The best free Photoshop actions are a great way to save time when you're working on a project, whether you want to touch up your photography or add a creative flair to your design. Adobe's industry-standard image editing software is a staple for many creatives and making use of Photoshop action bundles can streamline your workflow, allowing you to focus on fine-tuning your work to perfection.
If you find yourself repeating the same processes over and over, you can create your own Photoshop actions as a handy tool to optimise your creative process. If you're looking for more options, importing Photoshop actions is a great way to explore new creative ideas, and thankfully there are plenty of options available to download for free. To get you started check out our guide on how to download Photoshop and take a look at the best Photoshop tutorials for handy tips and tricks to optimise your workflow.
Coffeeshop actions soften your photos, creating a sense of depth and visual intrigue. These filters can add an aura of romance to wedding photos, or give children's portraits a feeling of innocence and tenderness. The actions can help make your photo lighting appear more dynamic or make alterations to level out skin tone and imperfections. Whether you're a novice or a professional, the Coffeeshop actions are a useful addition to make photo editing easier.
02. Cross Process
Use this traditional technique digitally (Image credit: Fix the Photo)
Next up on our free Photoshop actions roundup is this cross-processing effect. Cross-processing means deliberately processing one type of film in a chemical solution intended for another, resulting in oddly skewed colours and increased contrast and saturation. This collection includes six different cross process effects. We especially like the rich vibrant tone of the example pictured above (action number two of the collection).
03. Winter Blues
Turn chilly scenes into something more magical (Image credit: Spoon Graphics)
At the other end of the temperature scale, these Winter Blues photo effects are designed to add some wintry magic to your landscapes. Use these free Photoshop actions to enhance overcast and cloudy skies and with subtle cool hues. The pack includes 10 actions, each with a different style.
04. Nightmare
...and they were never seen again (Image credit: Shutter Pulse)
If your photos just aren't sinister enough for your liking, this free Photoshop action should make things a little more unsettling. It's designed to let you easily give your photos a dark, haunting vibe. Perfect for creating the impression that you're permanently about to stumble into mortal danger.
05. Pastel Effect
Give your owl some light enhancement and colour toning (Image credit: Creative Tacos)
Another way to breathe fresh life into your photos is with this set of 40 pastel effect Photoshop actions; they'll provide instant light enhancement and beautiful colour toning at the touch of a button, and transform ordinary shots into something much more Instagram-worthy.
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06. Mystical Light
'scuse me while I kiss the sky (Image credit: DeviantArt)
Give your photos an other-worldly air with this Photoshop action from Megan Joy, available through DeviantArt. It'll infuse landscapes with a magical light, infusing any shot with an ethereal purple haze and making the dullest of landscape shots look like a mysterious fairy dell.
Perfect for outdoor pictures, the Hazy Afternoon action certainly lives up to its name by creating a soft gradient colour layer. You can use this free action on black and white or colour images, plus you can easily adjust the gradient until you get the exact look you're after.
08. Bella
Create a romantic, nostalgic feel with a pink cast
This action adds a beautiful warmth to your photographs, bringing out rich tones in hair and skin, and softening colours with a pink cast. Give your images a romantic, nostalgic feel in an instant.
Shutter Pulse's free Photoshop action allows you to instantly add a vintage feel to your pictures. Creamy Vintage lightens your photos with soft tones that create a charming retro feel. It's a great way to add a subtle hint of character to your images without making them feel overly filtered and over-processed.
10. Ultra Faded
Make your expensive snaps look washed out (Image credit: www.photoshoptutorials.ws)
Want to make your professionally captured photos look like they were taken with a cheap camera? Of course you do. This set of free Photoshop actions from SparkleStock recreate a faded film effect, with optional light leaks. The full (paid) set includes a whole load of different options, but you can download 11 for free. All actions are created using adjustment layers, so they'll all remain fully editable and nondestructive.
11. 2-strip Technicolor
This action simulates the 2-strip look without damaging the original image
Recreate the look of 2-strip Technicolor film by downloading this free action. Popular in the 20s and 30s, 2-strip technicolor film exposed black and white film behind a green filter and a red filter. By merging the green and blue channels in different layers, this action simulates the 2-strip look without damaging the original image.
12. Polanoid Generator 3
Polanoid's one of those Photoshop actions you'll use again and again
Turn any image into a Polaroid instantly with one of 10 different effects. It includes colour treatments and shadows automatically, and it's one of those Photoshop actions you'll use again and again.
13. The Mini Collection
There's plenty to play with in this taster selection (Image credit: FilterGrade)
Featuring some impressive retro Photoshop actions, plus a kit of light leaks and some vintage Photoshop brushes, the Mini Collection from FilterGrade is a free taster of its larger $49 FilterGrade bundle.
If you're after a vintage effect for your photography but you're not entirely sure what, nab this free Photoshop actions collection from DeviantArt user Yeonseb. It contains 14 assorted vintage actions, so you're bound to find something to your liking.
It's not just colour photos that you can apply the HDR treatment to. With this free Photoshop action you can give any photo a bold, black and white, HDR-style look that'll make it really stand out.
Add the eerie touch of a cool infrared chill to your pictures with this free Photoshop actions entry. This action creates two adjustment layers inside a layer group, allowing you to change the red and blue balance, as well as the contrast.
This action requires a credit if you use it, but offers a very simple way to convert a regular photograph into a stunning high-key portrait with clean lines and an almost dreamy finish, without compromising essential areas of contrast.
18. Lithprint
Lithprint turns photographs into striking lithograph-style images
Create a lithograph-style image from your raw photos. This works best on larger images that have already been given a medium-contrast treatment. Download this Photoshop action for free on DeviantArt.
