Adjust and Modify Multiple Light Sources Within Your Digital Images

Have you ever shot an image with several light sources, and wish you had a way to easily adjust each light source differently? While you can do a lot with Photoshop, wouldn’t it be nice to have an easy way to adjust without having he work involved with Photoshop?

Now there is a way. Check out this video that shows how Oloneo PhotoEngine modifies light sources within a digital image file.

Oloneo PhotoEngine is currently in beta, and is a free download for you to try out. Oloneo PhotoEngine

Add a Little Style To Your Photography Blog With Animoto

Tired of just adding photo after photo to your blog? Looking for a way to add a little style?  Show your clients what you’ve got, and put together a dynamic presentation.

With some old photos I used to publish my first book, I created this video in about 2 minutes:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

They make it super easy to add photos, text, even video if you have it. You can rotate things and move them quickly until you have it just the way you want. Then pick out music and create. It really is that easy.

While the one I created above is a great 30 second demo, you have to leave the Animoto logo icon on the player, taking away from your look. Animoto thought of photographers, and offers a program where you can have your own branded player, linked back to your site, for less than $250 a year.

Use a quick slideshow to showcase each of your clients. Start up your own YouTube channel, and fill it up with client work. It also adds another level of protection as your images are embedded, and can’t be copied directly. Plus you build your presence on another social site. Don’t stop with YouTube. There are plenty of other video sites as well.

10 Publishing/Printing Solutions For Your Photographs

How do you present your photographs to your clients? Do you hand them a CD – or do you present their images in an album or photo book? Digital technology has made album and book options available in a variety of formats. Take a look at these 10 publishing and printing solutions, and give your clients more options than ever.

Walter’s Publishing
From yearbooks, to prom books, to sports books and posters, to wedding books, you’ll have a full array of options through Walter’s Publishing to help you reach out to your clients.

Mpix
Mpix gives you a variety of options, from online album and sales, to photo books and greeting cards. Mpix is an online division of Miller’s Professional Imaging, and has the resources to help you with all your printing needs.

Black River Imaging
Black River Imaging offers a variety of album options. Check out their Mosaic albums, with color options to match any ideas you or your clients may have.

Renaissance Albums
Take a look at Renaissance’s new SOHO albums. Designed to offer panoramic spreads throughout the entire album, they are perfect choices for your coffee table albums.
Read more

Selling Your Photography – A Book Review

Is there still a need for assignment photography? Do advertising directors still hire out photographers on a regular basis? Can you really make money selling your photography in the media and editorial venues?

When I picked up this book, those were the first questions that ran through my mind.

I checked the publishing date of Richard Weisgrau’s Selling Your Photography book – published in 2009. Okay, another good sign the information might be relevant to where we stand today. So I sat down and started reading.

“The market for publishable photographs is growing faster than ever before. With that growth, the demand for photographs of all types of subjects has increased.”

“Whether you are an amateur or professional photographer, the opportunities to publish your photographs are growing every day.”

Those are Weisgrau’s opening remarks. And it only gets better from there.

Selling Your Photography covers everything from beginning to end. It starts by giving you a market overview – how the current market looks for today’s photographer, and what you can expect if you start out as an advertising, media or corporate photographer. He moves through setting up your business model. And talks at great length about finding your market segments and how to reach out to your target client. He has a great chapter on licensing and pricing, and even provides samples of letters, estimates and licensing agreements for you to follow and use. And ends it by providing online resources that should keep you busy for weeks.

And in between, you’ll gain a ton of useful ideas that make this book a definite for your library if you’re serious about selling your photography.

Selling Your Photography: How to Make Money in New and Traditional Markets
By Richard Weisgrau
215 pages
Published 2009

Organize Your Photographs With PicsMatch

Have you ever spent more time searching for a file, than actually manipulating it once you’ve found it?

Have you ever put a photograph into a file – knowing its location made perfect sense when you originally put it there – yet even a few days later you have no idea where it is?

PicsMatch can help you find what you’re looking for, and even help you organize based on what your plans are for the photograph.

