keith_downing

<p>I'm not "professional" enough to even have the option to spend money on an assistant...But I can't see how you would outsource this type of thing.</p>

<p>As much as I HATE spending hour after hour post processing shoots, how could you have someone else doing this? I mean it is basically interpreting your photos, no? </p>

<p>Changing even just the white balance, brightness, contrast, or hues, can completely change the final result. Not to mention everything else you can do post-processing in photoshop. How could anyone else determine what you want to get out of your shots?</p>

<p>Like they said, find out what the terms are and abide by them. If it's a print contest you probably don't have much of a say, but you might be able to get them to add your business and or contact name under the credit.<br>

Also, for the record, a 700MB file is huge...did you mean 700KB?</p>

<p>I know there are a TON of great photographers on this board. I'm really curious to know how many people actually pursue trying to market their work.<br /><br />I'd love to know how many people:<br /><br /><br /></p>

<ul type="square">

Have applied to and/or work with a stock photography agency<br /><br />Have a website through which they sell their work<br /><br />Have tried to get contract work<br /><br />Have submitted their work to magazines or companies for paid publication<br />

</ul>

<p><br /><br />If so, how did it work out for you.<br /><br />If not, what is the main reason you haven't (time, tough to get into the market, rejected in the past, etc).<br /><br />I hope to use this information both for myself and possibly a project to help others make money from their work in the future.<br /><br />Thanks for the time,<br />Keith<br /><a href="http://www.sohoaustin.com/myspacepics/DPP_0175_sm.jpg"></a></p>

<p>Probably a local print shop to start with, if the volume started to get large I would probably eventually switch to a larger national service.</p>

<p>Hello Alan,</p>

<p>I like the overall layout of the site a lot, but I do have some suggestions.<br>

1. I don't like the middle section of the main page. I think you should drop a shadow under that photo (with the leaves) or put a different kind of border on it. I don't like the embossed/raised edges on the photo; to me it looks like an amature rendition of an image. Also, there needs to be more space between the image and the text in that center section. There are several way this can be done.</p>

<p>2. I think the top menu bar (in the red is a little too busy). I think you should consider moving some of the items to a menu (probably just text links) at the bottom of the page. Try and get it down to seven, maybe eight links. If it were me, I would probably move the client login, links, and kingspointphotos.com off of that top menu. I would also consider taking the word home off, and just making your logo be a link back to your homepage (most big sites use this strategy). You could still add a home link to the bottom of the page though as a failsafe in case someone really couldn't figure out the logo. I would center the menu after it has been cut down.</p>

<p>3. A technical problem you have, is that a number of the links in the top menu use the IP address as a reference to the new page as opposed to the domain name. For instance, when you click on "About" it takes you to <a href="http://96.30.6.142/~alanabra/about/">http://96.30.6.142/~alanabra/about/</a> instead of <a href="http://www.alanabramsphotography.com/about/">http://www.alanabramsphotography.com/about/</a> . That's a big "no no" in web development for a number of reasons I won't get into here. So you need to get those fixed.</p>

<p>4. On the portraits gallery, i would consider putting a few different types of images mixed in early on. Out of the first 10, 9 are simply closeups of women's faces. Don't get me wrong, there good shots, but if it were me I would want to show a little more versatility thatn that right off the bat.</p>

<p>Well, that's probably about all the "feedback" you want from me right now. Best of luck with the new site though.</p>

<p>Keith</p>

<p>If the idea started to take off and had active members I would continue the service. I wouldn't be looking to make this a profit driven business like all the other sites, but it would still need to cover it's costs (that's why I was thinking in terms of a Co-op). That shouldn't be hard though if it is getting any kind of real traffic.</p>

<p>In answer to your question, I would like this to be a permanent staple for photographers. The only reason I mentioned the free resources is that it give me the opportunity to test market the idea with no overhead...a decided advantage over anyone else who would have to put up several thousand dollars (plus have the technical expertise) to launch this type of service.</p>

