I'm the owner of PanosFX.com, a site that has become a very popular destination for Photoshop users from all over the world. I live in Greece. In my spare time I love going hunting: I'm an image hunter. I prefer to shoot using my camera. I also love Astronomy: I can spend hours gazing the night skies with my telescope till I freeze.
My interest & involvement in digital imaging dates back to the late 80s. I started working with Photoshop in the mid-90s. Having had a background in computer programming, I quickly became interested in Photoshop's automation features. In the process I fell in love with Photoshop actions.
My efforts have been focused on the creation of high-quality, low cost or free Photoshop actions and other Photoshop resources.
My works have been presented in some of the biggest magazines in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, etc, such as the Shutterbug, Adobe Magazine, MacWorld, Photoshop Creative, Digital Photographer, Docma, DigitalPHOTO, etc. and have been referred to by well-known professionals, such as Joe Farace, Scott Kelby, Derek Pell and others.
My works have also been presented in many text books (such as: Richard Harrington's: 'Understanding Adobe Photoshop', Joe Farace's: 'Getting started with digital imaging', Lesa Snider's: 'Photoshop: The missing manual' series, Barbara Brundage's: 'Photoshop Elements: The missing manual' series), and have been refered to in many websites.
Thousands of Photoshop users visit PanosFX.com everyday. The site offers dozens of free and commercial sets of actions, as well as a bunch of free training resources such as tips, text and video tutorials.
I am often being asked: what makes a popular action? It starts with a creative idea. Being creative & unique are key ingredients to success. Then you need to craft the action. The developer must know Photoshop very well in order to pick the right commands. At this point you need to consider the different needs of the final users. Some users are not experts, therefore the action must be written in a user-friendly way, guiding the user through the various steps needed to get the effect done. Other users are more experienced, therefore the action should let them tailor the effect to their needs and should produce a fully layered final image. It is very important to balance the action so that it fulfills these different requirements.
These are some secrets that have made the PanosFX actions very popular worldwide. They are designed very carefully to run flawlessly on different configurations. They are fun to use, they are written in a user friendly way, and they allow the users to customize the effect to preference.
For me, Photoshop actions are much more than an automation tool. Through them I express myself artistically and I share my ideas and creations with hundreds of thousands of users all over the world.