Friday Photog Finds

Is it Friday already?

Well, I'm very excited about my Friday Find this week and I hope you entered our Shutter Buddies giveaway that ends next week!

While photographers tend to concentrate on improving their craft, they may let marketing go to the wayside. I admit that I put marketing off as much as I can, though I promised myself that these next two months will be dedicated to building my business.

Photography Web Marketing Guide.
I found out about The Photography Web Marketing Guide when I read an interview about Zach Prez on another photography site.

Photography Web Marketing Guide. is 35 pages of business building recommendations to help photographers grow their online presence through search engines, social media, and email newsletters.

Some key points:

•How to get more website visitors to call you
•Ways to find search-friendly keywords and get popular sites to link to yours
•How to optimize your homepage and blog posts for Google
•How to take advantage of your email list, plus connect it to Facebook and Twitter
•Ideas to grow your social media following

Who couldn't use that kind of help?

He also has an ebook titled Photography Blog Success for those wanting to turn blog visitors to clients.

Key points:

How to make your blog an integral part of a successful photography business
•How to use your personality to attract ideal clients
•Ideas for posts that lead to new business
•Ways to bring in more traffic and turn visitors into leads
•Suggestions from top bloggers in photography with examples and screenshots

I have to tell you, there are alot of neat ebooks and other products for photographers that I wouldn't mind getting, but these products are so crazy priced, I don't have the budget to invest hundreds of dollars FOR AN EBOOK. So, when somebody wants to get a product out there to help photographers and not take advantage of them, I like to recommend them. That's how Zach must see it as well, because his ebooks are reasonably priced at $29 a piece, or bundled for $49.

You can even learn for free if you have the time to read his blog. Personally, I don't! So, stop on by his site and check him out. I'm going to bug him for an interview, so keep checking back to see if he gives in!

Friday Photog Finds

Weekends for me usually are hectic, but this weekend will be fun. School starts on Monday, so I wanted to spend Saturday with my daughter, picking out some outfits for school and just chit chat. She's only six, but we have some very interesting convos! My teenage son, on the other hand, is at that stage where he doesn't want anything to do with mom. I still love him though. lol

Another event this weekend that I'm looking forward to is my granddaughter's first birthday!

We did a cake eating photo shoot yesterday.

She dug right in with no coaxing whatsoever. She was so tidy and neat about it, she barely moved as she concentrated on eating it. We were laughing so hard that I almost couldn't get any photos!

We finally had to stand her up to get some different poses. She's my little princess!

Anyway, I'm back to doing Friday Photog Finds and wanted the theme to be about children's photography.

Are you a children's photographer? I don't consider myself one, but I usually end up shooting children now and then and of course, I take my kid's photos. I know how it can be challenging taking photos of children.

My Friday Picks:

Workshop on DVD: Inside Contemporary Children's Photography with Tamara Lackey

Tamara Lackey is a talented photographer who has done more than 1000 children's sessions. She is very good at teaching as well, offering workshops around the world and also offers a workshop on a dvd! Great for those that can't afford to go to her workshops, or travel that distance to get to one.

This 90-minute DVD is simply one of the best investments you could make if children’s portraiture interests you.

Her book “The Art of Children’s Portrait Photography” is highly-rated as well and a great companion to this instructional DVD.

The DVD covers:

The basics of setting up the studio

Shooting

Selling

and more!

Watch as Tamara demonstrates positive interactions with her clients and subjects.this is an important talent to have if you are going to be a photographer. I love behind-the-scenes approach and if you do too, you will learn alot from her!

Workshop on DVD: Inside Contemporary Children's Photography with Tamara Lackey

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Sandy Puc Creative Edge Kids tour

Sandy Puc is doing a 41 city tour on different ideas to use for studios, marketing, and prop ideas.

There's a workshop near me and I like the price- $69. I'm thinking about trying it out since I do newborn sessions.

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Shutter Buddies

Have you heard of these?

They are awesome!

These are design by an even more awesome lady, Leora.
They were made to hold little one's attention while taking their photo. I think they are simply adorable.

I have a surprise for you on Monday that just might involve these cute little Shutter Buddies, so please stop by and check it out!

Friday Photog Finds

Have you ever gone to a workshop or online seminar?As photographers, we can always use some additional training, marketing advice, or if you are a newbie, you may need every kind of help. I've often thought about signing up for a workshop I see on the web to learn something new.

This week's Friday Photog Finds is all about photography training. These are some places I thought were interesting, I've used, or would like to. Feel free to check them out and let me know what you think!

Workshop:

Small Strobes, Big Results

June 19 - June 25, 2011

Location: Santa Fe
Instructor: David X. Tejada
Tuition: $1,095

Details:
Lectures, demonstrations, and critiques in the morning; the remainder of the day is spent practicing lighting techniques in the studio and on location around Santa Fe. Participants leave this workshop with confidence in their new lighting skills and with a strong foundation for developing their own lighting techniques and style.

