Stock Photos

Saturday, 31 January 2009

4 Great Camera Tips for Enhanced Digital Photos!

Check out 4 new exciting digital photography techniques to create better looking and memorable photos !


Just bought a new camera ? And very excited to start taking photos with your new gadget?

But alas, why does the picture not look as good as you wanted to ! Fret no more, stay tuned below for 4 new tricks to taking more interesting and memorable photos.


Trick #1 - Try out different camera exposure settings
---------------------------------------------------
By exploring the exposure settings of your camera, you could have pictures looking more brilliant with 0.5 to 2 stops underexposed in bright surroundings, and scenes appearing more clear with some overexposure. Just by simple tuning of the exposure level, you can create
pictures which can bring out different moods from people viewing it. That's why the quote "A Picture Says A Thousand Words" is very true indeed ! For newbies, try out bracketing (i.e: Take the same photos with different exposure levels) and take your favorite pick from them.


Trick #2 - Bring out some creative blur in photos
---------------------------------------------------
By introducing some well-planned blur in photos, you can bring across certain important features, while using the rest as good complement, providing an overall nice touch. This can be done in 2 basic types.

First type is depth-of-field blur. Varying the lens aperture between 0.4 to 1.4 can create a lovely, soft background blur which bring sharp focus to the subject in the foreground.

Second type is movement blur. Done by setting the camera exposure on shutter priority, and keep it slow so as to capture interesting streaks as the subject moves in front of the camera.


Trick #3 - Create something out of nothing !
---------------------------------------------------
What does it means? This exercise encourages you to take a step back and rethink how you can take wonderful pictures with things you already encountered on a daily basis.

One approach is to create your shot around the common elements around you such as lines, space and patterns. This can mean anything from the roads to the bridges, the trees, the railings, etc.. You start to see more possibilities and room for creativity.


Trick #4 - Take Unique Photos !
--------------------------------------
Try to avoid taking photos from already popular places where everyone else has taken before, it will not be fresh, and the excitement is also much diminished. Try out new extreme photography (for example: underwater photography), or it could be as easy as shooting through thick glasses for that extra 3D feel, or shooting reflections of objects in water or other reflective objects.

Hope you enjoyed this article.

Krister

Friday, 30 January 2009

Did you get yours yet?

Digital photography is an art, but it most certainly doesn’t have to be complicated, no matter how frustrated you may get taking digital pictures.

If you haven’t used your camera for months or when you do use it, you’re disappointed with the results – it doesn’t have to be that way. Even if you’ve avoided buying a camera because you’ve never considered yourself to be a great photographer – it can all change right now.

Yesterday, I told you all about the f r e e guide from Dan Feildman called, “Shoot Digital Pics Like the Pros”…if you haven’t picked up your copy yet, I encourage you to do so now.

If everyone has goofy faces at all the parties or your vacation pictures turn out too dark to see that amazing sunset – you definitely need this. The highly-informative guide helps you choose the right digital camera, covers the basics and gives you the information you need to take AWESOME photos.

You can sign up for your no-charge guide:

www.learndigitalphotographynow.com

…and start taking better photos you can be proud of right away. Again, there’s no charge for the guide - simply sign up and get yours. It’s that simple!

To your digital photography success,

Krister

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Free Guide Ends Your Digital Photography Frustrations

You have a digital camera (or plan to get one) because you want to preserve the important moments in your life – but it can be incredibly frustrating when the results aren’t quite what you’d expected. Blurry pics, over-exposed and under-exposed images – we’ve ALL been there.

But digital photography doesn’t have to be that complicated. To get yourself started out on the right foot, I really encourage you to download a complimentary digital photography guide called:

“Shoot Digital Pics Like the Pros”

This 28-page guide gives you rock-solid advice on:

- Getting started as a digital photographer
- How to choose a digital camera, if you don’t have already or are thinking of upgrading
- Understanding the settings on your camera
- 4 important photography basics
- 6 strategies for GREAT photos

…and more.

You can sign up for your no-charge guide:

www.learndigitalphotographynow.com

…and start taking better photos you can be proud of right away.

To your digital photography success,

Krister

Friday, 23 January 2009

Your Digital Camera Is A Money Maker!

Can you imagine anyone paying you good money for your photos? No?

You know, I had all those photos from a recent trip to Rome, Italy, laying around and I thought it should be possible to make a few bucks off of them. First, I couldn't think of a way to market or sell those images but then I discovered micro stock sites.

Micro stock sites are great: You register (it's free) and then upload a few sample images. After your samples passed an initial review you start uploading and making money.

Let's look how this works in detail:

Stock photography

What is stock photography?

