The Newest Beauty Secret … Fotoshop by Adobe

Photography … Its Now Illegal. That Could Be A Good Thing

Where there is one crazy law, there is bound to be another.

Which means that if this bill as introduced in Vermont is allowed to pass and reside on the books, chances are other states will soon follow their lead.

In Vermont, Bill H233 was introduced this week that states:

This bill proposes to make it illegal to take a photograph of a person without his or her consent, or to modify a photograph of a person without his or her consent, and to distribute it.

Think about that for a bit.

Its illegal to take a photograph of a person without his or her consent.

That means you can no longer shoot anywhere in the state of Vermont. With smart phones or cameras. Because if you’ve ever snapped an image while you’re out and about, you’ve probably photographed some random person in the background.

No more birthday party photographs of your child at Chuck E Cheese. No more pictures at the zoo.

Or you will be against the law.

And if you take any of those photographs and modify them in Instagram, or with one of the hundreds of apps that exist out there, or Photoshop them even just to brighten it up a bit, again, you’ll be doing something against the law.

Then lets talk about distribution. No Facebook. No Twitter. No making a copy and sending it to Grandma in California. Nope. You’ll be committing a crime, so you best not do it.

In reality, this may be a good thing for us professionals. We’re always careful with our backgrounds, making sure random people aren’t included in the image. And if you work with contracts – which you should – you’ll have a model release in there as well.

You should also have a clause that allows you to share online on your sites, Facebook, etc., which means you have a consent to distribute.

So, if the general population really can’t use their smart phones and cameras legally anymore, maybe that means more business for us.

Hmmmm….

Filed Under: Blog, Business Tagged With: Photography, street photography, vermont

Photography Is Personal and So Are Websites

by Allen Mowery 2 Comments

Guest Post by Scott Wyden Kivowitz

Photography is a beautiful thing. It can inspire, bring laughter or anger, and even change the view on life in people.

Creating a photograph is not (usually) just one click. It takes time, vision and thought. Photographs will typically have a deep meaning to the person who went through effort to capture a still image.

lend-a-hand

So when it comes to displaying these meaningful photographs on a website, each photographer should have a similar experience. What I mean is, a photography website is extremely personal. A photographer won’t use a dark color scheme if they prefer lighter colors. Or rounded corners if they prefer sharp edges.

With that said, here is some advice for a photographer looking to find the perfect look.

There is such a wide range of photography website templates available, so the first thing to do is some searches using your favorite search engine. As you can see, the process already starts off as a personal choice, because you must use a search engine of your choosing. When you find directories of website templates, you can sometimes browse by popularity, color, features, etc. Sometimes the directories will only list the best out there, and that is okay.

Here is some advice on what to look for in a template:

Make sure it has the gallery sizes you want. (i.e., full screen, lightbox, responsive, grid and/or slideshows
If you need to sell your work, does it have eCommerce options?
Are you looking to provide proofing galleries to clients? If so, can the template help with that?
Does the template provide social media features?
How easy is it to customize? Not all photographers understand HTML, so hopefully you find a template that can be adjusted without it.

That’s a pretty good list to start with, but ideally each photographer should make a bullet list of every feature they would want. So create your list, and put the priorities at the top so you look for those features first.

In the eBook, 10 Tips To Supercharge Your Photography Website, Jodi Friedman (of MCP Actions) talks about consistency across a portfolio. Her advice is a very strategic, and important, idea for enhancing something so personal to a photographer. For more great tips like this, I recommend downloading the free photography website eBook.

Once you have completed your priority list, I’d love to see them. Please comment below and share the top 3 features on your list.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

Filed Under: Website Marketing Tagged With: developing a web site, marketing, Photography, website content, website design

Turning Your Photography Into A Global Mission

by Virtual Photography 1 Comment

James Balog’s photographs have been exhibited in more than one hundred museums and galleries. His work has been featured in magazines like National Geographic, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair. He’s won awards such as Outstanding Photographer of the Year from the North American Nature Photography Association and Person of the Year from PhotoMedia magazine.

But his latest work may set him apart from everything he’s done before.

Over the weekend, Andrew and I attended a screening of his latest documentary Chasing Ice. To say we were breathless and completely blown away puts it mildly. His images are amazing. And the storyline is something that will truly make you think. It’s all we’ve been talking about since we left the theater.

When Balog graduated from college with a science degree, the thought of working in a research lab was anything but exciting to him. He wanted to be out in the field. His passion for the environment led him to the farthest corners on earth, and eventually he did it all with a camera. And became recognized worldwide for it.

In 2005, he headed to the Arctic on assignment for National Geographic to capture images of Earth’s changing climate. The more he learned, the more he saw, the more determined he became to make a difference in Earth’s future. The Extreme Ice Survey began. And his multi-year project of documenting the changing glaciers using his revolutionary time-lapse cameras would soon be the proof needed to reach out to communities across the globe, waking them up to the reality of what is truly happening to our environment.

Balog doesn’t fit the typical photographer profile. He didn’t get an art degree – he received a science degree. His photography was simply a tool he used to accentuate his knowledge – it was a way for him to convey his findings in a truly visual way that would make people take notice of something they might not have seen before.

And what he’s doing today is truly the future of photography. It’s about taking what you love, what your passionate about, and telling the story through photographs. It could be in any field, any niche. The key is using your camera in such a way that you tell a story … and others see the story for what it is and help you pass it along to others.

If Balog’s latest project comes to your town, I highly recommend heading to the theater and taking in this film.

If not, I recommend picking up one of Balog’s books – you’ll still gain ideas on how an idea and a passion can take place in any shape or form, and be used to create the career of your dreams.

