Do you ever wonder which cameras are the most popular? What about what editing tools?  I get emails daily asking what cameras, software, and products I recommend. The hard part is that I only have access to a limited about of camera gear and equipment.

Amazon creates popularity lists based on sales per hour.  While popularity does not indicate that it is the best camera for you, they also have reviews from customers. Here are some of the current lists of best selling photography related products based on sales – they update this hourly:

• Best Selling Digital SLR Cameras
• Best Selling Digital Point and Shoot Cameras
• Best Selling SLR Film Cameras
• Best Selling Film Point and Shoot Cameras
• Best Selling Printers and Scanners
• Best Selling SLR Lenses
• Best Selling Cameras/Camcorders/Housing for Underwater Photography
• Best Selling Tablet Devices

Want to easily find photography related products by brand? Here’s a few to get you started: Canon, Nikon, Tamron, and all the rest by brand.

We also get asked which MCP Actions are our most popular.  As of today’s post, for 2011, our most popular product is:

• The free Mini Fusion action set

Aside from our free downloadable Photoshop actions and free Lightroom presets, which are our most popular products by far, our best sellers based on sales for 2011 are:

1. Fusion Photoshop Action Set
2. Bag of Tricks Action Set
3. All in the Details Actions
4. Incredible Retouching Package
5. Quick Clicks Collection Presets for Lightroom

* To support efforts and hosting of our blog, we may use affiliate links, including the Amazon ones here.

The word paparazzi sends dreaded chills down the backs of celebrities.  Paparazzi photographers invade the lives of well-known people and expose their every day lifestyle and rituals.  When you look on a gossip style website or magazine or the tabloids, you may enjoy seeing your favorite star up close.  You may think “that is the price of fame.”  Or you may feel it is invasion of privacy, something everyone deserves at their own home, eating a meal, shopping, or in their personal time.

I never thought much about it until my husband said, “check out these websites.” As instructed, I looked up “Miley Cyrus Orchard Lake” on Google and dozens or articles appeared.  At first I had no idea why he wanted me to see these bikini clad pictures of Miley.  My kids no longer are into “Hannah Montana” or “Miley Cyrus.” Though Orchard Lake is five minutes from my house, I still was unsure of his point. As I looked at Celebuzz, Memi Support, Celebrity Gossip, and many more websites, I thought “a boat, a jet ski, Miley in a bikini, and a boyfriend, so what.” I am guessing these same images are also in print magazines and tabloids.

Then my husband explained, “those pictures were taken at our friend’s backyard.” Miley is friends with one of our friends and was on her boat, jet ski, and raft this past summer. But these pictures were not snapshots that they took of each other having fun.  Photographers took these photos without their permission and without them even knowing!

Once I heard this, I was freaked out.  What a violation.  What an invasion of privacy.  I cannot imagine if pictures of me were blasted everywhere while I was enjoying a day at the lake. Of course Miley Cyrus is used to it, but it does not make it right.

What can we learn from the paparazzi?

At first you may think, “who would look to the paparazzi to learn about photography?” But there are many lessons that can help us grow. We can build stronger photography businesses from observing this style of photography.

Learn from what they do well:

• Persevere: Get the picture you want. If you have something you want to photograph, go for it!
• Lifestyle: Get photos of people in their element doing the things they love. When you capture these every day moments alongside posed pictures and portraits, you will broaden your offerings and appeal to a wider range of clientele. A mix of these images can also increase sales, especially of collages and storyboards, as well as albums.
• Stand back: Use a longer telephoto lens to capture shots at a distance.  This works especially well with siblings and families.  You can capture them interacting in ways they may not if you are in their faces.

Learn from what they do not do well:

• Ask permission: As you know, the paparazzi rarely asks if they can take photos.  Celebrities often do not know the photographers are even there.  Learn from this.  Ask before you snap a shot of a stranger or on private property.  If you get the correct permission, you will not need to worry later.  Also, get model releases on everyone you photograph to protect yourself and your business.
• Interact: While it can be good to stand back from your subject(s) at times, it is also important to get in closer.  Photographers have more control over poses, the look of the session, and the mood when they are interacting with their customer(s).
• Get pictures people want: Clearly the photos that end up in the media are not the ones most of these star would want for their photo albums, frames or walls. Aim to not only satisfy your artistic side but the desires of your customers. Satisfied clients will spend more than unsatisfied ones.

