Neil Creative

Retouching with Portrait Professional

2011-11-01T07:57:00.002-04:00

I've been using Portraiture for a few years now and still love it. I recently heard about Portrait Professional and decided to try the free trial. Talk about WOW! Skin smoothing, face shaping and more. It's super easy to use and there isn't much of a learning cure. Whether you're looking for minor retouching or more extreme retouching to your portraits - this is the program. It only took me a day playing with the free trial to realize that I needed to buy the software. You can turn on or turn off any of the effects to turn your images into flawless portraits. Right now, version 10 of the software is on sale for $39.95 - I'm not sure how long this special price is good for. Also, you can save an additional 15% using the code XZWT-OYHW-DQVG-LACP at checkout.

If you are a portrait photographer, I suggest playing with the free trial of Portrait Professional and seeing if it suits your editing needs!

After Dark Education

2011-10-06T19:24:00.000-04:00

After Dark Charlotte was an amazing experience. I highly recommend it to any level of photographer that is looking to improve their skill sets! Of all the seminars, workshops or conventions I’ve attending, this one is by far the best experience to date. After Dark happens four times a year in various locations across the U.S. and I will be, without a doubt, attending at least one (hopefully two) in 2012.

If you’ve never heard of After Dark, it’s quite the experience. It’s 72-hours of non-stop learning (they do let you sleep a little). With over 30 different photography mentors and 300 attendees, it’s a great teacher to student ratio for hands-on learning. There were about 10 “pods” set up for presentations, critiques and roundtables. In another area of the hotel there were 10 “bays” for studio lighting. You can stop by any pod or bay for each class, deciding which mentor you want to learn from. I went with a game plan of learning more about working with off-camera flash. Once I got to Charlotte and reviewed the class schedule, I changed my mind. My focus became more about business, posing and on-location photography. That’s the great thing about After Dark is that if you change your mind before or during a class, you don’t have to stick around, you can move freely though the various mentors’ presentations. I attended so many classes that my brain was in overload. Marketing, on-location natural light portraits, high school senior posing, creative children’s portraits and working with families and children to name just a few. Beyond the “scheduled” classes, there were also impromptu classes. A mentor would grab a model, a bay, or head outside and just start teaching! We typically were out photographing from midnight till 2 a.m., hence the name After Dark. I know other photographers were out till 4 a.m. some mornings. Not only did I learn a lot, I also got the opportunity to meet many great new friends, who are also photographers from across the U.S.

Facebook Pages SSL Deadline 10/1/11: Another Option

2011-09-14T23:55:00.005-04:00

If you didn't hear, Facebook is going to soon require that all Facebook Fan Pages (including welcome pages) and Applications have a valid SSL Certificate. This new requirement starts on October 1, 2011. The problem - I currently have my Facebook Welcome Page hosted on the back of my website. I just plugged in the html code to get my cute graphic to show on the page. Starting 10/1, since my website doesn't have an SSL Certificate, the embedded graphic won't show. SSL Certificates can cost $50-$150.

The solution I found after a lot of searching is ShortStack. After trying a few different "free" Welcome Page Creator sites, I liked this one the best. If you have less than 2,000 fans, it's free. After 2,000 fans, there are different levels of pricing. There are a ton of options for different tabs including promotions, contact forms, coupons for fans only, etc. So if you're looking for a new way to create your Facebook Welcome Page and not have to worry about SSL Certificates, this is the way to go!

Full Disclosure: commission on sale via my link.

I've Been Featured!

2011-09-02T06:13:00.001-04:00

My Twitter page is featured in a new Photography Social Media Handbook just released by Design Aglow. It’s an all-in-one resource to grow your photography presence in social media. So if you need help building a social media entourage, now’s your chance to learn how. Special thanks to the writer of the handbook, Zach Prez who is full of photography marketing ideas.

Here’s an excerpt featuring yours truly!

Danielle Neil uses a simple logo with sample photos and a nice color scheme to match her brand. She says:

“Creating a consistent brand across social media platforms is a must. It's so much easier for my clients and potential clients to recognize my brand when they see the same design elements, fonts and logo no matter what site they visit. When I first started on Twitter and Facebook I didn't have myself branded as well as I should have. Once I created a stronger brand presence with coordinating looks across sites and linking to my most recent blog posts I saw a huge increase in my followers.”

The book launches, today, Friday, August 2 in the Design Aglow store at at a launch price of $50 ($20 off). So if you're interested, snag it now before the price goes up!

Need help with your SEO?

2011-09-02T00:03:00.003-04:00

You guys know that I'm obsessed with SEO! I heard about Scribe awhile back, but wasn't sure if I wanted to justify the monthly cost of another bill. I finally decided to try it out for a month and I'm loving it. I'm not a writer and it's pretty hard for me to come up with descent content for my blog posts. I've read time and time again that each post should have a minimum of 300 words! That's a lot for someone who isn't fond of writing. And since content is what drives SEO rankings, I figured I better have some descent content in those blog posts. Scribe doesn't write the content but it does check your content to make sure that you're using the right keywords for your target market. It also shows you options for additional keyword phrases that you may have not thought of. It's a great way to optimize your text while following SEO best practices.

There's a few options of Scribe available. A WordPress plugin and also a web version for those that aren't using WordPress. I've not only used it to optimize blog posts, but to also tweak my website pages. Since SEO can take a while to kick in once you've made changes, I haven't seen the results just yet. But I'm already loving the options it's giving me for keywords and ways to better work my blog posts.

Click here to Take Scribe On A Risk-Free Test Drive!

Full Disclosure: commission on sale via my link.

New Version of Photo Cart Now Available!

2011-07-30T21:58:00.002-04:00

I was surprised the other day to receive an email that there was a new version of Photo Cart from Pictures Pro for download. One of the great things about the investment in Photo Cart is that once you pay, you get free upgrades for life. This newest version is definitely more user friendly for both the admin and the client to use. I haven't had a lot of time to test out the newest features, but there are a lot more options to customize the look and feel of your shopping cart. You can now set a minimum order amount for each gallery, there's a new system to add packages and images to the cart, a new checkout process and a ton of other features that I haven't even touched yet.

I also decided to purchase the Design Proof add-on for my cart. I've already used it with two clients with great success. One for an album design and another for a cd case design. This new add-on allows clients to comment on the online proof with any changes they have and approve or deny the current design. The best part is you don't have to worry about emails back and forth, sending pdfs to clients and sifting through emails to double check their changes. I love this add-on and for $59, it's already done it's job for me!

If you're already a Photo Cart user, the upgrade was pretty simple. I ran into some bumps and was able to find out what my issues were with their FAQ section and the help of other users in the online support section. So if you're nervous about the upgrade, it's pretty painless. If you're not using Photo Cart, you should consider it. I've had some issues in the past with the way my collections were setup, but I've learned no shopping cart is perfect. For the most part, Photo Cart fits my needs and with a one-time fee, you can't beat that.

My New Kelly Moore Bag

2011-06-12T20:03:00.004-04:00

I've been on the fence for months debating on getting a new camera bag. I've been eying the b-hobo bag from Kelly Moore. I finally caved last month and picked it up as a "birthday gift" to myself. WOW - I love this bag!!! I can fit my Nikon 70-200 2.8, 17-55 2.8 and my D300 with the 50mm attached!! I was nervous when I first looked at the bag that the 70-200 wouldn't fit. While with every piece of gear in there, it's full, but it all fits and zips!

I still have my Shootsac and ThinkTank bags and love them both as well. The ThinkTank is perfect for traveling and storing all my gear in the same place. I love the Shootsac for when I second shoot weddings. And the b-hobo from Kelly Moore is perfect for sessions. I can easily carry all my gear and I don't feel like I'm going to break my bag. There are also pockets for my iPhone, extra batteries, business cards and treats.

I had searched the internet prior to my purchase and was having a hard time finding someone with this combination of equipment who had tried the bag. I'm glad I took the chance to see if it would work for me because I just love it.

Blogging Success

2011-05-16T00:01:00.002-04:00

Blogging Success

I feel like many of my blog posts lately talk about Zach Prez! But the guy does great things, so I feel the need to share! Zach first contacted me about doing a guest post on his blog about Photography Branding Tips for Facebook and Twitter. Then, a few weeks later Laura Swanson contacted me, she and Zach were working on an ebook and wanted to feature my blog in their book. Of course, being a fan of Zach's wise SEO wisdom, I said yes.

I was surprised to get an email to preview the ebook before it was released to the public. There are tons of great tips in there on what and how to blog to not only improve your search engine optimization but to also get those visitors to contact you. The other great part of the book is the show and link to many great examples from other photographers which is a fantastic way to get the ideas rolling on what you can do to make this work for your own business. I even walked away with a few ideas of some possible topics to write about to keep my blog fresh and posting more often.

Zach was generous enough to share a discount code for my readers. It's good for $9 off the ebook purchase. The code is only good from May 16th through May 31st. If you think this book might help you to be a better blogger, be sure to snag it with the discount code in the next few days using "bloglaunch". Click here to take a look at Photography Blog Success and the Photography Web Marketing Guide.

Full Disclosure: commission on sale via my link.

Making the Switch to a Non-Flash Website

2011-04-22T22:05:00.004-04:00

Let me start by saying that I still love my former website provider Portfoliositez, but it was time for a change. I've been with them since the beginning of my business and I have raved about them on here many times, if you're looking for a Flash website template then I still highly recommend them. But with the ever-growing amount of photographers popping up in my area and the news that I was going to be laid off from my full time job, it was time to really boost my Google rankings.

As my regular readers know, I'm mildly obsessed with SEO and with having another job, I haven't had as much time as I would like to get out and build my business. I have had to rely on website searches to get a large portion of my business. Last year I came across Zach Prez and over have purchased a few of his ebooks about not only ranking on Google, but also how to turn those leads into business. With all the changes on how users view websites I think Flash is becoming a dinosaur. I had added an iPhone and iPad version of my Portfoliositez website for those users, but I was still talking to people who had Flash sites blocked from their work computers. We all know a lot of potential clients do their searching at work and the fact that some people weren't going to be able to see my site was becoming a problem. Even though I have a blog as well, I wondered how many people I lost once they realized they were at a Flash website.

I would have loved to been able to design my site working with a web designer, but I couldn't justify the cost to do that just yet. I started researching html templates and realized there were not a lot of options out there. A web designer I am friends with suggested I do a Wordpress site and purchase a theme I liked for the right look. I found dozens of themes that worked perfectly for a photographer's portfolio site! In the end, I decided to go with a Photocrati theme for my site. Photocrati offers portfolio galleries that are protected to deter copying, allows iPhone and iPad viewing, music and multiple themes you can customize. The theme is only $79 and they even let you try it out for 30-days to make sure you like it. With that I was sold and ready to change. The next task on my list was finding new web hosting. There's tons of choices out there but I quickly decided to go with Kimtown. I've worked with Kim in the past and I knew that using her hosting would be perfect for me.

I played around with my Photocrati theme for a few weeks on the back end of my old website to figure out exactly what I wanted the site to look like when it went live. By the time I was ready to go, Kimtown switched all my files (new site, email, blog, client planner, etc.) over to their hosting and within two days I was ready to go with my new site.

I was already ranking well for certain phrases on my old website, so I can't wait to see what the changes I've implemented can do for my SEO in the upcoming months. Yes, I said months, because no matter how great your SEO is, it takes time for it to be reflected in the search engines.

The support with both Kimtown and Photocrati have been fantastic. Both companies respond quickly to any questions I had and through the whole process the only issues I had were user errors on my end. If you're looking for new hosting or a non-Flash option for your photography website, I think both these companies have great things to offer!

Full Disclosure: commission on sale via my link.

Finding Vendor Deals

2011-03-12T10:20:00.004-05:00

I'm all about a good deal and I've found some great ways to get them, especially on canvas products. I posted in December that Picture It On Canvas (PIOC) was having a Groupon special for a 16x20 canvas for only $39. Since then, I've seen quite a few Groupons for PIOC and also Canvas On Demand. While it's taken a bit of work to find, it has helped to search Twitter vs. all the various Groupon city pages to find those deals. Sometimes the canvas deals are one day only, other times they last a few days on the Groupon site. You can purchase the deal that day and then it has to be used within a certain amount of time. I believe most of mine were 4-6 months after the purchase date, so I stocked up.

I recently did a display at my local Starbucks and the deals I collected were quickly put to use to save some money on my displays. I do want to make note that the canvas products offered for these Groupons are from the consumer sides of these companies, not the professional. For displays, this didn't bother me in the least.

I've also stumbled upon Ebates, if you shop Groupon through their site you can get an additional 3% back on what you've spent on Groupon. So on top of the Groupon savings, I'm getting an additional savings from the money I spend to purchase them. If you're planning on putting up a photographic display in a doctor's office, retail boutique, coffee shop, etc. I suggest going this route to save some money and definitely get more bang for your buck!

Full Disclosure: referral credits earned for Ebates and Groupons though my link.

I Love Me Some Moo Products!

2011-02-24T15:16:00.006-05:00

I've heard about Moo in the past from other photographers, but was never sure how I felt about ordering business cards from them. I was glad to see they had a booth at Imaging this year and I was able to see their products in person. I absolutely fell in love with the quality of paper they use for their business cards! The matte laminate paper is amazing ~ sturdy, high quality paper with a great substance to it. I was sold! Plus there was a nice little promo in the packet I picked up to try out the Moo cards. I opted to upload 10 different images for the back of my cards with fronts that stayed the same. The one thing I must say is Moo is a little slow on shipping, but hey, if I'm on the ball then I don't need to have a rush order.

I received my cards and LOVED the photo quality, but I was slightly disappointed with the quality on the side that had printing. I figured it was user error on my end since I was in a rush to get them out and get them back. I emailed their customer service to let them know and they emailed me back within a day explaining the Moo promise. If you feel your product isn't up to par, they work with to fix the problem and replace your order! I was so excited since it was totally user error on my end not using their templates to create my piece. I didn't even expect them to reprint my cards and they were more than happy to take care of it!! I submitted new files for the text side of my card and in two weeks, I had brand new, perfectly printed business cards!!

I am beyond thrilled with the amazing customer service and beautiful product that Moo offers! I've officially found a new vendor to work with for my business card needs. I've got it on my list to also pickup some Moo stickers and mini cards in my future as well!