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Workshop/Book:

Jodie Otte Workshop
Location: Baltimore Maryland
Instructor: Jodie Otte
Tuition:$1,895

Details:

Instructor basically covers using lighting to achieve natural lighting look. She also covers post processing, business, and commercial photography. She also includes her book-good deal! Check out her studio photos-you'll die of envy!

Note:
She doesn't always offer her workshops, but you can still purchase her book, Studio Lighting Naturally for $395.
Way cheaper then the workshop and you don't have to travel!

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Member site/Workshops/Books

TaoPan

Owner: Ana Brandt:
Prices: Varies
Workshop Locations: Varies.

Details:

This is an awesome source!Ana Brandt is a well known baby photographer. Her online magazine is full of great information and she has a variety of learning sources. You can sign up for a workshop, become a lifetime member, purchase one of her books, or just read her magazine (blog). If you are interested in newborn photography, you have to check this site out!

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Online:

Jasmine Star-Building Your Wedding Photography Business

Instructor: Jasmine Star
Price: $99-already started, but you can watch the videos for free that they have on the site, CreativeLive.com.
Location: Online (videos)

Details:

If you do wedding photography, you might know about Jasmine Star. She is a well known wedding photographer and awesome! I stalk her blog and website to get great pointers and ideas for my weddings. I love to find sites that interview her,or when she does something like this. Google her name to find when she will be a guest on photography info sites.

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Learning is fun-I hope you can use one of these sources to further your photography skills!

Friday Photog Finds

I am a little late posting my Friday Photog Finds because I spent the morning going on my daughter's class field trip to the park to learn about trees. I don't get a chance very often to go to school things, so I was happy to be able to go today! :)

I wanted to devote this week's finds to fun. That's right. FUN. So, I wanted to introduce you to Photo JoJo.com. Have you heard of them? They are like the geeks of photography's one stop shop. They sell fun stuff and stuff you can actually use.

Here are some cool gadgets to consider getting:

The lens bracelet.
$15 for two.

I so need to get one of these.

The SLR Sloop, camera bag.
$149

These are styling.

The Camera Lens Mug
$24

You need one of these.

I'm trying to get them to let me host a contest. You should tell them to let me. I will be your best friend if you do.

Check back on Monday for our Photo Challenge winner!

Friday Photog Finds

I hope everyone has some awesome plans for Easter this weekend. Ours is going to be a quiet one. We don't do much-maybe eat out after passing out the Easter baskets. It's been cold out here for the last couple of weeks, so those pretty Easter dresses that are made for spring will have to wait. :(

I wanted to do something Easter related for my Friday Finds, so I searched far and wide (I like saying that) and found these neat Easter templates that are F-R-E-E:

Easter Photo Card Template

Bunny Ears Card Template

Nine 2011 Easter Templates

Have a great Easter-See you on Monday with this week's Photo Challenge winner-so be sure to enter!

Friday Photog Finds:Photo Nuts and Shots

Great photography CAN be learned.

Do you wish you could take beautiful photos like the photographers that you love do? There is a debate whether you have to have "the eye" to be able to be a talented photographer.

Great photography CAN be learned.

With the right tools, you can be taught to be a great photographer. There are a lot of great workshops you could go to. But, what if you can't afford the cost-most run around $1000-or, you can't travel to where they are held?

Don't give up! Photo Nuts and Shots is a how-to guide for some one wanting to achieve that dream of becoming a great photographer.

What does it cover? Pretty much everything! If you really need to start at the beginning, this ebook is a super source that starts by what you need to learn in basic language, like rules of third, quality of light and negative space.

By using the techniques that this book teaches you, you can still achieve gorgeous photos-even if you feel that you don't have an artistic bone in your body.

This 100+ page book (Wow! pretty big for an ebook) includes lots of photos to go along with their teaching. I am one of those people who need visual- are you?

Here is a screen shot of the table of contents:

As I said, great visuals to go with the techniques.

So, if you are always wondering, “Why don’t my photos look like that?” you can achieve the craft of photography with out spending a fortune in the process.

Friday Photog Finds

It's Friday already!

I hope this weekend will be a nice one. I've been itching to take some photos of nature. I have to check out a location where I'm shooting a wedding in a couple of weeks also-what are your plans this weekend?

This Friday, I wanted to share with you my finds on flooring.

Have you wondered how photographer's find those beautiful floors they use for their photos, or how can they afford to have fancy flooring in their studios?

Well, most use faux floors! I'm sure everyone has heard of these floorings, and probably checked into getting them, and maybe have a few. I have flooring, but no rugs yet. I decided to do some research on finding some resources to obtaining faux (fake) flooring.

This is what I found...

A popular place to find faux flooring is The Savvy Photographer.

They have different patterns and their prices run from between $17-$180. They have a good reputation and pretty floors.

Photo Floors have a big variety of faux floors. They are a bit expensive- $270-$630 - but they have very beautiful rugs that you can get at a large size if you wanted.

Here is one example.

Very pretty!

