My Top Three Online Photo Editors

Adobe's Photoshop is the most well known photo editing software program in the world. Professional image manipulators and digital artists skilled in its use are capable of creating images that dazzle and impress. But, for the casual user, using Photoshop can be daunting. While the professional user needs access to the thousands of filters available in Photoshop's repertoire, the casual user doesn't. For most users, freely available online photo editors are all they need to touch up photos and make them look their best. This article will examine and compare the positives and negatives of my top three online photo editors.

#1 - Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe Photoshop Express is a free online version of Photoshop created by Adobe for casual users. While it lacks many of the filters available in the full version of Photoshop, the Photoshop Express has all the essentials covered.

The main features include:

Levels can be manipulated to ensure that black levels are consistent in a photo
Hue, saturation and colour can be changed to affect the mood of a photo
Red eye can be eliminated by using a special filter
Blur and sharpen filters
Crop and rotate tools to improve photo composition

Photoshop Express also comes with a 'decorate' function that allows for speech bubbles, titles and other text decorations to be added to a picture.

Photoshop Express also has a newer, simpler interface that takes no more than a few minutes to learn. The interface is quick, responsive and free of advertising, with menus and functions laid out in a simple and intuitive manner. Uploading photos to manipulate is a cinch while inbuilt social networking features make it easy to share photos to websites like Facebook, Picasa and Flickr.

#2 - Pixlr

Pixlr is a powerful online photo editor with a number of tools and filters. While Photoshop Express discarded certain filters and tools in favour of an easier to use user interface, Pixlr features a wide range of tools and filters designed to help make photographs look better.

As well as the tools and filters listed above (see Photoshop Express section), Pixlr also contains:

Filters, including vintage photo filters designed to age the look of a photograph
The ability to manipulate photos using layers
Typography and shape effects
Clone stamp

This added functionality comes at a cost, however. Pixlr's user interface is not as intuitive and easy to use as Photoshop Express, making it more difficult to learn to use. Pixlr also lacks some of the social networking features that Photoshop Express has.

#3 - Picmonkey

Picmonkey is a powerful online photo editor that features both an easy to use, intuitive interface as well as a number of powerful effects and filters. Effects and patterns can be applied to photographs, as can text captions. Photo frames and clip art can also be added to photographs while photographs can also be fine tuned using a number of menus. Certain features such as the ability to alter levels, saturation and hue are absent, however.

Like Photoshop Express, Picmonkey also has a number of social media features built in that make it easy to share photographs to friends and family.

Conclusion

All three of these online photo editors are powerful and very capable at manipulating photographs. Photoshop Express is ideal for those who are looking for a simple, no-nonsense photo editor that'll allow minor touch ups, while Pixlr allows more advanced users to make minute changes to photographs. Picmonkey sits firmly in the middle of the two, offering powerful features with an easy to use interface. Make sure to try all three of these photo editors out to find out which one suits you best.

The Techniques of Using Your Green Screen Background Kit

Green screen technology is no more restricted to big time photographers and Videographers. This technology is more accessible than ever for everyone; whether you are an amateur or professional photographer. The photography background kits are more affordable than you can imagine. Also, the relevant software and other required accessories have made Chroma keying simpler and faster. If you are one of those professionals who are looking to incorporate this cutting-edge technology into your work, here are some tips that will help you to harness the magic of green color!

    While buying your green screen background kits, make sure you get enough clamps to hold the screen tightly. Any wrinkle or fold in the screen can spoil your efforts. If you are shooting in natural light, you will need more clamps to prevent the screen from swinging due to air.

    Direct light can cast harsh shadows and create hot spots on your foreground as well as background. Therefore, never use direct light; rather, use a light modifier to spread the light and turn it softer. Diffusing the light will also help you to light your subject evenly thereby getting a natural looking picture or video. While buying your photography background kits, make sure you also get some light modifiers.

    Always backlight your subject. This is essential to separate the subject from the background and will make background replacement easier for you.

    Shadows are nightmares for photographers. They are the most notorious elements that are infamous for spoiling endless photographs and videos. To get rid of any shadow on your green screen background kits, position your subject about eight to ten feet away from the screen.