Use this link to purchase your Moo products today and receive 10% off your first order. There will be a code on the webpage you're directed to once you click on the link. Use the code at checkout to get the discount!!

Full Disclosure: commission on sale via my link.

Framing from Hardwood Frames

2011-02-17T16:02:00.003-05:00

Let me start this post by saying framing scares me. I don't offer custom framing to my clients because, I'm going to be honest, when it comes to putting stuff together with my hands, I'll screw it up. With that said, I just received a great opportunity to put a large display up in a coffee shop. While I would love to put up all canvas pieces, I knew I had to showcase some prints as well. I searched and searched through all the framing companies I could find and the best option I found was to have a lab print them, ship them to the framing company and then ship to me. I needed to get the display done asap and didn't want to mess around with all the waiting. Then I remembered hearing about Hardwood Frames.

Hardwood Frames is a new division of CPQ Professional Imaging. Hardwood offers frames in three different price points: promotional, designer and whimsical. Most of their frames come with open backs and clips to hold your image in place. That sounded MUCH easier than attempting to do more traditional framing. I ordered 4 frames and they arrived in about a week. They were so easy to use that I ordered another 6 frames last week. So far I've tried both the promotional and designer frames and they're all great. I have in the past ordered the whimsical frames from CPQ and those were great as well. Currently, I don't believe that any of their frames come with glass or backings, but that may change. The frames without glass were perfect for what I needed for my display!

If you're in search of a framing company, I really like the options with Hardwood Frames. You'll need to contact them to setup an account to access pricing. Before I ordered I had a few questions and Sharon was more than happy to help me out both by phone an email.

Imaging USA Roundup

2011-02-12T20:04:00.003-05:00

Last month I had the opportunity to attend PPA's Imaging USA convention and expo. I'm so glad I went! This was the first large conference I had attended and compared to the small state conventions I've been to, wow, this was overwhelming! I will say that not all the classes I picked were what I had wished they would be, but I'm sure you'll have that with any convention. Overall, the classes and instructors were great and the expo was amazing. I picked a lot of different classes, business, portrait, spotlight and wedding and learned a little something if not a lot from each instructor. It's great to hear how others got started in this business and what they've done to grow their business. I also was able to meet a few photographers who I frequently correspond with that I have yet to meet in person. That was great as well!

The expo was so overwhelming! I finally got the chance to meet some of the vendors in person that I work with and find some great new products to offer this year. Right now I'm in the process of ordering sample canvas wraps from a few different companies. I've already received two and the difference in quality is a bit more than I expected! I'll follow-up in a few weeks with who the lab is that is going to win my canvas business. But back to the expo, I fell in LOVE with the VisionArt books. I'm slightly obsessed with paper and I'll blame that on the fact that I'm a graphic designer as well. These books are just stunning! I stopped at their booth on two different days to look at them. Previously I had stopped offering coffee table albums to my clients, but now that I'm smitten with VisionArt, they're back on my product list for 2011. I'm currently working on layouts for the samples I plan to order and can't wait to finish them up and get them back!

If you haven't been to a large convention like Imaging or WPPI, I highly suggest it. I came home motivated and really excited to try some new ideas, new products and change things around for this season. I also walked away with a lot of great promotions to try out new labs and products and believe me, I've been ordering away. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting any great finds that I've come across from these new vendors that I love, so be sure to check back!

I Caved ...

2011-01-21T16:24:00.002-05:00

I think all my readers know I love the ProPhoto blog theme. I've been using version 2 for awhile now and finally caved to get version 3. I'm so glad I did! There are a lot of new customizable features available in this version to make your wordpress blog standout from the rest! It took a few hours of tweaking, but I love the minor changes I've made on the blog. I wasn't looking to revamp the whole look, just add some little changes to spice things up. So for those of you who are on the fence about upgrading, I personally think it's totally worth it! If you don't use the ProPhoto them and you're looking for one (you must have a wordpress blog to use it), I highly suggest it. Big photos with lots of impact and a lot of options for the look and feel of your blog.

If you do purchase, use discount code DANNE232B for an additional $10 off your purchase.

I just returned from ImagingUSA and I'm overwhelmed from the education and the fun new products I saw. I'll be writing up my thoughts on the event in the next few weeks. I've got a lot on my "to do" list now that I'm back to continue to grow my business!!

Full Disclosure: commission on ProPhoto Themes sold via coupon code.

Great Deal on Gallery Wrapped Canvas!

2010-12-27T06:45:00.006-05:00

I'm getting ready to run out the door this morning but there's a great deal from Picture It On Canvas right now and I had to share! It's listed under the San Diego Groupon (you don't have to live in SD) and it's for a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas for only $39! It's not one of the daily Groupons, but one of the holiday gift offers so it's available for 3 more days! While I have never used Picture It On Canvas, I know a few photographers who have and just love their customer service and product. The best part of this deal is that you basically receive a credit for the 16x20 price and that can be applied to any size product you purchase. So if you want bigger, you just pay the difference or if you multiple smaller pieces, you can apply the price to those as well. Definitely check out this Groupon! I'll be picking up a few of them for displays I plan on hanging in 2011. You can't beat it for the price! You can only use one per order, but you can purchase multiple Groupons and purchase at different times.

How was your 2010?

2010-12-15T20:13:00.003-05:00

As the year is quickly winding down and most of us are wrapping up our final sessions it's a great chance to look back at what we've accomplished over the last year. What were the goals for your business this year and how did you do in terms of achieving them? What unexpected events appeared over 2010? And what are your business plans for 2011?

As for me, my average sales were almost double what they were in 2009. The downside was that I had fewer clients this year. And those fewer clients were for personal reasons that I decided to not market my business as much as I should have. I've got big plans for 2011 and I've already started working on my marketing plan for next year! I'm also excited that I'll get the opportunity to attend the PPA's ImagingUSA conference in January jump start the year for me.

I hope everyone has had a great 2010 and that 2011 will be even better year!

Free Education — Lots of Learning & No Strings Attached

2010-11-21T09:27:00.004-05:00

I love free education! I can't believe I haven't blogged about creativeLive yet! Chase Jarvis has created an online learning resource for photographers, artists and other creative types. If you tune into the website during the live classes, you can view them for free, no strings attached. If you're schedule is full on the day(s) of the live classes, you can always purchase the class and have access to it after the fact.

I'm on my second creativeLive class this weekend with Tamara Lackey's Children's Portraiture Photography class. It's been great to be able to see Tamara work with clients and share her thought process of how she coordinates a session.

There's a wide range of subject matter for the creativeLive classes beyond photography. You can look at their calendar to find the classes and topics that interest you most. Definitely check out this great resource!

I Big Puffy Heart My New Lab

2010-11-03T21:33:00.004-04:00

Hope everyone is having a busy fall season of shooting and selling holiday orders!

I've been pretty dedicated to one lab since I started my business two years ago. I had some quality issues with that lab and decided to try out a few different labs again. I am absolutely in love with ProLabExpress! I first heard about PLE from the instructors at the Unleashed workshop last September. I had received my samples from PLE after returning from the workshop but then they fell off my radar. I decided to place an order with them last month and I'm so glad I did! PLE's customer service is great and their prints are amazing! They use Fuji archive paper and I just love the richness of it. A bonus is that their prices are a hair lower than my previous lab, so my cost of goods hasn't really changed since making the switch. They also offer some very unique and different products than some of the other labs.

ProLabExpress also offer Grand River Imaging for event photography print fulfillment services. I actually have an event coming up this weekend that I looked into using GRI for. You upload your photos to PLE and then access the GRI site to sell prints directly to the client. For a large event, it's a great opportunity to not have to deal with small print orders. GRI charges for the lab print and a percentage for credit card processing. That's it, they print and ship the order to your client and then they pay you!

I'm thrilled with PLE and will be using them for all my print orders. I've been testing out a few other labs for press printed products and other unique products for my clients.

Retouching Services from Retouchup.com

2010-09-19T15:38:00.002-04:00

I recently had a client that wore her glasses to a session and preferred that she wore them for all the photos. Not only did I have to deal with glare but also distortion of the face where the glasses were. I feel that I'm pretty advanced in Photoshop, but editing this session felt overwhelming. I shot the session on Saturday and was leaving for vacation on Monday and would be losing a whole week of being able to edit her images. On the recommendation from other photographers I decided to try Retouchup.com and I'm happy that I did! Not only did they fix the glare but they also fixed the facial distortion behind the glasses and retouched the skin as well as stray hairs. Below is an example of the fixes they did to my RAW image. I sent in two images for retouching and I'm thrilled with their services. I'll be editing the rest of the session myself for proofing and any images that the client decides to purchase will be sent to Retouchup.com to remove glare and fix distortion.

The prices at Retouchup.com are really good: $2.50 - $10 an image depending on how much and what type of retouches you are in need of. My images were retouched and sent back to me for approval within 24 hours of submitting them as well. Even better - the first 10 retouches are free when you sign up for a new account. And those 10 free images can be any type of retouching from basic to extreme. I'm really happy with the results they produced and when an edit seems a little too time consuming for myself, I'll be sending my files to Retouchup.com!

Images for a Cure 2010

2010-09-08T10:55:00.005-04:00

Registration is currently open to be a participating photographer for the 2010 Images for a Cure (IFAC). If you participated in last year's event, you'll notice that the logo had a cute upgrade and Kristen and her team are working on a brand new website for this year as well. Last year 239 photographers in 44 states and 3 different countries raised $12,900 for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. If you're new to this great cause, IFAC lets you determine any special pricing, themes and session date(s) and only ask that your session fee is donated. Your client donates directly through the IFAC website to "pay" their session fee. If you're interested in learning more you can read the Photographer Media Kit here: imagesforacure.com/register/ and be sure to follow Images for a Cure on Twitter @imagesforacure and Facebook facebook.com/imagesforacure.

Protest New 1099 Requirements!

2010-08-31T13:16:00.002-04:00

I just saw this on the ASMP website and wanted to pass along the link. There are new provisions in the healthcare reform bill and long story short: they will be requiring to send a 1099 to every vendor that you spend more than $600 with. If spend more than $600 with WHCC, YOU have to send them a 1099. If you spend more than $600 with OfficeMax on office supplies, YOU have to send them a 1099. Who has time for all that extra bookeeping? Not me! Here's the link to ASMP's post http://www.asmp.org/strictlybusiness/2010/08/help-asmp-protest-new-1099-requirements/ and below is the sample letter you can make edits to to send out to let the IRS know you don't want to see this happen.

(SAMPLE EMAIL)

TO: Notice.comments@irscounsel.treas.gov

RE: Notice 2010-51

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am a professional photographer and a small business person. I have virtually no administrative staff to handle my record-keeping and reporting responsibilities. The new requirement under Section 6041 of the Internal Revenue Code would place impossible burdens on me. The exemption for credit card transactions was a great step toward reducing the impact of this change in the tax code. Unfortunately, it does not go far enough.

I often pay for computer and camera equipment, studio and equipment rentals, catering services, and other items by check or cash. Those expenditures often total more than $600 per vendor in any given year. Having to keep separate track of each of these items — and then to issue Form 1099’s to each vendor — would simply take more time than I have as the owner of a very small business operation, and it would require back office support that I do not have and cannot afford.

Please change the requirements so that they apply only to larger business entities, such as persons or entities that employ more than 25 people.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

Inexpensive Email Tracking

2010-08-24T10:38:00.004-04:00

I've had some email issues lately. One client I email with frequently called me to say a few of my emails had ended up in her spam folder. Also my online galleries are limited to 7-days — I wanted to be 100% sure clients were getting all the info and receiving any answers to questions during the live gallery. I decided to find something that would let me know when my emails were read. I came across ReadNotify and decided to give it a try especially since they have a free trial period or 2 weeks or 25 emails. They offer a plugin for the tracking, but I'm on a Mac and the plugin is for the PC, so I haven't had any experience with that option. But, there is a manual tracking option that is easy to use. You just add .readnotify.com to the end of the email address. I was notified when the email was opened by the receiver. So easy! And there is also an online personal tracking page that shows the date, recipient, subject and when the email was opened. There are a few other bells and whistles ReadNotify offers that I haven't tried out yet.

I opted for the 1-year basic subscription. For $24 I can track 2000 emails. There is also a monthly option for $3.99 and a premium for $36. The basic subscription works best for me. I won't be tracking every email I send, but I will track anything that has time sensitive information that I want to make sure clients read. If you're looking for an option to track some of your emails, I think this is a great product. Sign-up for the free trial at ReadNotify and try it out for yourself!

PhotoVision - Learning from Home

2010-07-29T13:35:00.003-04:00

I've been feeling somewhat under the weather lately and have been spending a lot of time camped out on the couch. In hopes to be somewhat productive, I've finally had a chance to watch (and re-watch) a bunch of my PhotoVision DVDs that had been piling up. I think in the last few weeks I've watched every episide from 2010 that I have so far. It's been a great mix of shooting techniques, marketing ideas and inspiration in general. I'm totally in love with Julie Klassmeyer's natural light studio and her giant, revolving set display which was beyond cool! And I also enjoyed watching Gary Box pose his seniors with my senior season to be in full swing shortly. I raved about PhotoVision about this time last year while watching the 2009 series that you can read about here.

PhotoVision is offering a nice promo code for the 2010 series: $39 instead of $149 using the promo code: PFAN. So if you're not watching photovision yet, you might just watned to check out this great deal to find some inspiration!

Portrait Sales Are Up!

2010-06-17T10:09:00.004-04:00

I just had a few orders placed within the last month and I noticed a trend - my average sale is higher than last year by about 30%. I'm crediting it to three things. #1 taking credit cards (see my post here about trying to find a credit card vendor), #2 using the Easy As Pie Guide to adjust my pricing (see this post for more details and a coupon code) and #3 simplicity. I've tinkered with my pricing quite a bit this year and I'm still not as high as Alicia suggests, but my packages and products are all higher than last year.

