With so many great designs, it can be overwhelming to choose just one that fits your brand and is harmonious with your logo, promotional pieces and style of photography. Especially as a creative! Hey we like a lot of stuff – I get it!

So how do you make sure you avoid a branding mishap when you’re implementing a new website? Here are 3 branding mishaps to avoid when designing your new website.

1) Protect Your Logo Like an Endangered Species.

While you should LOVE your logo and want to see it everywhere, you should protect the elements that make up your logo – from the fonts to the special graphic elements. Your logo is a special mark that identifies your business. And because of that, it needs to stand out. It can be tempting to use that special font in your logo everywhere, throughout all of your marketing pieces and website, but the fonts you use in your logo shouldn’t appear anywhere else, especially if it is created from an extremely stylized font. While there are a few advanced exceptions to this rule, for the most part when choosing fonts for your website pick contrasting fonts that compliment your logo. Don’t compete with your logo for top billing. Instead choose fonts that make your logo stand out as special.

2) Coordinate Don’t Clash.

Yep. We like a lot of things. But just like when decorating your home – when it comes to your website, you need to choose a design that coordinates with the style of your photography. When creating your website start by thinking about all of the design elements involved – the patterns, the colors, the look and feel. Are these consistent with your photography? For example, is your photography fun and bright? Or soft and romantic? Or contemporary and clean? Your website needs to complement NOT clash with the style of your photography. The website design you choose should be dictated by your photography and remain consistent throughout your marketing.

3) Specialize Don’t Generalize.

When you try to be everything to everyone you end up delighting no one. It’s true – nobody is thrilled by you. We all choose to do business with people who we think are PERFECT for us and understand our UNIQUE needs. So if you have different target markets – brides and new mommas – it is okay to have more than one website! Your bride wants to believe you are the expert at photographing weddings and all things weddings. She’s eating, sleeping, breathing her wedding and wants you to as well. She doesn’t want to think about you posing babies. And the same is true for that new momma. She wants to trust that you know what to do with her perfect baby – not that you’re worrying about editing all the images for last weekend’s wedding. Each target audience has different motivations, reasons for wanting photography and differing budgets. If you use one website to appeal to both, you may alienate both audiences. It can benefit you to speak differently to each target market. Check out how we have done for my two target audiences in my baby/kid business and my high school senior business at sarahpetty.com and sarahpettyseniors.com.

There are a ton of decisions that go into branding your photography business. And there’s a lot of details to keep straight when building and maintaining a strong brand. To ensure I don’t confuse my clients with my branding efforts, I have a graphic standards manual I use that provides me and my staff with guidelines on how I can and can’t use my brand. To grab a copy of my 10 page PDF graphic standards for free go to www.thejoyofmarketing.com/iusa.

2013 is here and is staring us in the face. Hey you, what are you going to do this year to make a better you???

Before we can look ahead, we must first look behind. Looking back, do you feel like your photography has improved over the past year? Or does 2012 look just like 2011? Will 2013 look just like 2012?

As artists, it should be our goal to continually improve our skills and creativity. Not only to make new and better work, but to keep the love and passion for photography alive. 

So, how do you know if you have improved over the last year? Can you look back over the last year and see improvement in your work from January to December? Can you look at your images and feel some kind of proud ownership? Do you feel inspired and motivated to try new things while shooting?

Or do you feel stuck in a rut? 

If you truly love photography and have a desire to improve, there are two basic rules to help you on your journey in photography self improvement.

Rule #1 – Don’t make the same mistakes as you did last year

The number one rule of getting out of a rut is getting rid of bad habits. The following are a few of the more common mistakes photographers tend to make and repeat.

1. Feeling held back by gear. A good photographer is not made by his/her equipment. A good photographer is made by two things … a good understanding of light, and knowing his/her gear and it’s limitations, and being able to create something unique and creative within those constraints. The beautiful images created by phones (seen all over the internet) is proof enough that the best and most expensive equipment is not necessary to create compelling images.

2. Only shooting for others. Working for others day after day and week after week is a sure death for your love and passion for photography. Make sure you schedule time for your own projects or shooting time. Street photography, setting up a styled or themed shoot, or donating services to a charity are just a few ideas to keep your passion and love for photography alive.

3. Keeping to yourself. There is a HUGE network of photographers, vendors, and photography related services out there. Network with other photographers or vendors in your area to bounce ideas off of each other, set up shoots, go on photo walks, or just have the company of others with similar interests. You will find yourself motivated and inspired to try new things.

Rule #2 – Set goals specific to your personal self improvement.

If you don’t make some kind of daily, weekly, and/or yearly goals, it is easy (and likely) to fall back into old habits and not move forward in your photography progression.

