With all of the Facebook changes recently, it’s hard to keep up and it can cause major headaches for photographers. Facebook’s most recent change is the “Timeline.”  If you do not have it yet, you will soon.   Use our new FREE Facebook Timeline Cover Templates and you will never struggle with what to place at the top.

We’ve created seven unique, fully-customizable Photoshop Timeline Cover Templates. Photographers can use these templates to display pictures on their personal page, blog, or elsewhere on the web.

They are easy to use.  Just pick your picture(s), adjust the size and BAM! You have a timeline cover that all your friends will envy.  In addition to learning how to use them, our video tutorial teaches you how to make your own Timeline Cover Templates, using the included blank template.

Visit our website or Facebook Page to download the FREE Facebook Timeline Cover Templates and start decorating your personal Facebook Page. Have fun and make sure to share your creations on the MCP Facebook Page Wall.

* Our standard terms of use apply.  Please read these prior to downloading from our cart.
** Disclaimer: When you upload a cover to Facebook, it will not be as crisp as in Photoshop. Facebook heavily compresses all Timeline Covers, not just ours,  in an unfavorable way. If we find a way to avoid this, we will make sure to let you know.

Two Opening Template

Polaroid Style Opening Frame Template

Four Opening Film Timeline Cover Template

Nine Opening Timeline Cover Template

One Opening Plus Background Template

Three Opening Template

Speech Bubble Template - Just Add Words or a Photo

Free Mini Card Templates and Accordion Book Designs to Celebrate Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day will be here soon.  And MCP Actions has the perfect gift for photographers.  We teamed up with the talented duo at Photographer Cafe to bring you these fun, modern Mini Valentine’s Cards and Mini Accordion Books.  They make a gift for your customers or for your own kids to hand out at school.  Plus, while we had Valentine’s Day in mind, they really work all year long.

While these are FREE, we really appreciate you sharing out in on Facebook, Pinterest and other social networking sites.  Just use the buttons at the top or bottom of this page – THANK YOU!  This motivates us to make more freebies in the future. Click on the “download from Facebook” button and grab them there.  The templates are fully-layered .psd files so you have full control. Terms of use and instructions are included.  Please read both upon downloading.

Also, Photographer Cafe generously has offered all MCP readers a 10% discount through Valentine’s Day 2012, just use the promo code at checkout: PC10. This is not for use at MCP Actions.  

Holiday Gifts Ideas for Photographers for $50 or Less: Shopper’s Guide

Christmas and Hanukkah are almost here. We want to help you find perfect, affordable gifts for the photographers in your life. You may not be able to get them a Canon 5D MKII or a sought after professional series L Lens but we have creative, budget holiday gift ideas for photographers. If you are a photographer, make sure to “share” a link to this post with someone looking to buy you a gift.

You can also check out our 2010 Photographer’s Holiday Gift Guide, full of 20 more great ideas.

Canon or Nikon Shot Glasses. Use these fun containers for everything from desk organizers (to hold toothpicks, paperclips and more) to small flower pots. Of course if photography or photo editing stresses you out, you can fill them with an energy drink or other liquids. Get 3 shot glasses and use them however you please. Looking for a larger container?  Try the Canon or Nikon Lens Mugs featured in last year’s guide.

Camera Cookie Cutters: This gift is perfect for the photographer with two favorite hobbies, photography and baking. These fun vintage camera cookie cutters can be given as a present or if you like to bake, and your photographer friend does not, buy them for yourself and make them cookies.

iPad Compact Flash and SD Card Readers: Super practical. A great present for anyone who owns an iPad and a camera. These card readers give photographers a quick way to get photos onto their iPads in seconds.

SLR Camera Piggy Bank: Start saving your pennies. I love having this replica camera on my desk.  Any time I have loose change, I can throw it into the “camera” bank.  While it may be impossible to save up enough for a new camera, you may be able to fund some camera accessories just with the coins you deposit in time.

Bokeh Kit:  This is the ultimate fun toy for a photographer.  Turn your bokeh into shapes. This kit makes it easy but we also have an almost free solution with our Do It Yourself shaped bokeh tutorial.

Camera Charm by Fossil: For the charm collecting photographer…

Chalkboard Speech Bubble: What a silly, expressive prop. So many ways to use it to add life to your photos and snapshots.