I believe the combination of the pricing and credit cards have bumped my sales. I'm still doing online sales, so that hasn't changed. Too keep things simple, I've really stripped down what I offer to clients and only products I enjoy working on are in the mix. An example is albums, I hate peel and stick albums, while they are beautiful, they totally stress me out. Being a designer as well, I'm super picky when it comes to lining things up and those peel and sticks were never perfect. I got to the point where I would cringe at the thought of assembling one. So, I said goodbye to them and hello to slip-ins. I found two different slip-ins that I love and now I don't cringe when a client orders an album. I no longer offer photo jewelry and my pricing doesn't include every size print known to man. Too many choices just confuse the client. If they have a special request, I'm happy to send them pricing for that odd frame size they want to fill.

My busy season last year was end of summer and fall. I'll be interested to see how these changes stand up to last year when I'm booking high school seniors and family portraits for the holidays. I'm very happy with the changes I've made over the last few months. Next on my list is in-person sales, but I that is going to have to wait a little longer with my full time job taking up so much of my time. I can easily see my sales jumping even higher with the chance to really sit down and work with clients to pick artwork for their walls.

Are You Accepting Credit Cards?

2010-05-12T11:25:00.004-04:00

I finally decided to "cave" and start taking credit cards this year. Previously I was cash, check or paypal. I had a customer last year that didn't have the cash, refused to use paypal and was left with option of a check and wasn't thrilled about that either. While the sale was a good one, I wondered if she had the option to pay with a charge card if she would have spent more. Personally, we no longer use credit cards in my family, but I know a lot of my clients do. And when I used to use credit cards, I would always come home from the mall with many more purchases than I originally planned on buying!

So, are you getting the sales that you could?? I do 95% of my sales via my Photo Cart, since with my full time job I just don't have the time to meet every client in person. After talking with fellow photographers, I knew that charge cards were the next step in increasing my online sales. I'm still offering paypal payments to clients, which some are using, but a lot are migrating towards the ease of paying with credit cards.

After much research I decided to go with NobelPay. Chris at NobelPay worked with me to find the right plan that worked for my online needs and offered me a great price on my monthly payments as well. The customer service with NobelPay has been great. Anytime I have any questions or problems, Chris is fast to respond and if he doesn't have the answer, he finds someone who does.

While it's only been a short period of time since I started taking credit cards, it was definitely the right move for this stage of my business. More and more people are having issues with paypal and I don't want my clients to be forced into using something that they are unsure about. If you're currently not taking credit cards, think about the potential added sales you could see from making the small change!

Congratulations to the LolliPockit Winner!

2010-05-07T11:56:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Misty who won the LolliPockit Gift Certificate! Misty, I'll have Stacey get in touch with you soon!! And thanks to everyone that has participated! I have a lot of various reviews coming up over the next few weeks. May is a crazy, busy month for me both personally and professionally so I'll try to get those posted soon!

Meet Stacey of LolliPockits & A Giveaway!!

2010-04-28T12:33:00.020-04:00

I found Stacey Severt of Wild Hearts Photography on Twitter a few months back. Stacey is a child and lifestyle portrait photographer in the Youngstown, Ohio area, which actually my hometown. I've been following her on Twitter for and we chat about photography, our horrible allergies and the gloominess of this year's winter in Ohio.

I'm always in awe of people who are crafty, because even though I have a fine arts degree, when it comes to making things with my hands, well let's just say it's pretty embarrassing! Stacey had started making these adorable slipcovers for the mini albums she offered to clients. Stacey told me that she created the first LolliPockit for clients when they carried the albums in their purses so the covers wouldn't get scratched or the pages bent. Plus, her clients loved the extra attention to detail and the fact that she was willing to go a bit beyond what other photographers offer.

Her LolliPockits project has expanded into a few other different products. The Album Pockit, which is made to fit any full size book-style album; Pockit totes for carrying samples and paperwork out and about; and the coolest thing I've seen in a long time the The Noodle Nest Blanket. If I photographed newborns I would definitely pickup this blanket!! Stacey also has a few other products in the works including Custom Canvas Pockits for delivery of canvas prints, camera strap covers, notebook covers and also a line of hand-crocheted baby hats (which are being made by her mother). Stacey offers certain fabrics at her store, but she's willing to custom match fabrics for album needs or photographer's branding colors, that's an added bonus! Stop by her online shop at www.LolliPockits.com to check out everything she's offering. She also announces giveaways, sales and promotions on her Facebook page first at www.facebook.com/lollipockits.

I normally review the products before I start talking about them on my blog, but Stacey is great and I've only heard wonderful feedback about her products. I'll be picking up a few items from her online store in the next few weeks for my clients. So why am I talking about LolliPockits before I've even tried them? Well Stacey has been kind enough to offer a $10 gift certificate to one of my lucky readers ~ that way you can also try out her goodies too!!

So, here's what you need to do to enter —
Post the following to your blog, Facebook page or Twitter account:
Photographers be sure to enter to win a LolliPockits Gift Certificate from www.lollipockits.com & @WildHeartsPhoto http://bit.ly/9PX993

Post the URL(s) to your link(s) in the comment section of this post only. Comments must be posted by 11:59 a.m. EST on Thursday, May 6th.

You are allowed one entry for your blog, one for your Facebook account and one for your Twitter account. So you have 3 chances to win if you post to all 3 places. All three accounts must be public for me to verify that you did actually post, private pages will be disqualified. Winner will be selected randomly on Thursday May 6th.

Wildfire App for Facebook Contests

2010-04-23T14:18:00.004-04:00

I decided to again this year offer a Fresh Faces contest for kids. I've seen a lot of other photographers offering contests on their Facebook business pages. After some research, I realized that Facebook has a lot of guidelines in place if you want to run a contest within the site. There have been photographers who have had their pages suspended because they didn't follow the guidelines. I didn't want to get my account suspended, so I was on a mission to find another way to conduct my contest and not break the rules. (Read more about their guidelines here: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php)

Enter Wildfire - a third-party application that manages contests and promotions that are web-based. I decided to test drive Wildfire for my contest. Depending on your personal needs, there are 4 versions of pricing. You pay a base price per contest or campaign then an additional dollar amount per day. I first planned on using the basic plan, but once I started creating the details of the contest I needed to upgrade to the standard version. The good thing about the app is you can start creating your contest in basic form and if you want to make changes, it lets you know the difference in pricing before you pay.

I did have some issues with entries being incomplete because people were having issues uploading their photos. Since this was a photo contest, it was a big deal. I contacted the Wildfire customer service - they responded promptly, tested my contest and said everything was working fine. I continued to have incomplete entries, so at that point I had people email me all their information and child's photo and I uploaded them myself. Extra work, that's for sure. The other snag I hit was that people could only enter the contest once, so if they had multiple children they had to pick one, I didn't like that idea so yet another reason why I was entering them myself.

I only gained a handful of new Facebook fans, so contestants weren't letting the application post on their Facebook wall that they had entered. I did have a few entries from California. People were somehow finding the contest but not reading the rules that the session would take place in Ohio. I was able to disqualify entries based on the fact they were more than 3 hrs away from me. I could have set the contest to be only Ohio entries, but I know a few folks that live out-of-state that come to Ohio often and wanted them to have the chance to participate as well.

I didn't love the Wildfire App and I didn't hate it. For me, it didn't do exactly what I wanted it to do for the budget I had to run the contest. It sounds like they are always looking for ways to update the application and make changes to suit users' needs, so maybe down the road it will work better for what I want it to do. If you're set on finding a workaround to running a Facebook contest, then this may work for you if you want to deal with the bumps in the process. I plan on running future contests on my blog, which is free!

A Bit of an Uproar in the Photography Community

2010-04-14T22:40:00.002-04:00

There's been some crazy blogging going on for the last few weeks. I stumbled upon a few different blogs that are talking about the state of workshops in the photography community. I'll give the links below so you can take from it what you want.

My thoughts: research before you hit the buy button. I've been lucky and most of the workshops/seminars I've attended have been wonderful and well worth the money. But I know people who attended the same event as I did and didn't feel the same way. Make sure you know what level is being tough at these workshops, beginner, intermediate, advanced. Who is the person teaching, how long have they been in business, are they just a internet success or a real life success? Before I spend more than $100, I Google anything I want to buy, heck sometimes I Google a $20 purchase before I buy. Seminars and workshops are great opportunities to take your craft to a whole new level, network and make new friends. I think continuing education is key no matter if your are a photographer or in another field. But remember, it's what you put into it as well. I know someone who did nothing but complain after a workshop we both attended - well if that person didn't spend half the day not in the room and not talking to one of the sponsor reps that was there, they may have learned something!

If you're not sure about a service or product before you buy, a great resource is the PhotogVendors website. There's review from photographers on there both good and bad. Can't find information there, then check out the various free and paid forums, post a question to the member if they've attended and how they felt about their experience. Personally, I've decided to stay away from negative reviews of the products that I use. Why? Some have just been poor decisions on my end, I didn't think my wants and needs though and hit the buy button, that is not the vendor's fault, but mine. Also, I have yet to work with a company that put such a bad taste in my mouth that I would want to publicly slam them. Now if someone asked me about a specific experience, I would tell them why things did or didn't work out in my opinion.

Here's the links that got me started on this subject. I've read through a lot of the comments and I'm taking them all with a grain of salt. Some people are just out to sling mud at other photographers, which I don't agree with. But I think this is a great topic for everyone to be involved in, if you're speaking from the heart and for the right reasons.

Gary Fong: The Crowd Is Rioting
True Photo Talk - Truth in our Industry

A Comparison on Two SEO Guides

2010-04-14T22:23:00.004-04:00

So here I am again, talking about SEO. A few of my fellow photographers have been using the Photographer's SEOBook from Zach Prez, so I decided to pick up a copy to compare to the SEO School ebook from Naomi Dunford of www.IttyBiz.com. Both ebooks cost the same at $39.

One of the main differences between these two ebooks is that Zach targets photographers only while Naomi's readers are small business owners. A few things that Naomi does: she gives you a lot of info on how Google works and how to figure out what type of site you are. She also gives a wealth of information on how to check your competitions' rankings and how they've set-up their SEO. Zach goes about things a bit differently, giving a brief overview of Google and then very specific information on setting up your key phrases, basic coding for your splash page and suggestions on where to find links. Both books review linking, anchor text and blogs.

If you know enough about coding to make you almost dangerous, then Naomi's ebook may be a better bet for you. She doesn't spell out do xyz, but gives you enough information to get started. Personally, I'm into more details on how the SEO process works and all that nerdy stuff, so I was digging the extra details about figuring out what type of site you are and other goodies like long tail searches. I really enjoyed the section in Naomi's book on checking out what your competitors do and how to "beat" them. I realized that not a lot of my competitors were implementing Naomi's suggestions, so I hope that I can quickly gain a better Google ranking by making some minor tweaks that they aren't using. If you have no clue about html code and you want a basic how to start the SEO process then you're better off to go with Zach's ebook because he tells you how to set up code for your site and where to place it. There's even a generic piece of code in Zach's ebook for your splash page, you just have to change the info for your area and speciality.

I started with Naomi's info and saw some great changes in my page rank on Google. A few of the photography-specific tips Zach suggested have also made their way into my SEO process and I've already seen a little more of a bump in my rankings as well. Is one book better than the other? Probably not, different users with different needs. If you're looking to learn tons details for for your SEO than I would suggest getting both books. If you want a quick, easy way to start than go with Zach (especially if you are only optimizing for photography) and if you want to learn more in-depth and know some html than go with Naomi's book (and if you aren't a photography business).

SEO is a huge tool for photographers in getting their name out there and finding new clients. But, remember that SEO isn't the only marketing option you have. Word of mouth is one of the best things to do to gain more business. People love using a product or service that their friends have high praise for. And there's a lot of other ways to market yourself as well. Since I still work a full time job and shoot on weekends, my time is somewhat limited in what I can do to market my business, right now SEO is key for me. Hopefully, photography will be my bread and butter job soon and I can really start focusing on getting out in the community more, networking and having displays in other businesses. Until that time comes, I'm making the most out of the internet, social networking and Google to bring in more leads.

NAPP Sponsored Adobe Photoshop Seminar

2010-04-13T23:27:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity yesterday to attend the NAPP/Kelby Training Maximum Photoshop Seminar with Dave Cross. This was my 4th Photoshop seminar I attended since joining NAPP in 2004 early in my career as a graphic designer. In one day, they Dave crammed in enough information to make my head spin. I have a strong background in Photoshop, I've been using it professionally as a designer since 2000 and as a photographer for the last 3 years. But the one thing about Photoshop is that no matter how you get to the end result, there are at least 3 if not 10 ways to do it and typically my way isn't the quickest, fastest or easiest!!

I attended the seminar with two fellow graphic designers and we all walked away with some new ideas and ways to accomplish things. We all agreeded that no matter if you're a photographer, graphic designer or web designer there was something in this class for everyone. And for $99 ($79 for NAPP members) it is a great deal. Currently I'm working on CS3 and the class was aimed towards CS4 users, but a lot of what Dave covered also works in CS3, which is nice that Adobe typically builds each newer version based on the previous. One of the great things is that they give you a workbook and disk with all the info that was covered that day, so if 2 months later you want to try something you learned it's easy to just reference the materials from the seminar.

Yesterday was Adobe's "official" release of CS5, so as a great bonus, Dave shared some of the new features of CS5 after the lunch break. I am completely in awe and without a doubt will be upgrading!

Of the 4 seminars I've attended I have to say that only one of them didn't do it for me. And not because the seminar was bad, it was just targeted more towards people who paint with Photoshop and that personally isn't something that I do. If you have the chance to check out one of these one day seminars, I highly suggest it. And if you're not a NAPP member yet, I also highly suggest joining! If you want to learn more about NAPP, check out my blog post here. Although in my original post, I believe there was a bonus for joining that isn't currently avilable since the post is from '08. But no matter what the offer is, it's $99 well spent for the membership or a seminar!

CS5 Is Coming to a Computer Near You!

2010-03-26T19:31:00.004-04:00

Have you heard? Adobe will be launching Creative Suite 5 on April 12th! I'm currently running CS3 and held off on upgrading to CS4, but after seeing the Demo for the new Content-Aware feature, I'll be for sure upgrading. If you've missed the demo, you can check out the first YouTube clip I saw

Here's another video from the 20th Anniversary event that also shows the Content Aware Fill.

