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 MCP TO THE RESCUE - PHOTO MAKEOVER

“Help - I ruined this shot.  Can you save it?” from an MCP Training Customer

 Answer: While it is not always best to save photos, and is better to get it right in camera, sometimes you just mess up but for sentimental reasons want to keep a photo you take.  You still want it to look as good as it can.

During our “One on One Training” I edited this for her and she said I could post it as long as I did not say who she was.  Fair enough.

So here is the before and after.  It is still not the perfect photo, but it is now one she can print and be happy with. 

How did I do it?  I started with a product from OnOne software called “Skin Tunes” from their “Photo Tunes” plug in set.  It really is amazing.  I could have color corrected by hand and usually do, but for extreme casts, this is faster than hand editing.  As a side note, OnOne has said that I could let everyone know that instead of 10% off, anyone who reads MCP Blog can get 20% off now through June 14th, 2008.  Very cool.  The code you need at checkout is MCPACTN20.

Back to the editing.  I continued editing by using a few actions from the “Quickie Collection” - “Underexposure Fixer” and ”Crackle.” From there I used the ”Eye Doctor” to brighten and sharpen the eyes and the “Dentist” for teeth whitening. I manually used the patch tool to lasso under her eyes and reduce the dark circles.  Lastly I used the free action I have posted on my blog called “Touch of Lightness | Touch of Darkness” - so that I could brighten her skin and deepen the background. 

 Today I was doing one of my “One on one” photoshop trainings. These photos are all “seniors” that Melissa G. Photography shot.  She wanted to work on these as each had problems.  These were photos in her, “I like them, but they are not quite right” pile.

She owns all of my ”MCP Actions” and so I showed her show to use them to make these photos better.  What a difference a few clicks in Photoshop can make.  She said I could share with you.  So here they are.

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The 1st photo was just foggy.  It lacked contrast in a major way.  We actually ran this photo through the Complete Workflow Actions first.  The results were nice but not exactly what we envisioned.  So we went back to the original and used 2 actions in the Quickie Collection.  And here is the result - just from using “Crackle” and “Night Color.”  The lesson Melissa soon learned, sometimes it pays to play.  Some actions work better on some photos.  I am glad we re-edited using these, versus just be complacent with the first play using “color burst.”

Melissa took this shot at the beginning of her session.  The problem, incorrect metering. She fixed that and the rest of her shots were exposed properly.  But Melissa still liked her expression here.  So again, using the Quickie Collection Set, we first ran “extreme fill flash” which lifted those dark areas right up.  Then we ran crackle which helped the image look much more 3 dimensional.  And lastly she said she loves texture, so we ran “rocky road” which is a black and white conversion with texture.  We masked off the face and skin on the arms at a low opacity to blend.  And while this photo is not a prize winner, she can now show the one she really liked (the expression on) to her client.

This senior is just stunning.  Unfortunately she LOVES the tanning bed a little too much.  She tanned right before she came to the shoot.  And as you can see her skin looks quite orange in the SOOC.  Her hair also seemed to get a color cast from the skin and the skin was slightly uneven.

So for this shot, we used three actions, “skin cast blast” and “magic skin” from the “Magic Skin Action Set” and we ran the “Eye Doctor” to sharpen and bring out her beautiful eye color, and even added the digital eye liner to better definer her eyes (all part of that set).

You can see her skin tone looks smoother, creamier, and more well balanced while still retaining texture.  Her hair and especially skin have a more pleasing skin tone and the orange cast has been lifted.  And her eyes look sharp and beautiful.

It was fun training Melissa today - and as always great working on Senior Photos.  Remember that seniors want to look their best while still looking like themselves.  MCP Actions can help you achieve that finished look for your customers, and in less time than doing each step by hand.

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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

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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:

And the Winner Is…

MCP Actions

Contest Winner

1st good news is that my domain of mcpactions.com now works. If you go there you will see my new splash page. The 1st bad news - if you click - you are at the same site. The new site and blog are another week or two away. Come on Flash Palette I need the updated cart so I can launch…

The 2nd but more important good news is WE HAVE A WINNER for the Contest. More on that in a minute. The other bad news is I am at panera bread because my Comcast service is out and I could not get the rest of the entries or send an email out without coming here to get online.

So, the video I was gonna do of my kids going through it is not happening - cannot interrupt everyone at Panera Bread…

Anyway, they are here with me - and we went through all 26 entries. Thank you to all who participated. I intend on posting a number of these on my new site and blog.

But for now - drumroll please….

…..

…..

Ellie and Jenna had it narrowed to 10 runner ups - but their MOST FAVORITE was this one. Freckle Face Photography - Carol SwaitkewichAmazing Job!!! They loved the fact that their names and mine were in it - the MCP ROCKS and I LUV MCP (with my logo) and they especially loved that it was a game for them to find the stuff - the Little Pet Shop and My Little Pony were big pluses too.

Here are a few more they really really loved - even though they did not make that last and final cut.

And the one that made my girls laugh the most was boys dressed in their sister’s tutus…