MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

Here is a fun contest for all of my blog readers.

The Prize: One lucky participant will win a fabulous Photo Pendant from My Memories that Last - $42 value.

The Details: Submit a photograph that you shot and edited using at least one MCP Action (purchased or free). The photo should convey what motherhood means to you. You may use up to 3 words in your photo, but if the photo speaks for itself, no words are required.

The Rules: One entry per person. Must be your own work. Must use at least one MCP Action to edit (can use as many as you want). For your entry to qualify, you need to write which MCP Action(s) were used and copy this sentence in the email: “I give MCP Actions permission to use this photo on her site and/or blog.” Please make sure you have a model release on file if anyone besides your immediate family members is in the photograph.

Email me the entry to jodi@mcpactions.com. Entries must be in by May 7th at midnight. Voting will begin on May 8th. My blog readers will decide on the winning photo. The winner will be announced on Mother’s Day.

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

My “Tell a Storyboard Actions” have been a huge success.  I am so glad that everyone is LOVING them!  I have 2 videos included when you purchase them.  One explains how to use them, add photos, etc.  The other video explains how to change colors, add gradients, or add patterns and scrapbooking papers.

I keep getting asked if I will start making papers for these storyboards and collages.  For now I really LOVE making actions and doing the Photoshop Training, so I am staying focused.  But I never want to leave my customers hanging.  So I have partnered with Tina Parker of My Lil Creations.  She makes incredible papers which can be used in my Tell a Storyboard Collection.

Please remember these do not come with your MCP Actions, but they can be purchased from her website.  Also keep in mind both her and my Terms of Use for these.  They cannot be used to make and sell or give away other templates, but can be used as flattened files with your photography inside for clients.

Here is a small sampling of the papers in use in a few MCP Storyboards.

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

MCP Actions has established a relationship with onOne Software to introduce you to some phenomenal products and save you money on these great Photoshop Plug-Ins.

This will be a permanent coupon for MCP Actions - SAVE 10% off any purchase at onOne software. Go to their site by clicking here and use the code: MCPACTN and checkout to save.

Over the upcoming weeks and months, I will show you some before and afters using their products and stay tuned as they have agreed to do a CONTEST soon on the MCP BLOG! This is so exciting. Plus you know that I am a BIG fan of tutorials. They have tutorials and webinars to demo the products and to teach you how to use their plug ins.

I recently got the whole suite of products and really am loving have these extra tools at my fingertips. I am finding ways to incorporate them into my editing using both my MCP Actions and the OnOne Software Products.

____________________________________________________________________

Here is a list of some of their premier products. I will provide more details on each in future blog posts.

Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro

Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro is the industry standard for image resizing. It is renowned across the photographic and printing industries for its ability to increase image size well over 1000% without the loss of sharpness or detail that you would normally expect. Its patented, fractal based interpolation algorithms work like nothing else and the results speak for themselves.

Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro is a must for any photographer who makes large format and poster sized prints. Its also great for journalists, sports and wildlife photographers who may need to take a cropped section of an image and make a high-quality print from it. Genuine Fractals 5 can even work its magic with digital video still frames “up-rezzing” from standard-definition to high-definition video quality.

Graphic designers can end the everyday problem of receiving low resolution images from clients for high resolution print work such as magazine publications or tradeshow and billboard graphics. Learn more about Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro.

PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition

Whether you are new to photography and have never experienced the darkroom or you are an experienced pro who has mastered photography you will appreciate the range of authentic camera, filter and darkroom techniques reproduced with PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition. PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition contains 250 effects by Jack Davis, Kevin Kubota and onOne Software that faithfully reproduce camera filters like neutral density, color correction and polarization as well as darkroom techniques and alternative processes like solarization, cyanotype and more. You can even simulate the look of different films with the a wide range of grain and contrast effects.

The key to PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition is its unique ability to provide full-screen previews of an effect on your image before you choose to apply it. But it isn’t just a single effect, you can stack multiple effects on top of each other just like you would camera filters. You can control the order of each effect and how they blend together for a truly unique look. You can even save your effect stacks so you can repeat them easily and even share them with your friends you have PhotoTools. Learn more about PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition.

Mask Pro 4.1

Mask Pro 4.1 is the Photoshop plug-in recommended by Advanced Photoshop magazine that allows you to cut out a subject from the background by assigning keep and drop colors and simply painting away the background. Mask Pro 4.1 makes it easy to create masks, selections and clipping paths on difficult subjects like hair, glass and fog all in real-time. The built-in tutorials allow you to quickly learn how to mask even the most complex images. Learn more about Mask Pro.