So what's the launch? Well, Adobe will be introducing the new CS to the world but it won't be on sale till possibly Fall of 2010, which in keeping with the release of CS4 that would be exactly two years since it hit the market. Adobe typically has a 18-24 month release cycle on new versions.

I'm looking forward to seeing more sneak peeks of that CS5 has to offer over the next few months. And you can bet I'll be saving my pennies up for this release for sure!

UPDATE: Scratch that Fall 2010 release date. Adobe is doing pre-orders now and will ship mid to late May!!

A Good Read

2010-03-22T11:40:00.002-04:00

I was just catching up on emails and read a great a great feature in John Mireles' latest e-newsletter. Stop Complaining, Embrace Change! John takes the info from the book Who Moved My Cheese and compared it to all the changes going on in the photography world. If you have a few minutes, stop over and read it. It's a good refresher for us to continue to evolve and move forward with our businesses!

Think Before You Buy!

2010-03-18T12:03:00.002-04:00

There are so many options out there for photographers - posing books, forms, templates, marketing kits, website add-ons, it's a huge market. Well, I didn't think before I purchased something and I'm now kicking myself. I picked-up an add-on to my website for just under $200 last year. It took me all year to figure out what I wanted to do with it, so because of my slowness I just had the supplier start the project a few weeks ago. I'm not going to go into all the details because it's not their fault I didn't pay attention, but I wasn't exactly sure what I was buying, didn't ask questions and guess what, I could have done it on my own!! I by no means am a web designer, but I did take web classes in college while working on my BFA, so I do have a clue and I've been playing a lot with coding lately while tweaking my SEO. I think I was just kidding myself in the whole process that I couldn't do it, even though I didn't know exactly what it was. So just a reminder to everyone to think about what you're buying before you buy it. Now, I'm not saying spend months on something and spin your wheels before you realize you can't do it. Then you're just wasting your time which is money.

Ask yourself the following questions before you hit the buy button. It makes me sick to know I spent money that I didn't have to, but it falls under the live and learn category!

• Is it something you can do, research or learn on your own (of course with help of the trusty internet!)? I didn't know exactly how to create this add-on, but after a little bit of research found all the answers on the internet, in less than a day.

• Do you have the time to do it? My sessions don't start up again for two more weeks, I could have been working on this in the winter.

• How much time can you spend on it? If you start out thinking it will take 2 hrs and it takes 40 hrs is it worth it to not spend the cash? That's your call depending on how much down time you really have and when you need it buy.

• Does your business really benefit from this product or service? Just because all the other photographers are buying it, doesn't mean you need to too. Will you learn something? Will it save you time later on in the year? Or do you just have a case of I want what the cool kids have.

• Do you have what you need to create it correctly? In my case I already purchased all the software and plugins that I needed. I emphasise the word correctly because in the case of logo design you should always have logos created as a piece of vector art then changed to jpeg or tiff format. A lot of people design logos in photoshop and when they need a vector file down the road, they don't have one and it may cost them time, money or both. If seen this happen a lot!

Just a reminder that you don't NEED everything out there, even though you may WANT it all. There are tons of fantastic products out there to save us time, save money and increase our client base, be sure to do your own research before you hit the buy button to make sure it's worth the cost to your business!

The "Cost" of Custom Photography

2010-03-06T20:46:00.003-05:00

How many times have you heard you charge WHAT for an 8x10? I know, I hear it too. There's a great article that I have posted on my blog from Marianne Drenthe that helps to educate clients on what custom photography is and what all goes into the 8x10 print that costs a lot more than their glossy print at the local drug store. Marianne welcomes professional photographers to take experts from her articles to post on their websites and share with clients with of course the proper credit to Marianne for writing. If you'd like to read more, you can find all the details at the Professional Child Photographer website!

How to Make Twitter Work for Your Photography Business

2010-03-02T11:31:00.005-05:00

I'm obsessed with social media, probably more than I should be. But it's also part of my day job, so I take in as much as I can learn about the subject. I Google everything, I no longer own a phone book because if I need to find something I just go online. As time goes on I believe more and more people will get most of their information via the web be it Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Now, I also believe that positive word of mouth is huge too, so don't think that I put all my eggs in the social media basket, but I do believe it helps.

I signed up for my Twitter account 6 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes, 9 seconds ago. And in that time I've Tweeted just over 1,100 times. I talk about everything, not just my photography business. I'm currently doing Biggest Loser at my day job and Tuesday mornings you can check my page and see what I weigh in at (I know, bold move). I talk about meeting up with other people I'm friends with on Twitter, the weather, sports, and just life in general. I think to talk solely about your business is missing out on a big part of the Twitter experience. I've gained some cool local followers who also own small businesses, met some great photographers who live on the other side of the country or world for that matter and get my daily dish on the celebrities I follow. I get the chance to learn about new sales and promotions from the vendors I use and also read new blog posts from marketing gurus I follow.

I'm currently looking for some dog models for a pet photography project I would like to do in the spring. I've already photographed most of my friend's dogs and wanted to meet some new pups and people. I created a blog post about what I was looking for and how to apply, then I Tweeted about it. One of the local pet groomers saw my Tweet and re-tweeted it to their followers. In turn, I had 3 local people send in their information! So for my 10-15 minutes to write the blog post and link it to Twitter I made contact with 3 people who didn't know about me prior. And best of all, I didn't have to spend a dime on marketing my project. I think 3 new local connections is a big deal. These people may or may not participate in my project, but they now will think of me if anyone they know is interested in pet photography.

So, if you're not on Twitter (or Facebook or LinkedIn for that matter) I think you should take the time and set-up an account. But, just like anything on the internet, make sure you only allow x amount of time a day or week for social networking. I've been caught in the trap a many of times that I plan on sitting down and working on something and end up on Facebook or Twitter for the entire evening.

If you do jump into Twitter, make sure you follow me and say hello! My Twitter page is http://twitter.com/DanielleNeil.

And if you're totally confused about Twitter, Mashable has a great Twitter Guide Book that will give you the basics and more on building your Twitter page and all the do's and don'ts. The Mashable Guide Book is completely free and has tons of useful information! Happy Tweeting!!

The OneLight Workshop

2010-02-06T18:07:00.002-05:00

I had the chance to attend the OneLight workshop with Zack Arias's this past Thursday. It was a great learning experience. I typically am a natural light photographer and while I learned lighting in college, I rarely use it. Zack explains everything as simple as possible and shows you how it's done.

On Wednesday night there was a mixer open to the local photography community that I attended. It was great to me some other local photographers who were not participating in the workshop. We got the chance to talk with Zack and also learn a little more about his background.

Thursday's workshop started at 9:30 am and went past midnight! But, we all knew we were looking at a long day before we even started. The first half of the day Zack shared his knowledge, reviewed the basics of lighting with off camera flash and gave us suggestions for the gear to get the job done. The best part, Zack is totally into staying out of debt and has come up with extremely inexpensive options for working with off camera flash. Later in the afternoon we broke into 3 small groups and worked with our models to see what different types of looks we could achieve with our one light setup. God bless our models, we made our way outside into the Ohio cold as the sun was setting to work more with the one light setup. Once back inside, Zack reviewed any problems we were having and broke it down even further for us.

If you've thought about using off camera flash or working with one light and you haven't in the past, this class is a must. If you're like me and you know about lighting, but you just aren't sure how to use it when you're photographing on location, it's a must for you too. There was a variety of photographers at this workshop - about half wedding and the other half portrait. The skill levels and knowledge varied a bit from photographer to photographer. I think most of the class was extremely pleased with what they learned. The class was $800 and I thought it was worth every penny I paid. Just keep in mind that this isn't going to answer all your lighting questions and I know I have to continue to work on my off camera flash lighting to make it work best for my clients and their needs. But OneLight has been a great springboard for me to push myself into a different aspect of working with light and continuing my education!

Always Great Customer Service at Portfoliositez!

2010-02-02T11:50:00.006-05:00

I love, love, love the gang at Portfoliositez.com! I just upgraded to their new Jackson template and it's so cool!! There are so many advanced settings I haven't even gotten into half of them! I have to admit, I was getting pretty bored with my previous template, Dorthea. It worked, did it's job but I needed some freshening up on my site. I have been following Portfoliositez on Twitter and saw before the holidays that they were planning on a few new templates after the first of the year. The day Jackson was released, I signed up!

These guys are great. I purchased the upgrade on Friday and they had it posted to my site by Tuesday. I hit a few snags, probably more user error than anything else, and my support tickets were answered within 24 hrs (even on the weekend I got answers!). Every problem I had they had a solution or they checked and made the back-end fix for me. So in just over a week I was able to go live with the new site. It would have been quicker, but I was dragging my feet on re-sizing images for the galleries.

Some things I love about this new template - bigger photos!!! My last template the photos were what seemed like half the size of the new template. Plus this template re sizes based on the width of the viewer's monitor. So if they've got a giant screen - it fits, if they have a tiny laptop, it fits! You can directly link to each page in the flash website - which is fantastic if I'm blogging about something and what to direct my readers directly to that gallery! There is also a video option which I haven't had the chance to use yet. They also include a shopping cart, but since I already use PhotoCart and I'm happy with it, I can't give you details on the cart. With all the updated features and options I'm also hoping that the Jackson template will improve my SEO as well.

I HIGHLY suggest Portfoliositez for website templates. In the over two years I've been with them and the three template changes I've never had any problems and their CS is top notch! Be sure to check them out, they will be releasing more new templates in the next few weeks. Best part, when you become a customer, it's very inexpensive to change templates if a new one comes out that you love more than your current!!

Full Disclosure: commission on sale via my link.

Follow-up on SEO School

2010-01-23T14:01:00.005-05:00

I really didn't expect to see any results so quickly from using the tips in the SEO School, but I have already in just a few weeks! If you didn't read my initial post about the ebook, check it out here. I redesigned my splash page using her suggestions for keywords, did some minor tweaking on my blog and splash page and I'm seeing a difference already!

I use WebsiteGrader.com as a very rough estimate of where my website ranks. I do not believe the Grader is 100% accurate but I do think it does help to show when you've made changes that are effective. I was in the low 60's prior to making the changes suggested in the SEO School, I'm now at an 84! But there are tons of ways to see how your page ranks, and while mine is still pretty low on the list. I have seen an improvement using the various free SEO checker programs out there. I'm still not ranking on the first three pages of Google for Columbus Ohio Photographer, but when I Google some of the suburbs that I work with I'm on page two and three, so I'm getting closer.

I'll continue to track the changes on my website over the next few months. There's a lot that I have changed that has yet to show results, but I have a feeling they are coming. I just ordered a template change of my current website. The new version from the girls over at Portfoliositez has improved SEO features, along with a few other cool upgrades. I can't wait to see the difference that will make as well. Once I get my new site up and running, I'll be sure to let everyone know about that as well.

Images For A Cure 2010

2010-01-17T13:50:00.001-05:00

If you're not familiar with Images For A Cure, it's a great program! On October 11, 2009 – a collection of photographers donated their time and session fees to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. I found out about the program from a mutual friend of mine and the founder, Orlando Photographer Kristen Weaver. When I contacted Kristen about participating in the '09 event, we realized we went to the same high school, such a small world! Kristen had a great turnout for the event in 2009 and I can only expect bigger and better things this year!

If you're interested in learning more about the program, registration for the 2010 Images For A Cure is coming soon. Use this link http://www.imagesforacure.com/participate/ to sign up for the email list and you'll be notified when registration starts. And if you're on Twitter, follow Kristen at @KristenWeaver.

ProPhoto Blog Theme - Version 3 Is Here!

2010-01-15T23:07:00.005-05:00

I'm currently on version 2 of the ProPhoto Blog theme, but version 3 has been released! I'm holding out for a bit till I get a little more money in, but I'm pretty sure I'll be upgrading soon.

There's a huge list of new features available in this upgrade. The biggest new feature is the gallery slideshows. A huge feature is also the watermark overlay, you can add your custom watermark over any posted photograph with one click. They've also included new features with sidebars, widgets, social media icons and RSS feed image protection. There are tons of other great new additions and changes, too many to list here.

If you're new to ProPhoto, the Do It Yourself Package is $199 (this is the option I picked when I purchased) and the Handheld Installation is $279. If you're upgrading from version 2 of ProPhoto it's $89. Looking for a discount code for the theme? Use at DANNE232B checkout for an additional $10 off your purchase!

Full Disclosure: commission on ProPhoto Themes sold via coupon code.

Full Disclosure

2010-01-15T10:48:00.006-05:00

Starting December 1st, 2009 the FTC requires bloggers to provide disclosure when there could be hidden interest or bias when talking about product recommendations. First of all I'm a photographer and this blog is far from my income in life (that's why I still work a day job too!).

Yes, sometimes I get freebies from people when I want to try out their products. Joyce Smith has been a peach and lets me try out her Wordsmith guides for free. But Joyce never has asked that I give her a good review, I do because her products rock my socks off! Alicia Caine gave me nothing for free and I spent full price on her products from the Easy As Pie series, but she's another one that rocks my socks off so I asked her to share a coupon code with my readers. Not really a benefit to me, but it sure is for my readers.

So I've decided to make it easy for everyone and note at the bottom of each review if there is a possibility of me receiving money or if I've received a free sample from someone. If there's nothing in the post, then I don't receive anything from that I don't want the FTC coming after me!

Best and Worst Purchase of '09

2010-01-12T11:17:00.003-05:00

As I've been getting 2009 paperwork in order I realized that I've made some great and some horrible purchases over the last year. Now, I try not to do bad reviews because, well some things just don't work for some people! So what I might not like, you might fall in love with. And of course, what I love you may hate. But I thought this was a good time to go through my best and worst. I now try to find reviews and ask other photographers about any big purchases, because who wants to keep throwing money out the window. So lately, most of my purchases have been on the good end. Grab a cup of coffee, there's a bit of info in this post! Let's start with the best:

Best Purchases of '09
• Wacom Tablet - You would think that being a graphic designer for 10 years I would have already owned one, but I didn't. I picked this up in '08 but didn't take it out of the box for months, so we'll call it a '09 purchase. After forcing myself to use it for a few weeks now I can't live without it! I currently have the Intuos3 4x6" Tablet. I figure smaller was better when I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep it. I'll be upgrading to a larger model hopefully this year.

