by Rachel Nielson

In this before and after tutorial, I am going to walk you through how I edited this image start to finish. I love the expression in his eyes and how he is biting his lip just a little bit. Melts my heart, but I am his mama, so I might be slightly biased!

My workflow starts in Adobe Lightroom 4. I import my images and do all of my RAW processing there before importing my photos into Adobe Photoshop(…)

by Jean Rhim
Adobe Lightroom is an amazing tool that can help you make your images better, your workflow faster, and the whole photo editing process more fun. I feel fortunate that I was introduced to it early, months before I even touched Photoshop, because it became the center of my workflow. Not only do I do a great deal of my editing through Lightroom, but Lightroom is also where I organize, sort, and prepare my images for print.  Lightroom is(…)

by Jennifer Dell

Sometimes liquifying an image in a subtle way can make a big difference and may help if you accidentally catch the wrong angle when photographing your subject.  The secret to liquifying successfully is to use it in moderation and not to alter how a person looks.  Here’s a quick look on how to use this powerful Photoshop tool!

Thank you Jennifer for this great tutorial!  What a great trick to have on hand!

Jennifer Dell, Texas
CM Mentor
Website | Blog |(…)

by Ann Westerman
Lately I have been loving to shoot images specifically for processing in black and white.  I love my black and whites to have good tonal range and a lot of contrast.  What I mean by good tonal range is I want my image to have deep shadows, a range of mid-tones and some bright highlights and I usually want those bright highlights to fall on my subject.  I love for my subject’s face to have shadows, mid-tones and(…)

Have you ever wondered how to go about adding actions and textures to your images in photoshop?  Meghan Aileen with The Shoppe is here both sponsoring and writing today’s tutorial.  She is sharing how she uses actions and textures in her photography and make sure to read to the bottom for the fun prize she has for you!

adding actions and textures in photoshop
by Meghan Aileen

Thank you Meghan for sharing your method with us!

Meghan Aileen
website | facebook
Designer and Photographer Meghan Aileen(…)

Every once in awhile, the CMteam groups together in order to bring our members and followers a really special offering! Today, we are thrilled to present to you an amazing breakout session- CMteam Breakouts: All Access Pass. With your registration fee of $50 you will receive access to 5 separate mini sessions, all at the same time. A total of over 150 pages of PDF information, along with several videos and the opportunity to ask questions of each presenter in(…)

by Emma Wood

Being a black and white lover and having it be my passion, you may think that the decision would be an easy one.  However, nature provides us with such an abundant color palette, such fantastic, gorgeous tones in so many variations that it’s not always as easy a decision for me as you might think.

So how do I choose?   I usually have an idea of what I’m going to do, or whether I will convert to black(…)

by Lora Swinson
This is a little effect that I love to use on some of my images if I feel they are a little flat.  It is similar to The Orton Effect, but I’ve changed a few of the blending modes to switch it up a little bit.  I like rich colors and tones and this helps me bring my style out more.  It works on some images better than others, but when it works, it’s magical!

1. After doing my(…)

There are multiple ways to convert to black and white, some more complex than others.  Today, we’re going to look at using the gradient map and levels to achieve the conversion you want in Photoshop Elements.  And who better to share their method than Elements guru and CMmentor Melissa Gibson?!  Melissa is going to share her quick and easy steps to get a breathtaking black and white!
converting to black and white in photoshop elements
by Melissa Gibson
There are several factors that(…)

The power of Photoshop and the extensive capabilities it has constantly amazes me.  One persons ability with Photoshop that has always ‘wowed’ me has been none other than CMmentor Leah Cook.  She’s an incredible photographer and really knows how to emphasize her photography with a gentle hand in Photoshop.  Today she is sharing with us about how to add a ‘warm summer glow’ to your images.  And if that’s not enough Leah for you today (personally, I’m of the opinion(…)

Silhouettes are beautiful.  They are dramatic, full of rich colors, and often have a fun feeling to them.  Do you struggle with shooting silhouettes?  Do you wonder how to process silhouettes?  CMmentor Courtney Keim is guest writing today to share with you how she photographs and processes silhouettes.  Take in her simple steps below and then head on out this evening to get some of your own!
silhouettes | the art of photographing and processing them
by Courtney Keim
My absolute favorite thing(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!
cmpro | picture plays we love
This week our image comes from member Sabra/mamabegood:

our cmpro edits:
Margie Mobley, Arizona
I went into camera raw, pumped up the exposure a(…)

Every time Adobe releases it’s latest software there’s the inevitable debate, is it worth it?  Lightroom 4 was release a few months ago and while many have upgraded, many are still hanging on to the familiar, Lightroom 3.  Are the Lightroom 4 features really worth the upgrade investment?  Lightroom guru and instructor of our Processing 101: Lightroom Start-to-Finish workshop Lynne Rigby is here to share with us the differences between Lightroom 3 and 4.  The good and the bad are(…)

It’s time for another addition of our bi-weekly series “Ask a CMpro” in which we give our CMpros one question and they dish.  Their answers alone are always inspiring and this week we asked them “How long does it take you to edit a typical session? Did it take you long to develop a good workflow to help with your editing times?”

*image/screenshot courtesy of Courtney Keim
Courtney Keim, New Jersey
A typical session editing time can take me anywhere from less than(…)

While Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements have many of the same features, those features are not located in the same places within each program.  This makes it difficult for someone editing in Elements to follow along with a CS tutorial and, let’s face it, there’s not a lot of Elements tutorials out there.  Today we have CMpro Melissa Gibson, who edits solely in Photoshop Elements, on the blog to share with us her typical editing steps.
editing in photoshop elements
by Melissa(…)

by Amy Beth McMaster

I get asked a lot how I do my black and whites. And honestly I have a few presets I made that I use so I rarely have to do it manually very often. I’d love to share my methods with you all. I have a huge soft spot for black and white photographs. They are so timeless. A colorless image, if done right forces the observer to really see WHAT is going on in the image.(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!
CMpro | Picture Plays We Love
This week our SOOC image comes from Katrina Gotschall:

 Our CMpro Edits:
Ashley Spaulding
Edited entirely in Lightroom:

Adjusted white balance to warm the image(…)