<p>Well, I saw smugmug has something somewhat similar, but they charge $100 just to signup. I'm thinking of targeting true amature photographers (college students of hobbyists) that have some good, unique images, but don't want to start a business. Or maybe they do but they literally don't have any disposable income to put towards a venture that may or may not yield results...</p>

<p>I like the overall feel. It's professional without being overbearing.<br>

A lot of the other advice here is assuming you are using the site to try and build traffic and business. However, if you are getting most of your work from referralls and real world contacts and just using the site to provide the images to your clients; then I think it's ok to keep it minamilistic and focus on the images.<br>

My only advice: on the gallery page it wasn't immediatly obvious to me that the single arrow took you to more pictures in the gallery. I might consider adding some text with the arrows or possibly a "Page: 1, 2, 3, etc" menu at the bottom that also took you to the other pages of the gallery. Just my 2 cents.<br>

Other than that it looks great. Best of luck.</p>

<p>I've got a couple dedicated servers sitting idle right now due to a delay on a business project I've been working on with my family (unrelated to photography). I was trying to think of some ways to put the resources to use since I can't get any type of credit for the equipment right now and I have some free time.<br /><br />I came up with the idea of trying to start kind of a photographers co-op for amature/semi-professional photographers. It would be a free service that would allow photographers to have their own website built from a template. They could upload photos, bio, contact information, etc. I could probably also integrate it so that prints could be available for sale with the prining costs and some profit sharing coming out of the sales price. So basically the photographers would get a check at the end of each month that reflected a percentage of the sales generated from their images.<br /><br />It could also serve as a marketplace for photographers looking for work and companies looking to book freelance work.<br /><br />Just curious to see if there would be a decent amount of interest for something like this. I think I could setup a pretty high quality, turn-key solution, and the photographers wouldn't have to put up a dime. Only thing is I wouldn't have any capital to promote the co-op, so it would need to be something that would have some real interest to photographers and be promoted by word of mouth.<br /><br />Anybody have any input? Advice? Concerns?<br /><br />Any other similar sites already exist that anyone knows of? I couldn't find much that didn't either fall into the stock photography category or the free image hosting category. Nothing I could find would basically allow the photographer to have their own site, and be able to make money selling prints of their photos without needing anything (other than the photos and an internet connection).<br /><br />Thanks in advance for the time,<br />Keith </p>

<p>I'll be traveling this week over to the east coast and then on to bermuda later in the week. I'll be taking my new 5d, about 5 lenses, tripod, flash, laptop, etc.</p>

<p>I haven't traveled with "major" photo equipment since 9-11. Are there any restrictions on digital equipment in airports these days? Anyone ever had any problem carrying on their gear?</p>

<p>What about memory cards with the X-ray machines? Any risk of issues there? I remember back in the early 90's when I shot with high quality slide film I would always ask for them to hand check my film, especially if I was going through more than one airport scan. </p>

<p>And what about actualy using the gear in the airport? Anyone done this? Seems like there would be some interesting photo ops along the way if I was discrete. Don't want to be drug off to the interagation room though.</p>

<p>Anything else I should worry about?</p>

<p>Thanks as always for all the advice and opinions guys!<br>

Keith</p>

<p>Just out of curiousity, does anyone who has sold equipment to them have any idea what their general markup is?<br>

I guess what I'm asking is: I think they sell good gear, but at a premium price for used equipment. Do they pay a fair amount for the stuff, or do they just pick up the bargains and resell them?</p>

<p>I was going to go with the 220ex new for $99 when I saw this for the 430 ex: <a href="http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10890653&sourceid=1500000000000003142050&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=10890653">http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10890653&sourceid=1500000000000003142050&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=10890653</a><br>

Is this not a steal? I'm seeing them as high as $350 elsewhere.</p>

<p>Still waiting on my 5d to arrive, but I'm looking to go ahead and purchase a flash as I leave for a trip to shoot the east coast in about a week.</p>