• Blackberry Curve - Not sure why I waited so long to pick one of these up! Now, I really wanted an iPhone, but since I'm on the Verizon network that was not an option. I finally caved an got the Blackberry Curve. If you're dealing with clients I think you really should have a Smart Phone. I love that no matter where I am I can receive client emails and get back to them as soon as possible. I also love that I no longer have to carry around a paper calendar for scheduling session or life for that matter. I've got everything sync'ed to my Mac, so if something happens to either, I have it in another place.

• Insurance - After reading tons of stories on the twitter and blogs about all the bad things that have happened this year to other photographers, insurance is a must!! If you don't have your gear insured, do it immediately!! So many people have lost gear due to fires, water damage and theft and they didn't have any insurance. If you charge people for your services, please, please, please make sure you have liability and equipment coverage!

• MobileMe - I recently wrote about MobileMe here, check it out for details on how I backup my client files.

• Joyce Smith's WordSmith Guides - I'm not a write, nor do I even pretend that I'm a writer. That's why I love all of Joyce's guides. I've talked a lot about her products in the past you can find out about the Senior Pricing Menu template and {what to wear} seniors guide here, how to sell guide here, and the {what to wear} guide here.

• Easy As Pie - Thanks to Alicia Caine, I've got a clue now. I talk more about Easy As Pie here, so take a look. I just finished my 2010 pricing and I love how simple it now is. My clients actually understand my pricing now! If you're struggling with pricing yourself correctly, this is a must! Be sure you read the entire post, Alicia just gave me a $20 coupon code to offer to my readers, it's at the end of my review here.

• Education - I think education is a must! No matter what level photographer you are, you can always learn more! I talk more about the Unleashed Pet Photography Workshop that I attended in 2009 here. I'm currently kicking myself for not attending this year's Imaging USA from PPA. After seeing all the rave reviews and great time that everyone is having on Twitter and Facebook, it's going to be a must for me in 2011. I also think forums can be extremely helpful in building your knowledge base. I also believe sometimes they can be time wasters as well. As long as you don't get sucked into hanging out all day long on the forums, you should be fine!

The not so hot purchases of '09:
• Props - I was a bit out of control this year with props for session. I was on a newborn kick and bought tons of hats, blankets and other items. Guess what, I decided that newborns aren't my thing and don't plan on photographing them again! Luckily, I found other photographers who were more than happy to take those props off my hands. The bad news, I lost a bit of money on them when I re-sold the props. From now on I'm going to give myself a yearly prop budget and stick with it. It needs to be a must have instead of just because it's cute!

• Random Forms - When you're starting out you just aren't sure what you need, believe me, I totally overspend in this area. I purchased form after form from other photographers. Portrait contracts, other contracts and lots of forms. Too many forms in my option! Guess what, Business and Legal Forms for Photographers has pretty much everything you need in it. Go figure there's a book out there with all the forms you need AND it comes with a CD of the forms so you don't have to re-create them. So much for me spending over $100 on forms from other photographers, I got the Business and Legal Forms book for under $25.

• Samples - Last year I wanted to do it all and sell it all. My bank account took a huge hit with samples. Now granted, you need to have samples to show clients for them to want to buy, but keep what you offer simple. I spent upwards of a thousand dollars on various album, canvas and boutique item samples. This year, with my revised pricing, I'm not even planning on offering half the items I have samples for. And those items that I'm not offering, didn't even sell last year. Make sure when you're getting samples of products you plan on offering them to your clients! Be sure to check out various trade shows and conventions to see the items in person before you consider ordering them!

• Softboxes - With being on-location and not having a studio, I really plan on focusing on learning more about Off Camera Flash (OFC) this year. And, I wanted a great softbox to use for my OFC work. I'm currently on softbox number 3! The first one was inexpensive, but it did the job. I decided to upgrade to a softbox that other photographers rave about. It was close to $300 ... and I hated it. It was cumbersome and a total pain while I was out at sessions. I parted with softbox #2 and have moved on to #3. The current softbox was less expensive than #2, and since it's a newer purchase, I haven't used it enough to say if I love it or hate it. I can tell you that it's much lighter and easier to assemble while out in the field, so that's definitely a bonus! Looking back, I wish I would have just gone down to the local camera store and checked some of these out in person before I continued to make purchase after purchase. I'll be trying it out over the next few weeks and let you guys know if #3 stays or goes!

So, some great purchases and some real money burners this year. Live and learn, right? I'm going to be overly cautious about my spending this year. It needs to be an absolute must have before I make the purchase.

Make sure to post in the comments below the best and worst that you've spent money on this year!

Full Disclosure: Samples received from WordSmith.

2010 Your Best Year Ever

2010-01-12T11:07:00.001-05:00

Going through my emails from the last few days and I came across this one from Sarah Petty 's Joy of Marketing and thought I would share. Great advice as usual from Sarah!!

Here are 5 Resolutions to Make 2010 Your Best Year Ever....

1. Live your dream. To live your dream and do what you want, you need to have a plan. When you wake up 12 months from now, will you be living the lifestyle you want? To be able to live your dream, you must have a good map. Would you head to Florida on a vacation without a map? Not if you want to get there the most efficient way as possible. Sure, you'd start by heading South, but you may get disoriented with road construction and begin traveling West. If you don't have a map or even worse, don't look at it, there's a good chance you'll end 2010 in Montana. A plan keeps you focused on your end goal.

2. Be good to others. My favorite saying from Zig Ziglar is that by helping others get what they want, you will get what you want. So figure out how you can work with another business to grow their business and in return, you will prosper.

3. Set limits. Do you ever feel like you are working ALL THE TIME? Brian Tracy, internationally acclaimed speaker and educator says to give yourself time to heal, like you would a wound. If you are hopping on your computer all weekend working a little here and there, it is like picking at a wound. He recommends having a 36 hour timeframe EACH WEEK where you don't work. That is how your engine recharges. I'm just as guilty at this, but am going to work on this in 2010.

4. Invest in yourself. The smartest way out of most difficult situations is education. Find a way to constantly educate yourself on the areas you need help. Because many of us are artists, the business side is scary and can be overwhelming. The way to take the fear away is to learn the answers. They are out there. Trust me!

5. Eliminate obstacles. Make a list of the things standing in your way of succeeding in small business ownership. Is it lack of funds? Lack of equipment? Lack of time? Lack of knowledge? By identifying the issues standing in your way, you are on your way to conquering your objectives!

Whether 2009 was a good, bad or an indifferent year for your business, resolve to make 2010 even better.

Off Site Storage & Backups for Your Files

2010-01-09T10:52:00.013-05:00

After seeing the people's house behind mine catch on fire one evening, I started thinking, what would ever happen if I lost my house. Or even just my computer or my backup drive? Then I realized I didn't have my files stored off site. I know a lot of folks burn two copies of their disks and store one on-site and one off. But I didn't have an off-site location to store mine. I decided to created backups of everything to date and when I went to visit my family over the holidays, I left my duplicate DVDs with my mom, 3 hours away. Good plan to start, but what if my system went down and I needed something sooner rather than later? So I began the search for an online backup to use as well. I'm on a Mac and needed something that would work well with Mac, welcome to problem number one. Most of the online backups that were reasonably priced were made to work with Windows. I stumbled across MobileMe from Mac, easily syncs to my computer and I can back-up up to 20GB of files.

I've stored all of my client's purchased jpeg files, proofs and current working files on there. Clients know that there files are on record for one year, so the plan is every 4 months to clear out any files that are more than a year old. I will still have a DVD copy of any files over a year old at both my home and my mother's home, so no need to keep older files on MobileMe for more than a year. For $99 a year, you you get 20GB, not a bad deal at all. For an extra $49 a year you can store 40GB and 60GB for an additional $99. So if I get to the point where I know I'll be storing more than 20GB, I'll have additional options.

Hopefully I'll my system won't crash or my house destroyed by natural disaster, but just in case, it's nice to know that all my current client files, as well as my forms, actions and other purchased files are backed-up online as well.While MobileMe might not be the type of storage you're looking for, I highly suggest if you don't have a backup plan in process, get one now! You never know what could happen to your home or studio and of course computers and backup drives aren't perfect and may fail!

SEO for Photographers - Totally Over My Head!

2010-01-08T23:10:00.012-05:00

I've been on a mission for the last year to improve my Google rankings. Currently when I Google Columbus Ohio Photographer - there are 1,860,000 results. Yep, that's a lot of pages to be clicking though for clients to even come close to finding me!! I've done tons of research on SEO from better blogging to getting my splash page right. While I've learned a lot of information from my free (aka internet) research I knew I still missing out.

I was really, really tempted to pick up some new DVDs that are out there specifically for photographers. Till, *gasp* I realized they were over $1,000. What? I don't have that kind of money to improve my SEO! So, I passed on those. I'm sure they're great, but I'm also sure I don't want to spend that kind of money to find out!

So, I keep seeing this crazy Ninja SEO School icon when I'm on various blogs. Honestly, at first, I thought that it was just some lame paid for ad and who knows what silly ebook they were offering. Then I read a few reviews about it and thought what the heck, it's only $39. I can spend $39 way easier than $1,000+. So I ordered SEO School by Naomi Dinford of Itty Biz. This ebook is not for everyone! If you're offended by some profanity mixed in, then it's not for you. Naomi is pretty funny about it, but I wanted to make sure I warned you off the bat! Is this the be all end all of SEO? No. Will it help you to figure out what the heck to do. Yes.

Naomi does not say go to your wordpress or blogger blog go to xyz and do abc. So if you want a quick fix, keep on searching and if you find it, please call me asap and let me know! If it was that easy, we'd all be doing it! What she does do is explain how search engines work, Google in particular. There were some things that she talks about that I already knew, but there were other things I had no idea about. As I read the ebook I started making changes on my blog and website. Do I have results for you? Not yet, it's been too soon to see if the changes I made have worked. BUT from what I previously knew about SEO and how she explained everything, I'm pretty darn sure that it will help.

The SEO School - How to Become an SEO Ninja covers a few things: What search engines are looking for; how to find the right keywords for your business; the do's and don'ts of both optimizing your site and also optimizing links coming into your site; and a section for bloggers.

You do need to know how to do some minor tweaking to your site. If you're too scared to go into the back end of your blog or website or cannot update your own web template, then do not get this book. If you're fine with changing a few little things here and there (no major code writing involved) then I say go for it. This ebook is for any sort of business, so unlike a lot of other SEO tips and pointers for photographers, this is for anyone with a blog or website.

I've marked down where my blog and website were before I started making changes. I'll be tracking any improvements over the next few weeks and months and keeping everyone posted on how the SEO optimization is going for me!

Free E-book - The Boutique Experience

2010-01-04T08:56:00.005-05:00

Sarah Petty shared the below link to her new e-book, The Boutique Expereience. She and Erin Verbeck discuss what a boutique business is and how in this economy it's harder than ever to compete. I haven't read the e-book just yet, but knowing Sarah, there's probably tons of good info in it. To get the e-book, follow this link https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Join/signupId:66977/acctId:11781 and fill out your info to download.

The New Year Is Almost Here!

2009-12-31T11:08:00.009-05:00

I feel like I've been slacking lately with my posts. I'm looking forward to a very productive 2010 for my business. I plan on doing a lot of tweaking to my business model in January and February - finalizing my pricing based off of the Easy As Pie Guide, working in some new products and simplyfing the choices for my clients, making some small adjustments to my senior rep program. One of the most exciting things is working on an online client site - I'll be going paperless. I can't wait to share the online site with you guys once it's up and running!!

I'm counting down to February, I'll be attending the OneLight Workshop with Zack Arias. I am sooo excited that Zack is coming to Columbus, I won't even have to take a road trip for this workshop. I've heard many rave reviews of the OneLight Workshop and I'm pretty sure my mind will be exploding with information after spending the day with him. If you haven't heard of Zack, be sure to check out his OneLight website and also his website. He's an amazing photographer.

If you missed out on the Joy of Marketing Web Summit earlier this week, don't worry, for 8 hours on New Year's Day they'll be re-broadcasting for free!! Check it out over at www.thejoyofmarketing.com/websummitlive from noon till 8pm central time on January 1, 2010 to learn some great marketing ideas from Sarah Petty and her photography friends!

I hope everyone has had a safe and wonderful holiday season!! Check back to the blog often, I'll be keeping you all posted with the cool new products that I'm trying out again this year!!

Full Disclosure: commission on Joy of Marketing sold via my link.

Camera Bags That Make My Life Easy!

2009-12-07T22:38:00.017-05:00

Wow - I didn't realize it had been over a month since I've last posted!! I wanted to share my two favorite camera bags with my readers.

First is the Shootsac by Jessica Claire — I just love this bag!! I got my first Shootsac about a year and a half ago. It stayed in my storage closet for a few weeks before I decided to brave it for a session. I must say this bag rocked it for me!! I can throw quite a bit in this handy bag - lenses, memory cards, keys, my blackberry, a flash and if I'm not carrying too much, a bottled water. This great bag conforms to me when I'm running and crawling around for a session. I typically leave on the entire time! Shootsacs are made of neoprene (the material used in making wetsuits) and is super light. I just throw my must have gear in and I'm good to go for a session. The bag offers 6 pockets that are pretty roomy, I can even fit my 70-200 lens in there easily. A nice, long adjustable strap that I wear across my chest like a messenger bag and I'm set! And to make it ultra customizable, you can order from a large selection of different replaceable covers that Velcro in. Different styles and colors help to make the Shootsac customizable to your brand and sense of style.

Jessica also recently came out with the HipSlip - it's a Shootsac for your laptop! I don't currently own one because I have yet to cave to buying my own laptop. I know, sometimes it's like I live in the stone ages!!

The other bag I just can't live without is from ThinkTank and it's the Airport AirStream. I initially purchased this bag for my trip to Chicago for the Unleashed Pet Photography Workshop. I was in search of a small carry-on bag that would safely and comfortably hold my gear, yet wasn't screaming photo bag. After a lot of searching and reading reviews I thought that the AirStream would work for me. It was just small enough to fit as a carry-on for a regional jet flight, yet would hold a body, 70-200 lens plus some additional lenses and flashes. When I first got my AirStream I couldn't believe the quality, in the last 2-3 years I've had over 5 different camera bags, but I definitely noticed the better quality in this bag. This bag includes TSA combination locks, cables & locks to secure to a fixed object, an area for that laptop I still don't own and sturdy wheels for when I'm running across the airport. This bag came with a ton of Velcro inserts to adjust the available space to fit the needs of my gear, which was definitely a bonus. After my trip to Chicago, I got rid of my previous camera bag and now the ThinkTank AirStream is my daily bag for carrying my equipment from session to session.

