Dec
31
11 Things To Photograph Before You Die
Filed Under Just For Fun | 3 Comments
No matter what specialty you rely on for your income, a photographer always loves to try different things.
As we end 2008, I decided to create my own list of things to photograph before you die. I love the books behind this inspiration, and thought it was time to create my own list. So here we go.
1. A newborn baby sound asleep.
photo source The Portrait Place
2. A child being a child.
3. An amazing sunrise.
photo source PatrickSmithPhotography
4. A scene from deep beneath the sea.
Dec
29
Building Your Photography Business as an Amateur or a Professional
Filed Under Photography Business | Leave a Comment
One of the focuses of this blog is to help you build up a professional photography studio. For the most part, we focus on writing about the business and marketing side (with an occasional article on becoming a better photographer).
And through your comments on such posts as
The Pendulum Swing of Photography
Wedding Photography-It’s Not That Easy
Photography Studio – Going Out Of Business
The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals
I know you also agree there is a difference between the two. But how do you get the consumer to believe there is a difference? And more importantly, how do you get them to pay for the difference.
Dec
22
By adding an assignment to your work, you can open your eyes and really see a creative side. What if you had a project to do and the goal was to photograph just one thing. What would you do? Let’s take a look at one project…the color red. Color is everywhere and when you see some of the samples below, you will see on connection to each image and a large array of unique designs.
image by frazer4eos
image by NYC nikonian007
Dec
18
Imagine a bride heads to Google to start her search for her wedding. She types in wedding planning, and starts sifting through the sites that come up in the results.
Very quickly she’s going to find her favorites, and rely on them throughout the planning process.
That’s where directories can help you.
Everyone knows how to use a search engine – Google, Yahoo, MSN. Yet there are thousands of niche directories that make it easier to find things in select industries.
Let’s look at some directories that may be of benefit to you.
Dec
18
Online communities are a way to build relationships and trust. As photographers, we have an amazing tool for this arena at their disposal, images. Images are very powerful and can generate large amounts of interest. If your have a portfolio of images that share a theme or unique value, from creative talent to amazing viewpoints, share them online to start a following of your own branding.
We put together a list of image social sites where you can add images, socialize online, communicate within groups or just show off your images. To ensure that you generate interest toward your brand or style of images, modify your profile to include information about you and your website. Be sure and add your interaction by providing insight through comments on image postings. Connections are made, with a little interaction, you will see how establishing online relations will build a better following.
JPG shares with the visitor’s images and stories. Themed selections separate images into sorted groupings. JPG has a cool feature for working multiple shots and combining text that adds a story to your images.
Flickr is the king of image communities. Large amounts of digital images flow onto Flickr everyday. Flickr allows you to start your own themed group where you can specify what is allowed. Imagine if you had a group with only red squares. Make it unique and they will follow.
Photobucket - one of the most popular image hosting services around, favorite amongst MySpace users. Group albums, to let you collaborate together with friends and families in a single group album of photos and videos. Built-in searching to find the latest and best photos, images and videos to suit your mood, or entertain your friends in Photobucket’s huge online library.
SlideShare - SlideShare is a content sharing site where you can host and display presentations. SlideShare is the best way to share and find presentations. Share publicly or privately. Add audio to make a webinar. Embed slideshows into your own blog or website and join groups to connect with SlideShare members who share your interests
Dec
17
You can create a line drawing of your favorite digital image in under a minute using this simple technique.
We are using a stock image to show how easy this can be.
Here is our original image
Dec
16
A rising artistic trend in digital photography is HDR imaging. Taking a highly contrast digital file and converging the levels into a wonderful artistic image.
Wikipedia defines HDR as:
In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.
High dynamic range imaging was originally developed in the 1930s and 1940s by Charles Wyckoff. Wyckoff’s detailed pictures of nuclear explosions appeared on the cover of Life magazine in the mid 1940s. The process of tone mapping together with bracketed exposures of normal digital images, giving the end result a high, often exaggerated dynamic range, was first reported in 1993[1], and resulted in a mathematical theory of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter that was published in 1995[2]. In 1997 this technique of combining several differently exposed images to produce a single HDR image was presented to the computer graphics community by Paul Debevec.
We have really found some incredible HDR images and wanted to share them.
images by fede0253
image by R | S Photography
Dec
16
On The Third Day of Christmas, My Photographer Gave To Me …
Filed Under Just For Fun | Leave a Comment
I was out reading through a bunch of my RSS feeds from the blogs I love, and I came across several great things for that hard-to-buy-for photographer in your life.
Bottle Cap Tripods
Have you ever been on vacation, and had the opportunity for a 
perfect shot - but you couldn’t get it without a tripod? Now you’ll never be without a tripod again, with Bottle Cap Tripods.
These little jewels fit on any standard water or soda bottle, and pivots up to 15 degrees in any direction.
LensBaby
Tired of looking through the same old lens? Give LensBaby a try. 
These amazing lenses give you more options, more possibilities, and a whole lot of fun.
It’s always fun to be out shooting and have someone say, “wow”. You’ll definitely get that a lot with these lenses. Use one - or all three - to create something new in the way you shoot.
PhotoOpoly
Do you love playing Monopoly? Do you have several editions (I 
have the Denver edition). Why not make your own with PhotoOpoly. Dig out your old photos, place them on the board, and create a fantastic game perfect for the holidays.
I’m thinking this will be the perfect gift for the gift exchange this year! And I’m willing to bet it’ll be the one gift everyone fights over.
Dec
15
A Blast From The Past
Filed Under Questions & Resources | 1 Comment
Well I just noticed I reached a milestone. I have 340 posts on the VirtualPhotographyStudio blog, and well over 150 pages of articles, information and resource pages. Which means with over 500 pages of content – there are A TON of resources for you to go through to help build your business.
But as I reflected on my milestone, I also got to thinking about the amount of overwhelm you may be feeling if you’re new to photography, or looking for ways to build up your photography business.
So I went through my most popular posts, and I’ve linked to them here. Enjoy.
Do The First Thing First – In this post I talk about how to prioritize your day according to what will help grow your business most.
Is A Studio Necessary To Start A Photo Business? – In this post I talk about getting around the idea of needing to have a physical location to run your photography studio.
Mindset Your Way To Success – Do you hate selling? There is no such thing as a born salesperson. In this post I look at how to change your mindset, and make your business more successful.
The Pendulum Swing Of Photography – From the best of times to the worst of times, I discuss how to create a business that can weather both.
10 Ways To Grow Your Senior Photography Business – If you photograph high school seniors, take a look at this list and start the new year out right.
The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals – If you have decided to make photography your career, make sure you’re on track to showcase yourself as a true professional.
Dec
13
Create border edges on your favorite digital images very quickly using Adobe Photoshop.
Open your favorite image in Photoshop. I am going to use an image of a dock at sunset for this example.
From the top to the bottom image in just minutes! 
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