Photoshop Actions for Elements 10

If you are considering an upgrade to Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, you will be excited to know that based on our preliminary testing, all MCP Photoshop Actions for Elements are compatible. We’ll keep you posted if we find any conflicts and let you know the fixes for them. If you buy PSE10, look under the section for PSE9 to find all compatible actions.  We will update our site, product descriptions, and categories in the upcoming month.

Now for the bigger question, “should you upgrade to Elements 10?”

Photoshop Elements 10 is an amazing photo editing software for those who do not wish to purchase Photoshop CS5. Elements 10 has three main improvements over prior PSE versions.

1. Crop guides – when cropping a photo, you can overlay either a rule of thirds guide or a golden ratio guide to help you perfect your composition and create stronger photographs.
2. Text on a path – this means that you can create text that curves and flows around objects. This will be a great tool for scrapbookers and graphic design students.
3. Facebook integration - users will be able to tag photos based on their Facebook friends list.

While those are great features for photo editing software, especially the crop guides, they’re probably not going to change your editing life.  If you have Elements 9, consider spending your money on a MCP Photoshop Actions for Elements or PSE training classes.

If, however, you have Elements 8 or a version earlier than that, this upgrade might be worth your investment.  Elements 9 was the first version of Elements to allow you to add layer masks.  That’s huge!  Elements 9 also introduced a content-aware spot healing brush that helps in portrait retouching.

So, if you’re still struggling to create layer mask workarounds in your older version of Elements, now just might be the time for you to upgrade.

If you are a Elements user with a Mac considering upgrading to the latest version of Elements, make sure to buy direct from Adobe or from a place like Amazon.  If you buy Photoshop Elements 9 from the Mac App Store you cannot install most actions for Elements.  The Mac App Store version of Elements is incomplete and lacks certain functionality.  It doesn’t include the Organizer, and it doesn’t allow you to install actions via the Effects Palette.

The Effects Palette is where most of MCP’s actions for Elements need to be installed, so this shortcoming is not a good thing, especially for MCP customers.

Have you already purchased Elements from the App Store?  I have heard of several people getting refunds, but I’m not sure how easy it is.  Act quickly, so that not too much time passes between your purchase and your refund request.

If you don’t have the App Store version of Elements, check out all the MCP’s PSE compatible actions.  Enjoy!

Best Android / Droid Apps for Photographers

MCP Actions recently featured the top iPhone apps for photographers.  If you missed it, it’s here.  The Android market has some of the same apps and a few similar ones.  Here is a list of some of the great apps available on your Droid phone, and best of all – most of them are free!

Camera Apps:

Camera 360 Lite – Free

With a range of effects including black and white, Lomo, simulated HDR, tilt shift, dreamy effects and night enhancement, this is a great all inclusive camera app. The app saves both the original photo and the enhanced photo.

While the “Lite” version of the app is free and does not limit resolution, it does limit which enhancements and filters can be used. The options menu will still show thumbnails of all filters, but the cart icon indicates that you must buy Camera 360 Pro to use those filters.

Retro Camera – Free (Ad supported, or purchase Pro for ad-free version)

Retro camera includes 5 Lomo and Pinhole inspired camera modes.  Shown above, pinhole mode features a full bleed film frame.  Also included is the FudgeCan (soft edge square photos with low saturation), the Xolaroid, which emulates old Poloroid photos with cross processing color casts and the famous white photo frame, The Little Orange Box (example shown below) edits photos to appear as though the film is scratched and edges are damaged, and the Barbl, which has low saturation and a brown film border.

While Retro Camera has only 5 modes and the presets aren’t customizable, this has been one of my favorite apps for interesting camera pictures.

Vignette – $3.99If you’re looking for fully customizable modes, Vignette is possibly the best app out there for Droid photographers.  It offers modes that emulate high quality black and white prints, low quality toy camera shots with light leaks, out of date film styles, vintage effects and a wide range of available frames.   (Shown above: SX-70 film with Instant Classic Frame.  Shown below: Toy Camera “Leaky” mode).

