10K Fans and a HUGE giveaway--Week 2

Um.

Wow.

So it's been a week since we started the 10K fan festivities and guess what? Because of you amazing fans, we've hit well over 13K fans. Crystal and I kind of have no words to express our thanks or our love. Basically, you guys rock.

So we're still giving out our 10K action set on the Fanpage. FREE! Snap it up. It's under our exclusive tab.

We are now moving on to week two of our huge giveaway. We have such talented fans and amazing preferred vendors that we really wanted to showcase their complete awesomeness and let all of you fans know about what they're up to. We are so pleased to be able to share these outstanding members of the photography community!

So the rules of the giveaway are pretty simple. To enter, you need to fan each of these talented vendors on Facebook and then come back here and give us a comment, so we know you're entered. Simple, no? One lucky winner will win this whole week. One runner-up will win a set of their choosing of our actions. We are just so excited to have such generous vendors who share their products with our fans.

To Fan the pages... make sure you right click their name and select view in new tab or window so you don't leave our blog... :) Then fan their page and let them know we sent you!!! Shout out the giveaway on your fan pages and make sure you tag @purephotoshopactions in it for another entry!!!

Ok, without further ado, let's kick off this week!

Our first giveaway makes us just crazy giddy. We LOVE Color Inc. Pro Lab. We've used lots of labs, but this is the ONE for us. It is such a pleasure to open my package from Color Inc, and KNOW that when I see the prints, they will look exactly like my color calibrated screen. Their customer service is top notch and their prints are just beautiful. We simply cannot overstate how happy we are to have them as our lab.

And to show how generous they are, they have donated a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas to our winner! WHOA! About their prize, they say:

Gallery Wrapped Canvas is the perfect way to present your works of art. Each Canvas is hand wrapped around a 1 ½ inch frame with the finest attention to detail. Each piece is properly finished with a wire hanger, bumpers, and you can choose to leave the back open or cover it with Tyvek® backing. In addition, your canvas will be coated with Hahnemuhle protective spray which protects your work from harmful UV rays and other atmospheric contaminants.

By printing on Fredericks Canvas™ our Gallery Wraps are Archival Safe, have a Color Match Guarantee and are made in the U.S.A.

The Color Match Guarantee simply means that the colors on any canvas print will match the colors of the same image on a standard print - 4x6, 8x10, wallets, etc.

If you have an image that comes close to the edge of your wrapped canvas, there is no need to worry! Our experienced team of digital artists will apply our digital side stretching service to ensure that the image is showcased on the front of the canvas.

Lil' Sweet Prince is our next vendor and they have been designing all kinds of special occasion cards for many years now, and their experience shines through. Their cards are top notch and their designs are beautiful. Vanessa says of her shop:

Inspired by the creative chaos that comes from working at home with their little inspirations running around, and with sophistication, style and the sense of humor needed to tackle a full work-day while toting around their tots, this design-savvy team creates superbly stylish photo cards and elegant announcements. The collaborative team behind Lil Sweet Prince creates snapshots of family life that are filled with laughter, joy, and love.

Our next vendor is Nicolette of Love That! Crochet. Her designs are so cute and fun that everyone who sees her talent will certainly be saying, "Love that!!" Her shop has quite a few offerings, so check out her stuff. So adorable!

Amanda of alb|photography is donating the cutest little items! She is donating a headband and (get this!!) a TOP HAT headband! Having recently given birth to a boy, I love that boys are not being left out of the adorable headband craze!! Awesome!!! You have to check this out!

Amy of Props for Tots is offering a 36x36 maternity/newborn wrap in dark green. The color is just stunning. Wraps and fabrics are so flattering for maternity photography. Props for Tots has a large array of props for the maternity/newborn/child photographer. Please check out her page!

Marcy of A Photog's Boutique is offering an very very generous $50 gift certificate to her shop so that the winner can select a prize of their choice. She offers so many fun props (and CAMERA STRAP COVERS...I'm just sayin') that it will probably not be an easy choice. Not easy...but certainly a fun choice!

And the final offering this week is just TOO cute!! (I seriously am eying one...) Sarah of Treasured Rustique is offering a heart or thought-bubble chalkboard! I just love how much whimsy and humor these could infuse into a session. You have to check these out! She has other wooden props and gifts as well, so check out this unique store!

The winner of this week is SO lucky! I just love all of the amazing offerings from our incredible vendors. So, get to entering and fanning. I love having great vendors fanned because it really gives me a chance to see what their newest offerings are and I get to keep abreast of their latest happenings and sales and promos. Fan away!

Attention Photoshop Users!!! New Upgrade :)

Photoshop users!

We now have an upgrade that allows you to adjust the opacity of your action all at one time. Elements uers can not have groups, so we made all of our actions without groups to start off with. However in an effort to save our Photoshop users time, we have changed the Photohop version of the actions to include the groups for free.

If you have purchased your photoshop actions from us, and want the new actions with the upgrade please email us at purephotoshopactions@gmail.com include your paypal email address that you used to purchase your actions.

If you already feel established in your workflow, then don't worry about this update, as it doesn't affect the overall functionality of the actions. Or if you decide to just do it once in awhile in an established workflow, simply click the top layer and the one just above the background layer (while holding down the Shift key) and then click ctrl. (command on a Mac) + the G key and it will make a group. You can open and close the layer to edit individual layers, or close it and adjust the opacity together.

Again, this is only for Photoshop users, not Elements.

Please note that all future purchases will have this upgrade.

Week 1 Winners!

The winner of the WHOLE slew of awesome prizes from our amazing vendors is Sherrie Dates! And the winner of a set of our actions is Erica Baker! To claim your prizes, please email us at purephotoshopactions@gmail.com!