PhotoFrame 3.1 Professional Edition

PhotoFrame 3.1 Professional Edition literally puts you into the digital darkroom. Now it is easy to add realistic film and darkroom edge effects to your images. Why stop at the darkroom? You can add artistic edges like torn paper, brush strokes or even realistic frames and mats you would hang on the wall. Stack multiple edges and frames to create your own unique look. Add the perfect finishing touch to your images with over 4,000 professionally created edge effects, allowing you to create an infinite number of effects. Learn more about PhotoFrame 3.1 Professional Edition.

PhotoTune 2.2

PhotoTune 2.2 is an Adobe® Photoshop plug-in that provides professional level color correction in an easy to use plug-in. PhotoTune 2.2 incorporates ColorTune technology (formerly known as 20/20 Color MD) with its patented color correction process and SkinTune technology, developed after more than two years of in-depth skin color research. PhotoTune 2.2 makes the tedious and time-consuming task of color correction simple and straightforward to improve your post-processing workflow. Learn more about PhotoTune.

FocalPoint 1.0

FocalPoint gives photographers a way to create realistic depth of field control, plane of focus control and selective focus to any image after it is photographed allowing for more control and precision. The focus bug control in FocalPoint has a tangible, hardware feel much like using a lens. It makes it fast for a photographer to define the “sweet spot” either in a round shape or a plane and then control how much and of what kind of blur they would like to add. This has a huge benefit over hardware tools like auxiliary lenses and filters because it allows the photographer to control the focus after the image is taken, giving them more control and requiring fewer shots in camera. Learn more about FocalPoint.

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

*** LATER THIS WEEK I WILL DO PART 2 - AND I WILL HAVE A FREE ACTION COMING TOO - KEEP WATCHING FOR IT *** 

This tutorial will help you get greener grass and bluer skies in Photoshop.

 This will help you make your photos look richer this summer.

 Click on my logo below to load the tutorial.

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

To make this blog even better for every hobbiest and professional photographer on the internet, I plan build partnerships and incorporate guests into my blog.  If you fit any of these descriptions or know of people I should contact, please leave me a comment or contact me via email.

- Tutorials and Tips - if you have made an excellent tutorial or tip that I can share here.  I will of course give you credit and link to your site.  I would love to include Photography Tips too.  I will be doing lots of videos and screen shot tutorials on Photoshop, but it is always helpful to have items from a different perspective too.

- Contests - if you have a product you want to use as a prize for a contest on my blog.  This will be great exposure for you.  We can figure out details for the actual contest together.

- Discounts - I would love to be able to start posting more discounts for MCP Actions Blog readers.  These need to be for Photography related products, anything from camera equipment to templates and more. 

___________________________________________________________________

 Stay tuned for some exciting news on my first partnership later this week.  I have a major Photoshop software plugin vendor who will be making a permenant discount code for MCP Actions, and will be doing some great contests and giveaways here.  I will announce this later this coming week.  Keep watching!

 MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

A few weeks ago I introduced the Tell a Story-board Actions.  They have been a HUGE hit.  By very popular request I have added one more set of storyboard template actions.  These storyboard actions all have rounded corners and the set is called “Rounded Up.”

 The coolest news - this set has a TON of actions in it.  How do you define TON in numbers - well it has 100 collage and storyboard templates in the set.  So does that qualify as a ton?

 They are amazing - fun - trendy and well rounded.  They come in a huge variety of sizes:

5×30, 30×5, 10×30, 30×10, 30×30, 20×20, 20×24, 24×20, 16×20, 20×16, 11×14, 14×11, 10×20, 20×10, 4×10, 10×4

These “Tell a Story-board” actions are done in black with white optional border overlays and white with black optional border overlays. The background colors may also be customized and textures, patterns and scrapbooking papers may be added for complete flexibility.

The Ultimate 3 pack is no longer available.  I now have the Ultimate 4 pack if you want all of the Tell a Storyboard Actions.

Click here to see my new set!

Here are a few of the many examples:

_______________________________________________________________

Check out my other Tell a Story-board sets as well:

Set 1: 10×20 | 20×10

60 storyboards in this collection - 30 unique designs

The most popular size storyboards.

Set 2: 20×20

38 storyboards in this collection - 19 unique designs

Square dimensions can be resized to create 16×16, 12×12, 10×10, 8×8 and more.

