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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.
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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
........................................................
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).
........................................................
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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