Well, now that you know how to download the actions, let’s learn how to use them properly!!! First, I need you to download one more action if you have not already. This Action is Called Baby Powder Room and it is from the Coffee Shop Blog. This action is a retouching action and it will allow you to smooth out blemishes and unwanted redness in the skin as well as give that sweet baby skin and nice soft look! You can find here:
http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/2009/11/coffeeshop-baby-powderroom-free-pspse.html
You will need to scroll almost all the way down the page to find the download link! If you noticed as you were scrolling along, The Coffee Shop Blog has given you word for word instructions on how to use this action as she does with many of her actions! You can use her instructions or the one’s I have written on here as well. If you have never used a layer mask or action before you might want to follow along for a little bit longer on here just until you understand exactly what they do and then you can follow her instructions for her action if you want : )
Okay…once you have your action downloaded open up Photoshop Elements and you should find it with the rest of your actions. Now, Open a portrait picture (the original)….something of only one person and fairly close up to make this tutorial the easiest to follow. I have chosen to use this picture of my daughter Olivia:
As you notice in your Layers box to the right, you will see a thumbnail of your picture labeled “Background” and just above that, you will see all of your actions. If you do not see your actions then click on the thumbnail at the top of the box labeled photo effects:
Once you have your actions up, locate the Baby Powder Room Action and double click on it. Click Continue in the box that pops up. You will see lots of stuff going on down in your layers box. Let it finish and then we will work on adjusting the layers. It should now look like this:
Okay, notice that in each different layer there are two boxes. The layers on the right are called Layer Masks. Layer masks allow you to make changes to a photo without ruining them. You can fix any mistake that you make while editing! Layer masks are “painted on” by using your paint brush tool.
THE THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER WITH LAYER MASKS!
1. A White Layer Mask Shows that the effect has already been done to the photo and in order to remove that effect from the photo you will need to use a black brush to “mask” the effect off of the picture. If you mess up and you take away too much of the effect, you can just switch your brush back to white and repaint the effect back over the spot you wanted to add the effect back to.
2. A Black Layer Mask Shows that the Effect has not yet been applied and when you paint over the area with WHITE you will be ADDING the effect to the photo. The opposite applies here if you make a mistake. Just switch your brush to black and you can brush over the area you messed up on and all will be cured!
3. MODERATION IS KEY!! Most of the time you will not paint with your brush at 100%….when retouching a photo with Layer Masks….We are going for natural not overdone.
Okay so let’s get started!
The first layer starting from the bottom is called “Red Skin Repair”. This one is a little different than most of the layers as you will first paint on the Transparent Layer on the Left and then adjust with the Layer Mask. Let me show you what I mean:
First, Click on the box in the “Red Skin Repair” layer that looks like a million little checkered boxes. It will be the left hand box. The checkered boxed layer represents a transparent or “see through layer” this allows you to put the effects on a separate layer instead of painting directly onto your background layer (the original photo).
Now, I like shortcuts and so the short cut to “grab” the eyedropper tool is the letter I. Click on the “I” on your keyboard and you will notice that your tool will now look like a small eye dropper.
This layer that we are working on reduces or removes blemishes, red spots and imperfections in the skin. Notice that in my photo, Olivia’s cheeks are a little broke out (she has eczema). We are going to repair this!
Make sure you are still clicked on the Transparent Layer Box and that your eye dropper tool is still selected. Now, click on a part of the skin that is not effected by the imperfection. It can be easier if you zoom in a bit.
Now, Notice that the color of of your brush has now changed to some sort of shade of mauve or pink. Now, click on your brush tool or just simply click “B” for brush. Be sure to check at the top of your screen to make sure that your regular brush is selected and not one of the effects brushes. It should look like this directly above your photo:
Now, we are going to select a different Opacity for the brush. You can find this directly above the photo. We are going to set it to about 25-50% Try it at whatever you would like…I find it best to start small and keep reapplying to the area until you have the desired affect. I am going to start at 30%. Once you start brushing over the imperfection, as long as you keep your mouse clicked down you can go over the same spot over and over and it will not change the opacity. However; if you let go and then click again, it will add another 30% brush stroke to the area. This is what I meant by reapplying the area if needed. Also, You can change the size of your brush by using the left and right brackets on your keyboard.
Okay, start going over the area….I will do one cheek and leave the other so that you can see the differences in my photo:
I ended up having to reapply 3 times in order to achieve this affect. Now, go ahead and finish repairing the skin. MAKE SURE YOUR TRANSPARENT BOX IS STILL SELECTED!! Here is my photo with imperfections completely repaired:
Now, the effect is pretty apparent so we are going to “tone” it down a bit. We are now going to click on the right hand box next to the Transparent box. Now, go to the top of the layers box and change the opacity of this layer mask from 100% to whatever you feel gives the photo a nice “natural” Look. I set mine to 75%
Yay!! We just got through the first part of adjusting this action!! haahaha It seems like it takes a long time to do it now, but once you get the hang of it, it will go much faster and not all of the actions take as long as repair actions do!
Okay So let’s move up to the next layer in the Layers Box; “Smooth Skin”. On this Layer, and all of the layers from here on out, we are going to click on the black layer mask boxes to the right. So, go ahead and select that box. Make sure that you still have your brush tool selected and make sure that the color of your brush is white on top and black on the bottom. If they are the opposite, you can click on the little arrows next to the color squares and it will switch them around! Now we are just going to paint over the skin avoiding the eyes, nostrils and lips. Make sure your brush is set to an opacity around 20-30%. Remember, if you make a mistake, just paint back over it with black!
Now we are going to do the same thing we did before in our layers box….we are going to adjust the smooth skin layer mask so that the opacity is maybe 70-80%. If you feel like the effect is still too much then keep lessening the opacity until you feel it looks the best. I put mine at 71%.
Layer 3: “Lighten Skin”. You do not HAVE to do anything to this layer if you feel that the effect is just too much. This layer will give the skin a soft look….like it has been lightly powdered. Remember to make sure that the black layer box is selected and paint with a nice low opacity white brush. About 10-20% for this one. You can also do the same as before if you feel the effect is too much. Simply lower the opacity of the layer mask in the layers box. Mine is done at brush opacity of 15% and a layer mask opacity of 85%
On the skin glow do the same as the previous ones. Low opacity brush, adjust layer to liking. Mine is set at a 25% opacity brush and I left the layer mask at 100%
The next layer is the eye define. Use a small brush at about 50-100% opacity and paint over the eyelashes only.
On the bright eyes layer, we are just going to paint the iris of the eye. Avoid the pupil and the whites of the eye. Use a brush at about 10-20% opacity. This will give the eyes a nice bright look. Zoom in if you need to to avoid painting unwanted areas.
Viola! Your final result!!! After you have achieved the look you were aiming for, right click on the background layer in the layers box and click on flatten image. You always want to flatten the image before you save it. I am going to go one more step and show you that after flattening or merging the layers together you can also add more actions to the photo. I said earlier that I thought my photo was a little dull, so I am going to use another action and perk it up a bit. Once your image has been flattened, your layers box should look like this:
and now I am going to flatten my image again and use an action called Creamy Toffee Latte from The Coffee Shop Blog:
I clicked on the Creamy Toffee Latte Layer and adjusted the opacity to about 70% and then I clicked on the White layer Mask below it and using a black brush at about 20% opacity, I removed the toffee effect from the eyes and lips.
Flatten your image and SAVE!!!
You can also go a little more extreme by giving your photo a little Creamy Texture like the one on the right called “Creamy Toffee Latte” or you can go even more and give it a more vintage look like the one on the left called “Seventies”. 
