Blueprint: Fan Share {Bringing Your Background to Life}
Andrea Lopez is a hobbiest photographer with future aspirations of going pro.  She emailed to let me know how much she loves using MCP Photoshop actions and wanted to share this recent image and Blueprint. Blueprint: She edited the photo using the Quickie Collection action set Started with Crackle adjusted the opacity to 25% Then used Nondestructive dodge (face only) @ 10% and Nondestructive burn (background only) @ 15% Next used Urban Ocean - Only turned on Contrast Flare @ 55% opacity (masked back @ 100% on skin) Fingerpaint Thick @ 25% on background MCP Your Ow

The Word is Photos NOT Photo’s
I am the last person, according to my husband, who should be giving a punctuation lesson.  One of his biggest pet peeves is apostrophe errors.  It has started rubbing off on me. As a result today’s quick tip is a lesson in apostrophes. An apostrophe does not mean “warning - an ’s’ is coming.”  It indicates possession or a contraction. Those are the only two reasons to use one. If you have more than one of something it gets an “s” not an ’s or s’. While this bothers my husband daily, the time it grinds on my nerves most is when photographers write the word photo’s (to mean more than one photo).  That is i

Macro Photography on a Budget
Thank you to Melissa of Melissa Brewer Photography for today’s fun post teaching you macro photography on a budget. Hey everyone! This is a fun photography technique called “poor man’s” macro. I don’t know about you but I LOVE macro close up photography. It’s just so fun and brings things into a whole new perspective. However, I can’t justify going out and buying a macro lens. It just doesn’t have a place in my business. Never fail though, there’s a way around it for us “frugal” photographers. First, let’s talk

Where do you want to be 5-10 years from now?
If you can answer the questions, “what do you want to be doing in 5 years?” or “where do you want your business to be in 10 years?” then you and I have little in common, at least as it relates to planning my business and my life. Prior to my life as a Photoshop Trainer and Actions Designer, and long before I did Product Photography and Photo Editing, I was an HR Manager.  Yep - me.  I hired people, unfortunately fired people, and had the job of running a Human Resources Department. When conducting interviews I always avoided asking “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” It may be one of the most popular interview questions of all times, but t

Winners of the Custom Designed Smugmug Pro Website
Congratulations again to all entries and the Top Ten! Due to an overwhelming response to the contest and a very very close voting margin, both K Stone Photography and Brittney Melton will have ‘extreme’ makeovers smugmug customizations done on their new Smugmug sites. As a friendly reminder : - ALL ENTRIES will receive a 25% off their 1-year Pro Account. Therefore, all entries win something! Offer expires November 30, 2009. If you already have a smugmug account, you will receive $20 in refer