Macro Lens for Camera Photos (such as iPhone and Droids): If you have ever tried to focus closeup with an iPhone, you know it is difficult if not impossible.  This little rubber band gadget allows you to get super close in and capture a photo, all while on your camera phone. Small and easy to carry, it is a must have for macro camera phone photography.

Metal Photographer Parking Only Sign: This speaks for itself. Great item to hang in the garage or on a wall – a true discussion piece.

Camera Key Chain: Makes a shutter noise too – the perfect stocking stuffer for less than $5.00.  Also see the Vintage Camera Key Fob.

Rainsleeve: This item may be less than $10 but it could be worth thousands to the photographer in your life. If it starts to rain, you need something to protect your gear. And though it looks rather silly, it accomplishes the job.  It is available with and without the extra plastic to cover your flash.

Vintage Cameras: For the collector, look for vintage cameras on eBay, Etsy, and at antique stores and garage sales. You may find some in working condition, but even if they do not work, they make cool props and look great in a photography studio too.

MCP Actions e-Gift Cards: Want the perfect, paperless gift? How about giving some Photoshop actions, Lightroom Presets, or Photoshop online training to a photographer this holiday season? Since you may not know exactly what is on their wish lists, an e-Gift Card is perfect! Available in $25, $50 and more… (cannot mention those other denominations since the title is $50 or less…)

And lastly … this one does not cost you anything! The FREE Facebook Fix Photoshop actions. Make your photos look better on Facebook and the web.

For more great gift ideas for photographers, visit:

The Photojojo Store

Adorama Camera

Amazon

We love seeing your photos editing with MCP’s Photoshop actions and Lightroom presets.  After you edit your photos with MCP products, please share some of your favorite images on the MCP Facebook Wall.  With the updated Facebook Fix actions, this task is easier than ever. After preparing and watermarking your photo or before and after images, visit likemcp.com.

Follow the easy steps listed below to display your work.  We would love you to list what MCP actions or presets were used on your photos. We are excited to see more of your work – you are welcome to post images edited with any of our free or paid products.

Sometimes simple things like downloading aren’t as easy as we’d like. We love sharing special free products with our customers, but with tens of thousands downloading our freebies, it makes it difficult to help everyone with downloading, unzipping and installation issues.  We need to set aside time to fully support our paid customers and work on future product development.

Most MCP free Photoshop actions and free Lightroom presets are available on our website. The most current ones are also available on the MCP Facebook Page for easy access.  Seasonal goodies, like holiday cards, can only be found on our Facebook Page, so you will need to “like MCP” to grab those.

From our website, you literally add the item to your cart, checkout using the “For Freebies” $0.00 option (unless you are buying something else), and then navigate to the download page.  If you miss it, see the FAQ section for screen shots on locating them. If our cart gives you a problem, it is almost always resolved by deleting your cookies and cache and revisiting.

For the quickest access, just go to our Facebook Page. 99% of the time these downloads work great – 1% of the time, the Facebook Apps used to distribute free products have glitches.  We apologize in advance to those in the 1%.  It’s almost always browser incompatibility, pop-up blocker, or firewall issue, but is beyond our means to fix.  If you experience problems, you may let us know your browser and version number and we can inform the “Facebook App Company.”

Below are details on how to find the freebies on Facebook and download them.

Once downloaded, as with all MCP Products, you need to unzip the items.  Most computers come with unzip software to decompress the files. If you do not have this software, please Google unzip software. A few common ones are winzip, 7-zip, and freezip. Once unzipped, install actions into Photoshop or Elements, presets into Lightroom or ACR, or open .PSD templates directly in Photoshop.

If this document helped you, please share with others.  Thank you and enjoy the goodies.

MCP Actions and Crave Designs have partnered to bring you a beautiful free Holiday Card Template plus video tutorial that teaches you how to insert photos easily into any card built with clipping masks.  To use our free card template, you only need Photoshop or Elements.

Just join us on Facebook at likemcp.com to download the free template and watch the tutorial. While you are there, make sure to grab other goodies too, like our Free Photoshop Actions, Mini Fusion and our Free Lightroom Presets, Mini Quick Clicks.

If you get to our Fan Page and “like it” then you will find the Holiday Card Template and other goodies on the sidebar under our profile image.

Lightroom Users: Try Mini Quick Clicks FREE!

