[by Paul Bartholomew]
Have you ever worked in Photoshop and see a feature you’re unfamiliar with? Look it up and see what it’s about. It may become very important to your work. Don’t have time to look things up? Write it down for when you do.
Paul S. Bartholomew is an architectural photographer based in the Philadelphia & New York region. His work can be seen at www.psbphotography.com
[by Peter Krogh]
If you need to get the maximum run time out of a battery charge on your Mac laptop, you’l want to be aware what is running in the background. If I have a long airplane flight, for instance, it can be annoying to run out of battery while I’m still in the air. You can open the Activity Monitor and check what’s running. One of the surprising culprits – the Finder. If you have your view options set to “Calculate all sizes”, anytime a finder window is open the computer is constantly recalculating the size of all files.
You can either close all finder windows, or uncheck “calculate all sizes” and get up to 30% more run time from the laptop.
Peter Krogh, author, The DAM Book, Digital Asset Management for Photographers
Second Edition May, 2009. www.theDAMbook.com
[by Leslie Burns]
Rediscover the joy in what you do. If you aren’t loving making images, just for the sake of making images, you may need at least a vacation or perhaps a change in career.
Leslie Burns is a creative/marketing consultant and not a lawyer (yet). She is taking the summer off from law school to work on a 2nd ed. of her photo biz book. Follow her at burnsautoparts.com/blog, facebook.com/burnsautoparts, and twitter.com/LeslieBAP.
[by Thomas Werner]
When an art buyer, editor, gallerist, says, “Stay in touch”, they are asking you to send them updates on your new projects or work. They are not asking to you to be part of their fab five, or go to lunch on a regular basis. It is a just friendly way of letting you know they are interested in you and your work professionally.
Thomas Werner; Educator, Lecturer, Curator. Please see Thomas Werner Projects on Facebook for more information.
[by Leslie Burns]
Shooting for yourself is one of the best things you can do for your business. Schedule time each month to work on personal projects.
Leslie Burns is a creative/marketing consultant and not a lawyer (yet). She is taking the summer off from law school to work on a 2nd ed. of her photo biz book. Follow her at burnsautoparts.com/blog, facebook.com/burnsautoparts, and twitter.com/LeslieBAP.
[by Paul Bartholomew]
Shortcuts can add up and save a lot of time. Try memorizing keyboard shortcuts to your most used tasks or tools. Keep a list on your desk for reference and you will soon catch on. Once it becomes intuitive your work will move much more efficiently than clicking around.
Paul S. Bartholomew is an architectural photographer based in the Philadelphia & New York region. His work can be seen at www.psbphotography.com
[by Kevin Lock]
For every job, pack as if you were going on a family vacation. Lay it all out the night before, inspect it, cross it off a checklist and put each item in its proper place. This will relieve a lot of stress and besides the rest of your creative team will be pleased if you decide to show up at the beach and have not forgotten your swimsuit.
Kevin Lock is a photographer based in southern California. He is a national board member of The American Society of Media Photographers. Contact Kevin at kevin@lockphoto.com
[by Gail Mooney]
Audio is everything with video. When shooting with a hybrid camera like the Canon 5D Mark II, never use the camera mic to capture your audio. Always use an external mic and either use with a pre-amp like a Beachtek or JuicedLink or capture the audio independently with a high quality digital recorder like the Samson H4n Zoom
Gail Mooney runs a video production company www.kellymooney.com.
[by Thomas Werner]
If you want your prints to stay clean, always bring a set of new white gloves when dropping off your portfolio or meeting with a gallery or reviewer, to take a look at your work. Never assume the person viewing your work will have them, they most likely will not, and please don’t give them your old gloves….
Thomas Werner; Educator, Lecturer, Curator. Please see Thomas Werner Projects on Facebook for more information.
[by Carolyn Potts]
Do some research about what you’re being asked to photograph.
