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So by now many of you have probably heard that Adobe has released a free version of Photoshop.  It is a very scaled down version of elements and is web based. Click here to check it out in person.

Before any of you say, “oh no, I already have Photoshop,” read on.  This program is meant for the most basic of editing.  If you are a photographer, photographer, hobbyist photographer, scrap booker, or just enjoy manipulating photos, this program is likely way too simple for you.

I have included a screen shot below so you can see what it does.  It can do the most basic of exposure adjustments, sharpening, hue changes and touchups. After creating a log on so I could see it, I tried to think who would benefit from this.  I would say someone like my mom would.  She has a simple tiny point and shoot, snaps away, then prints.  She never edits before getting them printed.  So for her this would be perfect.  I would say this is a great beginner tool for those who are not interested in editing but want to make their photos slightly better before printing.

Another use for Photoshop Express is creating a gallery to share.  You get some space on photoshop.com where you can save and share photos.  That could be useful for anyone.  But there is a lot of competition in that arena, such as flickr.

I would love to hear other people’s opinions of this new Adobe product - please put your thoughts in the comment section.

Thanks - Jodi

MCP Actions

PS. and before anyone asks, “nope, none of my actions work in Photoshop Express…”

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MCP Actions Quick Purchase

Once again I am looking for examples.  This time I am looking for something a little bit different.

My new sets are storyboard actions.  They are so fun and are going to save photographers time and help them sell big prints.

What I am looking for is series of photos that tell a story.  The examples on my site will be small - but I want some that do not just show blank insert areas.

If you have any groups of photos - can be as little as 2 and as much as 10, please email me at jodi@mcpactions.com.  Please attach your already edited photos (for these I do not want SOOC but ones that already look processed).  I would like them resized and sharpened for web since they will be shrunk even further to go into the storyboards.  Make sure you note your photography name, website (so that I can add you to my credit page if your photos are chosen), and a note saying that MCP Actions has permission to use your photos.  I do not compensate for the use of your photos, but in exchange, your site gets listed on my website under contributors.

Some ideas of what I am looking for:

- any series of shots that tell a story

- a series of facial expressions

- series of baby body parts - such as feet, hands, etc

- really anything that works well in a storyboard or collage

The photos must be professional quality.  If you are not chosen, do not take it personally.  They need to fit well into the specific storyboards and collages I am looking to use as samples.

Thank you,

 Jodi

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MCP Actions Quick Purchase

Not to give too much away…  

I am wanting to know what everyone’s favorite size storyboards are.  Which sizes do you like using the most?  Have you ever owned a template storyboard “action”?  If you were to buy more, what sizes and opening sizes would be on your wish list.  I have included a poll.  But if you want to add more details just add a comment.  Thanks for your help. 

I appreciate all your feedback.

Jodi

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MCP Actions Quick Purchase

I was in Florida visiting my parents. They loved the warmer weather (as we left in snow and came back to snow). Here are a few snaps from our trip. Keep in mind that while I did use an SLR, I consider most of these snapshots. Sometimes snapshots can be way more important and memorable than a portrait. Enjoy - I would love to here your comments.

Here are a few pool shots:

Here is a storyboard with Jenna and my husband.

On the boat - Jenna driving with her Papa. The Ellie hugging her Nana.

And Jenna being silly with her dad on the bow and her peaking through to see him. Yes I know - I chopped her foot…

We were this close to a cruise ship - actually closer but this looked like a postcard shot.

And Ellie showing me she can take photos just a little better than me…

There was a bridge we went under that had tons of iguanas. This was my favorite shot - shot with my 70-200 at 200mm. We were in a boat. Look how close I looked to it.

I need to get back in practice taking shots of them in the sun - a little too much squinting going on - but I loved it just the same…

And vacation photos would not be complete without a sunset photo.  This was taken from the balcony of my parents condo.  The buildings they look at are not that amazing so I did more of a silhouette shot.

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MCP Actions Quick Purchase

I just got a new lens and the perfect one for teaching about aperture since wide open it is 1.2.

During some of my recent One on One Photoshop Trainings, I have had some customers who are relatively new ask me about exposure, depth of field, and how speed, ISO, and aperture all work together. So I realized that while many are familiar with these principals, some visitors to my blog, may not be.

So today I will be giving a brief lesson in aperture, mostly through bubble gum photos.

Here are some terms you will want to know:

Aperture - an opening that allows light in - it gets wider or narrower depending on the number.

Wide Open - when you hear the term “wide open” it refers to the widest a lens opens up. This will allow the most amount of light in. Prime lenses tend to open up more than their zoom lens counterparts. My newest lens, the 85 1.2, opens up to an aperture of 1.2. This is very wide. If set wide open, you will get a lot of light into the lens. This means you can shoot in very low light situations. It also means you get a very shallow depth of field when opened up.

Depth of Field - in simple terms this has to do with how much of an area is in a “field” which is in focus. The more wide open your lens and your setting for aperture, the smaller your depth of field. Shooting at 1.2 will be extremely narrow. See the 1st photo below. I clearly focused on the blue piece of bubblegum. You can see all others are out of focus. The further from my focal point, the further out of focus it becomes - going forward or backward.

The second photo has the same settings and you can see I focused on the red bubblegum on the table. Some of the bubblegum machine is in focus since parts are on the same plane. The rest of it and the bubblegum pieces are out of focus.