Set 3: The Variety Pack

80 storyboards in this collection - 40 unique designs

These come in a wide variety of sizes including:

5×30, 30×5, 10×30, 30×10, 30×30, 20×20, 20×24, 24×20, 16×20, 20×16, 11×14, 14×11, 10×20, 20×10, 4×10, 10×4

___________________________________________________________

Here is a quick glimpse at a few of my most popular actions.

Eye Doctor & Dentist: The best Eye Pop for sharp clear eyes plus teeth whitening. This is the best product of this kind that is available.

Magic Skin | Magic Powder | Magic Foundation: Magically apply powder and foundation for milky smooth skin. Rid skin of light acne, reduce wrinkles, smooth pores all by clicking play using these actions. Skin Cast blast helps click away skin casts.

Complete Workflow Actions: Helps you take your photos from beginning to end. These actions add color pop, contrast, sharpness and clarity to your photos. Also convert your photo to black and white or vintage.

Quickie Collection: Edit your photo the way you want. Using the actions you want. This set has everything from under and over exposure fixers and color fixers, to urban cross processing, texture black and white conversions and much more.

Frosted Memories: Take your photos back in time for a classic look with these actions. They have built in texture actions combined with haze and vintage with a twist.

 MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

Today’s Quick Tip is about Layer Masking.  If you are looking to learn about layer masks and how to do masking in Photoshop, check my video tutorials in my archives on layer masking.  I did a 2 part tutorial on how to use layer masks.  This quick tip will be very helpful to you coming up - I have a two part video tutorial COMING SOON on how to make skies look blue and grass to look green (not yellow).  Stay Tuned!

Question: Now that I am using Layer Masks, thanks to your tutorials, I am wondering how I can better see exactly what I masked?

Answer: You can do this a few ways.  See screen shots below:

 The first screen shot is showing the small layer mask.  It is very hard to tell anything from this other than comparing relationships of what is painted in black to conceal in relation to the photo.

In this screen shot below, you can see exactly what we saw on the small thumbnail, but now it is directly over your photo.  You do this by holding down your ALT or Option Key and clicking once on the mask.  This is a little helpful for a sneak peak, but is not too useful in continuing to mask.

 The last screen shot is my preference for when I want a better idea of what I have masked and if I have any spillage onto other areas.  To do this, click on the key that has the backslash and straight line (\ and |).  This will add a green or red mask by default.  This can be changed.  Double click on the mask if you want to change the color of the mask (this is no way effects your actual photo - it is preference).  By default it is at 50%.  You can increase or decrease that number too.

The reason this way is so amazing is that you can continue painting on your mask and watch the changes in one of these bright colors.  So let’s assume I wanted to mask her skin off (that is the green here - as the black is concealing an effect) - I would see her hair is starting to be concealed from the effect too.  So I would use a white brush on that part of her hair that is masked in green.  Once I paint on it, it would look like hair again.  The end result would be her face and hand look like “Shrek.”

 Once I knew that I masked exactly what I wanted, I would click on the same keyboard key again and would see my photo without that green (or whatever color I chose).

I do not use this every time I mask, but when I have harder selections or subtle changes I am masking, it can be invaluable.

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

I get a lot of questions from customers about what to do when Photoshop starts acting like it is in control. I am going to be posting some frequent asked questions from MCP Actions customers and blog visitors.  If you have a quick question about Photoshop you want answered, please email me and I may use it in a future blog entry.  If you have lots of questions on lengthier topics, please contact me for details on my MCP one on one training.

Question: “What settings did I use to take this picture?  I cannot remember and someone just asked me.”

Answer: Unless you purposely erased your metadata, you can see what settings were used for your photo (or others).  To do this go under FILE - FILE INFO.  Once you click on it, click on Camera Data 1.

Once you have selected the camera data, you can see the camera used - here it is the Canon 40D, the date and time taken 4/15 - and the settings.  I shot in manual, f 2.8 (with a lens that goes as wide as 1.4.  You can see I was at an ISO of 100 and a speed of 1/1600.  No flash was used.  I was at 35mm with my 35 1.4L lens.

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

What a crazy weekend….

Friday night my husband and I were heading to a business event.  We were on an expressway and saw a big accident up ahead.  There were many ambulances, police cars and fire trucks on the scene and many more that kept coming.  We needed to get over a lane.  As we pulled into another lane, we got rear ended by a semi truck.  We are fine.  The car has $2,000 or so worth of damage.  But in the whole picture it is not a big deal. Sure it will be a pain, yes our out of pocket costs will be high, and yes we need to claim it to our insurance.  And yes we missed the event we were headed to.  But we are alive and in one piece.