If you want to save some money, you can also find some faux rugs at Bargain Outfitters. They run half the price at $29-$99. They have limited designs compared to the other places, but can still give you enough to work with.

You can buy two small rugs and stick together for under the cost of one big one.

Good deal!

If that's still too expensive to you, can find paper "barnwood" rolls at Michaels for I think around $4.99. I use these for backgrounds and they work great! Look back in their school area.

Here is a shot I did with it.

Now, if you don't want to mess with storing flooring, I found a very cool site that sells PSD overlays that turn your floor into different flooring! SugarSnapper’s Floored! collection makes it easy for you to eliminate lugging big rugs around to clients’ homes.

Their collections are $65 per collection, or $165 for three.

So, there you have it! You don't have to blame expense or space to stop you from producing beautiful floor photos like the pros!

Friday Photog Finds

Finally, it's Friday! Last weekend, we went out of town to Des Moines to go on a shopping trip. This weekend will be spent getting ready for weekend photo shoots.

This Friday, I wanted to share with you some FREE finds!

My first find is from Resources for Photographers.
They offer free downloadable PDF tutorials for Photoshop users!

Here are some of the great tutorials:

Introduction to Curves

Overlays & Textures

Using Sun Flare Brushes

Creating and Using Custom PS Brushes

Pencil Drawing

Using Bokeh Brushes

Dreamy Effect

Red Eye Correction

Using Grunged Edge Brushes

Duo-Tone
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My next free find is from MCP Actions. I'm sure you've seen Jodi Freeman's work all around photography land. I love her actions and she has actions for Photoshop and Elements.
She offers free actions!

You can find them here.

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This next find I just found out about yesterday from my Featured Photographer interview. Have you ever wondered if you are charging what you should charge, or putting your price list together?
Now, you can get some help-for FREE!
Stacey Reeves offers help with a free Pricing Guide for Photographers. How neat is that?!
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When I saw that Life Art Design Shoppe, was offering a Complimentary Design Guide, I knew I had to add it to my Friday Finds. Check out her site for templates and other cool products.

That's it for this Friday-enjoy!

Friday Photog Finds

It's Friday already! I am happy to say that I have a quiet weekend ahead. I like to have nothing planned once in awhile just to catch my breath.

Anyway, I wanted to post my Friday finds-I think you will like them! This week, I'm mixing it up and not just posting about one topic.

My first find is from Addy Lane.

Addy Lane provides elements and templates for photographers. These beautiful products seem to have a vintage look to them and clients love that. My favorite are her baby announcements.

It used to be that you would have to send out to have cards made if you didn't know how to make them. Now, you can just buy a template ($10 + up) and use it over and over. I love that!

My next find is from The Newborn Nest.

These are bean bags designed for newborn photography. They are made of vinyl for easy cleanup. Right now, I have a cloth bean bag chair that I got from Target. I have to put diapers on top of it in case we have an accident. Right now, they are on back order, so keep checking back if you want to order one. ($89)

My last find of the day is from LooptyLooDesigns.

If you are like me, you spend a fortune on props. I'm really bad about newborn props. When I found LooptyLooDesigns on Etsy, I felt that this would be the way to go to purchase newborn hats and other props.

This designer sells her props in "package" deals to save you money. One example is this one that includes a Stocking Hat, Earflap Hat, Teddy Bear Beanie and Diaper Cover for $65.

So, if you are looking to start your collection, or add to it, you should check her out!

If you would like to be featured for Friday Photog Find, leave a comment and let me know!

Friday Photog Finds

I think I want to make Fridays my "Friday Photog Finds" to showcase all the awesome photography stuff out there (and there is ALOT). I could so go in debt if I got all the products that I wanted out there.

I'll start this week's find with some beautiful (and practical) photographer bags.

Have you heard of The Shootsac?


(shown with optional covers)

These were invented by Jessica Claire, who happens to be good friends with Gary Fong, who I mentioned in my last post. I wish that I had thought of this type of bag, but I'm glad she did because this is just the type of bag I need. During a shoot, I change my lens about ten times. Sometimes, I just put each lens on a different camera-I have three cameras-But that can get bulky and then I have three SD cards to deal with instead of just one.

These bags, or sacs, aren't made to replace your normal camera bag. They are equipped to hold your lens on your body so you can easily have them available instead of running back and forth to your camera bag (like I do). The Shootsac runs $179. Worth the investment!


Looove them!


If you really want to be stylish, you can get a Kelly Moore bag.

These bags are absolutely gorgeous!


They look exactly like a purse to me, which is so much nicer than those ugly black camera bags that they sell in the stores-argh! I actually have four ugly camera bags that so need to be updated to one of these beauties. They start at $159 per bag. A bit pricey, but I think you will get your money's worth.


If you are looking for a more affordable cute bag, try the Cargo Camera Bag from Built.

I like the look of this bag and at $38, if may be more of an affordable bag for beginners. This bag has extra padding to protect your glass, which is a plus. I am always worried about banging my bag against something.

Stay tuned next week for more goodies!