Imagine someone is creating a website about healthcare. To beef it up they want a few images of doctors, nurses, operating theaters and the like. Rather than hiring a photographer (sending him on "assignment" as it's called in the business) which can be very expensive the designer decides to use stock photos, i.e. images that are readily available.

Usually stock images are much cheaper than "bespoke" photos. So our designer would visit one of the established stock image sites and browse around a little until she finds some nice healthcare related imagery. After paying up (usually at the tone of $100 per image or higher depending on the use) she downloads the photos, puts them on the website and calls it a day.

Micro stock sites vs. traditional agencies

With a traditional agency our designer likely spent between $500 and $1,000 for half a dozen images of doctors, nurses and stuff like this. That's small change if you are a Fortune 500 company, but what if you are on a budget or doing website design for a friend or a non-profit organization?

Enter micro stock agencies. Micro stock sites have stirred up the traditional market for stock photography over the last three years. What's the idea here? Rather than charging $100 or more for a photo, on many of those sites you can get high quality images for less than $10, sometimes as low as $1!

With a payout of perhaps 25 to 50 cents per image this is not very attractive for professional photographers but an amateur can make decent money this way and should at least be able to finance her hobby. And remember, this is the Internet we are talking about: Make it up on volume. 25 cents per image downloaded may not sound like much but if you have several hundred or even a thousand decent and usable images, all of them submitted to the big micro stock sites even a paltry 25 cents per download can add up nicely.

What you need

Most micro stock agencies have the same requirements: You'll need at least a four Megapixel camera (more is better, although you'll be fine with between six and eight Megapixels), your images should be free of noise, properly keyworded and should picture sought after subjects. For example, good selling images are business or healthcare related or illustrate a concept or an emotion such as love, relationships, carreer and the like.

Here is a few micro stock agencies that you can try out:

Fotolia - Fotolia is a rising star in the field of stock photography. They usually pay more then 50% of the commission to the photographer, and allow you to set your own price. They are one of the fastest to approve photographs. Another nice thing is the way you can get your money. They will allow you to make a paypal cash-out once you've hit the 2 dollar mark.

Bigstockphoto - Yet another great site to sell images at. They pay 50c or 1$ per image downloaded. and they allow to get paid after only 30$ has accumulated. They will approve photos in about three days. They allow FTP upload.

Shutter Stock - Shutterstock is the leading micro stock agency today. Shutterstock’s business model allows a customer to make a subscription and during the subscription period the customer can buy and download 25 pictures a day. This model encourages downloads, and indeed you will get allot of downloads. The photographers earn 25c per image sell, and additional 5c if the customer also requested to burn the image on a CD. There are also broader uses licenses that the client can buy for additional payment. The site is very friendly. It has an FTP upload option and pictures are approved within a day or two.

Dreams Time - A very popular site with the clients, and will get you great sells. The basic price per image is 1$ (or 2$ for full resolution) out of which the photographer gets 50%. The site is very friendly. It has an FTP upload option and pictures are usually approved within a three days. Defiantly an option if you want to sell your images.

Pixmac -
Yet another great site to sell images at. They give you 50% commission for non-exclusive rights and 60% commission for exclusive rights.Earning money has never been easier!

CanStockPhoto -They pay 50% for guest/member download and 0.25 USD for subscription download. They are a great agency, with a little cluttered design.

Feature Pics - A very nice agency - they let you set a price for your stock photos or set the percentage that you want to earn.

Photostockplus - Photostockplus gives a great variety of products you can sell. They will not only sell your photos, but put them on mugs, shirts and more. photostockplus also provides great resources for event photographers.

123rf.com - 123rf is a relatively new agency which is doing well. They are still small, so if you are good standing out is easy. They pay 50% of each sale to the photographer - nice. another nice feature is email notification once your images has been approved or rejected.

Crestock Stock - At Crestock Stock Photos you can earn up to 30% commission on every image or photo you sell. With hundreds of thousands of unique visitors a month, you're guaranteed incredible exposure for your portfolio. Their fast upload system ensures you won't spend ages just to get your photos and images online.

Stockphotomedia - When an image or photo is downloaded, the individual or entity doing so, the User, pays for the image/photo the Photographer has uploaded and the Photographer’s account, the Account Holder, is automatically credited with 35% for small images, 45% for medium images, 55% for large images And 50% for Illustrations of the revenue generated for every photograph and image downloaded. When the balance on an account exceeds 60 EUR or every 3 months, the Account Holder is entitled to submit a request for payment. We use paypal or Moneybookers.

