Playing with effects in photoshop

Just started playing with Photoshop last week for the first time. These were with an action (didn't know what an action was last week either) someone created called gothic glow.
Not something for most photos, but I like the soft artsy look to these.

I'm guessing this effect would be better for portraits than landscapes. It also looks like it's blowing out the highlights pretty badly. Might be a good idea to underexpose a bit. Actually, for digital, a bit of underexposure is a good idea anyway.