Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
Your website is your single most important online asset for marketing your photography business. A poorly functioning website can negate all of your other online marketing efforts, driving away potential clients and leaving existing clients wondering whether or not they should hire you again. The following website problems are common but easy to fix. Making a few simple changes will drive more visitors and ultimately, drive more bookings for your photography business. [Read more…]
The idea of paying $50 per year for a off-site backup for all of your photos and other data on your computer is very nice. For many, the practicality of backing it all up is dependent on an ISP that operates a monopoly and subjects its customers to a stingy data cap. [Read more…]
Google+ added improved RAW file to JPEG conversion for over 70 cameras (including new cameras like the Nikon D800 and Nikon 1 J3). Additionally, you can always access your RAW files from the cloud if you need the original on a local drive.
I think this is a big, dang deal. While everyone is stirring for an Adobe competitor to come out of the woodwork with a perpetual license alternative to Photoshop, Google is quietly sneaking up with its acquisition of Nik and just continues to nudge out releases of photo editing, archive and sharing support via Google+. [Read more…]
Although it has offered video uploads and embeds for over three years, SmugMug has just added the ability to sell video downloads for pro members. If you’re a pro member and accustomed to pricing your wares, video download pricing works just like any other digital download products.
Full details over on SmugMug’s blog.
Google has announced a new “Search by Image” feature that allows you to start with a photo to conduct your searches online.
Google uses a photo either via link or uploaded to the service and tries to find similar results. Here’s how Google explains it: [Read more…]
Flickr has been the subject of heavy criticism for its past policy of deleting accounts with no way to undo its action if it turns out to be a mistake. This issue reached a boiling point earlier this year when Mirco Wilhelm’s account was “accidentally deleted” due to a mix up by a Flickr staffer.
After repeated demands for a better system, Flickr has finally relented and “instituted a 90 day delay in deleting the content, including the photos, metadata, comments, and all the bits of an account, after it’s deleted.” [Read more…]
Photography often focuses on the camera, the lens, the artist’s eye—all very important. But there’s also the photographer’s technology infrastructure that is critical to his or her success and efficiency.
Today, digital photographers (amateurs or professionals) constantly share large files via their websites, e-mail, and social networks and these basic tasks require fast, reliable upload and download speeds. Typically, people focus on download speeds when selecting their internet service provider, but photographers should pay close attention to the upload speed. In fact, photographers opting for pure fiber to the home services, like Verizon FiOS, can share their work with clients, colleagues, and prospective customers up to 200% faster than is possible with cable internet. FiOS Internet boasts more bandwidth and faster speeds and is far more reliable than cable competitors (based on claims from Verizon). [Read more…]
Kodak is dishing out final notices (I just got mine) on their online gallery storage. Not that it really matters to me. I use SmugMug and Flickr for sharing my images online. I have occasionally ordered a few snapshots or Christmas cards from Kodak; however, I will just upload the pics that I need at the time and get my pics or cards printed out. Perhaps some folks use Kodak’s service as their online storage solution. If you do, then you’ll have to keep ordering products in order to keep your photos online. [Read more…]
You have StumbleUpon for websites and Last.fm for music, but the choices for bookmarking and recommending photos are much slimmer. Photoree is an opportunity to see thousands of photographs — to see what images other photographers are creating.
The system is very simple: just like with other recommendation sites, you create a profile and note a few photos that you like from the Photoree colection. From there, Photoree recommends photos that match your taste. You can browse through photos, create your own personal collection and even use the Creative Commons images that you find through the site.
Photoree has also simplified sharing photos. While there are quite a few sites dedicated to sharing photos you’ve taken with your friends and family, there are few options for passing along a photo someone else took but that you enjoy. Your options are pretty much limited to pasty an unwieldy URL into an email. Photoree offers options for sharing photos easily with your contacts.
Shutterfly has added to its photo sharing and printing services by launching Share Sites. Share Sites provides users with a personalized web site to share photos with friends and family — a virtual photo album.
Share Sites offers up better designs than similar sites have offered in the past, as well as a very simple user interface. Someone with very little online experience can navigate these photo albums, if not create one themselves. With Share Sites, Shutterfly is not precisely competing with Flickr or Photobucket. Instead, their efforts compete with Kodak and Snapfish.
Despite the ease of use, Share Sites does have some potential for more advanced users — especially those who often work with clients, friends and family who aren’t up to speed with online photo options.