    Shadows are not always bad. If you play with them to create drama in your image or video, they can do wonders for you. Use your key light, fill light, and backlight to give all those special effects that you ever wanted.

    To make your final image look original, make sure the subject's lighting levels match with that of your new background. You have to spend a good amount of time to adjust the levels of your keyed footage or picture to make it match with the background.

    Although there are endless numbers of photo editing software, you must buy one that is specially designed for Chroma keying. This software is much simpler and faster to operate than the standard software.

    Chroma keying is not as difficult as it sounds; you just need to use the right techniques.

A Quick Tip To Professional Photographers

Regardless of how many shoots you have under your belt, or how much experience you have, Murphy's Law will jump out and surprise you! There are many things that we can do to protect ourselves in the event of a shoot gone bad!

During a recent shoot, I had a malfunction with my camera... it turned out to be a quick fix, but, at the time, I did not know the solution. I reset my camera, which solved nothing, called the Nikon support line, who rewalked me through the same reset, which surprisingly still did nothing! They offered no other suggestions, and then gave me the worse news possible! They told me I would need to mail my camera in to be serviced. Not wanting to lose several weeks with my camera, I decided to go to a local camera store. (Not your standard franchise camera stores, but the real pro camera stores). If you search local areas around you, I am sure you will find one with a convenient location.

In three minutes the guy was able to tell me what my problem was. It was such a simple fix, but honestly had not dawned on me. Of course, I felt like a complete moron, but after the stinging of my pride subsided, I realized I had learned something, and not all was lost! I hate having to learn things the hard way, but admit that lessons do seem to stick with you longer that way!

After fixing my problem, the associate at the store gave me his business card, and the best advice, which I wanted to pass along to you! Find someone at a trustworthy camera store, and when you run into Murphy's Law situations, call them and NOT the help line for your camera maker!

Unlike the hotline number you call, the camera store has real photographers working there! They will walk you through steps you can take to correct your error, and in the event that those steps do not work, they can offer alternative ways to still get the shots you want!

This is just one more step that can help you avoid the painful tail between your legs moment! I hope that you can get a good business card in your camera bag before you find yourself needing it!
Also, talk to the camera store about rental equipment in case you find yourself with malfunctioning equipment right before a big shoot.

How To Use GoPro Cameras for Surfing

So, you bought your GoPro camera and are ready to document your ocean-loving lifestyle! But, now what?

GoPro cameras harness A LOT of potential, but cameras and salt water aren't a natural match. Thanks to the crew at GoPro, we now have these little cameras built tough to handle our active lifestyles. But, just because they won't break down on you in the surf (as long as you make sure the case is closed) doesn't mean that they will get the footage you expect right out of the box. A little tried-and-true inside knowledge will help you along the way.

Follow these 5 Tips to help you learn how to use your GoPro camera to record your ocean lifestyle:

TIP #1- KEEP YOUR CAMERA CLEAN. Hero and Hero 2 cameras come with a waterproof case. Everything works well when you first get the camera, but the more you use it, the more likely you are to encounter technical difficulties. That is because sand, dirt or lint will cause your housing to fog up. Take the time to make sure your housing stays clean.

TIP #2- USE ANTI-FOG INSERTS. GoPro makes Anti-Fog inserts that will absorb any extra moisture that might collect in your waterproof housing. They help out a ton. You can put them in the oven for a few minutes after each use to take out any moisture they've absorbed. They last for multiple uses,

TIP#3- KEEP WATER OFF YOUR LENS PORT. The lens port is the part of the waterproof case directly in front of the lens. Licking the lens port will prevent water drops from beading up in front of the lens. (You can watch the video below for a demonstration and special tips for the Dive Housing).

TIP #4- USE A DIVE HOUSING FOR UNDERWATER FOOTAGE. GoPro's dive housing has a flat port on it which will make everything in-focus underwater. The curved lens port that come standard with the Hero or Hero 2 camera will produce blurry footage underwater. If you plan to use your camera for diving, you need a flat lens port like the one on the Dive Housing.

TIP #5- MOUNT IT RIGHT. When mounting your camera to your board or body, test out the angles to see which one works best for the shot you are trying to achieve. Check out the angle using an LCD BacPac or record a short clip before you to the beach and watch it so you know what you are getting.

