Your Photography Studio Is A Small Business – Now What?

When the economy takes a downturn, it’s easy to start blaming everything as the reason your small business is not bringing in business.

But even in the worst of times, small businesses are the one thing that builds the economy back up.

photostudio

We’ve all been watching the giants of the industry head in and out of bankruptcy and close their doors forever. Why? They are simply too big to make quick changes. That’s where small businesses are different. They have the ability to make quick changes, do something entirely new and different, and start bringing in profits.

First, put fear aside

If you watch the news, read the papers, or get caught up in the whole emotional pull of the media, chances are you have a fear locked deep inside of you. “If it bleeds it leads” is medias mission statement.

But if you turn all of that away, it’s just as easy to get caught up in all that’s good. Sure, you may be doing a “staycation” instead of a vacation this year, but as long as you are having fun doing it, does it really matter?

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Do Your Photographs Come Up In Google Creative Commons?

When you put your photographs on Flickr, do you place some of them into the Creative Commons?  By giving away some user rights to some of your pictures, you allow others to have the right to use your images freely in what they do online, providing they give you credit.

google  creative commons

Now Google has a way for searching in the Creative Commons.

If you use the Google Advanced Image Search you can search by usage right. Search for images labeled for reuse, or commercial reuse, and for reuse with modifications.

Great if you’re looking for images to use on your blogs or sites. And great if you’re a photographer looking to gain some traction with your images.

Why? Let’s imagine a blogger uses your images in a blog post. They give you credit for your image. One of their readers sees your work, clicks over to your Flickr stream, likes what she sees, and connects to you through your website.

You’ve now made a connection with a potential client – one that you found by being active using social sites.

Because your work can now easily be found through Google, make sure you are keywording your photographs appropriately, so they will come up high when people search in Google.

65 Stock Photography Sites To Find And Sell Photography

Looking for stock photos, stock video, or stock graphics to go into your marketing and advertising? Or looking for a great resource to begin selling your photography to stock houses? Check out this list for a variety of resources, both general and specific.

Stock Photography – Commercial/Fee Based

123 Royalty Free
AbsolutVision
AgeFotostock
Agodia
BigStockPhoto
CanStockPhoto

photospin

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10 Tips For Wedding Photographers To Improve Formal Images

We attended a family wedding over the weekend. One of the hardest things as 20+ year professional photographers is watching a struggling, brand new photographer try and capture a wedding.

While we did cheer him on and offer extras1 just a bit of advice here and there, when it’s your wedding, you have to handle it on your own, no matter what. You’re the photographer. You’re in charge. And all the results (good or bad) are yours alone.

While we watched him struggle through family portraits, we came up with a list of tips to help any struggling wedding photographer make the formals run just a little smoother.

1. Start with the largest groups and work down. Work the bridal party first, then family groupings.

2. Dismiss people if they won’t be in any additional images. Having several dozen people in the formal portrait area can easily become chaotic. If you dismiss them, they will leave and move on to the reception site.

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How To Succeed At An Arts Fair

After a busy weekend, we attended the annual Cherry Creek Arts Festival in the afternoon. If we’re in town over the 4th of July, we always make sure we spend a few hours there. Cherry Creek Arts Festival is internationally known, and brings in some amazing artists.

So I found a bunch of new artists to follow. Check out these amazing jewelry pieces made from sea glass in Hawaii.  They were beautiful.

Before I get into several of the photographers we found, I thought I would give some tips on things to do if you’re at an art fair. Or maybe more appropriately, things not to do.

As we visited one booth, she had a sign hung near the back of her booth. It said:

No business cards. No brochures. No website.

She should have also put “no business” or maybe “going out of business very soon”.

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How To Photograph Fireworks

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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One Great Idea – Meet Neil Creek

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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