An action is basically the Photoshop version of a V.C.R., enabling one to record steps in Photoshop and play them back later on other images. Actions, primarily, are designed to save incredible amounts of time doing repetitive tasks in Photoshop such as resizing, saving, changing images to black and white, and color optimization and correction.
For Example:
You have a folder of over 1000 images that all need to be resized to 500x500 pixels, at 72dpi, to eventually be used on your website. Instead of opening each file by hand, resizing and saving it to a specified folder, you would open only one file, press "Record" to start a new action, do the necessary steps, and then press "Stop" to end the action.
You will now be able to simply press "Play" on any file that you open, and the recorded action will apply all the previous steps to the file.
However, the purpose of most of the actions on our site is to add effects to your images such as black and white, sepia, and vintage looks. All you need to do is download the action, press play and watch your image change. The action will tell Photoshop, step-by-step, what to do with your image, and the desired look will emerge when the action is finished running.
