Free Portrait Photoshop Actions

There’s no reason to spend hours on portrait photo editing and color correction that can be done in a matter of seconds with the following FREE Photoshop actions for portraits. This bundle, consisting of 6 actions, will let you achieve professional level of photo editing, even if you are a beginner. So, stop wasting your time and start fixing the toughest portrait photography problems in a quick, efficient, and non-destructive way.

6 Free Photoshop Actions for Portraits

A professional photographer is not necessarily a good photo retoucher. And portrait photos are by far, the trickiest photos to edit, as they require the most advanced skills.

You should do photo stylization, cropping, color correction, remove face and skin blemishes, make hair volume, retouch background, etc. A list of things that can potentially go wrong is huge. That’s why, a number of photographers fail to do realist portrait retouching.

But don’t worry! This bundle of free Photoshop actions for portraits was designed specifically to your needs and will help you turn even the most unflattering aspects of a portrait into attractive photos. Of course, we all apply different workflows, but these actions will help you achieve the best results possible, regardless of your photo editing routine. Remember, that by choosing this bundle you trust your picture retouching to a team of professionals who created it.

1. Teeth Whitening

Whitening teeth is a standard Photoshop technique that every portrait photographer needs to know. Even the whitest teeth can give off a yellow tint in photos due to lighting, white balance settings, light effects etc. And such small thing as teeth can easily ruin the entire photos and make your clients feel self-conscious. This “Teeth Whitening” action is the quickest and most effective way to make dingy teeth look brighter and naturally whiter all the way to a Hollywood smile.

2. Smooth Skin

Most amateurs go overboard with skin retouching: they blur the important skin details, creating an unrealistic look. Whether you’re a portrait photographer, or aspire to be one, your clients will definitely expect you to edit the skin properly as in fashion magazines.

Unlike many Photoshop portrait actions out there, this one retains the skin‘s texture while removing skin’s blotches and distracting imperfections. It helps create smooth, blemish-free skin without looking fake. Perfect choice to achieve a professional and polished look on close-up portraits.

3. Highlights

This Photoshop action will adjust the tonal range of the image. Sometimes when the photo is well-lit and exposed correctly, the brightest part of an image still looks grey. Such portrait is definitely going to look dull.

If you use this “Highlights” preset, it will make the highlights brighter, bring out more details and help achieve an all-around attractive portrait. Facial features look distinctive and clearer.

4. Color Tone

Have you ever taken a portrait and noticed afterwards that the skin tone doesn’t really look right? Don’t worry, it happens even to the best photographers both in the studio and outdoors. There are a bunch of different situations that can result with improper skin tone in your image. Maybe the lighting was a little bit weird, you had a couple of light sources, or maybe you didn’t set the proper white balance on your camera.

This can drastically influence the skin color. Pale skin will make your subjects look lifeless. Green, yellow, and red tint can make them look sick or tired. That’s the opposite of what portrait photographers need. This is a universal Photoshop action for portraits that lets you fix one of the most difficult issues in portrait photo editing. Make your mode’s skin pinky and glossy in several clicks.

5. Burn Effect

If some photos look slightly washed out, use this Photoshop action for portraits. It will seamlessly manage this issue, by giving the photo more definition, enhancing your subjects’ features and adding more expression. “Burn” effect will literally bring your photos to life. Any portrait can benefit from this effect. The best part of this action is that it only targets the subject, leaving the background as it is. Your clients will be amazed with how crisp their photos look.

6. Bright Eyes

Eyes are the key element of any portrait. If you look at a portrait and the eyes don’t stand out, you can say that the portrait is a fail. That’s why it’s so crucial to know how to make them pop and clear.

This action brightens the irises and the whites of the eyes. Most Photoshop actions for portraits work only with light irises, but this one helps achieve amazing results even with irises that are originally dark.