Stock Photo News from A-Z FOTOS. The first modern ezine combining the work of the creative professional with pictures, stock photography and marketing.

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The First modern eZine to combine Pictures and Marketing

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STOCK PHOTO NEWS from A-Z FOTOS

No. 24

The first Modern eZine combining Stock Photography and
Marketing - Published since 1999

'Equally important for picture buyers and image providers.'

December 2006

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CONTENT

* From the Editor

* Time sensitive offer: Professional website co-operation

* Get a quick overview of how different website pictures look like

* Memorable Christmas Pictures with a Digital Camera

* Your BONUS for Reading SPN

* Since Last Stock Photo News

* White-list Stock Photo News

........................................................
Archive of earlier issues of Stock Photo News at
http://www.StockPhotoNews.com

>>> Subscription information at the end of this ezine.
........................................................


FROM THE EDITOR

Here at the end of year 2006 this issue of Stock Photo News
brings an article about how to make the best out of photography during Christmas. You can make use of it for your own audience, online or in print (or for your family or friends).
But else SPN focus on pictures and marketing with a special
interest in the stock photo industry as usual.

The trend of changing prices of the stock photos continue:
General types of pictures are becoming much cheaper, carried
forward by the many sites offering so called microstock
photography from amateurs for a dollar or two.

In the other end the well established professional picture
agencies are earning higher prices on creative stock imagery
mainly with people included and full model release.
Royalty-free stock photography is overhauling traditional
licensed or rights managed stock photos because of its
comfortable open use.

The number of pictures in the stock photo collections are
taking new peaks: Alamy.com is now with 7.4 million stock
images online and AgeFotoStock.com has nearly 4 million
strongly edited stock photos available online.

That the microstock photo industry has to be taken seriously
was underlined when Getty Images acquired iStockPhoto on
February 9, 2006, for $50 million USD.

At the end of this issue of SPN I give a glimpse of my own
involvement in the changing world of stock photography.

A very useful bonus is yours for reading SPN, just look below.

Enjoy reading Stock Photo News!
And Merry Christmas.

Soren Breiting, Editor.
----------------
A-Z FOTOS
"Find Stock Photos from most of the World"
http://www.azFotos.com
----------------

Comments, tips and relevant articles are appreciated. Send
email to sb@TAKETHISAWAY-azfotos.com (please remove the
inserted part added to avoid email harvesters).

*** Important note: I will not sell or rent the email
addresses belonging to our subscribers - I respect your
privacy. This mail list will only be used to send you the
monthly ezine. - This ezine uses opt in addresses.***
Soren Breiting

........................................................

PLEASE, WHITE-LIST STOCK PHOTO NEWS

See at the end of the newsletter how to avoid that you loose
coming issues of Stock Photo News because of SPAM filters.

........................................................


TIME SENSITIVE OFFER: PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE CO-OPERATION

As you know a successful website is nowadays very little about webhosting but about a lot of other aspects of the design and promotion of the site. I have for many years been a member of the SBI co-operation that has the most friendly and honest network available.

The main figure is Ken Evoy who is a very helpful and keen
marketer and run a 100% honest network of websites with all
thinkable facilities available.

When I dare to call it a co-operation it is because around the
charismatic Ken Evoy many website owners are helping each other through the SBI Forum with advice and support.

Even the SBI idea is to offer a website with unlimited traffic
and webhosting the real goodies are linked to its facilities
to research keywords, to implement everything you can imagine in your website and to have someone to ask about everything
related to an online business or information service.

But for all of us who are using pictures for our marketing it IS
a really useful aspect not to have to worry about bandwidth and hosting capacity.

Until 26.12 you will get into SBI for half the normal price, or
in fact get two websites for the price of one, so you will have
a very nice and original gift to give or make use of two sites
yourself. If you are too late, it will still be a bargain to
get a SBI website at
http://contact.sitesell.com/buildit/

If you have questions related to SBI you will get a professional
answer here:
http://contact.sitesell.com/question/
(a typical example of how genuine Ken Evoy is working with other people).

........................................................


GET A QUICK OVERVIEW OF HOW DIFFERENT WEBSITE PICTURES LOOK LIKE

A new search engine, www.PageBull.com is showing pictures of the websites, not listings of text descriptions. Useful for your fast comparison of the look and feel of competing websites, e.g. photo websites.
Try to search for stock photography and set the displayed websites to 4x3. At each website the searched keywords are being highlighted.

I think you will like to play around with it, e.g try to search for
GOLF.
If PageBull becomes a frequent facility for people's searches it
might influence the trend in design of websites.
Take a look at http://www.PageBull.com

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And for your family life:

CHRISTMAS PICTURES WITH A DIGITAL CAMERA

By Soren Breiting

Christmas is a time for strong sentiments, gatherings of family and friends, good food and nice traditions. Learn to make the best out of this memorable time in pictures for old and young.

Rather simple point-and-shoot cameras have a great potential for family pictures during Christmas and they can also produce most other kinds of pictures during this important annual event. Small digital cameras aren’t that intrusive as big professional cameras.

