MCP Actions™ Blog: Photography, Photo Editing & Photography Business Advice
The MCP Actions™ Blog is full of advice from experienced photographers written to help you improve your camera skills, post-processing and photography skill-sets. Enjoy editing tutorials, photography tips, business advice, and professional spotlights.
How to Eliminate Background Distractions in Photoshop
How to Eliminate Background Distractions & Objects in Photoshop There’s a lot to pay attention to during a shoot, no matter what kind of shoot it is. As photographers, we strive to capture the image perfectly in camera. Ideally, we use Photoshop to enhance the already fabulous, unique, decisive moment we have captured, because every…
How to Use Cards & Templates: Online Photoshop Class (+ Free Cards/Digital Papers)
How to Use Cards & Templates: The Online Photoshop Training Class It’s that time of year again. Whether you are a professional photographer offering holiday cards to your customers or a hobbyist wanting to make collages, cards, and gifts for your friends and family, you will want to know how work with cards in Photoshop:…
Find Your Portrait Photography Style
Find Your Portrait Photography Style by Wendy Cunningham Years ago, when I first started shooting, I had no idea what ISO, F-stops, shutter speeds, yada yada… even meant! It was so difficult to grasp how one has to find the perfect balance between the three. It was like learning a foreign language! As I was…
Underwater Pictures & Video Using the Canon G11 Camera
Underwater Pictures Using the Canon G11 Point and Shoot Camera While I am definitely not going to win any major prizes from my vacation snapshots using the Canon G11 Point and Shoot camera with underwater housing, I did have a blast and captured some super fun memories. My kids LOVED that I could put…
Photoshop Actions: Before & After ~ Rusty Car
Photoshop Actions can enhance Urban, Rural, Rust, and Old Cars Often the same Photoshop treatment used for a color pop in the city, for an urban shoot, can be used on a rusty car and child portrait in the country. It is all about color and how you want to make it come alive. For…
Photography: Scoring Vintage Items for Photoshoots (Even for Free!)
Vintage Items for Photoshoots: How to find these items for your photography? Whether you specialize in portraits for toddlers, teens or brides-to-be, adding vintage toys, clothing and props to your photo shoot can bring a glimmer to your subject eyes and something special to your overall session. But unless you have the free time to…
Representing Yourself as a Professional Photographer in Your Community
Representing Yourself as a Professional Photographer in Your Community I recently had the pleasure of giving a talk to a group of business professionals in my area. Even though this is a group I see on a regular basis, this talk was important because it was the only opportunity I had (in this case, during…
Photoshop Elements Online Training Classes for Photographers
MCP Actions has provided online, interactive Photoshop training classes for photographers for more than 4 years. The only complaint we get is that we don’t have classes for Elements users. Now that we are slowly working on getting more and more MCP Photoshop action sets compatible with Elements, we thought it was about time. Erin…
Family Photos Edited Using Photoshop Actions
Sometimes just looking at a photo, it is hard to decide which Photoshop actions or editing steps to take. Occasionally it helps to create a variety of looks, and then pick your favorite to share. An easy way to do this is using Snapshots in Photoshop via the History Palette (here is a tutorial). Thank…
Photoshop Alone Does Not Make a Good Photographer
Thought of the Day: Photoshop Alone Does Not Make a Good Photographer I consider myself a professional when it comes to Photoshop. I teach Photoshop and develop products that work inside Photoshop. And yes, occasionally I use Photoshop to fix a problem on a less that perfect photo. Photoshop is a powerful tool for photographers. …
Watch Me Work: Photoshop Actions & Workflow Online Class
MCP Actions is very excited to announce the launch of my WATCH ME WORK 2 Hour Photoshop Interactive Online Class. Details are below. For class times and to sign up, visit the MCP Watch Me Work Training Class Page. We have listened to our customers and created a new online interactive Photoshop class in response…
Tips for After Your First Portrait Portfolio Building Session: Part 2
Tips for After Your First Portrait Portfolio Building Session by Pamela Topping Yesterday I discussed 7 tips for your 1st portfolio building session. Today I will give you some more ideas on what to do after you photograph your 1st “big shoot.” 1. Learn from Your Photos Examining your images is the best way to…
7 Tips for Your First Portrait Portfolio Building Session: Part 1
7 Tips for Your First Portrait Portfolio Building Session by Pamela Topping Are considering going from hobbyist to professional? If so, you will need a portfolio. One great way to build a portfolio is to offer sessions to family, friends and even people you meet while out. Once you schedule a portfolio building session, here…
Outdoor Image Fixed in Photoshop: Better Sky ~ Better Lighting
Thanks to Karen Gunton of Smile, Play, Love Photography in Australia, for sending in this Blueprint. Karen wrote: The sun was behind this family. The camera could not handle the dynamic range and I did not have fill flash or a reflector. The sky was blown and their faces were quite dark. I actually have…
Senior Photography: Tips and Tricks on Posing, Locations and More
Senior Photography: Tips and Tricks on Posing, Locations and More With Fall coming, photographers are getting ready for photograph high school seniors again. This style of photography is very popular in the United States and is starting to gain presence in other countries. I’m back with another compilation of links to great MCP Actions Blog…
How Photographers Can Respect Music Copyrights and Licensing Fees
How Photographers Can Respect Music Copyrights and Licensing Fees What if you stumbled upon a website when you were surfing the web and there was an amazing image of a beautiful little girl. It happens to be that the website is selling a service. But you look closer and you discover it is YOUR picture!…
Ask Deb ~ Answers to Your Photography Questions From a Professional Photographer
Have you ever wanted to ask a professional photographer your photography questions? Deb Schwedhelm will answer some questions posed on the MCP Facebook Page, in this installment of “Ask Deb.” If you have more questions, please leave them in the comment section for a future installment. How do you handle clients that want to see…
Using Photoshop Actions to Enhance a Blue Sky and a Rainbow
Using Photoshop Actions to Enhance a Blue Sky and a Rainbow As photographers, we have no control over the weather conditions. Sometimes we get rained on and other times we get lucky enough to get beautiful light or even to cross paths with a rainbow. This photo was sent in by Crystal Smith of Envision…
Photoshop Actions: Glossary of Offerings by MCP Actions
Photoshop Actions: Glossary of Offerings by MCP Actions Yesterday, I provided 10 tips for deciding which actions to buy, download and use on your photos. Today, I will explain to you a little more about each specific MCP Action set. I get asked about the differences so often. I thought this breakdown would help. If…
6 Easy Tips for Photographing Grown Men
Photographing Men And you thought photographing kids was hard… Try men. In my guest post, 5 Foolproof Tips for Photographing Children, there were a lot of inquiries about photographing grown men. So here we have some great ideas on photographing men from a woman’s point of view. In my experience, it’s been a little harder…
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