Adjust white balance, revive dull colors, correct exposures and more with just one click. Sample the power and flexibility Lightroom presets offer you with our FREE MCP Mini Quick Clicks™ Set.

You already rely on MCP Actions for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to help you create gorgeous, artistic images with minimal time and effort. Now, we’re offering Lightroom users the same one-click convenience and eye-catching results, plus the advantages of a Lightroom-based workflow. Whether you shoot RAW or JPEG images, you’ll appreciate the time and energy you’ll save by using MCP Quick Clicks presets for processing all your photos. Make subtle changes or dramatic edits–all completely reversible. Give all the images from one shoot a consistent style in just seconds.

We’re so sure you’ll love MCP Quick Clicks Collection that we’re offering a sample of 17 unique Lightroom presets and custom resets as a FREE download. Organized in an intuitive, folder-based structure, MCP Mini Quick Clicks are easy to navigate and even easier to use. These unique presets are a perfect introduction to one-click photo editing with Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw for CS2-CS5.

<<< Download MCP Mini Quick Clicks from Our Website >>>

OR

<<< Download MCP Mini Quick Clicks from Facebook >>>

Once you’ve whetted your appetite, check out the MCP Quick Clicks Collection for Lightroom or the Quick Clicks Collection for ACR.  The super-set includes more than 200 additional presets and custom resets. Don’t miss out! Get Mini Quick Clicks today.

Please spread the word!

Share the news about the FREE MCP Mini Clicks Lightroom Presets on Facebook or a favorite photo forum.

How are you using Mini Quick Clicks? Post your before & after photos on Facebook and tag them with @MCP Actions. We can’t wait to see your creations!

Here are a few samples edits:

Photo below edited with Ice Cream Shoppe Preset and Increase Exposure 1 Stop

Photo below edited with Light Bright Colors Preset

Photo below edited with True Colors Preset and Increase Exposure 1/2 Stop

Thank you to Spanki Mills, Kelly Roper, and Haleigh Rohner for the amazing sample images.

NEW * Free Photoshop and Elements Download

The MCP’s Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts Printable Guide will speed up your workflow. Now, start using our most recommended quick keys for Photoshop and Elements.

Use these time-saving keystrokes while editing faster and smarter. This is NOT a Photoshop action. Just download, print and hang on your wall as a reference. Soon, you will be editing with the speed of a professional.

Please spread the word by sharing this on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc. Tell your photographer friends they can also download this helpful freebie.

How to Get Our Free Download

We have provided two download options:

(1) Join us on our FacebookPage. If you do not automatically see the download page, head to the left side VIP tab to access it. You will not need to register with us for this method. You must be signed into Facebook on your personal, not business, profile to access downloads.The Facebook App we currently use, North Social, unfortunately isn’t 100% reliable. If it doesn’t work properly, please use method #2. We are looking for a better Facebook delivery method.

(2) Go to the product page on our website. Log in or register, add the product to your cart, checkout (use $0.00 option if you are not buying anything else), and then go to the download section. More details on the process are in our website FAQ. Firewalls, pop-up blockers, and browser cache issues can cause download problems.

Due to the large number of downloads for our free products, we cannot troubleshoot individual issues.

  

FREE VALENTINE’S DAY MINI CARDS!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Minneapolis, MN maternity and baby photographer Jen Gorney of elizabeth grace photography is giving away another darling set of free templates to all MCP Actions readers for use with Adobe Photoshop.

Last summer she gave away these great Mommy Card Templates.  Now you can get these fun Valentine’s Day Mini Cards, which are not only cute as can be, they are an easy and powerful marketing tool for your business (and an absolutely fabulous card for your own sweetie to share at school this Valentine’s Day!). Please spread the word and click on “SHARE” on this blog post to let your Facebook and Twitter fans know.  Thanks!

Sized to print as wallets, simply save the file, customize to your liking and send to the printer of your choice.  Then, surprise your customers with something special to hand out to friends and family this Valentine’s Day!  Jen gave sets of these as client gifts last year along with individual vellum envelopes and not only was the feedback wonderful, it resulted in multiple new bookings from classmates of kids who handed out Jen’s cards!  The kids loved handing out customized Valentine’s with their own picture, and parents loved having something unique and fun featuring their child – a great marketing tool for photographers and a sentimental keepsake for parents…win, win!  And, these mini cards are perfect for kids of all ages, tots through tweens!

