MCP Actions Blog

MCP Actions Blog
Photoshop Resources for Photographers

Thursday, March 26, 2009

New Photo Book

Been meaning to post this. Would love to hear thoughts on how it turned out.

This is the book that I put together for the 3 month session I did a couple months ago.

Kolton's Album

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Bad Blogger :(

Gosh! I didn't realize it had been a month since my last post. Wow, am I a bad blogger or what?! I do have photos to post and I will get them posted VERY soon!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Kitchen Reno

So here are a few photos from the last couple days of the work that has been done in the kitchen.

This is the new fan we put in the kitchen.


This is the new recessed light we put over the sink.


This is the new door leading to the deck from our dining area that was installed yesterday (15 Feb). It has the blinds between the glass which makes me very happy that I don't have to look at ugly blinds covering up my beautiful door. :)


The new cabinets. Delivered on 13 Feb.


The upper cabinets have been removed. Took them down last night (15 Feb).


And here are the upper cabinets in their new temporary home - my dining area...


...which pushed my table into my living room!


To see more detailed photos check out my Project House blog.

Catching Up

I am behind in my posts due to being busy with a little down time for being sick. So I am posting various photos I have taken during this time. They are in order from oldest to newest (top photo being oldest in the series).

These two photos were taken the day after we moved Ethan's room around and hung his Jack Sparrow FatHead (his dresser used to be in this spot). He loves it...probably because he IS a pirate! :) Yes, my boy wants to be a pirate when he grows up.





Here is a sunset picture I caught while driving home one evening. I liked how the sunlight lit up the trees in front of me while I was in shadow.



I was sick for a few days and ended up going to the ER. They told me I had an ear infection and so the next day I took this photo for my POTD.



And this is the current book I am reading. Great for sitting in an ER in for 2 hours.



I took these next two photos as POTD entries to show two of my new favorite things. The Ice Breakers are great and are now always in my purse. I love it when I find a new flavor! (yes simple things make me happy lol). The True North snack is also great when you want something salty and crunchy. There are other flavors as well, but so far this one is my favorite.





I am the coordinator for a program at the school called Mad Science. The program runs for 6 weeks twice a year. Ethan went to the last session and was very excited about going again for this session. I have to be there for each meeting to gather the kids, take attendance, sit with them in the meeting, and then sign them out to their parents when it is over. So I will probably be taking photos every Fri. 4 more meetings (we missed the first one, this is a photo from the second one).

And this is "Discovery Doug", who Ethan said he missed lol.



I was accepted into a program called Think Pink Photography. We are a network of photographers that offer free sessions to those fighting the battle against breast cancer. I am very excited to be a part of this program, so even though this is not my own photo I am posting it as a POTD anyway. :)



I was also accepted into the OpLove program (a network of photographers that offer free sessions to deploying military members and their families), and even though I was accepted a while ago I decided to add their logo here as well since I am showing Think Pink's.



These are a few photos that I used to get test prints done from a couple new labs I am checking out. Just thought I would share them since it was something I worked on during this down time. There is one photo I used as a test print that is not posted here as I am having problems accessing my desktop from my laptop.

I know I have already posted this photo as a POTD, but I used it as a test print so I am including it in this lot of photos.


This is a photo from my OpLove Mini Session.


This is a photo from last soccer season.


This is a photo from my OpLove Homecoming session.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

OpLove Homecoming

Day 33

I had the privilage of photographing a family homecoming this evening. Here are a few of my favorite shots...





Sunday, February 1, 2009

Super Bowl Food



Day 32. Can watching the Super Bowl be complete without pizza? I don't think so!

Hubby is out of town and the kids don't want to watch silly football. So here I am watching it all alone. Not literally mind you, there will be no photo posted of me! :) Just of the yummy pizza that was required for dinner tonight.

Artist & Tink Lover

Day 31. I am using 2 photos for this day. Both taken earlier in the month of Jan.

This is my daughter, Ashlyn. (photo taken on day 11)



She is the budding artist of the two kids. Ethan is starting to enjoy photography, but Ashlyn loves anything to do with drawing, painting, and creating in general (including with beads). So for Christmas we got her a paint set that included a canvas. This is a photo of what she decided to paint on it.

She made the drawing first, and you can tell that she erased quite a bit in the process. This photo was actually taken after her initial drawing (which was perfect in my opinion) and she had erased and redrew the one eye.

Ashlyn loves Tinkerbell. Soon, her room will be completely decorated with Tinkerbell stuff. Most times when we see her drawing it includes Tink. So we were not surprised to see this! (photo taken on day 9)



She has since completed the painting. That photo will come soon!

Top Reader

Day 30.

This is a photo that was taken back on Day 9. I am using it for Day 30 because the kids just got their report cards. Ethan was marked at above grade level in reading (which is par for the course for both of my kids), and his teacher spoke with me recently and said that he is one of three top readers in her class and is eligible to be put in the high reader group. We are waiting for his handwriting to get better, hoping the incentive of putting him in the reader group will help him work on his writing. He hates to do anything that involves holding an instrument of any kind that results in something forming on anything paper-like lol.

