MCP Actions Quick Purchase

Have you ever wanted to just lighten the face in your photo? Have you ever wanted to just lighten a part of a photo you did not expose properly?

Have you ever wanted to add emphasis to part of the photo by darkening the surround area but leaving the subject lighter?

If so, I have a special treat for you. It is an action called “Touch of Light | Touch of Darkness.” It will help you achieve this look! I have been getting requests to make and sell an action like this for months. But I have decided as a gift to my loyal MCP Actions Blog Readers to make this a FREE action.

In exchange for the free action, I would love for you to spread the word about my blog -tell your photographer friends to come get the action here too. This is a Blog EXCLUSIVE. This one will NOT be going on my regular website.

Click here to download this action – compatible in Photoshop 7, CS, CS2 and CS3

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Here are step by step details on using this action:

1. Start out by unzipping and installing the action – details available in my video tutorial on how to install and use actions.

2. You can use this action any time in your editing process. Just make sure no solid pixel layers are above this. Adjustment layers can be on top of this however. I usually do all of my editing before using this action, unless I need major lightening help. Then I may run it earlier on. This action works exceptionally in conjunction with my Complete Workflow Actions Set and with the Quickie Collection Actions. When you are ready to use them click PLAY button.

3. The action will run and leave you with 2 layers. One called “Touch if Light” and one called “Touch of Darkness.” Make sure to select the layer you want to work on and that the mask is selected to, as shown.

4. Now select your brush tool – make sure to click back to your default colors (black and white). White reveals the effect, black conceals the effect.

5. Make sure to vary your opacity of your BRUSH as shown below. You do NOT want to use it at 100%. You will want it way lower. You will want an airbrush soft round brush and will want to vary the hardness. Do not use this at 100%. You will want to use the brush at 0-50% hardness. In areas where you want it feathering out, you can keep it at “0.” In areas where you do NOT want a halo effect, for example if you are darkening close to a person to make them stand out, you will want it between 30-50%. I will still feather but there will be less of one, so less chance of a halo around your subject(s).

6. Last step is to actually paint on the Light or Darkness. Often you will want a little of both. This usually is my last step in editing a photo but it can be used anytime. You can see the masks and how I revealed and concealed light to emphasize my twins riding their bikes. This photo was shot in full sun in the middle of the afternoon. Yet with this set and proper exposure it does not have that noon sunlight look at all.

7. Enjoy this action. Please use the SHARE ME button below to share this blog page so your photographer friends can download the action. Also, if you find this tutorial useful and are happy with the action, please leave a comment. Thanks and enjoy the fun freebie.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Announcements, Free Actions, Photoshop Actions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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