If you take the time to read up on the product, company or event you’re being asked to shoot (you know you can Google ANYTHING) you appear to be someone who will be a partner in problem-solving. Demonstrating that you’ve actually taken your own time to learn about the client’s product can be a powerful way to show that you’re truly interested in their needs–and everyone finds that attractive and very compelling.
Carolyn Potts, perpetual photo evangelist; international consultant & speaker; and former rep, shows seasoned & proactive photographers how to get more work. Find her at www.cpotts.com , http://bit.ly/FaceBookPottsConsulting and http://carolynpotts.net.
[by Kevin Lock]
Unless we introduce ourselves, “they” do not know who we are. It is time to make that introduction. Take a few days, put together a blurb book, pick up the phone, make some cold calls, set up a couple of meetings and jump in. Get out and meet someone.
Kevin Lock is a photographer based in southern California. He is a national board member of The American Society of Media Photographers. Contact Kevin at kevin@lockphoto.com
[by Jenna Close]
How many ways can you make your images work for you? Boutique stock agencies, print sales for corporate offices, greeting cards, book jackets…look for opportunities to shoot once and sell often. Additional payments from a variety of sources can help fill in the financial gaps.
Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography. They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market. You can find Jenna at www.p2photography.net.
[by Paul Barholomew]
Try organizing emails by creating folders that sort by keywords. An example is a folder setup to contain emails with the keyword “ASMP”. Reading through emails will be easier, especially if you subscribe to multiple forums. On Mac this can be setup in your mail preferences under “Rules”.
Paul S. Bartholomew is an architectural photographer based in the Philadelphia & New York region. His work can be seen at www.psbphotography.com
[by Jay Kinghorn]
Are you using Photoshop CS5, on a Mac running Snow Leopard and looking to take advantage of all the RAM in your computer when working with large files? Make sure you’ve installed the DisableVMBuffering plugin in your Photoshop CS5>Plugins>folder.
The plugin is included in the Extras folder on the Photoshop installer DVD or downloaded installer disk image.
[by Leslie Burns]
You’ve (hopefully) got an electronic “filing” system in place for your images. How about for your paperwork?
Microsoft has sold Expression Media to Phase One, the Danish company that makes Phase One cameras and Capture One software.
Phase One is offering the following to existing customers:
* Capture One owners can get a free copy of Expression Media
* Expression Media owners can get a free copy of Capture One
* iView owners can get a free copy of Expression Media 2
Details available here. Offer good for the next month.
[by Kevin Lock]
Having a hard time reaching out to new clients? Pick up the phone and personally reconnect with past clients that you may have not heard from or worked with in a while. You will be surprised how this will boost your confidence and assist you in making long over due “cold calls” to potential clients.
Kevin Lock is a photographer based in southern California. Recently he was elected to the National Board of Directors for the ASMP. Contact Kevin at kevin@lockphoto.com
[by Blake Discher]
When you’re on that call talking to a potential new client, remember to count to two before you answer any questions or ask new ones. This two-second buffer will help you to be a better listener because you won’t need to be thinking about what you’re going to say next while the other person is talking. The best negotiators are good listeners first, good at selling second.
Blake J. Discher is a photographer, SEO consultant, and educator. He speaks nationally on the topics of web marketing and negotiating. Contact Blake at b@blakedischer.com.
[by Carolyn Potts]
Want a rarely-used, no-brainer business tip for photographers who rarely read instructions because Macs are so easy-to-use. (i.e. about 90% of us!)?
Invest just 5 minutes with any of your applications’ Help files. It will increase both your productivity and the R.O.I. of your Mac investment.
Challenge: Take 5 now with the app displaying this blog post (e.g. Apple Mail, Safari, FireFox, etc.).
Carolyn Potts, former rep & perpetual photo evangelist, international consultant & speaker, shows seasoned and proactive photographers how to get more work. Find her at www.cpotts.com
[by Leslie Burns]
Consider changing your business structure to an LLC for the liability protection it provides. Talk to a real attorney about this. A small investment in making the change now could save your personal assets down the road.