I love the combination of the AirSteam to carry everything and the Shootsac to carry just what I need on each session. Talk about the best of both worlds! These are definitely two highly recommended bags for your money!

Full Disclosure: Commission earned on sale of ShootSac via my link.

Pricing Your Photography — Easy As Pie? Well Yes, It Can Be!

2009-10-28T15:11:00.007-04:00

I've been in business for one year and I'm on my third round of pricing. Yes, third. Guess what, for 2010, I'm revamping once again! I thought I was happy with my pricing, but I'm falling short on selling those specialty items like large like canvases and session albums. I do great in print sales, it just I struggle with those other item. And my sales are all over the place from low to high, and boy oh boy, who doesn't want most sales to be on the high side! I'm never sure if my prices are too high or too low. After talking with Bev Hollis at Unleashed |fine pet photography workshop, I knew that the most current version of my pricing still wasn't exactly right. Bev suggested I check out Easy As Pie Cookbook by Alicia Caine. I proceeded to do a bit of research to see if Easy As Pie would be worth it. So, I finally clicked the buy button.

I will tell you that some of what I've read in the Easy As Pie Cookbook isn't brand new news to me. It's similar to other pricing information I've read on forums while re-working my pricing. But, what Alicia does is explains exactly how to determine your costs for you to increase those sales. She offers a step-by-step process on how to find those prices that will work for your business. She even suggests a different pricing for those just starting out vs. more seasoned professionals. I especially love the sections on pricing those specialty items including storyboards, session albums and those dreaded digital files. Once you get all of your a la carte pricing figured out, then you get to jump into pricing your collections to drive your customers to purchasing what you want to sell them.

While I have not signed up for The Pantry from Alicia, it's next on my list. I'm so excited to start working on my 2010 pricing!! Be sure to check out Easy As Pie if you have your own pricing issues and just don't know where to start!

Want to hear from Alicia before you buy? Check out her interview with Totally Rad from July 2009 here!

UPDATE! Thanks to Alicia - she just sent me a discount code for $20 off cookbook+pastry school purchase!! Be sure to use code NCBlog20 for your discount!!

More New Stuff from WordSmith!

2009-10-18T17:34:00.009-04:00

Darn that Joyce, she's done it again. Yesterday I got the {what to wear} seniors guide and also the WordSmith's senior pricing menu (template). As usual, these are both stellar guides!! I had been using a mix of stuff to make up my current senior what to wear. While it was slightly informative, I've still had issues with a few of my seniors this year just not getting it when I tried to tell them how to dress for their sessions. The WordSmith guide is a total life saver for me!! There are two versions, one for the guys and one for the girls. Joyce hits all the key points with dressing for your figure, adding accessories and a clean face instead of clumpy make-up. Super easy to read and to customize for your business, this guide is a total winner!! I can't wait to combine this with my other senior pieces for 2010 and get my seniors dressing their best. Don't forget when their clothes are a bust it really does hurt the end result.

I haven't had the change to dive into the senior pricing menu (template) from WordSmith, but at a quick glance of it, it's exactly what I need. I'm currently re-working my pricing for 2010, and this template gives me a clean, easy to read and informative way to convey all the pricing info to my clients. I'll probably also use it for my non-senior session. I tend to overkill with my pricing lists, so this will keep me in-check with not over doing it!

Head on over to WordSmith asap to get a great deal on both these products. Joyce is running a sale on both through Tuesday, October 20th. After that these pieces won't be on sale again till 2010.

Full Disclosure: Samples received from WordSmith

Are You Tweeting?

2009-10-12T20:37:00.005-04:00

I recently signed up for a Twitter account. Not that it's helping tons with finding new clients, but I love it for connecting with other photographers and various vendors that I use. I've been painfully trying to find my clients on it, but no such luck. Maybe Ohio folks aren't as hip to Twitter as some other areas. I did put my Twitter badge on my photography blog, for my clients that stop by the blog who want to find me on Twitter. If you're on there - be sure to follow me - @DanielleNeil. If you're not on there, you should be! It's a great way to get updates from vendors, follow your favorite photographers and of course chat with current friends. See you on Twitter!

Speed Up Your Lightroom Workflow!

2009-10-12T17:21:00.003-04:00

I've had Adobe Lightroom since it came out but never really knew how to use it. I typically just made some minor Raw adjustments and then worked on my images in Photoshop. I recently purchased the Kubota Raw Workflow for Lightroom V2. This video had been SO helpful!! I downloaded the video and immediately started watching. I've already cut my working time in almost half after learning Kevin Kubota's tips and tricks. I know have all my images organized and easy to find. I've learned tons of new tips to edit my images in Lightroom without even taking the images into Photoshop unless I want to add some artistic effects. If you're struggling on how to use Lightroom I highly suggest watching the video!

MCP Actions Blog It Boards Giveaway!

2009-10-09T09:04:00.004-04:00

What a great giveaway! Awhile back Scarlett Lillian was interviewed on the MCP Actions blog. Jodi of MCP Actions decided to do a giveaway for Scarlett's readers (which, I'm a HUGE Scarlett follower). So head over to Scarlett's blog for more info on how to win yourself the Magic Blog It Board actions! And while you're there, be sure to check out Scarlett's work, if you're not familiar with her she is an AMAZING photographer!!

Scarlett Lillian Photo Journal // Jacksonville, FL Wedding & Fashion Photographer: Contest contest contest! Win free MCP Photoshop Actions!

Copyright Protection - Please sign this letter!

2009-09-24T15:51:00.005-04:00

This pertains to any photographer, designers, painter, or other artist reading. Please follow this link http://www.copyrightalliance.org/letter/ and sign the letter. The Copyright Alliance will be gathering signatures and delivering it to President Obama to help protect artists' rights!

Unleashed Workshop

2009-09-21T09:48:00.007-04:00

I just got back from the Unleashed | Fine Art Pet Photography Workshop and it was SO much fun! I met a ton of great photographers and learned a lot about pet photography. If you have the chance to attend the Dallas (April 2010) or the D.C./Virginia (September 2010) workshops I highly suggest it! Bev, Barbara and Teresa have a wealth of information to share and love sharing it with the attendees. They send you off with tons of information to help you get the pet side of your photography business up and running. Not only did we have time to learn about how they each run their businesses (all very differently) but we also had the chance to work both in-studio and on-location with adorable, furry, four-legged models!

Definitely check out the Unleashed website to learn more about taking your business to the next level with custom pet photography! And for those of you who are PPA members - Bev, Barabara and Teresa are featured in the current issue of the magazine!

16 Hours of FREE Education for Photographers

2009-09-15T10:16:00.009-04:00

Yep - I said FREE. I love that word! On September 28-29, Sarah Petty's Joy of Marketing is offering a two day free telesummit! Be sure to register soon as September 28th is right around the corner. If you are like me and have a day job or sessions schedule for those two days, for $99 you can download recordings of the events and PDF notes to follow. But if you have the time open, you can listen to it all for FREE!!!

There will be SO much going on - you can see the entire list of presenters on the website but a few include. Rod Evans - Facebook Marketing Not Just for Seniors, Kevin Kubota - The Year of the Relationship, Jen Hillenga - Essential Elements of Design, Dane Sanders - The big Picture of marketing Your Photography Business, and much, much more! Be sure to register for this FREE event soon! And even if you can't participate in all of it, some is better than nothing.

Full Disclosure: Commission earned on Joy of Marketing sales via my link.

Images for a Cure

2009-09-08T19:33:00.004-04:00

Have you heard about Images for a Cure? If not - you must check them out!

As artisans and creators, we may labor under the ideal that our work can effect change in our world - that what we do personally and creatively contributes to the betterment of humankind. But what if it were more than an ideal or seemingly elusive goal? What if you were given an opportunity to positively effect change through partnering with an organization that is already pursuing that goal? And all it would take was a click of the shutter..

This fall, countless photographers and creators are coming together for one purpose: a cure. On October 11, 2009 – a collection of photographers are donating their time and session fees to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. BCRF is actively searching for a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime - and your creativity and willingness to help is going to contribute to the cause.

You don't have to labor under the ideal anymore - you can make a difference. You can effect change in our world by doing what you do best - by utilizing your creativity, building relationships, and creating images...Images for a Cure.

Check Out the NEW Jamie Schultz Designs

2009-09-02T12:10:00.007-04:00

I always love looking at other designers' work. Its fun to see the variety of templates and designs that are offered to photographers. From simple to modern to antique, I think there are designs available for every type of photographer and their clients. While I do check out others' work, I typically don't buy from other designers since I have such a strong graphic design background and my own style to offer my clients. But for those of you who aren't designers or just don't have the time, be sure to check out all the resources out there from other designers, and there sure are plenty!!

Back in January, when I closed my template store, I posted this short list of designers I would recommend to others. And Jamie of course, made that list. I've always been a fan of Jamie's work. She has such clean, fun designs. For those of you not familiar with Jamie, she's not only a designer but also a photographer. Jamie's site jamieschultzdesigns.com got a makeover from Kim over at kimtowndesign.com. If you're looking for some new album, card or marketing templates, head over to check out Jamie's work.

Mpix Pro Custom CD Cases!

2009-08-30T14:15:00.008-04:00

I have to admit - I use WHCC for almost everything - prints, gallery wraps, cards, you name it. My prints are ALWAYS spot on! I've tried other vendors, some have been good, others have been blah with horrible colors from most.

I calibrate my monitor with the x-rite eye-one. Rarely do I have color issues with WHCC when I've properly calibrated before editing my images.

When I saw that Mpix Pro was offering custom CD cases, I decided to try them out. I'm going to be honest, I had ordered sample prints from Miller's in the past (Mpix's parent company) and I was not happy with the colors in both my corrected and uncorrected images I sent in. So I was very surprised when my test prints from Mpix Pro came back spot on. I decided to try out the custom CD cases for my digital collections. I just got in a CD case for a recent client order and I LOVE it! The best part is that you can design a custom cover for ever client order. Once I placed my order, I had my snazzy new case in about two days ... I love the quick turnaround too! To the left is a horrible photo I took with my Blackberry, but it gives you an idea of what the finished product looks like.

I'm trying out some new products from additional vendors right now. When those come in I'll let you know what I think!

How Good Is Your Insurance Coverage? Are You Really Protected?

2009-08-19T09:45:00.006-04:00

I read an article from Art of the Image. A photographer had ALL of his equipment stolen after a wedding. That's $20,000 of equipment So do you have insurance coverage for your equipment? I do, there's no way I could buy all new equipment and not go into debt. Take a look at the article and if in doubt, give a call to your insurance company and make sure you really are covered!

The Savvy Photographer

2009-08-18T10:05:00.005-04:00

I just found The Savvy Photographer this morning. What a great site!! It offers a ton of inspiration for those of us that work with kids. I've seen some great images, fab ideas for displays and even weekly giveaways!

Be sure to check them out if you're needing a little inspiration!!

Unleashed Follow-Up

2009-08-12T10:46:00.005-04:00

I just wanted to follow-up on the Unleashed workshop I talked about the other week. They are sold-out for the Chicago workshop that I am attending!

If you missed out on getting in on the Chicago workshop, be sure to check out their website about the workshop in Dallas April 18-20, 2010! There is also a third workshop planned for the DC area in 2010, but no dates have been posted yet.

Professional Photographers of America

2009-08-07T22:39:00.004-04:00

I just renewed my PPA membership and realized that I haven't talked about them. A membership to the Professional Photographers of America is a huge benefit to photographers! For the first two years as a PPA member, y ou can sign up as an "Aspiring Member" for $194 per year. Or you can also sign up as a Professional Active Member for $323 a year. It is a great investment in your business, that's for sure.

The inital reason I signed up for PPA was to get the discounted Business Liablility and Equipment Insurance. PPA helps to get a great group rate on these plans. The best part about their equipment insurance is that you cover what you want and the amount of equipment you cover determines your yearly rate. I checked with my homeowners plan, and they were about $400 more a year for both equipment and liablility than the plan I got through PPA!

Some of the other benefits of a PPA membership include discounts to various products and services, subscription to Professional Photographer Magazine, an online resources area that includes sample forms and contracts, and much, much more. PPA also has a full-time copyright staff. The staff works with members when any copyright infringements come up. That in itself is a huge bonus!

I haven't even tapped into half the resources that PPA offers members, but definately check them out to see how they can help build your business!!

PhotoVision

2009-08-07T20:36:00.007-04:00

I absolutely LOVE PhotoVision Video Seminars. I'm not even sure how I found out about these DVDs, but they rock! The annual subscription fee is $149 (but if you're a PPA member is much, much less and there might be other discounts out there too) and well worth the money.

DVDs are sent bi-monthy to you for a year. Each DVD has six two-hour videos with various photographers giving you tips and showing you how they work. Everything from workflow to lighting to sales is covered in these DVDs. I've found that the senior and portrait work have been the biggest asset to me. Just being able to watch these fabulous photographers work on location with clients will give all kinds of new ideas. And a great thing about them is that the target all aspects of professional photography including portrait, commercial and event photography. I signed up late in 2008 and have been so busy that I'm not even through the entire year yet! The 2009 cd includes lessons from Sarah Petty, Lori Nordstrom, Parker Pfister and a ton more!

These are great DVDs for those just starting out and seasoned professions!

Unleashed | fine art pet photography workshop

2009-07-23T18:27:00.009-04:00

I'm SO excited about Unleashed | fine art pet photography workshop! I just signed up for the September workshop in Chicago. Unleashed is a 2 1/2 day workshop put together by 3 wonderful photographers - Barbara Breitsameter, Teresa Berg and Bev Hollis.

Sit, Stay & Learn is the motto for this great weekend. This workshop is hands on and we'll actually have four legged friends to modeling for us! The number of attendees is limited so the gals can do personalized learning in break out sessions, talk about marketing and business practices and a lot more. For anyone even thinking about adding pet photography to their services, this workshop is a must!!

