blog headers or business cards. Just open them in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements like any other image!

It is so easy to customize these. If you want to change the border color from black, just click on the border with your magic wand to select, and then Edit, Fill with the color of your choice. If you want to make the border thicker or thinner, just select it and then Select, Modify, Expand or Contract to make your selection bigger or smaller, and then Edit, Fill with the color of your choice. You can also select and Edit, Stroke a color to the edges. If you want color borders inside the black border, select the white with your magic wand, Edit, Fill with the color you want against the black, then Select, Modify, Contract a few pixels and Edit, Fill with another color.

To use these as photo cutouts (or add a pattern inside), just drag them to the background of your choice. After free transforming (Ctrl-T) and moving to taste, flatten your image. Then double click on your Background layer (the only layer now) and rename it (Frame for this example). This will allow you to move the background layer. Make a new blank layer and drag it UNDER your Frame layer. Then click on the Frame layer to select and use your magic wand to select the white area in the middle of your bracket frame. Press delete and then Ctrl-D to remove the marching ants. Do the same on the outside if you wish to remove any pattern or color surrounding the frame. Click to select your new blank layer, open the image (or texture) you wish to put in your bracket frame, and move and drop it under the Frame layer. Free transform the image to fit in your frame, and then flatten your image. If you want to have a translucent background around your frame, save the file as a .png file rather than a .jpg.

Click on the image above to download the CoffeeShop Bracket Frames Pack 1, or click HERE!

Here is a second download option if the first is not working for you!

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CoffeeShop Texture Pack 3 - Floral Grunge!

Here is the free CoffeeShop Texture Pack 3 - Floral Grunge. I used the CoffeeShop Grunge Frame and also some of the free patterns/textures from Pixels and Ice Cream (please check this site out, it is outstanding!). These are all high resolution .jpgs. They are so easy to add to your images. Just open the image you wish to apply the texture to in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, then open your texture (this is an image file, not an action file, so just open it in your photo-editing program) and drag it on top of your image. Adjust the blending mode and opacity of that layer to taste. Check out my tutorial link on the top menu bar, I have several great tutorials about using textures!

Click on the images above to download the free CoffeeShop Texture Pack 3 - Floral Grunge or click HERE!

Second Download Option HERE!

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CoffeeShop Orton Action for PS/PSE!

I have rewritten and improved the original CoffeeShop Orton Effect with Contrast Kick so that now it runs on Photoshop AND Photoshop Elements, is completely adjustable, and has a layer mask so you can mask out areas of the effect and also a color mute layer which can be turned on to mute the vivid colors of the Orton (very effective in portraits). If you don't know what the Orton Effect is, please visit this link.

Download the CoffeeShop Orton PS/PSE Action HERE!

Here is a second download link if the first does not work!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

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CoffeeShop Goodies Coming Your Way!

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I just wanted to pop in and tell you guys what I have coming up for the rest of this month. As I mentioned, I rewrote the CoffeeShop Orton action and it is so much better and works in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements now. I am posting it tomorrow morning for download. I also am releasing a quick little action that I use on many of my images when I want a simple color/contrast pop. It is called CoffeeShop Little Perk and it really brightens dull images. It is actually quite involved (it applies a curves and hue/saturation adjustment, and a softlight and screen blending mode to a copy of your background AND sharpens your image with a high pass filter) but it is fully automatic and you just dial in the opacity of the Little Perk (color/contrast) and Sharpen layer to taste. I even added built-in layer masks so you can "paint" out the enhancements where needed. It is not fancy but very effective and quite subtle.

I also designed some flower grunge textures and two bracket frame packs which are great for both photography AND scrap booking. I am also going to have a tutorial on changing your Blogger template to a custom one that includes those amazing horizontal menu bars on top (I can't live without those!). And I am almost finished with my first set of B&W actions that will work in Photoshop Elements as well as Photoshop. I just recently found out that even though Elements does not have Curves and the Channel Mixer (or is it Color Balance?) like Photoshop, you can write them into the action and they will run in Elements... That really opens the potential for me to write more Elements-friendly actions without sacrificing anything!

I have other things I am working on (I have so many actions sitting on my desktop, waiting for final testing), so please keep on checking back! And I must thank all of you once again for your generosity and enthusiasm. I know I am repeating myself, but you make it incredibly fun for me to learn new things and then post them here. Thank you! Rita

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CoffeeShop Blogger Tutorial: Customizing the basic Blogger template.

I noticed that some people new to blogging have one of the great free Blogger blogs, but don't know how to customize it. This tutorial will show you how to upload a custom header to your Blogger template and how to change the colors in your blog to match. Check out my first set of free CoffeeShop Blog Headers (used below).

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CoffeeShop Blog Headers Pack 1!

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Now for something completely different!

My first creative love is photography, but I also love doing old-fashioned handwork. I taught myself to sew (by hand and sewing machine) and embroider when I started staying at home with my first son. I know that many of my readers are moms who also love to sew and craft along with their photography, so I thought I would mention two books that I recently purchased and absolutely love (but have nothing to do with photography or editing!). These books are both written by bloggers and they are really excellent.

Doodle Stitching is a great embroidery book as it not only teaches the beginner how to embroider, but it inspired you to create you own patterns from doodles! The Creative Family is written by Soule Mama, another favorite non-photography blogger of mine. She has some great suggestions of fun things to do with your children that are really creative and inexpensive, and she really motivates you to spend more time out in nature and less time in front of the TV or computer (except when you watch Lost or read my blog, but you can do that after the kids go to bed and the snakes come out!).

And here is a book on my list next time I order on Amazon, it looks amazing and I love her blog Posie Gets Cozy.





