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.
What to Wear: How to Dress for a Maternity Portrait Session
What to Wear {Part 4: Maternity} As a photographer, it can help your customers when you direct them on what to wear. The next number of weeks, guest writer Kelsey Anderson will be providing information to help you coach your customers on what to wear. When booking a portrait session I think it is almost…
Ask Deb! Get Answers to Your Most Pressing Photography Questions
A few weeks ago, the MCP Blog had a series on going from Hobbyist to Professional Photographer. While the contests have passed, the great information is all still available. Do a search and start learning. One of the prizes was a mentor session with professional photographer, Deb Schwedhelm. Deb has generously offered to answer some…
Using Photoshop Actions for Bright, Vivid Color
Getting great color starts with great exposure and lighting as well as the right subject and background. Make sure to set your white balance in camera or using RAW, for the most accurate colors. This photo by Renee Trichio (Twice as Nice Photography) started out with vibrant color. Renee’s concern when she came to me…
Accounting in Photography: Why It’s Important for Your Business
The Importance of Accounting in Photography Many photographers start their business because are good at photography, and enjoy taking photos in their personal lives. They have the creative abilities needed to succeed as a professional photographer. What they often do not have are the “business tools”, especially when it comes to accounting. Photography is fun,…
What to Wear: How to Dress Teens and Seniors for a Portrait Session
What to Wear {Part 3: Teens and Seniors} As a photographer, it can help your customers when you direct them on what to wear. The next number of weeks, guest writer Kelsey Anderson will be providing information to help you coach your customers on what to wear. When booking a portrait session I think it…
Memorial Day Picture Share ~ Photos of Patriotism
In both honor and memory of those who fight for our freedom and protect our country, I asked those on my Facebook Page to share images for Memorial Day. Here are some of the hundreds I received over the past week. Thank you for celebrating and sharing with us. As you look through these images,…
Using Photoshop Actions to Fix Washed Out Scanned Slide Images
This Blueprint will show you how Photoshop actions were used to save an 50+ year old, washed out scanned slide image. Didi Miles, a photographer, sent in this story with her Blueprint: It has been a weird-yucky-crazy 6 months. I’ve lost huge cornerstones of my life in the last 6 months. In order…..My Grandma Dorothy…
One Way to Control Light in Photography: Turn Day Into Night
What time would you guess the images below were taken? Look carefully… Sunrise? Sunset? A few hours before sunset? Just after sunrise? After dark? Or might these silhouettes have been taken minutes after 2pm when the sun was high above – but under controlled lighting – using aperture, speed and ISO to create an illusion?…
What to Wear: How to Dress Children for a Portrait Session
What to Wear {Part 2: Children} As a photographer, it can help your customers when you direct them on what to wear. The next number of weeks, guest writer Kelsey Anderson will be providing information to help you coach your customers on what to wear. When booking a portrait session I think it is almost…
The Secret to Using Photoshop on an iPad and iPhone
Photoshop on your mobile device? If you are interested, read on… Picture This: You want to edit photos on the go using Photoshop. And you want to travel light. You have your iPad or iPhone with you. What do you do? Sure, you could use one of hundreds of light photo editing apps in the…
From Hobbyist to Professional: Step 6. Believe in YOU
Believing in yourself might very well need to be your very first step. If it is, re-read the letter I wrote to myself. If you have the courage to take that first step you will never regret it. For the rest of you who find yourself in the same place I found myself not too…
From Hobbyist to Professional: Step 5. Build Your “Storefront”
It’s your business, it’s your storefront and it’s you. Building your identity for the web and in print is so important and it must be done well. It’s a non-negotiable. I thought today I’d share with you all the things I’ve done wrong so that you don’t have to do them, too. When I first…
From Hobbyist to Professional: Step 4. Building Your Portfolio
Ahhhh … building your portfolio. It doesn’t have to be difficult, you know? You’ve just got to know how to walk the line. Do not be arrogant. Do not be a pushover. There’s the fine line. A fine line that can also be confusing. When to say yes, when to say no??? Here’s my best…
From Hobbyist to Professional: Step 3. The Business Stuff
The (terribly boring, bound to make you second guess running your own business) business stuff … (enter giant, sigh here) … As artists this part can be the hardest. I’ll say though that if you’re willing to get the basics taken care of and the pertinent stuff organized (i.e. taxes) it won’t be as painful…
From Hobbyist to Professional: Step 2. Gear You Actually Need
Welcome back! Today I’m gonna talk about gear (the gear you actually need) to really get started. I think investing money into education is money well spent. I think investing money on a dozen different photography gadgets is money well wasted. Mottos I live by: #1: Buy quality, need less. #2: Don’t buy something until…
From Hobbyist to Professional: Step 1. Get Educated
Dear Jessica, It’s understandable that you’re terrified, doubtful and insecure about where you are. You desire something you think you want so much, but what if … what if it doesn’t work? You’ll look like a fool, you know? So, your only other option is to play it safe. Don’t pursue the dream that’s…
From Hobbyist to Professional Photographer: 2 Weeks of Education + Contests
Running a photography business takes a ton of work. A ton. Ask any photographer that makes money (particularly the ones that make it look easy) and they’ll tell you that they got there by pouring blood, sweat and tears into every ounce of what they do. Yes, there are times – really amazing and fulfilling…
Get Crisp Images + Color Pop Using Photoshop Actions: Blueprint
If you love rich, color popped image, you will want to read and learn from today’s Blueprint. Sometimes I like to have really fun, bright color and crispness with my photos. This photo of my daughter Ellie was taken on our cruise last month on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. I loved the real…
Beginner’s Photoshop Bootcamp: Online Group Classes
As most of you know, I teach Photoshop. I offer a number of Photoshop Classes for photographers as well as one-on-one Photoshop training. Some of the classes I offer are: Learn All About Using Curves in Photoshop Color Fixing: Color Correction in Photoshop Color Crazy: Popping Colors in Photoshop Speed Editing: Learn Shortcuts to Edit…
Why Linking is the Most Important Part of Your SEO
Allow myself to introduce… myself. I’m Zach Prez, Google rank sherpa for ya’ll photographers and author of the Photographer’s SEO Blog and Book. This post covers the Everest of SEO which is link building. It’s the most difficult and time consuming of SEO tasks, but has the biggest payoff for getting you ranked at the…
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