Shutterpoint - ShutterPoint offers THE highest payout rate on the internet: 85% for Full Royalty-Free License, 70% for Standard Royalty-Free License. Payouts are delivered by check, through PayPal, or MoneyBookers whenever your earnings exceed your minimum payment amount. Minimum payment options start at $50. You also get your own image store-front to showcase and sell your photo albums to the world and your own pro-style sub domain (http://USERNAME.shutterpoint.com).

Fotomind - Fotomind is ideal for Stock Photographers and people looking to sell quality stock photos. Good revenue - 0.3$ per credit (that means 0.9$ per image in most cases). Get up to 27$ per image. Upload pictures via FTP or HTTP. Automatic handling of image metadata. Various payment methods (check, paypal, etc). Payouts are sent every month, minimum payout is 100$. Photo review time: up to 72 hours. Earn more money by referring people to FotoMind.com. Fast and Friendly photographer support.


I wish you the best of success!

Krister

Thursday, 22 January 2009

"Waste-Of-Time" Digital Photography "tuitions"

Did you know that a simple Google search will reveal a massive industry of Digital Photography "tuitions"...


...which contains courses, manuals, DVD's and 3 day classes etc. where you can EASILY spend $1000's or more to learn Photography.


The Photography tuition industry is in fact so big that sales revenue from it is in fact larger than the revenue from the sales of Digital Cameras itself! And you know what else...?


It is NOT in most "Photography Guru's" best financial interests to produce courses that show you how to quickly and easily master the basics of Digital Photography (eventhough that is EXACTLY what 99% of newbies want and need)...


...If they did they would most certainly "kill their own Golden Goose" because you wouldn't need to spend hundreds of dollars on the rest of their training DVD's.


Most Digital Photography training material leaves you feeling even more "overwhelmed" after you've been through it than before! This is a deliberate ploy, so that you'll order EVEN MORE training material.


So they are basically a complete WASTE OF MONEY!
And this is the "dirty little secret" they don't want you to know and why you won't find other courses like "Your Guide To Digital Photography!"
In it Dan Feildman shows you how to become a competent and confident Digital Photographer user with just 10 minutes a day. And for a fraction of the cost of other alternatives.


You'll learn all the shortcut insider secrets that other people will take 20 hours of DVD's and $300 or more to show you.


Want proof? (You should!) Then read this:


"I came by chance on to your website, and i'm delighted. I have bought "Your Guide To Digital Photography" and all of the extras you offer which are simply amazing.


I've search the web for lots of help but I didn't find anything which could help me, as I'm 75 year-old, (a young75 that is) and very keen to accomplish some degree of success with digital photography.


Yes I don't learn as quick as I once did, but Dan covers everything you need to know.


I want to congratulate you on your teaching methods.


"Simply Brillant".


Without a doubt, I have learned more about the basics of Digital Photography with your method in a short space of time, than I would have been able to do with anything else.


Since buying your programme it has been extremely rewarding for me and I want to thank you for giving me a renewed desire to continue learning and producing great photographs... "


Robert Albert. (Smithrobertalbertsmith456(AT)blueyonder.co.uk)


WHAT EXACTLY IS "YOUR GUIDETO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY!"?


"Your Guide To Digital Photography" was designed specifically to get new users extremely competent in Photography in the shortest time possible.


"Your Guide To Digital Photography!" is the epitome of this philosophy. There is no unnecessary "fluff" or time wasted on actions you may NEVER use.


You will learn the most important and most useful Digital Photography tasks which the pro's don't tell you about. There is NOTHING out there that focuses on this like they do. Why?


Because Dan has been in this position himself when he first started and he knows how frustrated, intimidated or overwhelming Digital Photography is for a newbie.


Follow this link to learn more: www.learndigitalphotographynow.com


If you want to get proficient Digital Photography in record time then there is NOTHING out there better than "Your Guide To Digital Photography!"


It's really simple to use and follow, and all about you having fun with your Digital Camera as soon as possible. GO AHEAD...


...Give it a try today. If you aren't overjoyed with "Your Guide To Digital Photography" or your results, let Dan know and he'll let you keep EVERYTHING for free. (Including the $117 worth of bonuses).


Follow this link to see exactly what you get and why it's the perfect choice for Digital Photography Newbies: www.learndigitalphotographynow.com


Regards, Krister.

Welcome!

Welcome to this new blog aimed at photographers around the world. It does not matter whether you are a professional, amateur, or just the occasional ' holiday snapper'.

The hope is that through the postings here you will be able learn tips and tricks on how to improve your photography skills. I will personally be regularly posting helpful articles, and I'm hoping that you too will be willing to share some of your expertice in order to help others.

So, please come back regularly to learn and share!

Krister