Here, I offer some basic photo tips and some more advanced photo tricks. If you follow just a few of them you will probably make much more memorable Christmas pictures during the Christmas days – and may be even before Christmas day.

Be prepared for photography

Keep your digital camera in reach during all Christmas. Make sure your battery is fully recharged and your memory card has plenty of space for new pictures. Have your battery re-charger available, too, as you will take many photos with flash.

Share the responsibility for taking pictures

For some Christmas events you might be quite busy serving the guest or helping older family members or being the one who should talk with everybody. Then just give your camera to another person and ask for him or her to take a lot of pictures during the event.
Young people will often be very good at picture taking, not least because the availability of camera phones has facilitated that habit to even very young people.

Go close when taking pictures

Go as close as you can what ever you are shooting family members or Christmas things and symbols. Most digital cameras include more in the photo than what is displayed when you frame it, unless you only use the digital display screen. You can always quickly check the result and take a new picture if needed.

Don’t be afraid of arranged picture taking

Many situations around the Christmas tree are quite messy. Don’t worry of arranging a fine scene like grandfather in the big chair with the youngest family member on the lab with a big Christmas present in the small hands.

Arrange an all family members group photo

To have a picture taken if all family members get together for
Christmas is an opportunity you shouldn’t miss. If possible think
beforehand of a functional locality – indoor or outdoor with enough room for all, including the space for the photographer. Use a tripod to have your self included. Take at least three frames.

Take several shots of the most memorable situations

When you have a very nice situation don’t spare your shots but take at least 3 alternatives. One picture might turn out much better than the others, and the first shot isn’t the best shot very often.

Take pictures without the flash turned on

As Christmas in the northern hemisphere is happening in the dark wintertime many pictures will be taken with the flash on. That is fine for many occasions but the strong flashlight will often remove the nice special Christmas atmosphere. Learn how to manually turn the flash on and off before any important Christmas gathering. Increase the sensitivity to say 400 ASA for natural light photography during Christmas events.

Take candlelight pictures

Candlelight pictures are a rewarding approach to Christmas photography as they generate a special atmosphere of old time and traditions.
Include one or two faces in the frame together with the candle.
You have to switch off the flash of the camera and improve the sensitivity.
If possible support your elbows on a table or the like to avoid camera shake.
Still remember to take some alternative shots. Many Christmas symbols are also fine in candlelight.

Take series of Christmas pictures

A number of Christmas pictures showing a process or an event from the phase of preparation, through the main activities until the final stage of saying goodbye or cleaning up can be very interesting later. This can be a fine task for a younger family member to take care of and it is so nice with digital cameras that we don’t have to worry of the cost of pictures that become failures. Such a series of Christmas pictures is excellent for a digital slide show later.

Take special interest in the oldest family members

As time goes by it often turns up that the last pictures of an old family member that passed away was taken at Christmas time. Without exaggerating keep that in mind and make sure you get really nice portraits of the oldest family members in good mood – every Christmas.

Make the best of the newborn and babies

Normally there will be taken a lot of photos of babies and the smallest children and that is a good tradition. Just pay a little attention to how to link the pictures of the children to symbols of Christmas and activities of other family members or friends during the Christmas event.

Preparing for Christmas – also a photo option

For children the waiting time to Christmas might be felt like infinity.
For us grownups the time might slip away because of all the preparation for Christmas combined with our other duties. Shopping in the decorated streets, preparing presents and cooking food etc. are all fine options for your Christmas photography.

Throw away the bad pictures quickly

During Christmas or just after go through the Christmas pictures and weed all the bad ones out. When you have taken three alternative frames of the same situation, only keep the best one for the future. Be tuff, when editing your Christmas collection of pictures – that will reward you in the long run.
Google’s Picasa picture organizer is a fine help and it is free
at http://picasa.google.com/

Share your Christmas pictures

It is easy to share your Christmas pictures with family members and friends.
At http://www.OnlinePhotoSharing.net/ you will find many options.

Soren Breiting is a stock photographer and communicator. Find examples of his pictures at http://www.azFotos.com
and learn to take better pictures at http://www.BetterPhotos.net/
- more about digital photography at
http://www.DigitalPhotographyAndPictures.com/

Reprinted article with permision from Free Articles Net
http://www.Free-Articles.NET

........................................................


YOUR BONUS FOR READING SPN (REPEATED FROM LAST ISSUE OF SPN)

You are offered two e-books of a very high standard that have helped me so much, when I bought them.
They are written by Ken Evoy, one of the absolutely most trustworthy and decent people in marketing and online presence.
One book is about the importance of pre-selling and you get the free download here - a unique book in fact:
http://contact.sitesell.com/mycps/

The other book is about how to make your site sell. This is a big handbook by a master, and I can give it free to you at
http://contact.sitesell.com/myss/
as it has been released without any modifications to the original version.

I guess most readers will even learn something important just by going to these webpages (You aren't asked for your email or anything else to get these free great ebooks, strange enough).