1. Learn. Learn something new this year. Period. There are so many resources for learning, that there is no excuse NOT to learn. Workshops and conferences are a great way to learn from specific people you admire as well as networking with other photographers. Online courses and tutorials are available on any photography subject you desire and are accessible from the comfort of your home. And, of course, books and manuals are a tried and true way of learning.

2. Shoot as though you were shooting film (and if you are already shooting film, you are one step ahead). The idea of firing several shots in hopes of getting one decent shot allows one to be lazy when deciding on exposure, composition, and the overall story or vision of the image. One of our main goals in becoming a better photographer should be mastering the elements of making a good image with each and every push of the shutter. You are a PHOTOGRAPHER, not a photoshopper or fixer. Try shooting each and every image as though you had one roll of film in your camera. Shoot with skill. Shoot with reason. Shoot with a final vision in mind. This is one of the best and easiest ways to improve your skills.

3. Reverse engineer photos. Look at your images and decide what you love about them. Then look at your images and decide what is missing or what you don’t like about them. Take others’ images you love and pick them apart…figuring out how they created that image. How did they light it? What makes this image powerful (light, mood, location, etc)? What aperture did they use? Keep your findings in mind as you shoot.

4. Try something new. Probably the single most important thing I have done for myself is the commitment to try something new each and every time I shoot. It might be a new lighting technique. It might be a new pose. Maybe I add motion of some kind. Maybe I work with a new prop. Perhaps I use only one lens the entire shoot to force me to think and shoot differently. I might completely fail at that thing I tried, and I’ll try again later. But, I might also succeed and I have added a new skill to my belt as well as an awesome image to share.

The opportunities to improve are almost endless, you just have to decide what excites you and makes sense for your situation. Choose a goal(s) that make you happy and will help you improve at the same time. This is your year to be a better photographer.

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Es un gusto compartir con ustedes nuestro primer artículo en Español! En esta ocasión, cubrimos todas las opciones que PhotoBiz ofrece, no sólo a fotógrafos, sino a las empresas o negocios que deseen establecer o afianzar su presencia en la web.

En PhotoBiz, creamos nuestros productos de acuerdo a las nuevas tecnologías y tendencias web, con un grado de flexibilidad de nos permite acoplarlos a diferentes industrias y modelos de negocio. Siempre con nuestro servicio de soporte con pasión®, disponible en inglés y español, con el propósito de convertirnos en un socio estratégico para nuestros clientes.

A continuación encontrarán nuestro catálogo de productos con las características más importantes de cada uno de ellos:

Sitios web para Portafolio (Flash-HTML-Móvil)

La prioridad en estos sitios, es la presentación de imágenes, recomendado para fotógrafos y profesiones del diseño. Con ellos tiene acceso a las 100+ plantillas para flash y 19 para html. Activando las tres versiones bajo la misma cuenta con nuestro paquete completo, el sistema reconoce el dispositivo que el cliente usa para ver el sitio y proporciona la versión correcta automáticamente.

Ver demos sitios Flash

Ver demos sitios HTML

Ver demo sitio Móvil

Bizsite (Sitios web para Negocios)

Excelente para quienes quieran dar prioridad al texto. Usa html lo que los hace compatibles con cualquier dispositivo móvil.

Ver demo BizSite

PhotoBiz Blog

Incluye acceso a nuestras 11 plantillas personalizables, con protección para todas las imágenes.

Ver demo Blog

Tienda Virtual (Store)

Diseñada para la venta de cualquier tipo de productos y servicios. Para fotógrafos y artistas, permite configurar diferentes tamaños para copias la carta y paquetes. Se integra fácilmente con Paypal y otros servicios para pagos directos en línea.

Ver demo Tienda Virtual

Sistema de Prueba de Imágenes para Clientes

Ideal para los fotógrafos o negocios que requieran de una galería donde sus clientes puedan ver y aprobar sus imágenes.

Ver demo Sistema de Prueba de Imágenes

Todos nuestros productos se pueden integrar entre si y ofrecen soporte completo para múltiples idiomas, incluido el Español. Todos los cambios se manejan a través de nuestro panel de control, al cual se puede acceder desde cualquier computador con conexión a Internet.

Por último, cubrimos paso a paso la creación de un sitio web para portafolio que incluye las 3 versiones que ofrecemos: flash, html y móvil, a continuación los pasos que cubrimos:

1. Cómo abrir una cuenta con nosotros
2. Cómo cargar imágenes y texto
3. Cómo elegir una plantilla, esquema de color y personalizarlos
4. Cómo configurar su propio dominio y publicar su sitio web

Para ver el video completo de esta presentación visite nuestro canal en YouTube. Si tiene alguna pregunta o desea más información sobre nuestros productos y servicios llámenos desde USA al: +1.855.751.995, nuestro número internacional: +1.336.272.7741

Saludos!

Travel photography is often frustrating because you can’t always be in the right place at the right time with the right lighting. If you like to photograph people and their culture, you usually breeze in and out of a village or town relying on serendipity to get good shots. This is not the way to do it.

