Creating Dramatic, Vibrant Images Using MCP’s Photoshop Actions

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Hi, Jessica here from Jessica Crawford Photography. I just wanted to share a before and after with you of an image that was just flat and dull before doing a few simple steps with some of MCP’s most popular actions to bring out some rich colors and shadows.

mcp Creating Dramatic, Vibrant Images Using MCP's Photoshop Actions Blueprints Guest Bloggers Photo Sharing & Inspiration Photography Tips Photoshop Actions Photoshop Tips

To achieve this look, I used MCP’s Fusion Photoshop Action Set, MCP’s Bag of Tricks, MCP’s Magic Skin, MCP’s Eye Doctor, and MCP’s Free Photoshop action: Touch of Light and Touch of Dark.

 

  1. Ran “Eye Doctor” to lighten the iris, enhance the catch lights, and sharpened with sharp as a tack.
  2. Ran “Powder Your Nose” under the “Magic Skin” set and brushed it on her skin at 30%.
  3. Ran “Magical Clarity” from the “Bag of Tricks” to bring out detail.
  4. Ran “Magic Marker” under the “MCP Fusion” set and painted over everything, but her skin at 100% opacity to bring out lots of color.
  5. Ran MCP’s free photoshop action “Touch of Light” and dodged parts of her clothing and the brick wall at 10%. Used “Touch of Dark” and made my own vignette around the girl at 64% opacity.
  6. Ran “Color Fusion Mix and Match” under the Fusion Set and left “One Click Color” at its 75% default and made  these adjustments: turned off  “Seek it,”  because I wanted to keep the shadows, lowered “Color It” to 37% since I already used magic marker, lowered “Contrast It,” to 25%, and masked “Spotlight It,” off her face and the stone wall. Then, I turned on “Retro Surprise” to 6% opacity to dull some of the reds and to dim the overall image a bit.
  7. Finished by running “High Def Sharpening,” from the “Fusion” set at 75% opacity and masked off her skin at 100% and eyes at 50%.

 

Here is a straight out of camera of the same girl that I’m going to apply these same edits to, but add “Sentimental”  to the mix.

mcpbefore-1 Creating Dramatic, Vibrant Images Using MCP's Photoshop Actions Blueprints Guest Bloggers Photo Sharing & Inspiration Photography Tips Photoshop Actions Photoshop Tips

 

  1. Ran “Eye Doctor” to lighten the iris, enhance the catch lights, and sharpened with sharp as a tack.
  2. Ran “Powder you nose” action under the “Magic Skin” set and brushed it on her skin only at 20%.
  3. Ran “Magical Clarity” from the “Bag of Tricks” to bring out detail.
  4. Ran “Magic Marker” under the “MCP Fusion” set and painted over everything, but her skin and hair at 66% opacity.
  5. Ran MCP’s free photoshop action “Touch of Dark” and darkened some areas around her at 34% opacity.
  6. Ran “Color Fusion Mix and Match” under the “MCP Fusion” set and left “One Click Color” at its 75% default and made  these adjustments:  turned “Seek It” and “Brighten It” off,  put “Contrast It”  at 60%, turned “Spotlight It” off, and I mix & matched “Sentimental” at 20% as well as “Retro Surprise” at 9%.
  7. Ran “Golden” at 6% opacity to give the image some warmth.
  8. Lastly, I ran “High Def Sharpening” at 35% and masked off her hair and lips!

After:

mcpafter-1 Creating Dramatic, Vibrant Images Using MCP's Photoshop Actions Blueprints Guest Bloggers Photo Sharing & Inspiration Photography Tips Photoshop Actions Photoshop Tips

 

This Blueprint was created by Jessica Crawford. Find her at www.jessicacrawfordphotography.com and  www.framedweddings.com. She is based out of Raleigh, NC, specializing in Newborns, Children, Families, Engagements, and Weddings.

 

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8 Comments

  1. Joyce on March 30, 2012 at 10:04 am

    LOVE the first one. What a cutie!! I feel the second one went too far with the reds. The tree looks unnatural. For my taste, that is. Beautiful job though.

  2. Jennifer Novotny on March 30, 2012 at 10:04 am

    Lovely!

  3. Kelly Borgman on March 30, 2012 at 10:52 am

    Love the edit !

  4. photoquilty on March 30, 2012 at 10:56 am

    I think the first one looks weird with that light blotch to the left (and behind) her head. IThe first pic just needed some extra contrast, IMO, and not all the bright colors. However, pic number two came out very nice.

  5. Kate on March 30, 2012 at 11:34 am

    Love, love, love the step by step details! Perfect instructions for perfect actions! 🙂

  6. Ryan Jaime on March 30, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    Georgous!!!

  7. Alice C. on March 31, 2012 at 12:53 am

    I love seeing before/afters 🙂

  8. Karen on April 1, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    Wow. These are just awesome. Thanks for the why’s of what you did. And I also love seeing the before and afters.

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