I got up this morning and cut six short videos to walk viewers through the basics of Photoshop automation with actions. How to run them. How to create them. How to edit them.

This is the first video in the new series. It covers the topic of loading actions and running them. You'll learn how to run actions in their entirety and how to step through them step-by-step.

Coming next: Creating actions

The new video series on action basics continues. Part two covers creating and saving Photoshop actions.

The new video series on action basics continues with modifying Photoshop actions. This topic is split into two parts. This segment focuses on adding a new step to an action and on modifying filter settings within an action. The next segment will cover a bit of Photoshop weirdness: modifying action steps that are not filter settings.

The fourth episode in the video series on action basics continues the discussion on modifying Photoshop actions. The previous segment focused on adding a new step to an action and modifying filter settings within an action. This segment cover a bit of Photoshop weirdness: modifying action steps that are not filter settings. When you want to modify something like Layer Style settings, the process is not so simple.

Episode five of Action Basics covers interacting with actions. In this brief video, you'll learn how to make actions interactive and how to make them skip over steps.

The sixth and final episode in the video series on action basics demonstrates how to save Photoshop actions in a text file to make them easier to review.

Ever wanted to add your signature as an artist to the corner of a photograph? Well, it's easy to create a Custom Shape in Photoshop for your signature using whatever font you prefer. This same technique will work for adding a copyright, a watermark, etc.

Mitch walks you through the steps for creating a signature that is reusable and resizable. Then he goes further and demonstrates how to embellish the signature by rotating it and giving it a classy, embossed appearance.

A common question is asked: "How do I adjust the sharpening effect with the TLR sharpening tools." I posted an illustrated tip, Adjusting TLR Sharpening Effects. This video walks you through the same steps.

• Adjust layer opacity
• Adjust layer blend
• Adjust filter settings via Smart Filters feature
• Use a layer mask
• Use Blend If settings for midtone roll-off

The Blend If settings are extremely helpful tools. Knowledgable use of the Blend If sliders is also a technique that distinguishes the intermediate Photoshop user from the novice. I discussed the Blend If sliders in my tutorial on blending two images: Blended Exposures Revisited. In addition to blending photographs, the Blend If sliders are critical to effective sharpening of photographs, where they are used to protect the extreme shadows and highlights from being clipped.

Sometimes the range of light is so wide, a digital camera cannot capture it all. The traditional solution for landscape photographers is to use a graduated neutral density filter to reduce the dynamic range of the scene. This video demonstrates an easy technique for blending two images, one exposed for the highlights, the exposed for the shadows. This technique does not use the Brush tool. It just uses a luminosity mask, which is refined with a Gaussian Blur and a Levels adjustment.

(Click here to view video.)