One of the better features of the app is that effects can be changed prior to saving the photo (you can also apply different combinations of effects and save copies as you work).

Want to see all the app has to offer before committing to buy?  Vignette offers a demo version with all the features; however the resolution is limited to .3 megapixels.

Photaf 3D Panorama – Free

While some Droid phones come with video related panorama features built in, my HTC Incredible does not.  So I found this nifty app which uses your gyroscope to line up photos.  Once you’ve started, it will direct which way to move the camera and snap the shot once it’s lined up.  It struggles with some lighting changes across the panorama (shooting across my office which has a bright window for example), but I was impressed with its stitching capabilities.  Here’s a lovely shot of the chaos that is my office.

This is one program that I can’t wait to take outside once our Northern California rain gives us a break.

Photo Editing Apps

Adobe Photoshop Express – Free

A much welcomed crossover from the iPhone apps, Adobe Photoshop Express allows you to make basic adjustments such as cropping, adjusting color and exposure and adding some effects to photos.

Picsay Pro Editor – $3.98

Along with all the basic edits you could possibly think of (color and exposure correction, sharpen and distort), this app has a color pop feature, modes that convert photos to Lomo, HDR, Cross Processed, Tilt Shift and soft glow.  Including filters, frames, painting and the ability to cut and paste areas of photos onto other photos, and I’d say this is a great in-phone editing app.

Photography Tool Apps

Pho for Pho – Free

This app includes a depth of field calculator, exposure calculator (which is great for figuring out program shifts in night photography), a timer which can pull directly from your exposure calculations, EV calculator for multiple exposures (think in the field calculations for Diana shots) and a hyperfocal calculator.  This comes in pretty handy for field photography and should help photographers obtain more precise results.

Hope you find these apps both fun and useful in all your photographic endeavors!

Kelly Samuelson is a photographer and blogger from northern California.  While portraiture and event photography are her main passions, she likes to deviate artistically into Lomographic photography and outdated processes.  Kelly’s work can be viewed at www.klsphotography.com or at her blog http://shastabetty.blogspot.com.

Photographer’s Wall Display Templates: Available Now

As soon as I set eyes on this product I knew it was something that you all would love as much as I do, which is why I am so excited to be announcing MCP’s partnership with Ariana Falerni, photographer and creator of the Photographer’s Wall Display Templates.    It’s a match made in heaven because presenting your beautiful images to your client is just as important as editing them (with MCP actions of course!)  and helps get them onto your clients walls where they can enjoy them every single day.  Now that’s something I think we can all be excited about!

Without further ado, I present to you the Photographer’s Wall Display Templates!

Shoot it. Show it. Sell it.

That’s the motto of the Photographer’s Wall Display Templates, an incredibly powerful new sales tool for photographers!   These wall templates use clipping masks and stunning REAL room backgrounds to help you create fresh, fun and modern wall display ideas for your clients in just seconds:

Just a tiny sampling of what you can create with these amazing templates!

Don’t Say it, Display it

Have you been waiting around expecting your clients to buy large prints, canvases or canvas clusters without seeing them first? That would be like asking them to buy an album or image box without seeing a studio sample! We need to help our clients picture their pictures and how their images make exquisite art on their walls.

These guides have 12+ premade canvas AND 7+ framed groupings – no math or measuring required! Also included are single canvas and framed sizes from 8×10-20×30 – perfect for showing your client the difference that size can make!

We ALL have those clients who think that an 8×10 is a “large print.” We can TELL them until we are blue in the face that bigger is better, but with these templates you can do better than that. You can SHOW them so they can see with their own eyes the difference between this..

and this!

Or even something like this..

Now, the fun part: change couch colors:

Or use a different style couch completely!

Or, show it in a completely different room!

This products takes all of the guesswork for both you AND your clients and replaces it with the certainty that only comes with seeing something with your own eyes.  Stop leaving your sales in the hands of your client’s power of imagination (or lack thereof!) and SHOW them the potential of their portraits to go way beyond small gift prints and hi res files. Not only will they reward you with bigger orders, but they will be grateful to you for providing them with such a custom “boutique” service that only you can provide!