Filed Under: Green Photography Tagged With: Chasing Ice, environment, glaciers, global mission, James Balog, Photography

12 Words That Will Change The Value Of Your Photography

by Virtual Photography 4 Comments

Filed Under: Sales Tagged With: Photography, sales, value

Is The “F” Word Creeping Into Your Business and Personal Life?

by Virtual Photography 1 Comment

“Most people die at 20 and live until they are 75.” – Les Brown

I saw this quote the other day and wrote it down to remember it. I have a whole list of quotes I love and look to them often for motivation.

And while I completely agree with this quote, another part of me asked “why”. Why do people give up everything, lose their dreams, and continue with a life they really don’t enjoy?

When I started out after high school, I attended college because my mom said I had to. I didn’t have a goal or a purpose; just my mom behind me saying I had to have a degree. She wasn’t allowed to go to college back in her day because her family assumed she would drop out and get married anyway; why “waste” the money? She always regretted it and made sure her daughters had a degree instead.

So I “fell” into a business degree because I really didn’t know what else to do.

Then I fell into a variety of “jobs”, from banking to accounting to auditing. I never loved it; I just did it. I did get paid very well for what I did. And I also traveled all the time, which I guess is what whetted my appetite for travel. But I just did it all because that’s what you were supposed to do.

Then something happened when I was 28. My dad died of a massive heart attack. It was very quick, no warning. Just here one day, gone the next. He was 54 years old and way too young to die. But he has continued to influence me more since his death than he probably ever did while he was alive. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Life Balance Tagged With: building a business, business plan, fail, failing, failure, goals, lifestyle, Photography

Photography + Small Business + PIPA and SOPA = Death To An Industry

by Virtual Photography 1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago, I posted Why SOPA/PIPA Affect All Of Us to help you better understand two bills that were before congress and the impact they could have on us all. I’ve been involved in groups for the past couple of years that have been watching and fighting this “concept” as it makes its way through both state and federal levels again and again.

I was happy to see both tabled and not put forward for a vote. But again, they were merely tabled, not stopped. Which means they will surface again. And probably again.

So of course I keep following what people are saying and what industries support these types of bills – and which ones are against it.

I was very surprised a week or so ago when PPA came out with a post on their site and also proceeded to email it out to their members. If you haven’t read it, head over and read it now.

SOPA and PIPA – Don’t Be Fooled

There are many things wrong with this lines of thinking – so many I could literally go line by line. But the one item in particular that stands out to me is:

“So when a behemoth corporate money-maker like Google attempts to stand on the backs of photographers to increase its profits, we as your association take exception.”

Yes I will agree, Google is a huge money making company. Yet they stand up for keeping censorship at bay and work to give everyone free reign to promote and do as they will to make money as a small business. They work to keep the playing field as equal as possible for everyone online. Google isn’t alone – Wikipedia and others all have the same approach to Internet regulation. Which is why a great majority of them went dark to support defeating the SOPA and PIPA regulations. And will continue to do so again and again.

There are two ways of looking at business today: old school or innovative.

The Internet made old school obsolete. If you’ve ever read the book “Who Moved My Cheese”, old school associations and businesses are still in the old store room, looking for “cheese” that has long since disappeared. Yes, there are still ways of making money with old school thinking, but they are drying up quickly. Not just in photography, but in every industry out there – think newspapers and book publishing.

Yet the Internet is what is allowing small businesses to be truly innovative. You can use sites like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Pinterest with simply an investment of time (occasionally a little money) and a whole lot of magic to create a business beyond your wildest dreams. Its you, your innovation, a little time, and magic can truly happen.

Who is threatened by that? Old school businesses who like things the way they always were. We will never go back to the way things were. The only way to move forward is to allow us to keep the playing field as equal as possible.

Here are how others are sounding off

The Foolish PPA is Pro PIPA and SOPA

An Open Letter to David Trust and PPA

Photographers Supposrt SOPA and PIPA?

Open Letter to PPA and David Trust

And a few statistics to show you where others stand:

SOPA and PIPA Internet Blackout Aftermath

What’s your opinion?

Filed Under: Future Trending Tagged With: bill, censorship, Congress, law, Photography, PIPA, regulation, small business, SOPA

What Makes A Wedding Photojournalist Different Than A Wedding Photographer?

by Virtual Photography 3 Comments

What is the difference between wedding photojournalism and wedding photography? As we learned early on in our career, it’s a blurred line.

For many photographers, photojournalism simply means capturing the event as it happens. They pose the formals, and along the way throw in a few candids for good measure. Then they use those candids to promote themselves as a “photojournalist”.

But is that really photojournalism?

Not by my definition. I like how the Wedding Photojournalist Association says it:

What sets our members apart in the industry is their candid, documentary approach – a distinctly artistic vision toward wedding photography.

We offer a new perspective on wedding photography – quietly capturing the real moments as they happen for the bride and groom. It is our goal to use photography to tell the story of your wedding day, not dictate it for you.

Its How You Approach It

A candid is simply a photograph taken without the subject’s knowledge. And while a great deal of wedding images can be classified as candids, a selection of candids doesn’t mean you are a photojournalist. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Wedding Photography Tagged With: documentary, Photography, photojounalism, wedding photographer, Wedding Photojournalist

The Newest Beauty Secret … Fotoshop by Adobe

by Virtual Photography 1 Comment

Do you love parodies? Do you love finding the Photoshop mistakes they make in some of the biggest magazines in the world? Then you’ll love this – Fotoshop by Adobe

Released 5 days ago and already approaching 1 million views, this video will make you laugh at how unrealistic our expectations really are when it comes to beauty.