Today’s photographers no longer need to learn darkroom skills or bone up on the different kinds of chemicals they’ll be pouring into trays, but they do need to pick up a wide variety of skills that have little to do with image-making. They need to understand the difference between RAW and Jpeg image formats. They have to  learn how to edit in Photoshop. And, toughest of all, they have to figure out how to market a website. While a plethora of portfolio sites now make the website-building relatively simple, bringing visitors into that site when there are so many alternatives available on the Web is a challenge as tough as capturing a bride’s beauty in dim light when she’s sobbing into her bouquet. One solution might be to team up with other photographers and hope that the crowd attracts clients.

That, at least, is the hope of Behance, a company aiming to bring together creative professionals from fields ranging from animation and architecture to Web design and woodworking. While the firm isn’t giving out membership numbers, according to Community Manager Sarah Rapp, photography is one of its “top creative fields.” The company has even launched a stand-alone product at Photography Served to help art directors and image buyers to find the right talent for their campaigns. For Rapp, the mass appeal of a service like Behance’s is the only way for creative professionals to effectively market themselves.

“The era of the static portfolio is over,” says Rapp. “While creatives can (and do) create their own isolated websites, having a static website like this is not effective – it will be just be one of millions of webpages, with very little opportunity of being ‘stumbled upon.’ By using a connected platform like Behance, there are dozens of ways your work and portfolio can be discovered. In the digital age, it’s essential to use these tools to market yourself with little effort, but much effectiveness.”

Want to Shoot for Apple?

It might just be working, at least for some contributors. Success stories quoted on the site include an illustrator who uploaded a personal project of cartoon supervillains. He soon found himself selling prints and talking to the creative director of a small design studio, which later hired him. Visitors to the network are said to include R/GA, Crispin Porter Bogusky, Apple, and JWT, clients large enough to make any advertising photographer happy. Portfolios placed on Behance are also shared across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, further increasing exposure — and improving the chance of finding work. And the site even operates a job board, allowing design companies to advertise positions. (Although most vacancies appear to be for designers and developers rather than photographers.)

Clearly, for art directors the ability to browse multiple portfolios in one place in a set format is always going to be preferable to searching the Web for appropriate talent. But a site whose goal is to make things simple for the creative industry has also managed to add a few layers of complexity.

In addition to its portfolio services, Behance also runs The 99%, which offers advice, tips, videos and even an annual conference on making ideas happen, which also happens to be the name of the company’s book. The Action Method is the company’s own productivity system, a kind of Getting Things Done for creative types, complete with Action Journal, Action Circa Notebook and Action Circa Refills (available for $17.50, $34 and $16 respectively.) When it comes to executing revenue-generating ideas, the portfolio company for creatives isn’t short of creativity.

Most intriguingly though, Behance also recommends that its members make use of its recently launched ProSite, a kind of drag-and-drop, template-based website service. Linked with Behance, users can draw their projects down from the platform and place them easily on their ProSite pages.

“The Behance Network is a platform for Creative Professionals to upload their work and host a portfolio,” explains Rapp. “With ProSite, you can create a fully customized online portfolio site, designed however you’d like, synced with your projects on Behance.”

The Static Portfolio is (Not) Over

It’s hard to see the difference between the two beyond ProSite’s unique domain and the Behance platform’s community. Both are methods of displaying work publicly to people who might want to hire you. More importantly, it’s hard to see too why a photographer would want to join ProSite if, as Rapp says, the “era of the static portfolio is over.”

Using ProSite to create a branded site however, Rapp argues, will take a “professional portfolio to a new level.” She recommends printing the custom URL on business cards and using it to refer people interested in your work.

None of that is new, of course, and even Behance’s gallery of creatives has long been superceded, at least for photographers, by PhotoShelter. And like building a website, creating a portfolio on Behance is still only the first step. Asked what members can do to stand out on a platform filled with plenty of other professionals competing for the same jobs, Sarah Rapp offered a long list of recommendations that included categorizing your work by creative field; using tags liberally; joining different networks such as the LinkedIn Network; connecting with other Behance members; and, for the greatest exposure, being featured on the main gallery, something that requires length, a strong concept and a clean presentation.