Check out the product features below, or click here for a video tour!

Product Features

• 7 different room settings using stylish, modern home interiors – no imagination needed!
• Single canvases from 8×10 – 30×40, framed single prints from 8×10 – 20×30
• 12+ Canvas and 7+ framed groupings
• Easy to customize – create your own custom sizes and groupings in just seconds!
• Versatile: Most room templates have more than one background option, i.e the couch template has 4 different couches to choose from!
• Many backgrounds also have a hue/sat adjustment layer to change wall, furniture or floor color with a click – match the images, your branding or even your client’s decor!
• The color and width the frames can be changed by simply clicking on the stroke effect on the mat & frame layer.
• Easy to use clipping mask functionality – insert your images just like you do for cards and album templates.
• Most of the canvas groupings used are available at a discount from print labs and canvas vendors, pocket the savings or pass it on to your clients as incentive.
• Images sizes are from 1300 pixels to 1500 pixels wide (at 72 dpi) allowing for room to crop closer in if desired before resizing for your typical gallery image or blog image size
• “Turn up the lights” layer that will brighten the whole background with one click.
• Each image within a group is clearly notated using a easy number system for quick identification. Simply toggle off the number “guide” layer once you are finished placing your images.
• Each guide is scaled to the same ratio. Any custom sizes or groupings you create or that you purchase (coming soon!) will work in ALL available rooms.

Now the best part…Order Now!

How to Shoot Amazing Water Droplet Macro Photographs

Want something fun to play around with when you’re stuck inside during these cold winter days? Try photographing water droplets from your kitchen sink! Though the results appear as “macro photography,” you do not even need a macro lens to do this fun activity.

I used my trusty Canon 40D with the 70-300 variable-aperture lens and my 430EX speedlight set in automatic mode. You do not need this specific lens or camera, but this is just what I used. Here are some tips to help you get started.

• My settings on these were ISO 400 (it was a VERY dark & dreary day), f/5.6, focal length 300mm, and SS 1/125. I also used my remote.

• When setting up your shot, keep in mind that anything you choose to “highlight” in your droplet will be upside down, so if you care about the “up” or “down”, be sure to place your object upside down.

• Select a background with colors/patterns you love. I played with a couple of fabrics and objects, but I liked the colors/feel of this the best. It’s just a piece of fabric I bought years ago with the intent of making napkins. (Someday…) Dishtowels, cloth napkins, fabric, even small-ish toys or flowers in front of a backing of some sort—all of these will provide visual interest in your droplet. The world is your oyster! I think it would be fun to do it with a child’s drawing, too (though it might get splashed a bit). And with your object, don’t be afraid to go a bit larger than you’d think (I’d say anything up to about the size of a full-sized rubber duck)—the drop will greatly miniaturize your background.

• Remember that the drop itself will show a lot more than the small portion that forms the background of your actual image—the droplet is, in a sense, a fisheye lens and thus very WIDE. Before finalizing your set-up, be sure you zoom your LCD all the way in on the largest droplet you capture to be sure you like what you see.

• With regards to the background, I noticed while I was looking at the tiny image on the LCD that I didn’t like the “busy” of the pink you see in the first photo so I changed it for the bulk of my images, but on the computer later when I was editing them (after everything was put away, of course), I ended up liking the ones with pink much more (though, as luck would have it, my “best” drops were with the more plain background after I’d adjusted the fabric to minimize the pink—DOH)… I recommend, after you think you love it on the LCD, that you check out the basics full-size on your monitor to be sure before you really start shooting in earnest. Check to make sure that 1) you love the background, 2) you’re satisfied with the “fisheye” view within the droplets themselves, and 3) you’ve really gotten tack sharp drops with the background as soft and fuzzy as you want (by adjusting the aperture as necessary).

• For the basic set-up, I used a tripod, and remember if you use a tripod with an IS lens, turn off the IS. When you are on a tripod, the very act of the IS mechanism “doing its thing” can actually cause minute vibrations, and in a situation like this where you are zooming in very closely on a very small object, that tiny movement can make or break your sharpness. Especially if you are also planning to crop later, which I was.

