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You can also click and drag the ATN file into Photoshop once it’s open, and it will load in the Actions panel. After that, you can choose a photo to apply your action to and run it. That should automatically open Photoshop and load the action. To open the file with your computer, you just need to navigate to the ATN file and double-click it. Open the file folder via your computer’s file finder (Finder for Mac, Explorer for Windows) and click the action file, which will have the “.atn” extension.You can install the action you just downloaded in one of two ways: Once you’ve found the action you want to try, simply download it and unzip the files from the ZIP folder onto your computer. Adobe, for example, has free Photoshop actions you can mess around with if you’re just learning that produce some amazing effects, like this one from Nuwan Panditha. A quick Google search will produce a trove of options from reputable sources. Photographers will often sell them, some will offer them for free. You can download Photoshop actions from multiple places. You might have to tweak them or dial settings back, but they can still save you a lot of time getting the look you’re after.
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Like Lightroom presets, they can serve as a starting point. Actions basically allow you access to the skill set of a Photoshop expert, even if you’re not quite there yet. You can use actions for anything from setting up frequency separation in the retouching stage to giving your photos an entirely different look with intricate color grading. They aren’t extensions or add-ons, which also enhance what you can do with the program, but in different ways. Their code is prewritten to carry out a specific set of edits, so all you have to do is press the little “play” button. Photoshop actions are one-click sequences that allow you to automatically make complex edits in seconds.
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