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.
Editing Landscape Images Using Actions in Photoshop
At the beginning of June, I attended a Photography gathering in Banff, which is in Alberta, Canada. It was absolutely breathtaking. Snow covered mountain tops everywhere. And since I live in Michigan, it wasn’t like anything I get to see often. I took this shot from the hotel. Yes, this really was our view! This…
What is a Professional Photographer in the Digital Photography Age?
What is a Professional Photographer in the Digital Photography Age? In the age of digital photography, when anyone can go to the nearest discount store and buy an SLR camera and Photoshop or Elements, the lines between professional, amateur and hobbyist photographer are blurring. Years ago, when I was a kid, the definition of a…
5 Photography Tips to Make the Most out of Any Location
5 Photography Tips to Make the Most out of Any Location My clients sometimes tell me that their wedding or reception location isn’t the most beautiful for formal photography. When there just isn’t time to photograph at the [insert beautiful location] that is 10 miles away, I always reassure them and tell them that we…
How To Create a High Key Image in Photoshop
How To Create a High Key Image in Photoshop by Michael Sweeney A classic look in photography is Black and White imagery. Black and white images are not always pure; sometimes they are sepia tone or cool blue tone, or even Duotone which is not B/W but most drop it into that catagory. It’s a…
Sun Flare: How to Achieve This Special Light
I’ll admit it… I’m addicted to sun flare, especially a good sunburst. I’m secretly quite proud when I achieve it, especially since it required actually remembering the tips I read about creating it in the first place. Perhaps you are like me and scour the internet for all things photography related and end up only…
Photography Tips: Shooting in Full Sun at any time of the Day
Shooting in full sun…..yikes, it strikes fear in the heart of many! It’s not as easy as overcast skies but sunlight adds specularity and contrast to a photograph that a flat overcast day will never yield. So, let’s start with shooting in the middle part of the day. It’ll never be as good as shooting…
Digital Workflow Using Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw and Bridge
Digital Workflow – Using Bridge, Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop by Barbie Schwartz In this digital age of photography, many photographers struggle with their workflow, and getting the time spent processing images down to a manageable level. Photoshop is such a powerful application, and has many tools and features built in to help with this…
Boudoir Photography: How to Enhance Your Images with Photoshop Actions
Boudoir photography requires great lighting, flattering poses, and often the use of photo editing using Photoshop actions. When doing Boudoir photography, you want the woman you are photographing to feel special and beautiful. And while you still want the photo to portray her, Photoshop can help enhance her most positive traits and minimize any flaws…
Pricing Photography: Too High? Too Low?
Pricing Photography: How high should you be prices be? Last week I ran across a photographer online who listed her prices in the sidebar of her blog/website. Her bio indicated that she was a “professional photographer” which of course is often used loosely in 2010. She said she had 5 years of experience shooting weddings,…
Macro Photography: Quick Tips to Get You Started
Summer is a fun time to try something new. Challenge yourself to go out and find those ever-abundant flowers or other wonders of nature. Get close! From flowers to bees to bark, there is so much out there with incredible detail. Now is the time to play with macro photography and grab the chance while…
The Secret to Creating a Vintage SX-70 Style Image in Photoshop!
Create a SX-70 Style Vintage Image Using Photoshop by Jen Kiaba Vintage is in, in a big way. From boutiques to magazines, everywhere you look it seems as though everything resonates with a tad of nostalgia. Personally, I love adding a little touch of vintage romance to my photography in Photoshop; when you pick your…
Photoshop Actions ~ Color Pop ~ Color Correction ~ Hue/Saturation
Sometimes Photoshop adjustment layers and Photoshop actions can make a huge difference in taking images from good to great. In a recent Photoshop online training class, I was working with Heather of HGJ Photography. Her straight out of camera image was really good. The lighting was pretty and the composition pleasing. I decided to show…
7 Tips for Adding Mini Photo Shoots Into Your Photography Business
Mini Photo Shoots: 7 Tips on How to Add These to Your Photography Business It started off as an idea to break up the late-winter lull. You know what I’m referring to – that January to March period where family shoots are few (because everyone just had their Christmas card photos taken), but it’s too…
The Ideal Focal Length for Portraiture: A Photographer’s Experiment
The Ideal Focal Length for Portraiture: A Photographer’s Experiment When framing a photo, have you ever considered the focal length at which you are framing the subject? The examples above represent the same subject, framed in the same manner yet they have strikingly different appearances due to the difference in focal length. Framing a subject…
Colors of Light ~ Red Green Blue ~ Sun Flare in Photography
Red Green Blue ~ Colors of Light ~ Sun Flare in Photography When learning about photography and color theory, it is important to understand RGB (which stands for Red, Green, and Blue). Without getting bogged down in all the technical stuff, you can see how colors mix in this image below. When it comes to…
Vote For Your Favorite Pictures for the MCP Actions Photoshop Contest
Semi-finalists for the MCP Actions Photoshop CS5 Contest Big thank yous to all who entered the contest to win Photoshop CS5 Extended. There were so many great pictures using MCP somewhere in the image. Here are the 15 finalists, chosen by my twins Ellie and Jenna, age 8. They had a very hard job narrowing…
Blog It Board Collage Photoshop Actions {Now for Elements Too}
Elements users, your wishes are coming true. We are working on converting more actions for Adobe’s Photoshop Elements. Our newest release for Elements is the Magic Blog It Board Collage Actions and Magic Print It Board Storyboards. For two years these collage and storyboard Photoshop actions have helped professional and hobbyist photographers with the full…
5 Foolproof Tips for Photographing Kids
5 Foolproof Tips for Photographing Kids by Tamara Kenyon I get asked a lot about which subject the hardest to photograph. Most often I get people guessing that it’s kids because they’re so busy and hard to direct. WRONG. If we’re being honest here, it’s actually grown men, but that is for another post. Kids…
What’s Next For MCP: Share Your Ideas to Win
As many of you may know, MCP Actions typically introduces one new live online workshop a year, 2 full action sets a year (one in the spring and one in the fall), and a holiday free action. Occasionally other small projects pop up along the way but this is the formula that has worked well…
Successes and Failures of a First Year Photographer
One Year Later: Successes and Failures of a First Year Photographer by Chelsea LaVere In the teacher world, there is a huge emphasis on the First Year. The First Year is all about what worked and more importantly, what didn’t work. It’s all about reflection, reflection, reflection. I am formally trained as an English major…
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