I learned a long time ago that it takes forethought and planning to guarantee great pictures of people in other cultures. Sure, serendipity does happen at times when everything comes together. We all know, however, that this doesn’t happen often.

Therefore, when I travel to a foreign destination, I make a list of the types of images I want to take. For example, my preconceived list of ideas when I took a photo tour group to Indonesia looked like this:

• Balinese dancers posing in front of temple
• Kecak fire dance
• Javanese bride with full makeup and traditional attire
• Workers mining sulfur in smoke
• Balinese dancer posing with a barong

To get these kinds of shots, I have to wear a director’s hat and set these images up. I use a local guide or taxi driver to make the arrangements. I choose the time of day when the lighting is best, the location, and I always select the models to make sure they are the kind of people I want to photograph. The fee is negotiated before the actual shoot, of course.

Usually through an interpreter, I direct the action. I place the models where I want them, and I ask for a certain expression, pose, or stance. For the kecak fire dance where I had about 60 dancers, I told them I wanted no music and, in fact, no dancing. I wanted them to hold a position that is representative of the dance, but I didn’t want movement. In this way, my photo tour group wouldn’t have to worry about using fast shutter speeds in the low light environment of shade. We could get the perfect picture that would be almost impossible during the actual performance which is always done at night.

One of the most widely discussed topics in the photography industry today is that of pricing. I hear career photographers complaining that there is a huge influx of new photographers willing to work for literally pennies. These established photographers make the argument that the new entrants are destroying the market, and killing the industry standard rates. On the other side of the fence are the new entrants complaining that they want to charge higher, but are in competition with all the other low-priced photographers. They are searching for ways to enter the market, charge what they feel like they are worth, and still get clients.

In order to address these concerns I’m going to discuss a few key topics. First, the effects of technology on an industry. Second, the basic economic principle of supply and demand. Third, branding, target markets, and client relationships.

The Effects of Technology

The photography industry has been turned upside down by advances in technology. It has both blessed us, as well as made things difficult. We all get giddy with the announcement of the latest and greatest camera body or lens, and are ecstatic when we see how affordable it has become. But on the other hand, as technology has gotten better, and cheaper, it has drastically lowered the barriers to entry for photography. The learning curve is much smaller than it used to be. 

The days of shooting rolls of film, waiting to see the results as the film is developed, making notes on changes needed from mistakes, buying more film, and making more photographs is over. It no longer costs money to press the shutter. One can get immediate feedback on fundamental techniques, allowing them to learn and adjust on the fly. Does all this mean that anybody can quickly and immediately create visually appealing images? Heck no! But it means they can more quickly learn the basics and consider themselves ready for hire. 

The photography industry is not the first to suffer a huge upset by the advances of technology. You could make a list as long as your arm of similar cases of technological advances that have completely reshaped the face of industry. Examples include:  

• Amazon.com vs. traditional brick and mortar book stores
• Online movie rentals vs. traditional movie rental stores
• Desktop publishing (and on-demand print fulfillment) vs. traditional print and publishing companies
• Tax preparation software vs. accountants
• Mobile phones and companies vs. landline telecommunications and utility companies
• MP3s, digital music distribution, and their effects on record labels

The list goes on and on and on. Technology has a way of changing the world, seemingly overnight. We have two options. Adapt or die. Period. ADAPT. OR. DIE.

(Scared? Read on for the “how”, it does get better).

Supply and Demand

That’s right, even artists need to know and be aware of a little economics. We are definitely not immune to the basic rules of business and economics. Price is the basis for our complaints right? You’re working your tail off, and not making what you feel like you deserve. Well, price is the child born of the relationship between supply and demand. The relative supply of photography services has increased (and continues to do so) exponentially over the past several years. But, unfortunately, the demand has stayed fairly level. Sure more people are wanting custom portraiture, but the relative growth in that demand pales in comparison to the growth in the supply of people offering their photographic services. So we’re all screwed, right? WRONG! Let’s talk about how to fix this supply/demand issue.

Branding and Client Relationships

In this over-saturated market, what are you going to offer that nobody else can? If you didn’t say YOU, then you got the wrong answer. You are the defining difference. Your style, your creativity, your vision, and your personality is 100% unique to you, and nobody else can offer that. I know, it sounds fluffy, like it just spilled out of the mouth of a motivational speaker. 

Consider for a moment hair cuts. There are likely countless places you could go to get your hair cut. All of them could likely give you a pretty similar service. Some people will go with the cheapest option, and will be totally fine with the $5 hair cut. But others will only go to THEIR hair dresser. They perceive that person, and the service they offer, to be of higher value. It may be the relationship they have built or a unique service that they haven’t found in other hair dressers. It may be just a comfort thing or family tradition (dad, and dad’s dad went there, so I go there too). But the point is, regardless of the price, they keep going back, knowing full well there are other options for lower prices.

