Wednesday, June 24, 2020

CoffeeShop "Dark & Dramatic Color" Fine Art Photoshop/PSE Action!



Wow, I just realized I haven't posted anything in almost a month.  The last months have been a little overwhelming for me here in the CoffeeShop house. We are used to getting out and doing things like taking little flying trips, going to festivals, and visiting with out-of-town family so these last months with the virus situation has really changed our lives. Like everyone else of course. 

I never realized how important it was for me to get out and about with people, especially since I homeschool and work-at-home.  I MISS PEOPLE SO MUCH!!! So I have been a little anxious/down the last months with all the changes to our normal life and my creativity just disappeared. I would sit at my computer and wouldn't be able think of anything to design...



So I am exercising, playing piano again, taking supplements (magnesium and iron are really helping), reading the Dare book, and trying to get out with the family as much as we can. We have taken a few trips to the beach which was wonderful since that is my happy place. Thankfully we live so close! 

I saw my sister Heather and her kids also for the first time in months and it was so nice! It looks like she might be moving here from Dallas by the end of summer if things work out and I can't tell you how excited we are about this!!! My kids will actually have cousins in town and I can hang out with my sister. 

And finally, I am getting back on my computer to blog/design which is going to really help too. So things are looking up.

I hope you and your family/friends/loved ones are doing ok during these crazy times. I just keep on reminding myself that this isn't forever. We watched "Back to the Future" with the boys and we all decided that if we ever go visit the past we will skip right over the first 6 months of 2020. ;-) 

Yesterday I had some really great actions ideas and wrote two new ones. Today's is a gorgeous dark and dramatic color boost. I love using this one on florals, but you can use it anyway you like. It really adds so much drama to your color images. You can download it toward the bottom of this post.

Images used in this post: (red flowers, purple flower, butterfly).



CoffeeShop "Dark and Dramatic Color" Action Tutorial: 


Open image. You can see the original image I used in this post here.


Run "Dark & Dramatic Color" and adjust layers to taste.


I like to remove some of the "Add Contrast" layer from the flowers, so I click its layer mask and use a soft black brush directly on the flowers.


I also sometimes need to turn on the "Reduce Reds" layer and adjust the opacity to remove some of the red. In this case I turned it on and dialed it down to 30% opacity. 

I hope you enjoy using this new action! Feel free to post your edits on my Facebook page, I love to see what you do with them.


Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for all the actions/presets and professional design elements, storyboards, and textures.

For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.


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13 comments:

  1. Hello my sweet friend and thank you for this wonderful action which I have downloaded and will be anxious to try. Your image of the red flowers is simply so very lovely. I hope you are feeling less down, such a trying time for us all but remember how much you do for people with this blog and never feel as though you have lost your creativity as that is your very soul. You take care and thank you again. Kat from Toronto.

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    1. Kat, thank you for your kind words! I know everyone is affected by everything going on right now. It is a lot to take in! But it will pass. And so happy you like the action. Rita

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  2. Just wanted to thank you for this lovely gift and thank you for sharing it with us. It looks very interesting and different than what I usually do and I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

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    1. Thank you Sherry! I sometimes like the airy bright look, and sometimes this dark moody color. I like to mix it up. :-) Rita

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  3. Bummer! I can't even run the first step because I do not have any dark and dramatic color button!

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    1. dragonswing, what do you mean by a button? Did you load this action in your Photoshop/PSE? If you have a newer program you don't need a button, just the action. Rita

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  4. Thank you, this looks like a fun action.

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  5. Hi! First of all, THANK YOU for your incredible talent and generosity. You have been a blessing in my life since 2016! I use your S-Curve pop and Perfect Portrait and matte b&w often on our family photos. Thank you! This action is exactly what I've been looking for, and I was so excited to find it! I have used your actions before and have never had a problem installing, but for some reason this one doesn't download like the rest. It prompted me to get a MediaFire account, which I did, and then when it downloaded, it's just an atn. There's no option to save anything, it just opens PSE 10 and there's nothing there. It doesn't give me an option to unzip/extract/save it, etc like the other actions of yours that I have and use. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks so much for all you do.

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    1. Thank you so much Devin! The ATN file is the action file and I just didn't put it in a folder. I don't include the little thumbnails anymore as most people have PSE11 and up and the newer versions don't need thumbnails. I hope this helps!!!

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  6. Hi there!

    I wasn't able to download this action, maybe the link is broken. FYI I have been following your blog for about 10 years and it still my fave goto for photo info and help.

    Thank you!!

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    1. Hi Elizabeth, I am so happy you have been reading my blog so long! I just checked the link and it is working on Safari. Would you be able to try a different browser? Maybe it was just a weird blip. Comment here if you still can't get it to work. Thanks! Rita

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  7. The link isn't working on this one for some reason. I am using google chrome and have downloaded a few of your other actions, but this one refuses to do anything.

    PS I LOVE your actions and blog and have been following for a really long time Thank you so much for all of your hard work <3

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    1. Wow, thank you so much, I love that you have been visiting my blog for so long! I think I started it in 2007 if you can believe it. And I am still at it! My youngest was one and now he is almost 16. The link does work, try a different browser. Sometimes a pop-up ad will keep the download from working in some browsers.

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Rita