DIY Macro Product Photography Tent

Recently I've been upgrading my lenses in an effort to get a uniformity throughout all my video. I've pretty much settled on getting a whole set of Contax Zeiss Primes. While this is great, it leaves me with all my old lenses just sitting around collecting dust. For example, my Nikon mount Nikkor 50mm f/2.0 Ai is a fantastic lens, that has even been recommended by the legendary Shane Hurlbut, but it makes no sense to keep with my new Zeiss 50mm 1.7, so I'm selling it on eBay.

You can get a significantly larger return when selling your gear online by taking the time to shoot some excellent photos that make the buyer see the item in a "good light". This is why I decided to build a DIY Macro Photography Tent out of a carboard box and printer paper. The store bought version of these handy little tents dont necessarily cost that much, but the time it would take to find one online, order it and wait for it to arrive is time I just didn't want to waste. Also, I just don't do a lot of still photography and would most likely rarely use it.

I decided I wanted to make an infinte white background, as well as diffuse the light hitting the lens to give it that beautiful "catalog" look.

Supplies...

Cardboard Box (to fit your item)

White Paper (or cloth could work)

Tape

Scissors/Box Cutter

Lights Camera (100mm lens or so would be good)

In order to do this...

1. I took a small cardboard box, cut out the sides, and taped in some white printer paper to diffuse the flash coming in from both sides.

2. I then taped two piece of printer paper together to create a long strip of paper. Next, I taped one end to the top back wall of the box and let the other end of the paper drape down towards the front of the box, creating a nice smooth curved background.

3. I set up both lights on either side of the box and turned up the exposure on the camera slightly to make the background slightly blown out so it will appear "infinite".

4. I experimented a bit with different exposure to get it dialed in and looking right with lots of detail. This will vary depending on your camera, lens, and amount of light. I didn't have any diffusion for the on camera flash so I improvised with a bit of folded up bubble wrap which raises the ghettoness level of this from about a 8 to around 11, but it worked.

5. Then I brought the images in to Aperture and did some levels and enhancements to make the lens pop off the background. The white of the background was brightened to the point you couldnt see any detail so it appears to be infinite, which really helps give the shots the professional "catalog" look.

I know the setup might seem a bit iffy... and in a way, it is. But its actually pretty effective. As proof, here's the final image of the lens thats going on eBay!

How Do You Start A Photography Business

The business of photography is something that you really need to approach based on a honest assessment of your abilities, strengths and interests. From there you can then see if there's any kind of market for your planned products or services, and do some proof of concept research to ensure those markets will indeed pay you for your offerings.

Then you'll be ready to start planning your business!

Unfortunately most photographers come at it from the opposite direction. They have a desire to make money selling their photos but no real understanding or interest in the business processes involved in converting photography to income. They mistakenly believe great photography is all it takes to build a successful business.

1. Start with an honest assessment of your current situation.

Photography is extremely competitive simply because it seems like such a dream-job to so many people. Modern digital technology means anyone with basic camera skills can create a good image, so everything thinks they're a great photographer with real prospects, you need to work out what makes you different?

    What specialised skills do you have that will set you apart from the crowd?
    What interests and knowledge do you have that you can use to in your work?
    What subjects & fields do you do your best work with?
    Do you have a distinct personal style of work that sets you apart?
    Is you equipment suitable for creating high-res, high quality images?
    Do you have the skills and software to take an image from your camera and create a commercial quality print-ready file?
    What business experience do you have?
    What sales & marketing experience do you have?

The idea here is to first of all identify the kinds of products and services you're able to offer, and then assess whether those skills are at a level where people will pay you for them?

2. Is there a market for those products and/or services?

It's one thing to know you can produce some amazing work, but it's another to know there are people out there who want to use it. So you really need to put in some time to determine whether or not there is a market for what you do?

It doesn't matter how good your work is if you can't find anyone to buy it, and yet many photographers go into business with little more 'market research' than the encouragement of friends and family. "Wow, those photos are good, you should sell them!"

So somehow you have to answer the following questions...

    Are there people who need the kinds of images you like to shoot?
    Are there people who buy photos of the subjects you shoot?
    Are there people who will pay you to create specific images for them?
    Are there people who will pay for your expertise or knowledge?