PicsMatch is a facial recognition software that assigns an ID for anyone in a photograph, and will sweep through your hard drive finding any other matches for that facial ID.

Once you have your images together, PicsMatch gives you a variety of tools to work with the photos. You can use one of the tools in the Zoom Editing Suite, such as the crop or sharpen edit options, or choose an effect such as the black & white feature.

Once you find your images, create a special album folder with the images you select. You can even share the images using the PicsMatch tool bar, and choose to print, burn to disc, or share with family and friends on your Flickr account.

At $49 for a downloadable copy, it’s a tool that’s easy to use just about anywhere. PicsMatch is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems – so if you are PC, this may be a great tool to add to your toolbox.

What Should You Be Shooting With – A Canon EOS-1D Mark IV or a Nikon D3S?

If you’re just starting out and looking to invest in your first professional camera, which one should you choose?

To help you through the selection process, take a look at Snapsort – a brand new search site that finds the best camera for you by comparing any two cameras, giving you the stats, and ranking the winner accordingly.

I compared the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV to the Nikon D3S. Snapsort gives you both the differences and the similarities between the two cameras.

Once you’ve reviewed the differences and similarities, Snapsort declares the winner based on the camera that provides you with the most features.
Read more

Using Reverse Image Search Tools For Copyright Protection of your Photographs

Have you ever been just a bit nervous about putting an image online, not sure who’s going to copy it and claim it for their own? You can head over to Google and search for the file name to find out if anyone has duplicated it. But what about finding an exact match for your images?

Enter reverse image searches. Upload your image into the search tools, and it will scour the web looking for matches without worrying about keywords, copy, or file names.

TinEye is a new entry into the world of reverse image searches, and is by far coming out as the leader in this category.

TinEye allows you to submit an image and find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or find higher resolution versions. The technology is pretty cool. When you submit an image, it creates a “fingerprint” and then compares that fingerprint to every other image it retrieves through searches. It won’t find similar images – only things that are an exact match, even if its been cropped, resized or adjusted. Read more

Display Your Work In A Mosaic Frame

A few days ago I introduced you to Moo.com. I love their cards and their ideas because they can make you stand apart from your competition, and make your prospects say, “wow”.

Today I received an email introducing the Mosaic Frame to their U.S. customers. If you order a pack of mini-cards, you can place 20 of them in any direction on to the frame. It’s a great conversation starter.

Stand Out From The Crowd – Create Unique Photo Cards

Want a unique way to stand out from the crowd?

A couple of weeks ago I somehow surfed my way over to Moo.com – a custom printer of business cards, minicards and postcards. Their homepage made me take a second look, so I started to take a look around. And I loved the opportunity they offer for photographers.

Head over to Moo.com and click on the business card option. Then start designing your business cards. You can upload up to 50 of your images to display on your cards. Then choose what you want to say on the other side, your paper options, and hit the order button. You can have these vibrant business cards ordered in no time.

I loved their options, but to me what matters most is the quality. Since they had a “try before you buy” option, I thought I’d give them a try. So I uploaded 10 different images, and had my cards made. Five days later, the cards were in my hands. And I have to tell you, I love them. The quality will put your other business cards to shame. They are printed on thick paper, and the colors held true to what I expected.

The price is extremely reasonable –especially for the newbie. You can order a 50 pack for $21.99. (They do have other options if you need more.)

They also offer the same option for postcard and greeting cards. Want to include some of your prints in your marketing kits you hand out to clients? Order these high quality postcards. Again, I love the quality and it’s nice to be able to order a small quantity.

Play With Your Photos – 8 Sites To Create Something New

Since its Friday, I thought I would share fun sites where you can play with your photographs and turn them into hundreds of different images. (And maybe you’ll get some ideas to share with your tween and teen customers!)

PhotoFunia

PhotoFunia is an online photo editing tool that allows you to have fun with your image. Upload your image, than add a cool photo effect. Over 100 different effects to choose from.

Read more

Next Page »