The cost is only $695 OR if you register before August 1st, you save $100 and it's only $595. Be sure to check out the Unleashed site for more information at unleashed2009.wordpress.com and hopefully I'll get to see a few of you there!

Photoshop Actions I Can't Live Without

2009-07-11T23:02:00.007-04:00

There's some things you just can't live without. Totally Rad Actions are one of them for me. I invested in TRA before I even started my business. And when TRA 2 came out, I was quick to pickup that set as well. TRA has really changed my workflow. I typically have 4 of the actions that I use on a standard image. I've created keyboard shortcuts for those actions and can whip through an image pretty fast. When I have time, I like to play around with the different actions to come up with new effects for photos. I do believe that you can always over photoshop an image - so typically don't use the actions at 100%. I also believe in getting it right in camera and not trying to fix the exposure in photoshop!

If you are thinking about picking up TRA, be sure to visit the website and click ont he Try Em tab - you can download a few actions to try before you buy. And be sure to check out the new TRA Recipe site. Photographers have uploaded their images, along with their TRA recipes. Great combos to try out on your own images.

Below is a before and after of a photo that I used these actions on to give you an idea of before and after!

Little Whimsy Update

2009-06-26T22:52:00.003-04:00

Just saw the below info in my email and wanted to pass along the sale with everyone!! Great way to stock up on studio samples if you don't have any yet! Check out the post below this one if you haven't read the info about Little Whimsy!

It's time to stock up for summer with our shop more and save sale! Starting Saturday June 27, 2009 through July 4, 2009, the more you spend the more you save.

Orders of $50-$99.99 enter code savemore10 to save an additional 10%.
Orders of $100-$149.99 enter code savemore15 to save an additional 15%.
Orders of $150+ enter code savemore20 to save an additional 20%

Coupons must be redeemed at time of sale, not valid on prior purchases. Coupon may be used more than once, but valid for the promotional value of each individual purchase. This offer can be combined with professional discounts.

Photo Jewelry & Gifts

2009-06-20T16:07:00.008-04:00

I've been meaning to talk about Little Whimsy for awhile now, but I keep getting sidetracked. As I'm getting ready to run out the door right now, I thought I'd quickly share with you guys.

I came across Little Whimsy for a group buy from one of the forums I was on. Last fall I decided to order a few sample pieces to offer my clients. Her work is AMAZING!! I have a few different items to offer my clients - the mother of pearl pendants, they keychains, bookmarks, maple ornaments and magnets. All of which everyone loves!! She does offer a wholesale account for photographers which includes a discount on the items, which I feel are priced very reasonably to start with. Great customer service and the processing times are quick considering the work that is put into each piece.

I don't do much of a markup on my gifts, jewelry and cards for my clients. Why? Well, I feel like they are marketing pieces for me. When a client sends out my cards, I always have my logo and website on the back of the card - which means it's making its way into the hands of potential new clients and how many folks that receive those cards are sharing them with others? As for the jewelry and gifts, what mom or grandmother isn't going to showcase their cool new piece with a beautiful photo of their little one? Those items become another marketing tool as well. Keep that in mind when you are pricing out your speciality items!

Follow Up on Facebook Advertising

2009-05-26T21:26:00.006-04:00

I wanted to follow up on the post from February about my Facebook advertising. Well, I'm glad I didn't spend big bucks on it. It did work out slightly for me. I had a lot of hits on my ad - so I was pretty excited. My ad was strictly for Senior Reps, I wasn't looking to book any regular sessions since I still needed to build my senior portfolio. I spent almost all of my $100 advertising credit - I think it was about $95. I had 4 girls contact me (no guys) and 2 apply to be reps. Both girls were selected (two different schools) but only one followed through. And we just did her session 2 weeks ago. It turned out great and she doesn't even have her proof book or rep cards yet and she's already sending folks my way.

My low turnout could have been from my lack of senior images on my site. Or the fact that I was advertising to Juniors in February and March to be reps and it wasn't even close to the end of the school year. I'm glad I did it and it was free - I did get one rep and that might be all I need to get the senior side of my business off the ground.

I plan on doing some additional senior advertising on Facebook mid-summer when the kids will really be looking to get there photos done. Especially since I have built up some additional senior images since my last round of advertising. And I just created a Facebook Fan Page for my business.

If you're thinking about doing it - just be careful that you watch what you spend. I can see that it could easily snowball into some big bucks!

Have you advertised on Facebook? Let me know how it's gone for you in the comment section below!

Great Posing Books!

2009-05-26T21:15:00.009-04:00

A quick share on two posing books that I really like. The first is 500 Poses for Photographing Women: A Visual Sourcebook for Portrait Photographers it's a great inspiration right before going out on a session. The book is divided up into chapters based on the type of pose - head and shoulders, full length, seated, etc. Not much to read in this one - more for inspiration. There is a brief section in the back that has the basic tips for those just starting out.

The other is Mark Theil's Ultimate Posing Guide. Mark is actually located pretty close to me in Central Ohio. This book has been highly recommended on many photography forums that I've been on. With so many rave reviews, I decided to pick it up. It's been really helpful. Mark's book also has tips and tons of images. Mark's book also focuses on female posing.

Now ... if I could just find a book on posing guys, that would rock! Both books are a must have for your collection. They've been great in getting inspired right before some recent senior sessions!

{how to sell} guide - great handbook for achieving you're online sales goals!

2009-05-07T10:09:00.009-04:00

I picked up the {how to sell} guide from Joyce Smith over at Wordsmith the other week but just had the chance to read it yesterday. Amazing! This is a great product for those photographers who do online sales only. Joyce has taken her proven method of online sales and come up with an easy to read and easy to understand workflow for you to implement in your own business. My readers probably know how much I love Joyce's products. I also own the {what to write} and {what to wear} guides, and adore both of them.
Joyce goes through each step of her workflow from booking the client session to the final sale. With a ton of great tips on how to make the sale work for you. She also offers access to both a PhotoCart (which I use) and a PickPic Gallery so you can see exactly how she's set-up her online sales.

If for whatever reason you have to do online sales and cannot do in-person sales - this guide is for you. As always, I highly suggest Joyce's products, they are well worth the money to help you start achiving more money in your sales!

Full Disclosure: Samples received from WordSmith.

I LOVE a Good Hat for Kid Sessions!

2009-04-24T14:20:00.008-04:00

I have to admit - I'm addicted to hats and petti skirts for sessions. The kids get to play dress-up and I (hopefully) get great images of them in the process. Last year I stumbled across Kim's site - From My Heart to Your Head. She had a great promo going on at the time - she was clearing out some of her hats and was offering a "hat pack" at a really good price. I got a ton of hats for what I would have normally paid for 2 or 3 on etsy. It was such a great deal!

Over the weekend I had a few out of town session and made sure to pack all my hats for the trip. And I'm so glad I did! The image above is my absolute favorite from all my sessions, teddy bear, petti skirt and hat - what a great combo!

I emailed Kim earlier in the week and she said she'd love to offer a discount to my readers. Please be sure to check out her blog and get yourself some hats for your sessions! Get 10% off your purchase when you mention the Neil Creative Blog when you place your order.

{What to Wear} Guide is on sale for a short time!

2009-04-15T15:31:00.007-04:00

I just saw on Joyce's site that she's offering a sale on the {What to Wear} Guide! Haven't heard about the guide? Check my review on it here. Regular price is $75 - the current sale is for $60. She doesn't have a finish date for the sale except that when she releases the {How to Sell} Guide the sale will be over. On a side note, I also have the {What to Write} Guide and LOVE it! I'll do a review on that in a few weeks. But get over to wordsmith now to get the {What to Wear} Guide at a great price!!!

Full Disclosure: Samples received from WordSmith

Tots 2 Teens Seminar

2009-04-09T09:55:00.007-04:00

Wanted to share a quick post about the seminar I went to last night - Tots 2 Teens by Sandy Puc'. I attended last year's Babies and Bellies tour and couldn't wait for this year's Tots 2 Teens. It was great! I actually found it a lot more informative than last year's seminar. Sandy reviewed posing, sales, marketing and working with children in general. I found it extremely useful and can't wait to get out and use some of the new ideas Sandy shared on my next child session. I believe the tour is down to its last month, ending the begining of May. But if it's coming to your town be sure to check it out! It's only $79 for 5+ hours of education - and I bet if you do a google search you'll be able to find a few discount codes hanging out on the internet!

2010 will be the Family tour - and I can't wait!! I'm sure each year these seminars will continue to get better and better.

Portfoliositez - Great Web Templates for Photogs!

2009-04-06T19:19:00.009-04:00

I love the gals over at Portfoliositez - they made getting a web site up and running a total breeze for me! I've been with them for about 6 months and can't stop spreading the love about them.

I only have had 2 issues with my site, one being that music wouldn't upload and the other was that my logo was super small, when I sent it a support ticket they did a follow up email in less than 8 hours saying they would look into it and then had it fixed in less than a day. I told them it wasn't important as my site wasn't ready to go live, but they fixed up my issues asap. And checked in with me 2 times after the fix to make sure everything OK!

I've read a lot of bad things about other web site providers (I won't name names) and their customer service - but I must say Portfoliositez goes above and beyond to help their clients get their sites up and keeping them running!!

I was checking out their blog the other day and see that they now offer a "Andy" a blogsite! I'm kinda jealous and think I may need to look into that a little more. Although I am still in love with my template - Dorothea V2.

You can purchase your template only if you have your own hosting or you can host with them, not a bad deal! I'm not going to go into all the details of their sites but here are some of the features depending on the template that you select - unlimited galleries, videos, proofing areas, shopping cart, mini client sites, email database, ability to add music and customize colors. I could go on and on ... but I'll leave that up to you to see what they have that fits your needs.

Full Disclosure: commission on sale via my link.

Senior Photographer? Check out Senior Solutions!

2009-04-03T23:20:00.010-04:00

I was contacted by Natalie of Senior Solutions last year for an interview about my template site. I had seen her Senior Solutions and thought it was pretty interesting, but at that point, I didn't have a need since I wasn't shooting seniors yet. Well, I had my first senior in November and LOVED the session. I decided that I really wanted to target seniors for 2010 but had no idea where to start. So I decided to re-visit Natalie's site and pickup Senior Solutions. This guide is great to help get you jump started on starting a senior side to your business. The guide is downloadable and is a great reference that lives on my desktop! A few things the guide covers is

Spokesmodels - how to get them, what to offer them and Natalie's program as an example.
A MySpace tutorial for those of you who aren't on there already - it's a great resource to build your senior network.
Marketing ideas that Natalie has implemented in her business.
Products to offer your senior clients.
Natalie's contracts and what to wear for senior session documents.
Sample images that Natalie has taken to help get ideas for your posing.
And a great bonus is some templates to help get your senior branding and marketing in place!

Natalie has offered a deal for all my blog readers - Senior Solutions is typically $75, my readers can get a cool $15 off!! Want the deal? Just send $60.00 to natalie@photographybynatalieb.com via PayPal and put Neil Creative in the subject line. Natalie will email you the guide within 24-48 hours and you can get cracking on building your Senior business!!

And be sure to check out Senior Solutions site often, she has interviews and tips for photographers!

MachForms - Build Your Own Online Forms

2009-03-29T16:44:00.008-04:00

I've got to admit - I wasn't too sure how I was going to like Appnitro MachForms. A lot of other photographers on the various forums I'm on were raving about them and for only $39, I figured I'd check it out. I've been pleasantly surprised by the results.MarchForm is a self-hosted HTML form program that helps you to easily create online forms for your clients.

I have to admit, I was beyond confused about how to intall MachForm myself. So, I emailed them to set it up for me, which is FREE (my fave word) when you buy the product. You just fill out their online installation request form and they promise setup will be done in 2 business days of less. Once installation was complete the fun began in setting up my online forms. The interface lets you select what type of form field you'd like to add from single line text to multiple choice to address information. In less than 15 minutes I had my first form created. Then, you just click on the embed code button, get your HTML code and paste that into the page you want the form to show up on!

I keep my forms on my Wordpress, ProPhoto blog. The great part about having the forms on my Wordpress blog is that I can keep them password protected, so only the clients I give the password to can access them. I currently have forms for Senior Spokesmodels and also Pre-Senior Session Interviews. I plan on adding more forms in the future, I just haven't gotten around to them. You can set-up your forms so that they are emailed to you when completed by your clients.

There are a lot more options on the MachForms - so check out their website if you're looking for easy and green forms for your clients!

Thinking About Facebook Advertising?

2009-02-23T16:18:00.008-05:00

Can you believe it - three posts in 1 day, I'm trying to get caught up, since I've been slacking lately!

I'm currently trying to build up my Senior sessions and get my hands on a few senior reps. Kinda hard since most of my friends are in their 20's and 30's and if they have kids they are still little. I had pondered Facebook advertising but wasn't sure if it was worth the money or not after reading mixed reviews.

I decided to give it a shot after getting $100 in FREE Facebook advertising. I know, I didn't believe it at first either, but it's true, it's free. It's through the Visa Small Business Network. If you have (or create) a Facebook account and sign up for the Visa Network, they give you a $100 advertising credit. I believe the expiration date to use the credits is 5/6/09, so sign up soon!

I'm not going to get into all the details of how to advertise on Facebook and I'm holding off to share my results, as I want to have a month in before I make a decision to continue on. But if you've been thinking about it, this is the cheapest way to try it out!! Here's the link to the Visa Small Business Network page - which includes instructions on how to sign up and receive your credit! http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=24249628048

Good luck advertising, I'd love to hear your results and I'll be sharing mine in April!

Great Forum — ProPhotogs.com

2009-02-23T15:57:00.004-05:00

I LOVE the ProPhotogs.com forum! I'm on it at least once a day, more like 20-30 times a day! I joined about a year ago and it was well worth the money. I have learned SO much from the folks on this forum. Everyone is so open and honest about how their run their businesses and talk about their successes and sometimes failures.

I've been on other forums and well, some of them are just down right nasty. I can take constructive criticism with the best of them, but when people are just mean, why would I want to hang out with them? Not the case with ProPhotogs, yes, there is CC and Hard CC that is given out, but it's nothing mean and spiteful like other forums.