We had to wait on the scene for 2 hours as the police cleared the major accident.  I watched many bodies being cut out from the cars in ditch and be put on stretchers. The freaky, eye opening part is that when the police woman was available for us, she apologized but explained it was a fatal accident.

So I sat there realizing that had we not stopped for gas or had our sitter gotten there earlier, we could have been in that ditch. Basically every little thing leads to the next.  When we 1st got hit by the truck, my husband said, “had the sitter come on time, we might not be dealing with this.”  The thing with life is you never know what is around the corner.  You never know if the path you take, your timing, or your decisions lead you to something incredible, something life altering, or just simple everyday life.

Many years ago (probably 15 or so) I use to read books by an author Richard Bach. They were about this very thing - how every single decision and movement leads to the next, and how if you made a different choice (major or even minor) how that leads to who you are and where you are in life.  One of his books actually showed alternate paths concurrently. It was really fascinating. Something to think about.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Fast forward to Saturday…

I have not been on a bike since I was a kid.  I actually broke my arm when I was a pre-teen.  I cannot remember if that was the last time I was on a bike. For some reason I had been wondering if the expression “it is just like riding a bike” was true.  Are there some things that once you learn them, you can do them forever, even if 25 years have gone by in between? Well my mother-in-law has a bike she never uses.  So we got it from her house and pumped up the tires.  The first try I was wobbly.  I lacked confidence.  I was nervous.  But after a few more minutes I was cruising around my neighborhood.  My twins were watching and said, “you did not even need training wheels.”  I felt so alive and proud of myself.  I think we often forget to be proud of ourselves.  I was.

So next time you are unsure if you can do something, JUST TRY IT.  I never would have known if I could do it if I did not try. And when you do it, pat yourself on the back.  Be proud!  You did it.

___________________________________________________________________________________

So how does all of this relate to a photography and photoshop blog?  Well you get to know me as a person and what is going through my head.  But really there are so many lessons in all of this, about life and photography and photoshop.

If you do not take a photo in fear it will not be good, then you will never know how it would have been. If you do not try and try again, you will not get better.  I plan to keep riding!

And from the first story, I witnessed how short life was for the cars in front of me in the accident.  Take photos of your family and friends.  Take photos to document events.  Every photo does not need to be a portrait.  Sometimes snapshots are the best photos of all.  They do not need to be perfect.  They just need to document LIFE.  So live and capture your life and those lives you love.

Thanks for reading,

Jodi

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

I get a lot of questions from customers about what to do when Photoshop starts acting like it is in control. I am going to be posting some frequent asked questions from MCP Actions customers and blog visitors. If you have a quick question about Photoshop you want answered, please email me and I may use it in a future blog entry. If you have lots of questions on lengthier topics, please contact me for details on my MCP one on one training.

Question: “Where did all my actions go? They were there and now they are gone?”

Answer: Sometimes Photoshop runs into problems and shuts down. Sometimes you may even exit yourself. And when you come back in, stuff is not how you expected. One of these things is your actions palette and what is inside. If you open up your actions palette and your actions are not there, you may need to reload them. In the flyout menu see where it says “load actions.”

But if you did not save them in the 1st place after creating new ones or making changes to old ones, they will be GONE. So be sure to save them. Here is a screen shot of how. Put your mouse over the set name, not the individual action. Then go to the fly out menu and click “save actions.”

 MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

I get a lot of questions from customers about what to do when Photoshop starts acting like it is in control. I am going to be posting some frequent asked questions from MCP Actions customers and blog visitors.  If you have a quick question about Photoshop you want answered, please email me and I may use it in a future blog entry.  If you have lots of questions on lengthier topics, please contact me for details on my MCP one on one training.

Question: “Why does my brush look funny like this - it was fine a minute ago? And how to I get it back?”   

Answer: “Your CAP LOCKS is on.  Click CAP LOCK again to get whichever brush tip you set in your preferences.”

MCP Actions Website | MCP Flickr Group | MCP Reviews

MCP Actions Quick Purchase

This week’s photo makeover is from a customer of mine.  She needs a photo of her 3 kids together.  2 looked good in one photo.  One looked good in another.  Also the red paper backdrop was not big enough and you could see bookshelves, lightstands and her fridge in the background.  There was some dust and dirt on the floor of the paper.   The photos lacked sharpness and contrast as well.  So here are two before shots and the after shot once I was done editing.

Tools used: Clone Tool, Patch Tool,  Paint Brush Tool, Masking, Marquee Tool, Transform Tool, MCP Complete Workflow-A Touch of Color Action