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SINCE LAST SPN

Since last SPN I have spent countless hours sorting stock photosfrom me and other stock photographers of Biofoto. I co-founded Biofoto with some colleagues in 1981. Biofoto is now a section of Scanpix, the biggest picture library in Scandinavia, and the stock photos are available in Scandinavian languages at http://www.scanpix.dk.

Our Biofoto archive of analogue color slides amounted to 500.000 photos, all filed in individual and special designed cardboard frames with sleeves to function as individual index cards with all the necessarily information and stored vertical in 30 special designed huge cupboards with drawers.

I haven't been involved in running Biofoto for many years so it has been a very nostalgic kind of work. For many picture agencies the stock photos are getting too old very quickly. All kinds of pictures with people, cityscapes, cars and similar items will after a few years look antiquated because the pictures will show signs of a former time.

But for stock photos of animals, plants and the natural environment such signs aren't obvious. Here, only the technical aging might kill the pictures: Fading colors and new better equipment for the production of new - but completely similar - pictures become available. In the case of Biofoto the quality of the stored stock photos are surprisingly up to date.

Our Biofoto archive of analogue stock photos are the accumulated efforts of +100 stock photographers and an enormous investment in time, money and engagement. Only because of the photographers' passion for nature and photography it has been possible to make such a huge collection with precise data of all the species from the natural world.

Biofoto started as a specialist picture library and through the united efforts of the photographers and the employees Biofoto became the dominating picture agency in its area in Denmark with 10% of the turn over in foreign sales. When Biofoto was functioning at its peak we had around 50.000 pictures in circulation at the customers for their decisions of what to use every year.

The physical work with picking these pictures from the drawers to fulfill orders from customers, to mail these original and valuable pictures and to keep track of their use - and not least to get them back and re-file them was an ongoing huge task of the employees.

All that has changed dramatically with the online availability of stock photos on the web where customers are doing the research more or less by themselves and only get the pictures they want to use.

In Biofoto the process of converting the most saleable pictures on film to digital files has been a process going on for a number of years.
This scanning process is a big work, too, and most of the photographers of Biofoto are busy with their professional digital cameras to add to the online archive.

What I have had to realize during last week is that of the original 500.000 stored original pictures in Biofoto around 50.000 will never be sorted and taken care of by their photographers. Not because the quality is bad in any way, but because some photographers have passed away and
nobody cares for their pictures or are able to do it. Or because some of the most active photographers find it much more satisfying to put all their efforts and time in producing new pictures with their digital equipment.

And this process of loosing stored analogue pictures is going on all over the world these years. An enormous amount of information is disappearing - for obvious but rather sad reasons.

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WHITE-LIST STOCK PHOTO NEWS

Hotmail: Place the domains azfotos.com and
StockPhotoNews.com on your Safe List, so that you can
receive our e-zines and e-mails. The safe list can be
accessed via the "Options" link next to the main menu tabs.

AOL: Place the domains http://www.azfotos.com and
http://www.StockPhotoNews.com in your Address Book.

Yahoo! Mail: If one SPN issue is filtered to your 'bulk'
folder, open the message and click on the "this is not
Spam" link next to the "From" field.

The same goes for support e-mail. Some spam filters: Place
the domains azfotos.com and StockPhotoNews.com on the
filter's white-list. You may need to search a filter's
help for how to do this -- and depending on
software/version, they may call it a "white-list," a "good
list" or similar name.

Other ISPs: If one of your Stock Photo News issue is being
filtered, add the "azfotos.com" and "stockPhotoNews.com"
domains (or SPN´s 'From' or 'Reply-to' address) to your
address book or contact list. THANK YOU! / Soren
........................................................

Copyright 2006 by Soren Breiting, A-Z FOTOS.
http://www.azFotos.com "Find Stock Photos from most of the
World
" Email me at: sb@ azfotosTAKETHISAWAY.com (email
spaced etc to avoid email harvesters).

You are welcome to forward this newsletter to a friend or
to post it on your own website as long as you keep ALL
content, including the copyright notion and contact
information, intact and keep all links.

Stock Photo News is 'in principle' a monthly newsletter
edited by me, Soren Breiting. Due to many travels abroad
it is impossible for me to keep the schedule of the issues
strictly fitting to each month. My intention is to bring
quality information that isn't outdated a month or two
later.

To sign up for Stock Photo News:
Go to
http://www.stockphotonews.com/subscribespn.htm

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Stock Photo News is your professional ezine to keep in touch with the trends of the online market for photography. By combining marketing issues with stock photography and how to make the most out of pictures this monthly ezine helps you not to loose on the dynamic market for pictures and how they are used.

Stock Photo News takes the pulse of the stock photo industry and gives you hints on how to search for stock photography and where to get the best pictures.

News about new picture agencies, merging stock photo agencies and other important changes for the creative professional are brought in many issues.

Even for the budding stock photographer or the student of creative productions this photo ezine should be well worth studying as it is dealing with the potential of pictures and offer stock photo news related to marketing and stock photography - including the newest information about stock photo distributors / picture agencies.

Stock Photo News has been published since 1999 and was the first professional newsletter to combine pictures and marketing.

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