<p>Any recommendations out there from other 5d users? I don't really shoot portrait or anything like that, but I'm sure I will still want a decent flash for filling light and general indoor use.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!<br>

Keith</p>

<p>Thanks for all of the great input. I'll look into probably trying to obtain the 50mm 1.4 and also the 17-40 mm many on here have recommended.</p>

<p>Mark, what advantage does the polarizer and Neutral Density filter offer? I have some older filters from when I shot film, but can't you do a lot of that in post editing for digital photos now? Maybe a stupid question, but I thought just capturing the right shot correctly focused and exposed was enough in the digital world...</p>

<p>Oh, and also, I don't have the camera yet (still in transit), and I leave for 10 days of shooting the east coast and bermuda in less than 2 weeks. That's the reason I'm looking for input on what to buy now instead of just doing some test shooting and then evaluating what things look like.</p>

<p>Thanks guys. </p>

<p>All three lenses are tamron, all are 5-6 years old but clean and working perfectly. I'm not sure about the mount exactly, but they were originally used on a canon eos A2E. They weren't cheap, but I'm not sure how much technology and lens quality has changed over the last decade. I think the 28-200 came with the camera, the 20-40mm was around $400 new if I recall and the 200-400 mm was around $600 used.</p>

<p>I've just purchased a 5D to get back into amatuer/semi-pro photography. I've got some older lenses that should fit the mount (tamron 28-200mm 3.8-5.6, 20-40mm 2.7-3.5, 200-400mm 5.6).</p>

<p>I've got about $500-600 left to purchase a lens or two. Looking for some advice on what would be the best first step.</p>

<p>As for what I shoot, a little bit of everything, but mostly landscape and nature. Also, I'm a little out of the loop on the new technology. Can someone give me an outline on what exactly USM and IS lenses are? What are the advantages? Also, how high quality do I need to go to take advantage of what this camera body is capable of?</p>

<p>I know they're some broad questions, but I'd appreciate it if you guys could give me some input that would start me on the right track.</p>

<p>Thanks,<br />Keith</p>

<p>Thanks for all the feedback guys. Had never heard of fredmiranda.com. Lot's of possibilities there though at some very reasonable prices. </p>

<p>I took a look at KEH, but for one in good condition they're asking $1,700. That seems high to me. Most on ebay are going for between 1,250-1,400. Any real benefit in paying the premium at KEH other than removing the obvious possibility you might get ripped off on ebay?</p>

<p>Thanks for the quick responses. I've found that outside New York and LA there aren't many 5d's (or professional cameras at all for that matter) on craigslist. I live in Austin texas and have searched Austin, Houston, and Dallas. The only one I found was actually in Austin, but it was 4 years old and he was asking 1,450 for it.</p>

<p>I also haven't seen any on B&H in weeks. Not familiar with Adorama.</p>

<p>After about a month of deliberating I've settled on buying a used 5d for my next camera. This will be my first used purchase for what I imagine being more than $1,000. So what should I look for, or look out for.<br>

<br />Obviously I'll ask about age, ownership and shutter actuations, but I will most likely be buying on Ebay, so I won't be able to see the camera before I purchase. I think their standard contract gives a couple days to evaluate and return if it is not up to the standards advertised.<br>

<br />Any advice on what to look for? Any common problems or bugs with this model that I should check for? Anyone know a way to verify shutter actuations other than by the photo number (which I assume can be reset)?<br>

<br />Any other advice from experieced buyers of used equipment?<br>

<br />Also, any recommendations on some good lenses for this model? I have several older tamron lenses that should fit the mount: (28-200mm 3.8-5.6, 20-40mm 2.7-3.5, 200-400mm 5.6). But I imagine these won't do much to take advantage of the features and benefits of the new body.<br>

<br />Thanks so much for the time,<br />Keith</p>