I have learned SO much from others just starting out and seasoned professionals. From lighting to equipment issues, folks sharing actions, textures and templates and other members post wonderful reviews of products they've used. The biggest thing I've taken away from this group is pricing. I didn't know how I should price myself, there are tons of posts on pricing including worksheets created by others to help you determine what you need to charge to examples of how others have priced themselves.

ProPhotogs is not just for beginers, there are a lot of seasoned pros on the site as well. I think with most forums, you get back what you put in. Ask questions, share results and when you ask for hard CC - know that you might not like what you hear, but others are trying to help you! Stop over and check them out!

Love Lovebugs

2009-02-23T15:49:00.007-05:00

I figured a good follow-up to the PhotoCart post would be one about Heather from Lovebugs Photography Designs I found Heather on one of the forums I'm on. She's always had great info on more of the technical stuff some of us stumble with. When I purchased my PhotoCart, I hired Heather to help make it pretty and give me a jump start on getting my pricing up and running.

Heather can pimp your PhotoCart, pretty up your wordpress blog or dress up your splash page! Heather was great to work with - and she had a quick turnaround on getting my PhotoCart all fixed up for me when I just didn't have time to figure it out! I'm not the only one that loves Heather's services, I've seen a lot of positive comments about her on the forums from others who have needed her techinal help. Be sure to check her out if you need help dolling up some of your website add-ons!

Photo Cart - The Photographer's Shopping Cart

2009-02-04T10:15:00.009-05:00

My website template included a gallery with shopping cart, but it just wasn't cutting it for me with what I needed to do. I purchased Photo Cart from Tim at PicturesPro a few months ago to help me with my online sales. Since I work a full time job and only shoot on the weekends I needed an online shopping cart that would be easy for both myself and clients to access with me limited to do in-person sales. I wasn't thrilled with the site demo they offer on their site, but because of rave reviews from other photographers, I decided to give it a chance.

Photo Cart has a lot of options which can be slightly overwhelming when you first start working in it. Here's a list of a few options that I've implemented on my Photo Cart site:

Create numerous pricing groups - a la carte and collections as well as various price options for different groups (seniors vs families vs weddings).
Upgrades on items - for example there is a flat fee for 8x10s but if the want to upgraded to linen texture it shows the additional dollar amount.
Set print credits for certain clients.
Early bird discounts for those that order within a certain time frame.
Previews are available in B&W, Sepia and Selenium within the program, no more converting images in PhotoShop to upload!
Watermarking
Customize the look of your proofing area.
Public and private galleries, private require a password.
Set expiration dates for your galleries.
A great bonus for me being — in Ohio, each county is a different sales tax, I've uploaded the tax rates for each county and when the client inserts their zip code it calculates the tax based on their home zip!!
When my clients are finished shopping it redirects them to PayPal - but it is also set-up for other payment options as well. There are a ton more features that I'm not mentioning too!

The best part about Photo Cart that unlike other online shopping carts, it's a one time fee. No monthly fees cutting into your profits! You set Photo Cart up on the back of your website too. Photo Cart is $279 and an additional $30 if you'd like Tim to install it. I attempted to install it myself, but I was having a hard time with it, so I emailed Tim and went with the install option, he had me up and running in a few days.

After researching a few of the online proofing options out there, I felt that Photo Cart was the most cost effective option for what I needed. There is an online support forum and community so when I'm unsure of something, I access it for more info or to ask a question. If you're looking for a better shopping cart for your online sales I highly suggest checking this one out!

Biz Books - Keep Track of All Your Business Accounting

2009-01-16T11:19:00.008-05:00

Biz Books is available from TK Business & Design. It has been one of my best purchases by far. I went from a messy train wreck of paper work to a very organized accounting system. Tennille (TK) has come up with everything in this detailed reporting for your business. Biz Books is a spreadsheet that you can use in Excel, OpenOffice and NeoOffice (OpenOffice and NeoOffice are both free software programs if you don't own Excel). Tennille has included areas for all of your income and expenses and has an awsome Profit/Loss statement that calculates all your info.

I think Biz Books is a great investment and I'm not sure how I functioned without it. I just saw on the TK blog that there is currently a sale going on along with some price drops. Here's the link to the blog post to check out what deals you can get!! http://www.tkbusiness.com/blogsite

Fonts

2009-01-14T10:51:00.011-05:00

Here's a share some helpful resources for fonts. "Free" fonts can be bad news. A lot of the "free" fonts are actually ripped off from a real font. That means the original artist is losing money when you download a free font. As Photographers we want people to respect copyrights on our phtoography, please remember that when buying or sharing fonts ... they come from artists too!!

A lot of the fonts I used on my templates were available from Font Garden. These are fun handwritten fonts at an unbelievable price! Be sure to check them out! Plus if you're looking to get your own handwriting turned into a font, this is the place to check out!

I used fonts from LetterHead Fonts and Font Diner for many of my logos. Not as inexpensive as Font Garden, but a lot of unique choices. There are tons of places out there to buy fonts, I wanted to share my 3 favorites.

Can't figure out what font someone else is using? Be sure to try out Identifont it's a great resource when you just aren't sure where the font came from. Once you find your font or a similar one, it will give you a listing of where to buy the font from.

Full Disclosure: commission on Font Garden Fonts sold via link.

Still Looking for Templates?

2009-01-12T14:02:00.007-05:00

I've listed a few fellow designers that also do template and/or logo design. I'm still receiving a lot of hits on this site from photographers looking for templates and I want to let you know who I know of. If you have someone to add to this list, please leave it in the comment section for others looking!

Please note - I have not used any of these designers myself since I am a designer too. So I can't say who has fabulous products and who doesn't - just some links to help you in your search!

My Lil Creations
Uniquely You Designs
Jamie Schultz Designs
Designs By Taz
Eva Talley Creative
Danella Miller
My Doodlebug Designs
Lovebugs Photography Designs

ProPhoto Theme Version 2!

2009-01-05T16:13:00.010-05:00

In November I had posted about ProPhoto Theme and how much I loved it. Well, Jared has just recently upgraded the theme to version 2. To be honest, I wasn't sure if it was worth the money to upgrade. I decided to go for it and I absolutely love version 2!! There are a lot of great additions to the new theme. Much more user friendly than version 1. If you're going to blog about your photography then without a doubt ProPhoto Theme blogging is the way to go!

I'll leave it up to Jared to explain the ins and outs — just click on the image below and it will take you to his site and a quick video overview of the product.

Don't forget to use DANNE232B at checkout for an extra $10 off your new ProPhoto Theme purchase!

Full Disclosure: commission on ProPhoto Themes sold via coupon code.

Ring In the New Year!

2008-12-31T19:21:00.004-05:00

The template store is now closed. Thank you to all my loyal customers!

Be sure to check back often - I'll be doing photography product reviews, keeping everyone updated on hits and misses of my business and hopefully finding vendors to offer discounts on cool photography items!!

Have a fantastic 2009!

Danielle

NAPP

2008-12-10T23:10:00.014-05:00

I'm a HUGE fan of NAPP — the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. I joined NAPP back in 2004 after attending two of NAPP's Photoshop Seminars. I've been with them ever since! The benefits are well worth the minimal $99 a year cost! You get Photoshop User magazine, a members only online community, discounts on tons of equipment, software and training, access to an online portfolio and even Photoshop tech support!!

Whether you're a designer or a photographer NAPP is a great choice! I know where to go when I have a Photoshop question and need an answer quickly. So if you've thought about joining, you definitely need to. If you've never heard of NAPP be sure to check them out!

Click on this link http://www.photoshopuser.com or the image below to find out what all you can get by joining NAPP. And if you use my link you'll get a sign-up bonus with your membership - a free copy of The Best of Photoshop User: The Tenth Year DVD!!

ProPhoto Blog Theme

2008-11-06T21:32:00.010-05:00

If you're a photographer and you blog you MUST take a look at the Professional Photographer Theme Blog Template! I just purchased it last month for my photography blog and love it! If you've seen other blogs that have the beautiful 900 x 600 pixel images - this is more than likely where they got it!

It's super easy to use and Jared has included a ton of FAQs and Tutorials for those that choose the Do-It-Yourself Package (which I did). The ProPhoto Theme works with a WordPress blog and you can use your own domain name. I had no problem getting my fancy new blog up and running in about a day with the tutorials. Best part is the theme is customizable - change the colors, background, you name it - plus you can have a Flash header slideshow without spending a ton!

Be sure to check it out if you're in the market for a fancy new blog and not spending the big bucks. Plus Jared gave me a coupon code to share with everyone! Just use DANNE232B at checkout for an extra $10 off your new ProPhoto Theme purchase!

Full Disclosure: commission on ProPhoto Themes sold via coupon code.

The What to Wear Guide

2008-10-15T19:19:00.004-04:00

As I'm slowly starting my photography business I've been buying a lot from other vendors. I've decided to start sharing a few of my favorite things with you guys. I won't be doing any negative product review, I want to keep everything positive!

My first favorite thing is the What to Wear Guide from Joyce Smith. JSO in photography I had a tiny blurb for my clients on what to wear, but it was pretty bland, boring and basic. I've certainly been able to jazzy it up with Joyce's guide. You can use the guide as a PDF for your clients (I've got it uploaded on the backend of my website for client downloads) or you can print out as a 5x5 trifold for children/family sessions and 5x5 flat cards for newborn and maternity sessions.

The What to Wear Guide comes as layered PSD files, so as long as you can work in Photoshop or PS Elements, you're set! Joyce includes text AND images for your use. You can leave the guide as is or customize it to fit your needs. Be sure to stop over to Joyce's site and check out the goods. I hope you're as impressed as I am!

Stock20.com

2008-10-01T19:02:00.006-04:00

With all the legalities of using stock music, Stock20 is the perfect resource for photographers. Stock20.com creates high quality music for media production. As most photographers know, it's illegal to copy someone's music and have it on your website, blog, slideshows, etc.

Stock20.com offers a huge selection of royalty free music for your production needs. If you create an account with the link below, they'll even give you one free song just for checking them out! Plus I'll get a referal credit too!

Check them out today! http://www.stock20.com/gvr.php?rc=65xl2nv15167asd5v2x

Full Disclosure: free samples earned if new users sign up via my link.

Something I think ALL photographers should know about!

2008-09-27T18:55:00.006-04:00

Action is needed from as many people as possible to prevent our current copyright law/protection from becoming worthless. Please help prevent the single most damaging bill for artists of every venue - but especially visual artists like graphic designers and photographers! A bill, dubbed "Orphan Works," legislation was hotlined through the Senate this week while all eyes were on the financial issues.

The "Orphan Works" bill, as passed in the Senate yesterday, would rob thousands of people of their copyright protection, and allow any outside person/corporation to TAKE OUR WORK and use it, with NO COMPENSATION to the original artist, as long as they claim they "couldn't find" the copyright-holder. That is a simple matter of removing our name from a file, then the work can be dubbed "orphaned" and used WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION for ANYTHING they want to use it for! This bill would also force us to "register" EVERY SINGLE PIECE of our work with private registries, which could cost thousands of dollars for photographers and graphic artists, as we produce literally thousands of works each year! (Think about how many pictures a professional photographer takes in just ONE WEEK or how many graphics can be produced in ONE DAY!)

PLEASE pass this along to everyone you can - this is extremely critical, as this bill will deprive artists, photographers, etc. of the income they depend on!

The Senate has just passed their version of the Orphan Works Bill (on Sept. 26th). Now we must try to stop the House Judiciary Committee from folding their bill and adopting the Senate version. Here is a link to a special letter for this purpose.

PLEASE EMAIL CONGRESS NOW!! USE THIS LINK
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321
Thank you so much for taking the time to help!

Interview

2008-06-30T06:30:00.004-04:00

Check out the interview I did with Natalie over at Senior Solutions. And be sure to comment on it on her site for the chance to win one of my templates!! But get over there before Sunday July 6th, that's when she'll be doing the drawing.

Cardboard Testimonies

2008-05-29T16:11:00.005-04:00

I'm a huge follower of Scarlett Lillian's blog and work. She posted this on her blog today and it's amazing. I just wanted to share. Be prepared ... get your Kleenex out, you'll need it.

The Sweet Spot!

2008-03-11T13:10:00.007-04:00

I wanted to share new photo forum with you. Vicki and Bethany invited me over to their site today and you should check it out too! The new forum is at http://s9.invisionfree.com/sweetspotphotoforum/index.php

How To Use the Templates

2007-09-10T15:04:00.003-04:00

This is a basic tutorial for the templates. I will be leaving this information posted for those of you that have purchased my templates in the past. If you have any questions about using the templates, contact me at neilcreative @ aol dot com (no spaces).

This is a very brief "How To". My templates are based on image masks, so if you know how to use image masks you're set. If not, they're not hard to learn. There are a few screen captures below as a rough idea of how to use these.

The first layer of my files are filled with white, delete this layer, it's to reduce file size for emailing purposes.
Drag or paste your photo into a new layer in the template.
Drag your photo to the layer below the layer named image mask.
Drag the image mask onto your image.
Delete the layer named image mask - once the image mask is placed on your photo you don't need the layer.
To adjust the size of your photo without adjusting the mask - turn off the "lock" between your photo and the image mask.

There are a few screen captures below as a rough idea of how to use these.

*Template Copyright Info – Please Read!

2007-09-09T00:33:00.008-04:00

For those that have purchased my templates in the past I'm going to leave this reminder of copyright notice up. Just because the store is closed does not mean copyright rules are no longer in effect!

Designs © by Neil Creative / Danielle Neil and may not be copied. These templates are for limited commercial and personal use. Limited commercial use is when a photographer uses them to sell cards to their clients. Templates are not to be resold or used for other purposes. Elements within the template (such as graphics) are not to be taken from the template to be used in other forms. Graphics and designs © Mujka Illustration or © Neil Creative.

These templates are original works and are therefor subject to copyright. You may not take a template and claim it as your own. You may not take a template and sell it to other photographers and graphic designers. You may sell these templates in coordination with your own images to your clients. By using my templates you are agreeing to these terms and conditions which are subject to change without notice. Violating these terms and conditions will result in punishment to the maximum extent of copyright law.