Be on the look out for a post in a minute with week 2!!

10K Fans and a HUGE giveaway--Week 1

We love our fans.

When we first started all of this, we really had NO idea how amazingly it would grow and how many friendships we'd make and how much fun we'd be having. About 7 months ago, we were photographers who were just having fun shooting weddings and newborns and loving what we did. After a lot of requests for workshops, we decided to do a webinar to show some of our

newborn post-processing techniques, and as a part of that we decided to dedicate some of our processes to actions for our attendees and voila! Pure Photoshop Actions was born.

Who would have even imagined that from that very small beginning, we'd be hitting ten THOUSAND fans only seven months later? Not us!

And the even more amazing part of it all is just how wonderful all of our fans are. We've laughed together, cried together, learned together and become friends. There is such a sense of community on our fanpage. People feel comfortable asking questions. Others are happy to share. We share images of our families, our children and our lives.

So it only seems appropriate that as part of our big celebration of 10K fans, we celebrate just how awesome our fans are! So for the next month, we'll be showcasing the talent of our fans who are also vendors. Each week there will be a new group of awesomeness to check out and more chances to win.

Each week one lucky winner will win all of the featured items in the post and a second lucky winner will get a chance to choose a set of Pure actions! We'll be randomly selecting each from the comments. Please fan each of these amazing vendors, as we'll be checking on that as well. (We also figure it is easier to fan smaller groups rather than one gigantic group, right?)

We also have a free sampler set of actions on our facebook page, so please make sure to grab those actions and enjoy!

Without further ado, here is our first group!

SHOOT BABY! will be giving away a GORGEOUS newborn posing ottoman. Have you seen these things? They are AMAZING. In fact, Crystal and Rachel are green with envy for this winner of this week. These posing ottomans are HUGE and perfect for newborns and even small children. They are also gorgeous. You will look like the coolest photographer in town as you bring this fashionable bean bag to your newborn shoots.

And what would be better with the SHOOT BABY ottoman than an AMAZING newborn posing

guide from the fabulous Rachel Vanoven? She is a Jedi master of newborn posing, and

she has graciously provided a posing guide for this giveaway. Woo!

Heather of Bugaboo Boutique will be giving the lucky winner a DARLING orange tutu dress! Heather says, "Bugaboo Boutique offers custom made tutus, tutu dresses, personalized t-shirts with embroidery, and personalized towel sets. All items are custom made to order. Pick the color and style you want and I will create it for you. I love to get special orders from you with all your creative ideas and mingle them with my ideas to make something special and adorable for your little one."

Ok, this next one is adorable! Chi from Sugar Petunia Photography is giving away some photographer bling! It is called the Sugar Shot necklace and you can choose the color of the bling! Red, Turquoise, Clear, Blue or Pink! Seriously, these are just way too cute. What photographer would not want one?

Our next vendor, Kristen, is offering a Wee Wrap from her shop Son-Kissed Knits and Props. The wraps are just so gorgeous and very high-end. In fact, it looks so comfortable, I would love to be wrapped up in it. Check out her beautiful prop offerings for your next newborn shoot!

Naja of Naja's Prop Shop is offering a headband to the lucky winner! Naja says of her shop, "All of our hand-made props, from headbands to blankets, are carefully made with TLC, and we also offer trench bowls, fur blankets and more at unbeatable prices!" Check her out and fan her!

And finally we have Kathy of The Photog's Helper. Kathy is a virtual assistant for photographers. She will help people with everything from image manipulation, correspondence, social media and marketing. A wide variety of services are offered including, but not limited to: basic cloning and skin correction to full blown artistic edits for sessions. Email organizations, newsletter creation and processing, Twitter/Facebook/Blog account setups and management. Again, Crystal and I are incredibly jealous of the winner!

Make sure you fan all of these awesome vendors and comment below for your chance to win! Remember we will be hosting giveaways for a few weeks, and each week will have one HUGE winner of awesomeness and one winner of a set of our actions. It's going to be so much fun!

Amanda Aykroid....come on down!!

You're our big winner!!

Amanda wrote:

"I absolutely love your actions and would LOVE to win a set of these actions for myself. As a foster parent, I try to capture memories of the kids that come in to my care.
Each child whether with me a week or a month or longer, has updated professional photos taken and then candid memories within my home. When the child returns to their parents, I provide the parents an edited CD of the photos of their child while they were in care.
I realize the difficulty it is for most parents to be away from their children and providing this CD allows these parents a chance to fill-in the 'gaps' from days their child was away from them. It also allows me precious memories of the children that have filled my home and warmed my heart.
By choosing me, you will allow me the opportunity to serve these kids, their families, and myself through reduced editing time and GREAT photoshop actions which will provide cherished memories for myself and others.
Thanks for considering me!"

9000 Fans and a Giveaway!!!

We are so excited to have reached 9000 fans! We feel so blessed and amazed that we have gained so many wonderful fans in our short 6 months.

To express our thanks, we will give away a single set to one of our fans! To enter, post here with your name and what set you'd love to get and why. We will choose a winner in twelve hours.

Thank you all so much for helping us grow. We are so incredibly grateful.

We are so excited to announce....

Our upcoming Facebook Contest!

We used to have so much fun with Facebook contests but then we learned of the restrictions Facebook had put on contests. But we have found a way to run contests within Facebook's rules and we are really excited!

Please check out our Sweepstakes tab on our Facebook fan page. We will be giving away a one-hour Sykpe mentoring session to the lucky winner. We are really excited. (We love chatting and teaching, so this is right up our alley!)

We will be running the contest until we get 10k fans, so the sooner we get 10K fans, the sooner there will be a winner!

Please make sure to only enter once.