It’s no different in the photography world. If your primary sources of new business aren’t previous clients and word of mouth, you’re doing something drastically wrong. The first reason people should come to you should be because of YOU, and how awesome YOU are. I can count on all my hands and feet, and all the hands and feet of everybody in my neighborhood the photographers that could offer a well composed and technically correct photograph. So again, why should they come to you? YOU! Then, as you build those relationships, nurture them, protect them, treat them like gold.

Target Market

Like the hair salons, there are photographers who can, and will, give you a pretty decent shoot for $50. Then there are photographers who will charge $1,000-$10,000 for a similar service. They want THAT photographer, regardless of the price. They want that person because of who they are, what their name represents, and the art they create. On the other side of the table, the person hiring the $50 photographer would NEVER, EVER pay $1,000 for photography, regardless of the quality. They are solely shopping by price.

So the question is, who are you targeting? If you are successfully targeting and selling your services to the $1,000+ ($5,000+ for weddings) client, why are you worried about the photographers squabbling over the $50 clients? If, however, you are working in the $50 market, the question becomes “why” and then should be followed by “how do you get out?” 

You are more than welcome to charge whatever you want, but at some point you have to ask yourselves, what is my time worth? If you are charging $50 for pre and post shoot communication, 2-hour shoot, drive time, post processing time, plus the time you have to put into your business for marketing, you aren’t even pulling in minimum wage! So ask yourselves, WHY are you doing it? 

If you find yourself in the situation described above, you may feel you can’t charge more, or nobody will hire you. And you might be right … for now. But now ask yourselves why you are shooting. If you really, really, really need that $50 to put some rice on the table and feed your starving kids, then by all means, go ahead and do your thing, but strongly consider slightly raising your prices every few months. On the other hand, if you are shooting for the love of photography, and don’t really need that $50, consider another approach. Stop marketing to the $50 clients and start shooting what you love, just because you love it. Collaborate with other artists in the industry and create projects that move you. Shoot for charities that really don’t have the budgets to pay clients, but could really use some pro bono work. Find things in your area that interest or excite you and photograph them. Write an article on that new restaurant that just opened up and shoot the chef at work. Whatever it is, just shoot it because you love it, forget about the whole world of “clients” and just make pictures. Most critical of all, as you do all this, SHARE IT! Get your work out there, let people see and experience it.

As you move forward with your new “I shoot what I love campaign”, a few things will start to happen. First, you’ll get much more satisfaction out of what you shoot. Second, your portfolio will drastically improve and along with it your creativity, ability and technique. Third, you’ll quickly find and develop your style, and thus ultimately hone and improve your brand. And finally, as you begin to develop your unique style and vision you’ll start attracting a new niche of clients. And guess what, that new niche of clients will want to pay you! You are no longer one of the masses offering the exact same images as everybody else, but have a unique and creative style. You express YOURSELF in your images. You now fall within your own supply/demand curve and the supply is VERY VERY LIMITED. Which ultimately means you can charge a premium for your services! All this will take time. You’ll want to throw in the towel, at least a billion times. You’ll threaten to quit, and decide it’s never going to happen. But ultimately, if you want it bad enough, and you’re willing to stick it out, the day will come when it all happens! You’ll start getting those random, then more frequent calls. Then your biggest problem will be time management, and not pricing.

A Final Note

Finally, as a note to the whole industry in general, MEAN PEOPLE SUCK! I get so frustrated (and sad) when I see the negativity out there. I see forums full of people spending countless hours ragging other photographers, their philosophies, their work, etc. If somebody approaches you and asks for a sincere critique of their work, then fine, give them your honest opinion. On the other hand, if they are simply sharing something they are excited about, then as Thumper said, say something nice or shut the eff up (or something like that). Negativity and making fun of others in the industry does nothing to improve it.

One of my favorite authors, David DuChemin, is a perfect example of what the industry should be like. It is very evident in much of what he writes that he is frustrated with the same mediocrity in the industry that bothers many of us. But instead of spending time being negative and criticizing those around him, he offers educational materials in the form of books, ebooks, and workshops. Many of the ebooks he writes are very small (10-15 pages), and he sells them at a very affordable price ($5). Think of the number of helpful tutorials, books, and other educational materials that could come from the same amount of effort spent on bashing and arguing on forums. And I bet you can guess which one would make the author more money :).

 So to summarize:

• Stop complaining about the state of the industry. It has changed and will continue to do so. Look for ways to differentiate yourself, and most of all, adapt!
• If you’re charging too little for what you do, stop! Start shooting what you love, defining your style, improving your craft, and sharing your work. The clients will come. And with them they’ll bring their money!
• And last of all, let’s lose the negativity! Can’t we all just be friends?!