So here is my little guy doing something he loves to do....

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Meet Baby "K"

Day 29.

Ok, I know these are a little late but they were taken ON Day 29 so I am using them as my post for that day.

I can't decide which ones I like more, so I am posting 2.

This is baby K. He turned 3 months old on Jan 29. I am so glad I was able to take his 3 month photos. Sending a BIG thank you to the Bragg's!



Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Work Abandoned

Day 28. Ethan loves when there is ice on the ground. Or anywhere for that matter. Loves to break it up. All our snow turned to ice overnight due to the constant freezing rain. Which resulted in the schools being closed, so he was thrilled when he went out today.

Assuming he would think it a great idea, I told him to get the shovel and work on the driveway. That tired him out quickly, so he moved to the deck out back. He worked on that a bit, enjoying throwing the ice over the side and down to the yard, but then decided he was done with the whole shoveling thing.

This is what I found when I went to get some pictures of him clearing the ice off the deck....

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

SNOW!!

Day 27.

We finally got our first snow fall of the season today. School let out 2 hours early because of it. I worked as a sub at the school and actually got out earlier then the kids did (the teacher came back early), so on my way home I snapped a couple shots:





And then I walked around the house to get some shots. We really do have a pool under there!


Did I mention how great it is that it snowed today....ON Ethan's birthday. He thinks it's the best thing ever! :)

New Props



Day 26 (and I'm caught up again!)

I have a session coming up soon where I will be photographing a 3 month old baby boy. So to prepare I went shopping to find some things I can use in his photos. These are some of those items.

Black velvet fabric, furry white rug, big basket, 4 baby blankets, and miscellaneous flags (the mother requested photos that included a flag, so I bought options!), and a set of baby blocks. I also picked up a step stool (something I've been meaning to get for quite some time now), and a saucer chair. I will save that to photograph on another day, or post a photo of the baby in it - either way, you'll have to wait to see that prop! :)

Ethan's Birthday Party

Day 25.

So my little guy is turning 8! We had his party this past Sun (Jan 25), but his actual birthday is Tues (Jan 27). I booked a party at a new indoor play place here in town full of bouncing fun.

Here is Ethan waiting for his friends to arrive:


Here he is getting ready to go boxing:


A group photo of all the kids (minus the babies of course):


Sitting in the party chair eating pizza:


And, waiting to blow out his candles while we sing to him:

Early Sunset



Day 24.

I am almost ashamed to post this after seeing the sunsets posted from some of the other 365 participants! We were running out to the store and when we came around the corner this was the view. Too many trees and such in the way, but I had to snap the photo anyway cause it was so pretty.

Elementary School Media Center



Day 23.

Worked as a sub in library today. This is one of my favorite places to work in the school. There are 2 librarians, one checks out books and the other teaches classes. I was working as the teacher this time and had 2 classes come in. What fun we had watching Ratatouille! :) I enjoy seeing the different classes through the day and talking with all the kids. They are all so much fun!

Visiting the Dentist



Day 22. Day of the Dentist.

The kids had their 6 month check up. Can you believe they actually like going to the dentist?! 'A' needs her last two baby teeth pulled and 'E' has a teeny cavity he needs filled, but otherwise all is well with the Egbert kids choppers. :)

Puzzled



Day 21 - My daughter recieved this 750 piece puzzle for Christmas and completed it on Jan 2, day 2 of the 365 project. This photo was taken that same day.

Cloudy Sky



Day 20. This photo was actually taken on Day 8. I almost chose this one for that day, but the eggs won in the end. I liked the way the sky looked on this morning and made sure to snap a few photos on my way back inside. Too cold out to spend much more time at it then that!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Boutique Packaging



Day 19.

This is the boutique packaging from my lab. Inside this pretty gray envelope is the book I made for the OpLove session I recently completed. I sent this to Iraq as a surprise for the husband from his wife, and wanted it to be packaged as nicely as possible. I really wanted to see the actual book before I mailed it out and was a little bugged when I found the envelope was sealed. But leave it to my genious of a husband who told me to use the hair dryer to heat the glue and pull it open! I was able to view the book and get it back into the envelope as if it had never been open!

If you would like to see the book layout you can see it here: OpLove Mini Session. I'd love to hear what you think!

Dinner Veggie



Day 18 - Took a quick shot of tonights veggie. Green beans. Kids love em!

Lovin Soccer



Day 17.

I was busy all day working on orders, so I didn't get a chance to shoot anything new today. Instead I am posting something that I worked on. This is the son of the guy that got me the soccer league gig. He plays for his high school team and not for the county league that I shoot. Anyway, I put this together for them using 3 of the photos I took.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Pictures from Ethan

I made sure to bring Ethan's camera with me on our trip to the aquarium, and just downloaded the pictures today. I thought he got some pretty good shots so I wanted to share a few with you.

The glass squares, I believe, are tv screens. If I remember correctly there were rows of them coming down one of the escalators, and each showed a different animal or scene. I have others that he photographed, but these 3 are thought were the most interesting abstract ones. I did post process a little and added a warming filter to the brownish one, and a blue-green tint to the middle one. The top photo is the true color of all 3 photos.