Stopping down - when you make the number bigger for your aperture, this is called stopping down. This means your depth of field becomes bigger, more is in focus, and you have less light coming in. To get proper exposure, you will need to increase the ISO and/or decrease the speed depending on your situation.

The 3rd photo is shot at f10. You can see that most everything is in focus except the furthest and very closest few gumballs. You can see my ISO increased and my speed decreased so I could expose correctly. If I was to take another shot at say f16, then everything would have been in focus, my ISO would have had to increase more. And I may have needed a flash to help light things if I could not get enough light in.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please come back for more - and subscribe to my blog for more updates.

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MCP Actions Quick Purchase

From time to time - I will be doing photo makeovers on my blog. Sometimes it may be a HUGE makeover, sometimes more subtle. I may do them by hand or with a combination of actions. I will let you know what methods I use. These are not tutorials. But you may get a tip or two from reading these. Plus I may mention a tutorial from the past that will help you with this type of edit too.

For this makeover, I have my Mother In Law’s photo - taken using the Canon 85L on the 40D. I was actually happy with this SOOC. It needed a little punch and she begged me to smooth her skin and get rid of wrinkles. I still wanted it to look natural.

So I did some basic post processing in levels and curves to fine tune the contrast and exposure. The color was already perfect so I left that alone. I then ran MCP Magic Powder at the default opacity, and then ran the Eye Doctor. I did her catchlight but lowered the opacity and sharpened each eyes with the action set as well. I decided to do a little selective work on the crows feet and under her eyes. I did this on a duplicate layer using the patch tool. I did a tutorial on the patch tool back last summer if you want to look it up. I lowered the opacity so it would look natural.

That is it - photo makeover complete. My Mother in Law said she never ever likes photos of herself. But she even was happy with this one.

*** If you have a photo you want considered for a Photo Makeover - please contact me - I will work on other people’s photos sometimes too ***

Before:

After:

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MCP Actions Quick Purchase

Do you wish you could win a contest? Do you wish you were one of those “lucky” people?

Now is your chance. Enter the Contest EVERYONE can WIN!

The Prize:

- 4 Storyboard Actions called “Tell Me a Story-board” - 2 are 20×10 and 2 are 10×20. One of each white with black trim and one of each black with white trim.

The Rules:

- Subscribe to my new blog (if you have already - that counts)

- Link to my blog from your blog and/or website - have the text read: MCP Actions | Resources for Photographers and then have that text link to http://mcpactions.com/blog. This can go under Photographers, Resources, Favorite Sites or a general blogroll (depending how you have your site set up)

- Send me a link to your blog at jodi@mcpactions.com showing the link to MCP Actions Blog.

- Once you do those things - you automatically win! See I told you - everyone can win.

- This contest will run through March 31st, 2008.

The catch:

- The Storyboard Actions have been tested in Photoshop 7, CS, CS2, and CS3. I have not tested these for elements and I am guessing they will not work. You are still welcome to enter the contest and save the actions for when you upgrade.

Here are examples of the storyboards (sorry if the white blends with the white background or gets a border on the edges - not sure how it will show on the web in the examples…)

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MCP Actions Quick Purchase

This is my 1st video tutorial.  Hope you like it.  If you have recommendations for future tutorials and tips for photoshop, please contact me and let me know.

CLICK HERE to LEARN TO INSTALL AND USE ACTIONS

The video may take a minute to load and may pause during playing…  As I said, I am new to making videos…

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

Can you tell how excited I am? I have been waiting to launch my site for a month.

I am so excited to say it is done - YAY!!!

Go check it out by clicking below:

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

In celebration of WPPI (and I would like to think my new blog too), if you order a jill-e bag over $100.00 you will receive $20.00 off your purchase from Sunday March 16 - Wednesday March 19th, 2008!

At Check out, please use promotion code: jillesfun

LOOK for more codes soon on my blog. Subscribe so you do not miss anything…

And here is a photo of me and a photographer friend Alisha G. Robertson, AGR Photography. We were at a workshop together and both had our large jill-e bags and iPhones, so we just had to get in a picture together. Check out her site. She is a fabulous photographer.

I am committed to making this blog one of the best, most fun resources for photographers wanting to learn photoshop and improve their photographs, taking them from good to great.

Here are some of the many things I have planned:

• Tips and Tutorials: some quick tips, some screen shot tutorials, and now some video tutorials as well. If you have ideas on topics you want covered, contact me and let me know.
• Photo Makeovers: showing before and afters of photos - I will take submissions for these and as I see photos that I want to play with, I may ask you if I can use yours as an example too. If you are interested in sending me a photo for a photo makeover, please contact me through my blog and let me know.
• Contests: I plan to have some fun contests and great prizes too. So keep watching. And subscribe to my blog so that you do not miss a thing.
• Sharing: I will be sharing great resources and links to sites, stores, discounts, and more that will help you grow as a photographer and with photoshop. I will also share some photos of my family.
• Reviews: as I use new products, I will share my informal thoughts on them.
• News: as I hear of photography and photoshop news, I will be posting it here.
• Whatever you want: if you have ideas for my blog, please contact me and let me know.

Thank you everyone. Please spread the word about my blog and make sure to subscribe for updates - the new address is http://mcpactions.com/blog.

Thanks, Jodi