Cinnamon Girl Studio, a new advertiser to the MCP Blog, is a web design and graphic arts company based in Seattle, Washington. The design business is owned and solely operated by Timi Carl, a self taught web designer
& graphic artist. Her work ranges from designs for childrens clothing – drawings that are transferred to screenprint, blogs, print materials (business cards, stationary, postcards, banners), web design, pre-made blog & web templates.

If you cannot afford a custom blog, consider her blogger template for photographers.  Simple and professional – and affordable too – at only $12.

For today’s contest – she is offering ONE LUCKY PHOTOGRAPHER a NEW or Re-designed Blog!

Michelle Masser Photography – A redesign of Photopro in Wordpress

The Contest:
The prize will be a new blog or redesign of the winner’s blog in either Blogger or Wordpress format.

What is a redesign?

A redesign is a freshening up of an existing blog. It can may simple or a complete change… depending on the winner’s preference. Some elements that can be changed are banners & slideshows, post footers, menu buttons, backgrounds, fonts & colors. The layout can also be changed in ways like sidebar and post widths, the entire blog width, spaces & padding between elements.

What if I don’t have a blog?

If you don’t have a blog but would like one it’s as easy as signing up with Blogger or Wordpress, both are free but there are some small costs associated such as a domain name and hosting for your site if using Wordpress.  A basic template will be installed & then customized for the winner if they are new to blogging.

The contest does NOT include a domain, hosting, ecommerce (shopping cart) design, complex hand drawn art, logos.

• If you have a blog, does it helps your business? And what aspects of your blog make it successful? If it is not helping your business, what improvements need to happen so it does?

• If you do not have a blog, why do you feel you need one?  And what do you plan to do on your blog to make it work for your business?

Want more entries? Get bonus contest entries now:

Here are a few samples of Timi’s recent work:

tout-est-des-roses - A new Wordpress blog

Mia Joie - A Blogger redesign

Tim Geaney Photography (the light whisperer) – A new Blogger design

Simone Howell’s Brooch the Subject – A new Blogger design

Share this post:

Candy, bubblegum, and lollipops – Oh my!

Why take pictures if you can’t share them and inspire other photographers? New to the MCP Blog: photo sharing posts.  I will post to the MCP Facebook Fan Page, and let everyone know a theme.  You will email me your favorite photo (sized 600px wide) for the theme.  I will need a note of permission saying that I can post the picture on my blog, along with your website address if you wish to be “linked up.” My twins, who are 8, will pick their favorite 10-12 images and I will share them in a post. They love “working” with me and it makes them feel important and gain self-confidence.

My goal is to inspire and bring a smile to your face.  Since I cannot post everyone’s photos, please do not be upset if yours does not make it. Trust me when the girls just narrowed to their 12 favorites, there were some amazing ones that did not make it.   I would LOVE everyone to also upload your photo submission to my Flickr group; this way your image can be seen by all even if it was not picked by my girls.  If it would get you down not to make the blog, then please don’t participate.

The 1st theme, announced last week on Facebook, was candy and bubblegum pictures. Here are the ones chosen by Ellie and Jenna. A new theme will be announced soon.  So don’t miss out.

Conversing while blowing bubbles ~ Photo submitted by Jodie Goodison of Digi Kidz Photography

(image at the top of the post with the girl holding cotton candy, is also by Jodie)

Jumping while blowing a bubble ~ Photo submitted by Jodie Goodison of Digi Kidz Photography

BAZOOKA gum ~ Photo submitted by Photography by Cupcake

Bubbles galore ~ photo submitted by Lauren Waye

Chocolate Lips ~ Photos submitted by Amy Lynn Blake Photography

Girl in a Candy Story ~ Photos submitted by Amy Lynn Blake Photography

Yummy caramel apple with sprinkles ~ Photo submitted by Brannon Conza Photography

Surrounded by sweetness photograph ~ Photo submitted by Monica Wilkinson Photography

What a Sweet Life ~ Photo submitted by Laureen Carruthers Photography

The biggest lollipop every ~ Photo submitted by Julie Mitchell Photography

The perfect Valentine ~ Photo submitted by Photography by Cupcake

A simple chocolate KISS ~ Photo submitted by Tina Chambers

By Gail Bunning of Gail Anne Photography

Becoming a professional photographer has been one of the most difficult, most challenging and most rewarding paths in my life. I always knew that I wanted to take photos. Even as a child I had this fascination with how film and that little box worked. How it saw images different then my eye but more like my heart.

I blossomed into a “photographer” as an adult really. I can say it was right around when my first child was born. The inexpensive camera given to my husband and I served a great purpose as I snapped a million and one photos of this tiny creature we’d created. I started with the average snap shot and slowly moved to draping fabric across my living room. All a mess at the time, I cherish these photos as if the most professional and well known photographer had taken them.