OK, that was a little coffee break and next post will be back to normal! I have created a pile of bracket borders like the sample you see below that I will post for download in the next few days. I tried so hard to find some free ones like this so I could design custom blog headers (headed your way soon), but they are hard to find so I learned how to design my own using this Tutorial. They are .psd files you can just drag over to your image and fit to size. I will also have a tutorial on how to embellish them as I did below. The paper in the middle is part of my next texture pack (the pattern is a free one from Pixels and Ice Cream, one of my new favorite places to visit). I also have some new actions headed your way, so please keep on checking back!

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CoffeeShop Hot Cocoa 2 PS/PSE Action!

I have rewritten and improved the original CoffeeShop Hot Cocoa action. Now the action runs in Photoshop AND Photoshop Elements and the hot cocoa effect is completely adjustable and includes a layer mask so that you can mask out the effect on skin/eyes/etc. I even added a little contrast/brightness "pop" layer to perk it up a bit, but you can adjust the opacity of this layer to taste and even turn it off if you don't want it.

Click on the image above or HERE to download the CoffeeShop Hot Cocoa 2 PS/PSE Action!

If that download link does not work, please click HERE.

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

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Blog Construction

You might notice that I am trying to update my old blog posts. To download the free actions/templates/tutorials you will just need to click on the image to get the file rather than have to search for a download link. This is a work-in-progress, so sorry for any inconvenience.

I am releasing the new CoffeeShop Hot Cocoa 2 in the next few days. This is an update of the Photoshop-only Hot Cocoa action, but now it runs in Photoshop Elements AND Photoshop, plus it is completely adjustable, includes a built-in layer mask and a brightness/contrast layer.

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CoffeeShop Texture Pack 2 - Grunge!

Here is the second of my new series of free CoffeeShop Texture Packs. This one has three grunge textures I made, all high resolution .jpgs. Hope you guys enjoy them!
If you have never used textures in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, please check out my tutorials on the top horizontal bar. I have several tutorials on using textures, including this ONE. And if you have Photoshop Elements and haven't downloaded the CoffeeShop Layer Mask, please get it HERE. You can use the layer mask to remove parts of the texture from your image as you can see in my sample above.
Click on the image above to download, and if that does not work click HERE!

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CoffeeShop Perfect Portrait PS/PSE Action!

UPDATE, Sept. 2011:  Please check out my updated Perfect Portrait action HERE!  This action below works fine, but I have made a newer version that I think is a bit improved.  :-)

Click here to download the CoffeeShop Perfect Portrait PS/PSE Action!

This is my 100th post!!! I seriously never guessed I would become so blog "obsessed". ;-)CoffeeShop was started on a lark one day last March to share Photoshop tips/actions with my sis who lives out of town. Ironically she hardly ever has the time to stop by, but now close to 1000 other people a day pop in! :-) This scientist turned photo-editor and blogger is humbled and thankful for every one of you.

So thank you so much for not only your generous donations and incredibly wonderful comments, but thank you for visiting here and thus making me use my creaky old dusty brain to create new things to post. And truth be told, I hardly miss the science at all (and when I do the boys and I just do a fun science experiment here at home and I don't have to worry about writing it up as most people know what happens when you put baking soda and vinegar in a homemade volcano!).

Here it is, the free CoffeeShop Perfect Portrait PS/PSE Action! This action combines CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2 with many other enhancing layers which make Perfect Portrait your one-stop portrait action. You should clone out any bad blemishes before starting, but once you do that just click on the action and adjust the level's adjustment layer to correct color/contrast and let it run. Once it is finished you fine-tune the layers to make your image "pop". You have to be familiar with layer masks (download the PSE CoffeeShop Layer Mask if you haven't already).

The best part of this action is that you are in control as you set the opacity of your brushes and layers. This action requires your input, and that is why your images will look more professional and hopefully stunning after using it. And this action saves you so much time. Just imagine doing all of those layers on your own!

Here is a great tutorial about making brown (or any color eyes) pop using this action.

The Vivid Color layer lets you saturate the color. Just use a low opacity soft white brush, select the layer mask, and paint on the image where you want supersaturated colors (like backgrounds). The Color Pop layer gives you a subtle color/contrast pop. Adjust the opacity of this layer to taste and use the layer mask to mask out skin if the effect is too much. Finally, the Urban Grit is my favorite "drastic" effect. It adds a high contrast gritty look, almost a bit HDR, and it works great for backgrounds. Like the Vivid Color layer, you use a low opacity soft white brush, select the layer mask, and paint on the image where you want the Urban Grit effect. Try it on brick wall backgrounds, it is amazing! The brighten layer gives a subtle brightness/contrast pop and it can be adjusted by tweaking the layer opacity.

You can turn on/off the vignette, adjust the layer opacity to taste, and even change the blending mode to multiply for a dramatic vignette. The Sharpen layer is set to be off, but if you want to use it, just turn on the eye icon and adjust opacity to taste. The Dodge/Burn layer allows you to lighten/brighten parts of the image without destroying the original. Use a low opacity soft white brush to lighten, a low opacity soft black brush to darken.

The retouching layers are from CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2. You might not know you can use the skin soften layer to soften other things. I sometimes use it on backgrounds (especially trees) as it gives them a nice muted soft effect. You can even use it over an entire image to soften everything.

The zipped file contains the .atn action file, 2 icon (thumbnail) files for PSE, brief instructions, and a sample image.

If you have any questions, the best way to get answers is to post them at the CoffeeShop Flickr Group . I am there all of the time, as well as many actual experts who love to help!!!

Click on the image above to download CoffeeShop Perfect Portrait, and if that doesn't work then click HERE!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

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CoffeeShop Texture Pack 1!

I was unable to think of a creative name...

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