Photoshop Video Tutorial – Convert your color image to black and white quickly with adjustment layers in Adobe Photoshop. Check out this video and see how to use it: [Read more...]
Photograph Anything In The World And Get Paid For It
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A few weeks ago I told you about a new contest – Name Your Dream Assignment.
Most photographers – amateur and professional – dream about that one assignment that will take them to a place in a far away land. Maybe its to the depths of a rainforest to capture unknown animals. Or to an amazing reef, exploring warm waters and bright colored ocean life.
My dream is to …
Well, maybe I’ll wait and announce it when the contest officially opens. Which is next Tuesday, March 3rd. 
I’ve had a sneak peak behind the scenes, and I’m excited to start reading the ideas.
So what’s your idea? If you haven’t thought of one yet, get started. Head over to Name Your Dream Assignment for more information. Then use this weekend to put together your ideas, and get ready to join the fun next Wednesday.
Come back here and leave a comment about your idea – I’d love to hear what your dream is.
Growing Pink Roses In Colorado
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Growing pink roses in Colorado is a lot like finding one perfect client in a stadium filled with 75,000 people.
Is it possible? Definitely.
Is it easy? Yes. Providing you have the right tools in place. 
Let’s start with the roses.
1. You need to choose a viable, healthy plant. (And of course it needs to be pink.)
2. You need to plant it in dirt filled with nutrients.
3. The plant needs to have access to daily doses of sunshine.
4. The plant needs to be watered and fertilized regularly.
5. The plant needs to be groomed for diseases and bugs that may stunt the growth, or kill the plant all together.
Sounds easy enough.
So how does that translate to your photography business?
What Do I Use To Manage My Photographs and Help Control My Workflow?
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Every week I get a variety of questions emailed to me. Over the past couple of weeks, this question has come up several times.
“What Do I Use To Manage My Photographs and Help Control My Workflow?”
Every photographer
has their own set of tools they like for studio control. But if you’re new to the industry, or are looking to make a change to a system that provides you with even more control, you may be ready for ACDSee.
We’ve been using ACDSee for years and love some of its features. Let me share just a few of the reasons we love this tool.
- Photographing weddings means you have a ton of images. Though we did prefer to give our clients almost every image, there would always be a few that we would choose to delete. And of course the client would pick up on one being missing in the numbering system, and ask about that image. ACDSee allows you to rename your images easily, filling in the holes that normally exist with just deleting.
- ACDSee has an organization tool that allows you quickly to look through your images, sorting and keeping only the ones you truly want to show your client. ACDSee has the power to make this a quick process, and also allows you to view up to four images at once, making your selection process a breeze.
- Depending on how you shoot, ACDSee has some capabilities of enhancing your final image. We try to shoot everything as close to final as possible. Meaning we don’t have to enhance every image we take. While ACDSee isn’t Photoshop, it does have enough tools to allow you to transform your photographs into a final product.
Help: Lost Camera With My Vacation Photographs
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How many pieces of your photography equipment have you lost over the years?
Over the years, I’ve lost many things. In fact, one of the reasons Andrew and I went into the wedding photography business is because our own wedding photographer “lost” the film that she took inside the church. (She asked us to ask our guests if they found a bag of developed film.)
We never found those lost rolls of film. And I’ve never recovered the various pieces of camera equipment we’ve lost over the years, but now there is hope for consumers that leave their digital cameras behind.
Today I found a great site that helps join people with their lost cameras. It’s called Found Cameras and Orphan Pictures. People can send in a selection of photos from the camera, along with a description of where the camera was found, in hopes someone will recognize the people and return the camera to its owner.
What a great service – that’s why I love the Internet.
Photoshop Tutorial – Advanced Masking with CS4
Advanced masking in photoshop video tutorial. See how CS4 has added great features to simplify masking. Check out this video: [Read more...]
7 Reasons To Find Your Customers Using A Blog
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How do you reach out to new customers using a blog? Is it really worth spending the time blogging?
Definitely. 
I originally created a post 10 Reasons To Blog About Your Photography Business several months ago. After talking with several new clients this week, I decided it was time to add a few more to the list.
1. Clients Expect Information. Why do you use the Internet? Chances are it’s to find information. No one really goes online just to find a company to do business with. They go online to find answers to their questions. And when a company has a ton of great information, you look to them for their expertise.
2. Build up your profile in Google. Type your name (and business name) into Google. How relevant are you? If you don’t have a ton of information online, you’re losing ground. The true winners at small business will be those that understand that content is relevant, and the more content you create, the easier it will be to find you – and want to do business with you.
3. Build longevity. I can tell if you’re dead or alive. All I have to do is visit your site. If you have a few pages created months or even years ago, your business is “dead” in the online world. But if you have a blog and I can see you’ve been posting for months – even years – I can see how well your business is doing, and build up my trust in what you do.
Should Your Start Your Own Or Buy An Existing Photography Studio?
So you want to be a full time professional photographer. Is it better to start from the ground up, or buy an existing studio? 
It depends.
Starting a new studio means you have total control to establish things from scratch.
Buying an existing studio means you take over systems that are already in place.
Starting a new studio means you have to go out and look for your first client.
Buying an existing studio means you have a calendar full of clients for a period of time in the future.
Starting a new studio means you can choose your style and field of photography.
Buying an existing studio means you follow the style established by the previous owner.
Facebook Does An About Face
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A couple of weeks ago Facebook revised their terms of use hoping to clarify some parts of their website and the way they do business. Instead of clarifying, they ended up causing an online riot.
As of this morning, they’ve done an about face.
Due to the backlash that swept through the blogosphere, they had two choices: retreat back to the old terms, or rewrite them again. As of now they have chosen to revert back to the old.
Facebook still wants to change the terms and put them in a language that better suits the reality of being online. But they will be will be doing it with the help of the 175 million people that currently use Facebook (if you want to take part, join the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities group).
So what does all this mean? Here are a few thoughts.
- Facebook is a free service. And its on the Internet. By putting any information onto a source like Facebook, you’re giving them certain rights to the information. If you put it online, you lose certain control. Period.
- With the Internet, people have control (as opposed to the big corporations). Look what a few bloggers can do! The Facebook change was announced Sunday and in a matter of hours, it swept through a ton of blogs and through every industry. Because of the fast action, Facebook was forced to make a change – fast. That’s really the power of the people.
- It’s all about give and take. If you want to have 100 percent control, you cannot play online. If you want the exposure and the ability to market your business to the masses, you have to be willing to play in the sandbox with other players. And that means losing some of your control.
- Facebook is not alone. I guarantee if you read the terms of use of any other type of social or information sharing site, you’ll find similar phrases. As a company, they have to have some rights over the material you place on their sites. And with the viral atmosphere of being online, things take on a life of their own.
So, what’s your opinion? How will this change the way you play in the online world?
Learn From The Best Through Alltop
The Internet has made learning a lot easier. Simply type into Google (or your favorite search engine) what you want, and you’ll be handed instant results to thousands of resources.
But having access to a ton of information can also be what’s holding you back. How do you read everything? How do you know what’s good? How do you find the best in any given area?
For quite awhile now I’ve used Alltop.com to find resources and websites on, well, just about everything. Pick a topic and you’ll discover some of the best sites out there related to 
what you’re searching for.
As of yesterday, our own VirtualPhotographyStudio.com blog has now made it to Alltop.com as a recommended resource under the Top Photography News section. We’re so excited to be a part of this site.
If you haven’t had a chance to visit Photography.Alltop.com yet, head over and spend some time looking through the sites. I guarantee you’ll find a ton of information that can help you grow as a photographer, and as a business owner.