• I set my camera up vertically on the tripod, because that gave me the tiniest bit more wiggle-room in which the drop was still “traveling” within the frame. I used my 70-300 lens, and attached the speedlight. The closest this lens will focus is 4.9 feet, but that was fine because I wanted to use my flash to freeze the motion, and I didn’t want the flash so close so that it would overexpose the photo with my chosen aperture and SS. I also used my remote, though if you press the shutter gently and smoothly to avoid camera shake, that might not be necessary.

• I zoomed all the way in, and I used a high enough aperture (5.6) that the entire chain was in focus, but my lens was far enough that I also got a nice background blur at that aperture.

• Play with your ISO and aperture to get your exposure, sharpness, and background blur just how you want it. You might also need to adjust your flash strength up or down as necessary. I found a shutterspeed of 1/125 to be just about perfect (oddly, any higher and I got a “ghost” droplet underneath the main droplet).

My set-up looked like this:

Now for how to shoot the droplets:

• I turned the water on “low enough” so that it was just coming out of the faucet a drop at a time.

• I found the easiest place to focus was right where the water dripped from the tap. I toggled my focus point to the very top one and made sure the camera was situated precisely so that my selected focus point was RIGHT where the water droplet came out from the tap. I used back-button focusing (manual would work as well) in order to separate focusing from the shutterclick so the camera would not attempt to refocus with each click (otherwise  your background might end up in focus instead of your droplet). I focused carefully on that spot, and I did a test shot to confirm focus (zooming in all the way on the drop on the LCD). I didn’t touch the camera (since I was using the remote) or refocus again after that.

• Pre-focusing  is also important because the timing becomes crucial for this type of shooting, and even a fast lens often will not be able to achieve focus on a moving drop before the droplet is long gone. Also, because I wanted these to be really MACRO, I knew I’d be cropping quite a bit, which inherently reduces sharpness a little. That meant that achieving sharpness SOOC was crucial.

• Once I achieved focus, I used my remote partly so I wouldn’t have to keep my eye glued awkwardly to the viewfinder and partly so the camera would not move AT ALL. (I was sitting beside my camera/tripod on a chair, so my eye was at about the same level as the camera.)

• Timing-wise, I waited until the drop coming from the sink looked the fullest but just BEFORE it dropped—I found that my split-second delay was just about perfect for catching the actual drop that way. But having said that, it’s HARD to get just the right moment, and I took dozens and dozens of shots to get a handful I really liked. It was like a game though, and it was fun! And even when I nailed it, still some droplets were less “pretty” than others.

Here’s an SOOC shot, uncropped:

Most importantly, have fun! I love that photography can capture a split moment in time for us, enabling us to really see the beauty in things that normally slip past unnoticed.

Jessica Holden is a San Francisco Bay Area photographer specializing in children, families, and capturing the everyday moments and ordinary things that make life unforgettable. Her work has been featured in the book Inspire (cmbook Volume 1, 2010) and Click, the Official Magazine of ClickinMoms (Winter 2011), and her work can be viewed online on flickr.

The Best Photography and Editing iPhone Apps for Photographers

Here is a list of some great iPhone apps for photography, along with a brief description of each and current pricing, which if course may change. If you are looking to have some fun taking pictures with your iPhone, these apps will get going.  You just may become addicted – don’t say we didn’t warn you! Many of these will also work on the iPod Touch and some on the iPad. The apps shown below will help you take and/or edit your photos. If you have other favorites, please list them in the comment section.

We hope to do future lists of apps for photographers in the following categories:

• iPhone/iPad apps that provide photography and editing tips/tutorials
• iPhone/iPad apps that help photographers run their business and keep organized
• iPhone/iPad apps that provide tools for photographers, beyond photo taking and editing, for example “white noise app for newborns” or posing apps, information apps, etc.

These can be time consuming to compose and I am looking for a few volunteers who might be willing to pick an above topic and create a post similar to the one below. If you’re interested in putting a post together, please email me.

Also, Droid users have expressed interest in lists like this for their OS.  Since I do not have a Droid phone, I cannot test apps or get the information you need.  But again, I would love to have a Droid user compose some posts with recommend apps for that system. Contact me if interested.