The best approach here is to find other photographers offering similar products and services, and then see how your offerings stack up? (Google is great for this!)

    Are your subjects similar?
    Is your technique as strong?
    Do you present as professionally?
    If the buyer was to view your portfolio and that of your 'competitor', who would they choose to do the job? Why?

If you're serious about making a business of your photography, you need to be totally honest with yourself when you answer these questions. The truth is, you don't necessarily have to be a great photographer to build a success photography business, but your work does need to be at least as good as your competitors.

You also need to be clear on what you're offering, who your offering it to, and why they are going to buy.

Unfortunately, many photographers -- and many other would-be business owners -- start with little more than a product idea, and rarely take the time to objectively test their idea to see if there's likely to be genuine demand.

They build a business based on little more than wishful thinking and wonder why it fails?

Fortunately these days it's quite simple to test any idea and assess the likely demand using the search engines and keyword research tools.

3. Proof of concept testing

This is where you prove to yourself that there is a real demand for your offerings. In days gone by this would have involved surveys and focus groups, and taken considerable time and money, but these days is super quick and easy.

The best place to start is to simply search in Google for other people offering something similar? The volume of search results will give you an indication of the competition, which is a good start. Too many competing results and possibly your idea needs to be more unique. None at all and there mightn't be enough demand for it to be viable.

The real test of course is whether people are making money offering those services, and that's easy enough to gauge.

For that you look at the AdWords ads, to the right of the search results. In simple terms, lots of ads mean that those photographers are making money offering those services. No ads means there's no money to be made in that market.

That probably seems a bit over simplified, but it really is quite simple...

People only spend money on ads that make them money, so if no one is paying to advertise a specific service, chances are good it has been tried but didn't work.

To be sure though, you should also test your idea in a proper keyword research tool. Google offers a very useful free keyword research tool... you may need to login to a Google Account to access it but it's well worth setting up!

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

The process is quite simple. Once logged in, type a keyword phrase into the tool that represents the product or service you're considering building your business around. It might be the style of photography, the field of work or the subjects you want to focus on.

Regardless, once you submit you'll get real-time data back showing you the number of people searching for that phrase -- and similar related phrases -- every month. So the first thing you're looking for is search traffic... proof that people are in fact looking for the services you plan to offer.

The next thing to look for is the CPC value. This is the average/approximate price paid by AdWords advertisers to have their ad shown besides the search results. This is a cost-per-click, meaning the advertiser pays this amount for every single visitor they get.

So while most general photography terms might be in the $1-2 range, when you start seeing prices higher than that... sometime $5 or more per visitor... you know you're looking at a highly commercial term. And if that is closely related to your business idea, then you also know your concept has merit!

Of course this kind of research is all relative and quite subjective, so spend plenty of time on it, test some broad phrases to give yourself a benchmark, and the zoom in on phrases related to your planned business, and see how it stacks up.

If you find genuine search volume you know there's interest and if you also people paying to advertise with those phrases, you'll know there's a viable market... and that's a good starting point for building your photography business!

4. Developing Your Business Plan.

It's only after you've done all this that you'll be ready to start planning your business, and that's where the real work begins.

You need to spend even more time now planning how you're going to market your offerings, transact your sales and deliver your products or services. As a photographer your options are virtually unlimited so it's important that you take your time to get clear on your business model so you can focus on the best options for that and avoid the distraction of trying to do too many things at once.

The good news is, by now you know you have the skills, the product or service, you know there's a market for it and you're confident that people will pay you for it, so it should be easier to focus on the specific processes -- sales & marketing, fulfilment and operations -- that will turn your idea into a sustainable business.

One final point to keep in mind is, you don't have to be a great photographer to build a successful photography business.

In fact, there are many mediocre photographers who do extremely well on the strength of their business skills. There's obviously minimal standards required to ensure customer satisfaction, but you should never assume great photography skills will guarantee you a successful photography business.

The truth is, you'll be hard pressed to find a successful photography business run by a great photographer with poor business skills.

So when you consider how many talented photographers share the dream of making a business out of their photography, it should be clear that the best way to succeed is to focus on your business skills as much as you do your photography.