I am so excited to release my newest action, CoffeeShop Velvet Cream! In this action I combined two actions (Define and Pop, which has not been released yet and Velvet Truffle with the navy blue exclusion layer turned off) and I love the effect. I did not write the step-by-step tutorial "Action Unwrapped" yet for this action, but you can read the steps for the Velvet Truffle action here.
I left this action in layers so you could play with them and get different effects as seen below. Like almost all of my actions, this works in Photoshop and PS Elements.
1. Open your image and start the action. The action will flatten your image and then a layers adjustment screen will open. Adjust the highlight and shadow sliders until they are just under the start of the curves. Adjust the midtones to taste. I often bring up the midtones a bit so the skin will be brightened.
2. The action will finish running and you will have five layers above your background.
3. If you want to adjust the contrast you can double-click on the adjustment layer symbol on the Contrast Adjust layer and tweak the levels adjustment curve to taste.
4. Turn down the top Color Fill layer to remove some of the creamy color, or dial it up for more. The Define layer sharpens the darker parts of your image, so you can adjust this to taste or use the layer mask.
This action isn't just for portraits. I love to use it on still life images with light backgrounds such as the flowers seen below.
I used Velvet Cream on this image (just a small adjustment of contrast) and Web Painted Borders to finish it up.
I hope you enjoy playing with this action as much as I have!
Download the free CoffeeShop Velvet Cream PS/PSE Action!
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.
