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Jul

3

How To Photograph Fireworks

Filed Under Taking Better Photographs | Leave a Comment 

Happy 4th of July weekend! This has always been one of Andrew and my favorite holidays. Usually we head up to the mountains for a few days to enjoy the activities, but this year we have a niece getting married on the 4th – so a bit more family functions here in Denver. But you can still bet we’ll be out Friday and Saturday nights taking in the fireworks – and of course photographing them too.

So in honor of the 4th, I thought I would provide 7 tips to help you take better fireworks pictures this year.

1. Choose your location. Chances are you’ll have the option to choose from several different fireworks displays in your local community. Choose one that gives you the perspective you are looking for. Do you want to include just the fireworks? Or do you want to include more in your horizon? Find out exactly where the fireworks will be shot from, and plan your location accordingly.

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image source

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Jul

1

One Great Idea – Meet Neil Creek

Filed Under Photographers–One Great Idea | Leave a Comment 

As many of you know, Andrew and I are a little obsessed with Twitter (@LoriOsterberg and @photoshoptips). I run Twhirl on my desktop all day long to track the conversations going on. If I’m on my computer, I’m pretty much on Twitter as well. While I don’t post dozens of things every day, I do enjoy posting great resources, and connecting up with people here and there. It’s a great tool that we’ve both found to be very successful.

I’m always finding new ways of using Twitter to promote your business. Which is why I absolutely loved the idea I found this week using Twitter to promote your photography business.

Meet Neil Creek

neil creek

If you’re not familiar with Twitter, you may not know much about TweetUp’s either. A TweetUp is a networking group that meets in a local location – and they find the information out by following others on Twitter. We have local TweetUp’s all over Denver, and I’ve met some amazing people this way too.

Anyway, Neil also attends TweetUp’s in his local area of Melbourne, Australia. And came up with a great way of promoting his business.

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Jun

30

10 Tools To Help You Manage Your Photography Business

Filed Under Questions & Resources | Leave a Comment 

Genbook
Genbook is an online appointment scheduling service that makes it easier for you to book appointments with your clients. No more email or phone tag. Customers can now click the “Book Now” button on your website or blog, or other online site, and turn your traffic into appointments.

genbook 

PhotographersQuote
Looking for more business? Sign up for PhotographersQuote. This service provides you the opportunity to give quotes to people looking for photography in your area.

photographersquote 

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Jun

26

Kodachrome - A Film Retired But Not Forgotten

Filed Under Just For Fun | Leave a Comment 

June 22, 2009 become the end of a long journey for Kodak’s Kodachrome. For over 74 years, Kodak manufactured this color reversal film which has been used by photojournalists all over the world to capture amazing images. One of the most famous images was from National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry, a haunting portrait of an Afghan refugee appeared on the cover of the magazine in June 1985 
 

image source

Kodachrome was such an amazing film for the time because of the vibrant colors it portrayed. In the words of Paul Simon:

They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away.
~Paul Simon
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Jun

25

How To Make Money As A Stock Photographer

Filed Under Make Money With Photography | 3 Comments 

I’m always amazed when I head out to the forums to find photographers complaining about stock photography, and the fact there is no money to be made in that industry?

It’s justphotographers not true.

As a matter of fact, it is an incredible way to make money, and I’m seeing huge potential over the coming years in this field.

Last fall I touched on this in my Trends In Stock Photography and today I read more about it in Microstock Photography Is Getting Big.

By far, iStockPhoto is advancing as the leader in the stock photography industry. In February 2006, Getty Images purchased iStockPhoto for $50 million. In 2006, iStockPhoto had revenues of about $23 million. Fast forward to 2008, revenues jumped to $150 million, with projections for this year being around $200 million. Huge growth! And huge potential for us photographers!

If you’re thinking, “How can I ever make money with just a few cents per image sold?”, think again. iStockPhoto obviously has the desire to make money through sales of images, but it also looks for ways for building deeper relationships with great photographers too. Which is why they’ve just announced their newest division, Vetta Collection, which is comprised of images that meet a higher quality. They cost more for the end user (starting at $20 per image compared to the $1 per image for the standard images) – and provide more income for the photographer as well.

So, can you really make money as a stock photographer? Let’s take a quick look.

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Jun

24

Photographing a Moving Poster

Filed Under Photography, Video | Leave a Comment 

Photographing for a poster is a wonderful assignment…but what if you wanted to have a way to create a moving poster. Watch this video and see how it is done!

Jun

24

10 Sites To Find Freelance Photography Work

Filed Under Make Money With Photography | 1 Comment 

Whether you’re looking to pick up one or two photography jobs a week, or looking to fill your days with several different clients, there are ways of connecting up with people online for little or no cost to you. Take a look at these sites, and start shooting!

Indeed.com
Indeed is a job search engine. It pulls all type of jobs, from full time employment to freelance opportunities.

indeed 

GoFreelance
GoGreelance is a great place for people to list specific jobs they are looking for today – and for you to pick up work in your area of expertise.

gofreelance 

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Jun

22

Online Photoshop Alternative – Pixlr

Filed Under Online Photoshop Alternatives | Leave a Comment 

Want a quick, easy way to alter a photograph? Consider Pixlr. pixlr new

I always have a variety of photo editing tools open every day. For sophisticated corrections, Photoshop may have everything you need – and more. But let’s say you just want to create a portrait for your blog, and you’d like to vignette it for added emphasis. Or maybe you want to convert it from color to black and white, and sharpen it a bit.

Pixlr makes the entire process easy – and for a free program, you can’t beat the price.

   pixlr

When you head to pixlr’s home page, you have two options: you can enter the Image Editor or the Photo Express with a click of a button.

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Jun

18

7 Ways To Make Your Backgrounds Better

Filed Under Taking Better Photographs | Leave a Comment 

What’s in a background? If you’re trying to create a beautiful portrait, your background either makes or breaks the mood, and can cause your portrait to go from okay to WOW.

Lets look at 7 common mistakes photographers make when choosing a background for their portraits.photography backgrounds

1. Perspective. Where is your focus? Portraits are of people, not backgrounds. A stunning portrait will have the face of the subject in crystal clear focus, blurring out the background to make it separate from the subject. Depth of field is very important for perspective.

image source im4maui 

2. Strange angles. Does your subject look uncomfortable? Does she look out of place? Or is everything shot from the same angle? Play around with your subjects. Spice things up. But make sure they look natural at the same time.

3. Double heads and multiple limbs. Have you ever seen a portrait with a tree growing out of the subject’s head? Or how about a stream of water pouring from an ear? Before you snap the picture, take a closer look at your subject to make sure your photograph will be flattering to your subject.

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Jun

17

Is There Really Too Much Competition To Start Up Another Photography Studio?

Filed Under Get Inspired Photography | Leave a Comment 

Take a look through a bridal magazine, or visit a high blog post 061709 school senior fair. There are dozens of photographers vying for the attention of just a few new clients.

Photographers seem to exist everywhere these days. Because digital cameras seem to make shooting easier, more people are trying to turn it into a career. Or at least a second or third source of income.

So the question comes down to: Can you really make a good living at photography, or is there just not enough business to go around?

Let’s look at a few other industries for a moment.

Have you ever looked for a web designer? In addition to full time companies, you also compete with freelancers, part time designers, and all of the moms/dads/sisters/brothers/sons/daughters that have ever taken a web design class and think they have the ability to create a dynamic website. Read more

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