Camera Applications (for photo taking):

‎8mm vintage camera ($1.99) – capture an old school vintage look, change lenses and films

Instagram (FREE) Take a photo and then apply filters and different looks to it. This app also allows you to quickly share with friends.

360-Panorama ($1.99) – Twirl around while taking your photo and let the iPhone build a panoramic image for you.

Camerabag ($1.99) -  Take photos and then apply more than a dozen filters from helga to fisheye and more.

Infinicam ($1.99) – add infinite numbers of photo effects while shooting, add fun frames and borders.

Hipstamatic ($1.99+) – Swap lenses, film and flashes, at the click of a button – snap a shot, then share with friends. You will be addicted! In app downloads are available at an additional cost, for more hours of fun.

Pocketbooth ($0.99) – Fun photobooth style pictures in seconds. Super fun and easy to do.

Shake It Photo ($0.99) – Take a photo, shake the phone, and out comes a fun, Polaroid type image. It’s extra great since you do not have to pay for all that film!

Night Shot ($0.99) – Take photos at night using this camera app for the iPhone. It can improve your night time photography.

Photo Editing Applications:

Photogene ($1.99) – It’s like having a mini Photoshop in your hands, well almost. You can crop, sharpen, correct exposure, do levels, and more – then upload to share on sites like Facebook.
Tilt Shift Generator ($0.99) – Get a toy camera effect, with selective blur. Edit all your photos to be miniature worlds.

Percolator ($1.99) – turn your photos into mosaics and works of art.

Tiffen Photo Fx ($2.99) – The company known for its filters, now “has an app for that.” This app has more than 70 filters that you can apply to your photo to alter the appearance.

Diptic ($1.99) – if you love putting together mini storyboards and collages in Photoshop, you will enjoy this app for your iPhone.  Combine photos easily on your iPhone.

HDR Photo ($1.99) – Simulates the look of high dynamic range photos.  While it is not as good as doing it by stacking photos, the results are good for an iPhone image.

Photoshop Express (Free) – While the app is made by Adobe, it is not really like the real thing. It is limited in what it can do.  But the price is right, and you can do basic editing on it.

Fx Photo Studio ($2.99) – possibly every filter you could need for the iPhone. Hundreds of effects to alter the look of your images.

Picture Show ($1.99) – Lighting, frame, photo styles and more – make editing fun and creative.

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 “App Store.” If you want to edit the photos that reside on your iPad or iPhone, at least for now, you will need to settle for using apps.  Even Adobe has a “Photoshop App” which is NOTHING like the real thing. The problem is that you cannot install “real” Photoshop software on these portable Apple machines.

So now for the “secret.”  How can you use the full Photoshop and edit on images on your desktop computer at home or in the office, right from your iPad or iPhone?   You just need your iPad or iPhone and the Log Me In Ignition app, or other desktop remote access app.  I use Log Me In Ignition which costs $29.99. I love it as I can access my desktop anytime. Seriously! I can check email, move around files, and do work on my Mac Pro, right from my smaller Apple devices.

You can even work on Photoshop, use actions, masking, and more while you remotely control your desktop that has Photoshop installed. Remember the catch, your photos need to be on your computer  not on the iPad or iPhone. If you have lots of editing to do, you may want to wait until you’re at the computer. But I had to share this video to show you what Photoshop looks like on the iPad.

This video was shot with my Canon point & shoot and clearly without a tripod. Sorry it is a little dizzying.

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 Faster

I often get asked, “do you have a class for beginners?  I just got Photoshop and I am overwhelmed.”  I also get emails saying, “I have had Photoshop for years and barely know how to use it.  Can you help?”
So brand new to MCP Actions, I am introducing a new workshop – an online group class called Beginner’s Bootcamp! This class is taught LIVE, and class size is small – only 15 students per workshop.

This two-hour Photoshop bootcamp teaches you how to get something out of PS. Learn the most essential tools, the interface, and the how to start editing your photos. If you are confused by cropping, scared by layers, and masking makes you want to give up on Photoshop – you need this class to take your photos to the next level.

Click here to learn more, see available times, and sign up so you can start really utilizing Photoshop.