resources

free bounce card!

I came across this cool free download on Make for a bounce card from LADIG. Photography gear is expensive (I know this because I recently purchased a bounce card for about $60, if only I had seen this first!) Print it out and attach it to your flash with rubber bands or if you are feeling fancy, velcro:

Downloadable PDF

photoshelter social media kit

I was just emailed this link to Photoshelter’s Social Media for Photographers Kit, and I thought it was really useful and wanted to share! All you have to do is submit your email address and they’ll mail you their 55-page guide. I’ve looked through it and read some already and it’s super useful and relevant for any kind of small freelance type business. Social media websites are a great marketing tool so it’s worth your time to learn about.

While you’re checking it out, don’t forget to check out Photoshelter’s awesome portfolio and hosting services!

coffeeshop photoshop actions

I found this cool collection of Photoshop actions from CoffeeShop I wanted to share. Actions are cool because they’re easy to use and I love going through the steps and seeing how other photographers achieve certain results. The best part about Photoshop is that there is a million different ways to do everything, and the more you know how to use it, the easier it’s going to be to get the look you want and experiment.

Some of my favourites are:

But there are a lot on the site, and they’re all free! Check it out.

block posters

I found this awhile back but I wanted to share because I think it’s pretty cool. I used it to make a huuuuge poster on my wall in my old house, and it was amazingly easy and quick. Basically, you upload your photo to Block Posters, and they give you some printing options on how you want to slice your photo, how many pages you want to use and what size. Also handy is they’ll tell you the final height and width, so it’s good for planning out your space. Then once you’re ready, you get a pdf of your image sliced up for you all ready to print. The quality is really good and they turn out pretty amazing. So easy! And what a cool way to get a large photo without paying hundreds of dollars for printing!

rafal milach

I just came across this interesting interview with photographer Rafal Milach on feature shoot. Check out the link to read the interview. Something to note is that Rafal won the Grand Prix from Photography Book Now from Blurb, which is pretty impressive considering the amount of talented photographers he was up against.

I checked out his website to learn more about him, and I loved his photo series and the way he presents them. He takes you to this other place, and leaves you wanting to see more. You can preview his winning book here. I’ve also included a small gallery of some of the images from the book. Very inspiring and exciting!

i’m a photographer, not a terrorist

I’m A Photographer, Not A Terrorist aims to help photographers who get into legally ambiguous situations and are having their rights violated. They also actively participate in events and protests that advocate photographer’s rights. I’m posting the Bust Card they have on their website with a link to the PDF that you can print out and keep in your wallet. Basically it gives you a quick summary of your rights and what they police can and cannot do to you as a photographer in the US. Very interesting stuff, and even though the law is probably a bit more lax here in Canada, I would love to see a Canadian version of this!

moo

Photographers need business cards. moo can help. Not only do they print thick high quality cards (I’ve ordered them before, so I can vouch) but they have an amazing option where you can print each card with a different picture. There are some great digital printers in Toronto, but they’ll only give you a run of 1000 of the exact same card. What would be better as a photographer than to use your cards as your portfolio? Clients would love collecting all the different photos. Another cool idea would be to use one large picture and have each card be one section of it, like a puzzle. People will definitely want to collect the whole set, and giving out your card is all about getting people interested in you.

The prices are totally reasonable, $21.99 for 50 regular sized business cards, $19.99 for 100 minicards, and they also have postcards and greeting cards too. All customizable with your photos. Amazing!

And it’s a small thing, but I love the packaging that the cards come in. Small things like that make me feel like they’re really putting a lot of thought into the whole customer experience. Highly recommended! Go get your cards and other promotional materials printed!

dslr lenses

Found this useful article on Gizmodo about DSLR lenses, called “The 3 DSLR Lenses You Need (And 2 More You’ll Crave)“. So much helpful information for a first time buyer, as well as someone looking to fill out their lens collection. In summary, aside from your general lens that comes with your kit, buy a telephoto zoom first, then a fast “normal” or sometimes called portrait lens. After that you can can think about getting a wide angle or a macro lens. Great advice. Definitely read it if you’re thinking about buying a new lens and you’re not sure what to spend your money on.

blurb

Every photographer at some point thinks, I wanna make my own photo book. Blurb can help you. The site is nicely designed, and easily usable, which is always a bonus. Plus they ship to a whole bunch of places, so check out their shipping FAQ if you’ve always been wanting to make a photo book but you just couldn’t find a publisher that would ship to your area.

I’m always looking for new photo book publishers, and Blurb seems really promising. The prices are reasonable, and there are a variety of different formats to choose from including soft cover, hard cover, dust jackets, image wrapping, borderless pages, and books in a bunch of different sizes depending on the look you want. All the books are “bookstore-quality” and have a high turnaround so you won’t be waiting months to get your book. Sounds pretty good to me.

They also have free software that you can download immediately so you can start designing your photo book right away, and all layouts are fully customizable. Or if you prefer, you can submit a pdf straight to print.

I’ve looked at a lot of photo book publishers and it always seems like there’s some kind of restriction, or downside, but Blurb seems to have none of these at first look. It seems like you can be creative as you want and get the exact final product you need.

Lastly, if all of this wasn’t exciting enough, they’re running a contest called Photography Book Now, in which you can submit your photo book for consideration. The top prize is $25,000 which is pretty amazing. There are three categories, Fine Art, Editorial, and Commercial, so it’s open it all types of photographers. It’s worth checking out if you’re considering making a photo book anyway, who knows, you may walk away with one of the prizes.

dpreview.com

One of the best sites out there for photo-dorks is dpreview.com. If I’m going to buy a camera I usually do extensive internet research, and this site is where I go first. And usually last, actually. It has in depth technical reviews of all the cameras you could possibly want to know about. And when I say in depth, I mean pages and pages on each camera. On top of that, the forums contain thousands of posts about cameras and gear, so if one person’s perspective on a camera isn’t enough, you can hear how the equipment performs from people who are actually using it.

It’s pretty amazing, and there’s a lot of information there. Check out dpreview.com next time you’re looking for a new camera, or if you’re like me, just to fantasize about all the cameras you want to buy one day!