December, 2009

for Everyone — No Comments
28
Dec 09

Resolutions

Do many people still make New Year’s resolutions? Although people have good intentions, I suspect this is done mostly for fun.

In no particular order, some resolutions for the new year:

1. 4256 x 2832 , 300 ppi, 1440 x 900  (photographers’ joke)

2. Take more pictures. Musicians rehearse, athletes train, firefighters do drills. Photographers also have to stay in shape by taking pictures.

3. Learn to make better pictures. Today’s digital photography equipment is new, but it’s funny how photography styles go in cycles: everything old is new again. Keep up with computer technology without losing sight of what’s really important – the photography.

4. Do better, more effective marketing. If someone doesn’t understand what you’re saying, talking louder won’t help. If it didn’t work the first time, then why repeat it? Marketing has to be in the language of the customer and delivered to wherever that customer might be. Don’t expect the customer to come to you.

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26
Dec 09

Connect the dots

Why doesn’t a newspaper do this:

For each online crossword, sudoku or whatever daily quiz the paper uses, that is correctly-completed by the reader, (within a certain time period), the paper donates, say, $1 to a local charity. The charity can change daily or weekly.

Or, have the daily quiz sponsored by an advertiser who makes the charity donation. The advertiser’s logo and message would sit right next to the quiz. Twenty minutes to do the quiz = 20 minutes of exposure to the ad.

How many readers will take the time to fully-complete the daily quiz knowing that it will do some social good in their community? How much word-of-mouth will this create as readers get their friends to join in and help fundraise for a charity?

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for Clients — No Comments
21
Dec 09

Eyes Buy

Our brain depends on still pictures. Even when reading text, our brain processes the text as pictures of the words and phrases that our eyes see. Our eyes really are cameras, taking many, many still photographs every second.

We shop with our eyes, and more importantly, we buy with our eyes. (Sadly, we still pay with our wallets.) This is why product appearance, the design of the store or office, the employees’ style of dress, the company web site and all marketing efforts should work together to give customers the necessary visual information they need to make a purchasing decision.

This also means that many consumer decisions are emotion-based. Our brain attaches an emotion to things we value. Do you like the way a product looks? How do you feel about the salesperson and the store atmosphere? Do you trust the company behind the product. Will you be happy with the purchase? Will this product make me look better, be healthier, be happier?

Emotion-based marketing is about promoting the benefits of the product. Let consumers know what’s in it for them, or more specifically, what is the reward for buying a particular product. A customer always wants some sense of reward as a result of making a decision. Decisions are made after judging the values at hand more than the tangible options available.

If I buy this brand of cereal, I will be healthier (according to the TV commercial). But if I buy the other brand, I can save money. What’s more valuable to me, being healthy or saving money?

Visual clues are the best way to trigger emotional responses. Smells work too, but (for better or worse) it’s not possible to add a fragrance to a web site.

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for Photographers — No Comments
18
Dec 09

Zooming big

From time to time, some photographer friends or some “normal” friends will send me pictures and ask that I make them bigger. Apparently, I do a good job. Well here’s my secret, (so stop sending me pictures).

I’ve been using PhotoZoom Pro since version 1.0, (when it had the catchy name of “S-Spline Pro”). The software works as advertised. Unfortunately, I don’t get paid to say that, I’m just a happy user.

PhotoZoom Pro 3 isn’t particularly cheap but BenVista just released a new “lighter” version called PhotoZoom Classic 3. This uses the same technology as the Pro version, but it has slightly fewer features and costs less than half the price.

But I have a zillion-megapixel camera, why do I need to up-sample?

If you can fill the frame with your subject all the time, then you probably don’t need this software. But if you need to resample after a huge crop, this software can do the job. If you need to up-size low-resolution pictures sent in from your readers or customers, then this software will be useful.

I’ve cropped images from 36 MB (12-megapixel D2X) down to less than 1/6 of the frame, and then resized them back up to 36 MB with PhotoZoom Pro. Editors were none-the-wiser!

Certainly, after any large resize, the final image is never as perfect as the original. Also, it’s garbage in, garbage out. If you start with a small, poorly-exposed, out-of-focus image, you’ll end up with a big, poorly-exposed, out-of-focus image. This software, like all other interpolation applications, makes the photograph bigger not better. Although, sometimes bigger is better.

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17
Dec 09

Best of the worst

Do you like buying cheap stock photos? Take a look at iStockHell, from the makers of Clients from Hell. Not sure if photographers should be laughing or crying.

*Added Dec 19: The iStockHell site may be down or perhaps even gone. The site did mention that it had received complaints from iStock, but was trying to work around them.

*Added: Sadly, the iStockHell site is gone.

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17
Dec 09

Being different

“Performance artist” may be the best description for Chinese artist Li Wei. Although “crazy” could also be used.

Take a look at the mind-boggling photographs on his web site. (The site doesn’t seem to mention the name of the photographer(s).)

Aha! They’re all fake, Photoshopped pictures!

Actually, you might be surprised.

While several of the images were edited to erase the steel cables or ropes that supported the flying people, not all pictures were altered. Apparently, for a few high-air pictures, Wei just climbed up and did his stuff.

Many of his floating head pictures have no digital magic whatsoever, but they do use old centuries-old trickery. Some of the floating heads in the “Dream-Like Love” series must have been Photoshopped, because there seems to be no other explanation.

The web site also has small videos which show some behind-the-scenes activity. In one video, while dangling from a 25th-floor ledge, Wei is suspended only by a rope handheld by two other guys.

While this work was done purely for the art, apparently Wei’s plan is/was to move it to advertising. Do you think wildly different pictures like this might help get a business noticed? Does corporate photography always have to be safe (but boring)? When should a business take a risk with its marketing photography?

for Clients — No Comments
15
Dec 09

A monkey could do it

A customer might ask: “Why does it cost so much? You just point the camera and push the button. Technology does all the rest. I bet even a monkey could do it.”

Well, apparently, there is a monkey doing it. And, posting her pictures on her own Facebook page. And, Nonja the orangutan works very cheap.

No word yet if she’s available for editorial, commercial or corporate photography assignments. So working photographers can rest easy for now. :-)

––

When it comes to hiring a photographer, you get what you pay for. A professional photographer is not someone who knows how to push a button, but rather, they know when to push the button. A premium quality photograph gets its value not only from what it shows but also from what it doesn’t.

If a business’ photography needs don’t require experience or creativity, if its corporate image doesn’t matter, and if its customers don’t care how that business communicates with them, then even a monkey could do it.

for Clients — No Comments
13
Dec 09

Cost of digital photography

Who started this myth that digital photography is free or cheap?

Last week, two similar sounds passed by my ears:

(i) While chatting with a writer whom I haven’t seen in many years, he remarked that I must be happy with digital photography because it’s free.

(ii) After giving a quote to a potential client, he replied, “Why is it so expensive? You use a digital camera, right? It shouldn’t really cost anything.”

Photographers, feel free to make a loud and heavy moaning sound.

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