Little Photoshop Creative Essentials V1
What did the iPhone every do for photography? Some might say it made a handy portable portfolio tool but if you really want that sort of thing then go buy an iPad…… No, what the iPhone really did for photography is reintroduce the world to retro film and toy camera effects. As a result we’ve seen these effects come back to their spiritual home….. the Photoshop Action.
Love ‘em or hate there’s plenty out there to choose from and you can pay all sorts of prices……. here’s just one you might want to take a peek at. 
Along with a brand new website Stuart Little from a Little Photoshop has just launched a new collection of 40 retro film and vintage image actions for Adobe Photoshop CS4 and CS5.
We managed to have a look at the New LPS Creative Essentials Actions for Photoshop plus we have a couple of discount codes available in the members area.
About LPS Creative Essentials
The collection comprises of 28 retro film & vintage colour actions plus 12 border effects. All the actions can be applied as a click “n’ done effect or users can further refine each effect by mixing and matching the actions for a more customised look. The collection is accompanied by a custom panel for users with Photoshop CS4/CS5 and an in-depth series of 7 video tutorials are available online so that first timers can easily install the relevant files with ease and all users can learn how to make the most of the LPS Creative Essentials actions.
Things we like
First and foremost what we like that most of these actions are nondestructive. For us that’s the most important box ticked.
The second thing we like is the customised control panel which sits nicely in the Photoshop workspace.
The third thing we like is that they are easy to use and work very nicely.
The actions
The bleach-by-pass is great and offers more control than I’ve seen in similar actions. We used this in the sample image at the top of the page.
The Vignette tool is very handy and offers a lot of control. Admittedly not the best vignette tool I’ve encountered but still useful.
It’s isn’t just about retro and toy camera effects but the simple enhancements are very nice. This is an example of a few actions I used on a wedding image.
Actions we used:
- Dark Mat
- Tilt ‘n’ Shift
- Vibrant
- Style
- Vignette
Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge and see some of the actions on offer in the collection.
Stuart Little
Stuart’s website “alittlephotoshop.com” closes the gap between Photography and Photoshop and gives you real world solutions that you can introduce to your own digital workflow. His blog is packed full of thoughts, articles, video tutorials, and other actions that will expand your knowledge of Adobe Photoshop CS5, Elements 9 & Lightroom 3.
www.twitter.com/littlephotoshop
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Timothy Lewis