19. Old and Dirty
Use this action for a black and white retro feel (Image credit: Exposure Empire)
For Photoshop and Lightroom, this action will give you a 'black and white conversion with a slight twist'. Apply the action and voila! You'll get a vintage/retro feel on your photo.
Free Photoshop actions: Touch-up techniques
20. Reduce Motion Blur
Sharpen up your snaps (Image credit: www.turningturnip.co.uk)
Sometimes a little camera shake, or an unexpected movement from your subject, can ruin an otherwise great photo. Save the day with this entry from the free Photoshop actions roundup. It will remove motion blur from your images.
Sharpening your images can instantly make them clearer, and this collection of free sharpen actions makes it easier than ever to make your most important snaps shine. Details become more visible by adjusting contrast and clarity, enhancing the colour scheme and lighting in your pictures. Portraits, landscapes, wedding photos and more can be brought to life with this free tool and it's perfect for both outdoor and studio photography.
22. 5 Skin Retouching actions
Sort out your skin the easy way (Image credit: www.photoshoptutorials.ws)
Want to retouch skin like a boss? This set of retouching actions will give you a head-start, enabling you to heal, mattify and airbrush skin with one click. You can also use them to brighten eyes and increase their contrast.
23. Soft Skin Tones
Smooth skin while retaining textures and colouring
Used in combination with an existing selection or mask, this smoothes skin while retaining textures and colouring, saving clean-up time. It's available to download for free.
Automatically remove white backgrounds with this suite of three actions that allow for different automated processes to strip out the background of your isolated images.
Free Photoshop actions: Special effects
25. BlackNull's Modern Artist Action Set
Turn photos into vibrant graphic art with this free Photoshop action (Image credit: Adobe / BlackKnull)
This is a complex free Photoshop action created for Adobe Create by the artist Nuwan Panditha, also known as BlackNull. It can be used to turn photographs into vibrant works of graphic art. You'll need to follow the instructions carefully for this one, creating a clear mask layer (be sure to name it 'mask') for your subject. The action may look great immediately when applied, but have a play around because there are lots of way to change the shapes and colours.
26. Powder Explosion free photoshop action
Boom! Powder explosion (Image credit: Diego Sanchez)
Powder is a common prop in dance photography, but you don't necessarily need to mess up your studio to get that exploding look. This free Photoshop action attempts to replicate the effect. Don't expect too much – it's never going to replicate the realism of actually shooting with powder, but can be a fun action to add some exaggerated drama to an image. You'll need to credit Diego Sanchez, the creator of the action, if you use it for free.
27. Dispersion Effect
Make it look like objects are dissolving (Image credit: PSD Dude)
This free Photoshop action enables you to easily create dispersion effects in your images, to make it appear like an object is exploding or disintegrating. The action leaves layers intact so you can easily modify and edit the results to your liking. The only downside is that you can only use it with 72 dpi images in RGB color mode, and has not been tested for use with Photoshop CC.
28. 3D Isometric Map
Why bother with flat maps when you could have an isometric 3D map?
A brilliant action that converts a flat vector map into an isometric 3D map mockup. There are three different styles of map available: sand, ice and grass, and the action also allows you to drop in your choice of buildings, trees, landscape elements and signs.
Create round stickers with a curl in the corner, or polaroid-style images with clear sticky tape holding them in place. This site requires you to register for free before you can download the action.
30. Fold Paper
Turn artwork into a virtual mockup with this neat effect
Automatically render your artwork onto a trifold paper design in pseudo-3D, complete with shadows and shading on the image. Ideal for rendering paper designs ahead of presenting them on-screen to clients.
31. Pxl Bitmap
(Image credit: Creative Resource via Behance)
This moody pixel effect gives your pictures an edgy effect that's perfect for graphic projects that need a boost of texture and style. "Inspired by the retro halftone designs" it emulates 8-bit dithering pixel effects for a retro feel. With customisable texture density options, it's an adaptable way to bring character into your designs.
32. Cyberpunk
(Image credit: Pixel Surplus/Hyperpix Productions via Behance)
This set of 10 Photoshop actions gives your images an instant Cyberpunk aesthetic. Injecting your snaps with an electrifying neon filter, it's a great way to add a distinct retro-futuristic feel to your projects. It works well with edgy street photography and portraiture, adding a stylish dystopian edge to your work. This collection is free for personal use.
What are Photoshop actions?
When working on Photoshop, there is a feature that allows you to track all your edits and save them as an 'action'. This means that in the future you can quickly apply all of those edits at once rather than having to add all of the adjustment layers and masks one-by-one every time you want to apply the same kind of edit to an image.
If you then assign that action to a shortcut key, it means you can perform an edit at just the press of a button, saving you minutes and hours of your time. They're an absolute lifesaver if you're in a rush, or if you have lots of projects to edit in a similar fashion – and of course, they're all designed by you, to suit you and your process. But you can also import Photoshop actions created by other people, saving you even more time.
How do I install Photoshop actions?
Most free Photoshop actions will download as zip folders. You'll want to download this and extract the contents (which should take the form of an .ATN file) to an easy-to-find location on your computer.
To install the Photoshop actions and make them available to use in Photoshop, you'll need to select the Window Menu in Photoshop and choose 'Actions'. Click on the Menu Icon at the top right of the Actions panel, scroll down to Load Actions and open the Photoshop Actions Folder. Navigate to the folder where you saved the Photoshop action and double-click the .ATN file. Once the action you want appears listed, you can simply click the Play button.
Kerrie Hughes is a frequent contributor to Creative Bloq, and was once its editor. One of the original CB crew, Kerrie joined the team back in 2013 after moving from her role as staff writer on 3D World. Since then she's written regularly for other creative publications such as ImagineFX, Computer Arts and Digital Camera World. After a stint working for the police, Kerrie is back reviewing creative tech for creative professionals.
