November 18, 2008

1

Gavin Seim, ProPhotoShow, Review

Cheap 8GB Compact Flash Cards: CPPOTW

Transcend 8GB 133x Compact Flash Card for 23 bucks (at publish time)

This weeks Cool Photo Product Of The Week is a sweet deal. Most of us use compact flash card’s in our cameras and with my new 5D MK II on order, I know I’ll be needing more of them. The price of memory just keeps coming down which is really cool.

I just picked up This Transcend 8gb card for less than 23 bucks. I’ll list it below so you can see the current price on Amazon, but these are a bargain. It’s possible to get cards slightly cheaper still, but these ones have great ratings, and you don’t have to hassle with any rebates.

If you use 4GB cards they make those too. Right now their under 15 bucks. Transcend 4GB Compact Flash
Have a great day… Gav

 Read More

November 13, 2008

1

Canon, Gavin Seim, Nature, Portrait, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow, Software, Weddings

Six Tips to Build Your Photography Business:

by Gavin Seim (Updated 01/10) — With winter on and economic downturn in many parts of the world, you may find yourself looking at the numbers in horror. OK maybe I’m going too far, but many photographers are concerned about the amount of work on their schedule. I’m a blessed man. And while things are moving along, I too am looking at ways to put more on the calender.

Now I’m not the worlds chief authority on marketing. What I do know is that amazing service is a never fail approach. Beyond that there’s is no instant solution, but hard work pays off and these tips will get you thinking. I’m going to assume you already have great service (you do right?), then keep it short with six tips that can help you get noticed in this competitive market. I also found another cool article by Sean Clayton about getting your phone to ring that you might want to check out.

  • #1. Give Some Classy Freebies:
    Sometimes the best way to make profit is by giving something away. You don’t have to devalue your work by shouting FREE prints to the world.  Try sending  gifts to past clients for anniversaries or graduations. They don’t need to be photos. In fact something else might make a HUGE impression. Chocolates, a gift card for dinner. Maybe coffee or a bottle of wine. They may have loved your photos, but clients need a reminder to talk about you. I know it sounds expensive, but it will WOW past clients and usually pays. There’s various ways to give gifts and perks. Just be creative and see what matches your style.
  • #2. Send Images to Venue’s:
    Sending out promo images from a venue is a great way to make yourself memorable and build venue relationships.  A pile of 8×10’s for their book or some web files for their site is fine, but lately I’ve been taking it to the next level by giving notable things like larger canvas images and albums. Venues nearly always need great images to show off to potential customers and what can be better than them showing off yours. Make sure you put your name on them in a classy fashion and send some business cards along. The venue will appreciate the images, and you can get free advertising, which is always the best kind.
 Read More

November 5, 2008

16

Gavin Seim, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow

How To Backup Photoshop Settings Like A Pro:

by Gavin Seim: I had a call recently from a photographer who lost all her preferences, settings and actions because of a crash. For some reason Photoshop lost all it’s preferences and went back to default. The thing is, PS is not meant to hold all our settings permanently. You need to have them backed up. The key is being prepared so when something’s lost, you can take it in stride. Today I’m going to tell you how to do it. Remember that once you’ve stored these settings, re-loading them is as simple as double clicking the file. Click the images to get larger illustrated views as we go along.

1: Give Them A Home:
 First, decide where you’ll be backing up your settings. Be it a folder on your hard drive, a CD/DVD or an offsite storage service. Wherever it is find a consistent place that will be separate up from your main computer should you have a total crash.

2: Archive your actions:
Photoshop is not a place to store actions. When you download a new action don’t just load it in the actions palette and expect it to stay there. PS will retain the actions so long as the preference to keep it loaded remains. Also deleting an action in PS does not actually delete the file, it just removes it from the action palette. As long as you have your action files safely stored you’re good. But, if you load an action, and then delete the file expecting PS to retain it forever, your doom is sealed.

I like to make a “favorite actions” set that I store with my other actions. This way all my commonly used actions are in one set that I can load fast. I keep it in PS all the time, but it’s backed up should I have a crash. My other actions are nearby as well, but I load them only occasionally since all my favorites are in one set. You can do this by making a new action set (folder) within PS, then drag your favorite actions into it from other sets, then save your favorites set in a safe place.

 Read More

October 30, 2008

0

Cool Gadgets, Gavin Seim, ProPhotoShow

White Balance Grey Card: Cool Product Of The Week

CPPOTW = The Digital Grey Kard

It seems someone is always selling a gadget to get your white balance right. It can indeed be useful to have a grey reading to get your white balance spot on out of the gate. This CPPOTW is the Digital Grey Card.

WB targets work quite simply. Their an 18% gray. You shoot a frame with the gray card in the scene, then later in post production you click it with the WB eye dropper using, Lightroom, Aperture, Camera Raw or whatever you use. The system reads, what you say is 18% gray and balances the rest of the scene accordingly.

I‘ve tried a few targets, and aside from being overpriced many of them are cumbersome, which means I tend not to use them. This set however is like having three business cards on a lanyard. Throw it in your bag, or better yet around your neck and wherever you are you can toss the card in for a WB target shot. It also includes white and black level target.

Nothing big, strange, or expensive. At around seventeen bucks, it may seem like a lot for three plastic cards, but these targets are cheaper than most and do just what they need to. Something every photographer should have in their kit. I’ve linked to Amazon. I’m sure you can find it all over, but the price is right.

Gavin Seim

 Read More

October 24, 2008

2

ProPhotoShow

The Best Of Pro Photo Show Is Here

It’s a little hard to believe that in 2006, me, a twenty year old kid who was shooting weddings and whatever else he could get hired for, jumped in feet first and had the nerve to start a show telling people how to be better pro’s.

Now some would contend that I’m still just a punk kid who doesn’t know much about anything. Perhaps they’d be right, but I do know there’s a lot we can learn as photographers, no matter what our age or experience.

Today we’re starting The Best of Pro Photo Show. Content posted on the site quickly gets pushed down and sometimes fades into internet oblivion. Then I’ll get a question a year or two later and think. “Someone talked about that on a show”

We’re going to add the best articles and podcasts to this page, which will then be continually updated. This isn’t some automated popularity algorithm. It’s our hand picked content, so that newcomers and long time fans can find the goodies easily. I’m especially embarrassed by some of the early podcast’s. I still have a lot to learn as a broadcast as well, but I cringe at some of the first shows. Still some of them contain good stuff and for that reason I’ll keep them around all the way back to #1 which can still be found in the archive.

I have not seen many sites using a best of list. Sure I may be crazy, but I think it’ll be useful now, and as PPS continues to grow. So, without further adieu..

The Best Of Pro Photo Show

~Gavin Seim~

 Read More