Download the FREE Valentine’s Day Mini Card Templates!

The templates are simple, fully-layered .psd files so you have full control over the fonts, colors and text as well as resizing the photo openings.  As with the Mommy Cards, the possibilities are endless with these little cards, so get creative!

Basic Photoshop CS+ Instructions (may vary slightly in Elements):

• Unzip the file you download.
• Open the Cards in Photoshop (FILE – OPEN). These do not get “installed” as they are just templates, not actions.
• Insert your photo into the template. There are numerous ways to do this, from the place command, to copy and paste, to dragging the photo into the template.
• Make sure to move your photo in the layers palette above the indicated layer, if it is not already there.
• Resize if your photo is too large, by using the EDIT – FREE TRANSFORM. Hold the SHIFT key down while you drag one the corners in to resize, so the ratio stays the same, and the photo does not distort.
• Clip the photo to the insert layer. There are many ways to do this.  The easiest to explain is to go to LAYER – CREATE CLIPPING MASK. (If you are using Elements, try CTRL + G or Command + G to clip). You can re-size more and move your image as needed.

You can add/delete/change border colors on photo openings (double-click “Stroke”), etc.  To change a color, double click the layer thumbnail and choose a new color. All fonts are customizable so you can match your studio’s design and color palette or go all-out with pink and red for Valentine’s Day!  If you do not have a particular font on your computer, you can search for it online, or you can just substitute it with one you own. Enjoy!

Terms of Use: These may be used for your personal use or on client files.  The templates may NOT be resold in original or altered form as PSD template card files.

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elizabeth grace photography is a custom portrait studio serving Minneapolis, MN and the surrounding metro area specializing in fun, fresh, artistic and intimate portraits of bellies, babies, children and those who love them. You can also find elizabeth grace photography on facebook.

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MCP Actions is changing the way you interact on Facebook.

To enter our contest:

1. Visit our MCP Experience Facebook Page.
2. Click the Share Button on your favorite page and share with your friends.
3. Come back to this blog post (not on Facebook) and tell us your favorite feature – the one you “shared.”
4. Get an extra entry if you “suggest to friends” on the left side of the page – and recommend MCP to at least 8 photographers. Add a comment if you do this.

What you can win:

1. One person will win a $100 gift certificate to use toward the purchase of Photoshop actions at the MCP Actions Store.
2. One person will win a $50 gift certificate
3. One person will win a $25 gift certificate

How to see if you won:

Winner will be announced at 8pm eastern time, Sunday Nov. 21st on the Facebook {MCP|LIVE} Chat section. Check in then to see if you won. Winners will be posted for 72 hours, and have that time to contact me to redeem their prizes.

Wondering what the MCP Facebook Experience is about? Come check it out!

• It’s a more than just a Facebook landing page – it’s an experience!
• Join in active conversations on hot photography topics
• View the most popular past discussions from the MCP Actions Wall
• Watch Photoshop video tutorials
• View featured fan photos – and even have a chance for your work and business to be”featured” by submitting before and after images to the MCP Wall.
• Vote for your favorite before and after images
• Watch MCP Live! See my screen, hear my voice and/or chat with me about Photoshop.
• Download exclusive Free Photoshop and PSE actions

FREE ~ FREE ~ FREE Photoshop Actions

If you upload photos to Facebook or the Web, you will want to download the Free MCP Facebook Fix Photoshop and PSE action set, exclusively at: http://facebook.com/mcpfans.

This set includes 4 powerful Photoshop actions to resize, sharpen, watermark and brand your images for Facebook or the Web. Whether you are displaying before and after examples, two side by side, or just single photos, they will look better and protect your photos instantly.

Perfect for sharing your photos on the MCP Wall for entry into the “Featured Fan Photo section.”

Photos and logo auto inserts and the frame can be changed from white, shown here, to any color in seconds. This is the easiest way to share photos, and especially before and after images, on Facebook.

These actions can be used for Websites, Flickr, and elsewhere on the Internet, but are sized at 720 wide for the best possible Facebook viewing.

And lastly… for those asking how I did it… Remember how I said I feel strongly that you should outsource things you do not like to do or things where you lack skills? Well, that is exactly what I did. Links to my two amazing developers are on the Facebook page. Please visit them and see what they can do for your FB presence.