I saved money, clipped coupons, taking her to Olan Mills and JCPenney’s, hoping for that perfect and beautiful shot of her perfect and beautiful smile and when her brother came along, I started all over again only this time I realized that no one could know them and capture them like I could and that started it off, this journey of photography.

I bought my first DSLR camera with 500.00 that I made designing for a church a million miles away. I met the man with the canvas bag in a coffee shop a half an hour away. I held that camera in my hands and just knew this was my calling. 500.00 opened up this huge, new world for me.

I read and learned and snapped. I joined a photography board. I decided to go pro. Decided. Such a funny word. I was no way ready to charge anyone for anything but I just knew that I needed to get these photos out. I wanted to share and snap. I was so excited. I was a photographer.

I upgraded that camera a year or so later. To something more professional. I’d “shot” families and babies and births. Examining each photo, editing, learning, absorbing. A few years later, another camera, more glass, more classes, more actions and more about the business. But what I forgot is that becoming, being a photographer doesn’t mean you shoot for money. You don’t become a photographer to make a million dollars, you become a photographer to capture moments in time. The income is just a job perk.

While I was capturing everyone else. Each event, each smile, each newborn, I missed photos of my own memories. Constantly worrying about light and marketing, I’d forgotten why I started this journey. To capture my life. The ups and downs of it. I was spending so much time coming up with a brand, an entire year passed by and all I had was portraits, perfect photos and not down and dirty kids in the mud. My oldest is ten and I am not sure there are ten photos of she and I together. I was so busy worrying about the perfect photo that I’d forgotten to hand the camera over and capture the moments with me in them.

I got lost in the photography.

Now I try and remember to capture the bed heads, the smiles and the tears and while there are still experiments in backdrops and lighting, I take their photos in full sun and leave the perfect to my clients. Okay, that’s not all true, sometimes they get imperfect because I want them to remember their families like I remember mine, perfectly imperfect, emotionally focused… a family, plain and simple. There is a time and a place for that perfect pose but I encourage you to remember to take pictures and not just portraits. They’re just as important. It’s the pictures that tell the stories of our lives. When your children have grown and moved out and your spouse’s looks fade into age, you’ll want to look back and see what once was. Photos capture the memories our heads can’t hold onto but I hearts long for. Remember to take pictures, even if they’re not perfect now, someday they will be.

This post was written by Gail Bunning of Gail Anne Photography. Gail is the mom to three plus one naughty beagle. She’s tattooed and changes her hair a lot. She loves her job, a lot. She loves people, and she loves watching families grow. Gail has a minor craft addiction and may or may not be utterly addicted to Facebook. Photography makes her happy, it’s her fire.

If you are a photographer and want to improve where you rank, check out the SEO e-book for photographers. Also look into Scribe, which will help you get better optimization out of your blog posts.

Here are the 10 winners of the SEO Guides. I will be emailing each of you a code to use for your free guide.  Thank you to all who participated.

Katie Jane Parker

Jennifer Duffy

Christa Holland

Lori Alley

Wendy Donaldson

Melissa Blue

Alyssa Turner

Karin Curtis

Cyndi Henry

Andrea Lopez

Want to color pop your images in Photoshop? This week’s Blueprint shows one way to achieve rich, super powerful color.  I get asked about this look all the time in reference to a few photographers who pull out these deep hidden colors. This look and style is trendy and fun, and many will love it, but some will not.  Recently it seems either photos are heavily color popped or the opposite, using vintage photoshop actions.

For this Blueprint, I wanted to show you how to get rich, vibrant colors using color pop Photoshop actions.

Here are the details of this edit – all the actions used, except the frame, were from the Bag of Tricks Photoshop action set.

1. Since I wanted to show a rich, deep color pop, I started with the Magical Color Finder Brush {Intense} action. I applied this with a 100% opacity brush everywhere except on the skin and jeans, as I did not want the skin to get red or the jeans to glow too much. I decided to get crazy and adjusted the opacity of this layer to 83%.
2. The photo seemed dark in spots, and I wanted to fill in some light.  I ran Magic Fill Light action at 34%.
3. To make the photo more crisp, I ran Magic Clarity and adjusted the opacity to 54%.
4. I wanted a bit more light on her face, so I used the Magic Light action and painted with a 30% opacity brush on her face, layer opacity left on default setting.
5. Then I finished up with the Magic Dark action and with a 30% opacity brush, I pained around the edges of the photo, layer opacity left on default setting.
6. For display purposes, I used the Frame It Small action from the Finish It set on both the before and after, which resizes and sharpens for web and adds a frame for the finishing touch.