Here’sthe second set of actions I wrote about earlier today:

This set has two actions that produce a “Cross-Processed” look - taking the color channel of an image and altering it it some way to create a better look, an interesting effect, or a color-shifted appearance. And if you couldn’t tell by the nifty Add-O-Matic graphic over there, they’re good to go for Elements 5 and 6 (and quite probably earlier versions, too, but I don’t have an Add-O available for them….)

Anyway, these are two extensions (companions?) to the Cross-Processed action already in FunFotoFX. One big difference is that while the original creates a very specific effect, these two are infinitely more versatile in how you choose to make them look - you can change blend modes, turn layers on and off, change the order of the layers, and play until you turn your mouse finger into a little stump.

For two examples, the straight output of Cross Processed 2 is up there to the left. The bluish tinted image on the right was altered slightly:  I simply moved the “Blue” layer to the top of the stack and changed its blend mode to Multiply:

For the second altered output, I kept the Blue layer on the bottom of the stack, but changed the blend mode of the Red layer to Luminosity and the Green layer to Difference.

It makes for a beautifully darker color balance, and to me, looks great on portrait images with darker backgrounds.  Oh - it really works well to bring out lush scenery, too - try it on a landscape shot that needs a bit more “pop”.

The other action here - Cross Processed 3 - adds two Green layers that you can swap, blur, tweak, turn on or off, or otherwise alter. To the right is the regular output just as the action finishes:

It adds a ton of green to this particular image, so to counteract it a bit, I simply changed the “Red” layer to Multiply mode. It’s similar to the image I creted with Cross Processed 2, but contributes a little more lighting.

More experiments resulted in the image below. For that, to counteract the green, I added a solid color adjustment and filled it with a green color similar to the green I “eyedroppered” from the image.  I changed the Adjustment layer’s blend mode to Hue and added an Invert Adjustment layer above that - then I grouped the Invert layer to the Solid Color Adjustment (make the Invert layer active in the Layers palette & press <Ctrl>+<G>):

Other experiments with Pin Light & Vivid Light blends produced images that resemble High Key effects, Posterization effects, inverted effects and so many other interesting things in between.

So when you think about asking “what should I do with this action?” or “how does this action work?” (or “this action really bites….”) - just experiment! Move layers around and change blends and try different combinations.  This isn’t an action that will do everything for you “out of the box” - it gives you some new tools to mess with, though - but you’ll have to do a bit of work with them to get the look you like.

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I’vegot a trio of new actions for you peeps, one in this post and two included in the zip in the post I’ll do right after this. I’ll also post what’s been going on around the graficalicus site and my real job and why I haven’t been very active around here or my favorite other web spots lately….

Why three posts?  Because the next actions really look great when you run them after running this action. In fact, since this action works on layers (instead of the entire image, as usual) it becomes extremely versatile for the next actions that create different color layers. And there have been a lot of exciting and tense times the past few months as I move into a new role at work and consider the future of the graffishop and all these downloads….

But I’m getting way ahead of myself.

This post is supposed to be about a single action called “Another Soft Image“.

“Another Soft Image action, Graffi?” Yep - it uses a different technique than any of the effects found in Glam Photo or B&W Lab. It creates a new layer from the Hi Pass filter and blurs it (adjustable by you, of course) and swaps blend mode. The result is a soft-edged image.

It works well on portraits (obviously) but it also creates a nice dreamy effect to landscape and macro images, as well.  The more blur you add, the softer the look.

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…and please don’t hold it against me. Macs are cool. Macs are reliable. I don’t have a Mac, so I don’t know the first thing about its operating system or how to use it to my advantage.

I made a few posts about this a while back,( here and here ), and got taken to task for it. I got slammed in a few public forums for “not providing people with what they want and excluding a large percentage of Photoshop Elements users” who just need help hacking their Photoshop Elements installations  to make things work that wouldn’t work normally.

I did try to help a few folks, but I couldn’t offer any paths or map to a folder because, well, I don’t have a Mac with Elements on it.

Ask around in a Mac forum - I’m sure someone will be able to help you much better than me.  But I’m staying out of this one just to save my own skin.

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