That sounds like a lot of work. A similar amount of work, in fact, as the kind of effort that photographers need to invest in making sure their website is seen. (And that website isn’t going to be linked to a platform packed with competitors.)

Behance’s platform does provide a useful service. Adding your projects to a platform viewed by the creative industry can only help to win jobs and land new commissions. But like any aspect of the photography business, don’t expect that work to come in without plenty of effort and large investments of time.

Related posts:

1. Steal this Image – Creative Commons at its Best for Photographers
2. Creative Commons WordPress Plugin
3. More Creative Ways to Get Your Photos Seen
4. Creating More Time for More Creative Photography
5. Get Creative with Traditional Photography Jobs

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PhotopreneurBlog/~3/I8ihvr4M2kE/behance-brings-creative-workers-together

Image courtesy: Photowrap

When the Photographer’s Gallery in London closed its doors for refurbishment in September 2010, it opened a new kind of gallery online. Teaming up with Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren, authors of Street Photography Now, a collection of documentary images, the museum is now encouraging the book’s contributors to set enthusiasts weekly photographic challenges, and placing the results in a series of Flickr groups. It’s a year-long strategy that’s allowing for broad participation among the gallery’s supporters, extending the influence of the book and making good use of Flickr. One contributor though, has taken the approach a little further.

Documentary photographer Mimi Mollica followed up his challenge with some personal interaction, commenting on the images directly and guiding the photographers who took part in the exercise. Impressed by the enthusiasm shown by the project’s participants, he was inspired to create a new way of teaching photographic skills to people who want to improve their photography, wherever they may be.

“I felt there was a niche gap where I could teach photography to [people] who cannot afford to travel to exotic places to attend expensive four-day workshops in Cuba or India, and that I could teach photography to anyone even if they would need to carry on with their daily life,” he told us. “I realised that I could increase my income and have fun by running an online photography workshop, with dedication and love and still allow myself and the students to keep our daily routine untouched.”

The first workshop ran for three weeks in March with twelve students who represented a mixture of experience, ability, age and nationality. The course, which costs £500, is made up of three steps. For the first five days, students discuss the assignment together on Flickr and through Skype with Mimi, a rare opportunity for them to interact personally with a professional photographer as they come to understand the sorts of images they should be looking to shoot.

The next nine days or so are dedicated to taking pictures, using a members-only Flickr group as a workspace and individual Skype-based coaching as guidance. Three industry experts are also on-hand to offer their opinions and answer questions. (For the next workshop, due to run in June with the theme “Edges of the City,” Mimi is hoping to recruit  architectural photographer, Helene Binet, Kate Edwards, picture editor of The Guardian Weekend Magazine, and Johanna Neurath, commissioning editor of publishers Thames Hudson.)

Finally, participants work on selecting their best images and improve their editing and presentation skills. The finished images are displayed on the workshop’s website, Photowrap.org, where the results of the last workshop are already visible.

Lots of Cameras, Few Photographers

The aims of the workshop include learning “how to observe,” “how to ‘read’ a photograph,” “how to work ethically and be faithful to your vision,” and “how to edit your work and present it to agencies and possible clients,” as well as the importance of basic concepts like light, exposure and composition. It also solves a couple of other problems though and makes use of a growing opportunity.

While camera technology has become both cheaper and smarter, putting an 8 megapixel lens on an Android smartphone or the latest consumer DSLR within financial reach, the same isn’t true of the public’s photographic eye. Camera owners often have little idea how to operate their state-of-the-art equipment or how to shoot impressive pictures. There’s a growing gap between ability and accessibility. The average level of the students who took Mimi’s workshop was, he said, “reasonably low” — at least when they started.

“Everyone has a camera now, but not a lot of people know what photography is about,” says Mimi. “Nowadays there are millions of self-defined photographers, but few of them realise the true potential of the medium.”

That leaves benefits available to knowledgeable photographers willing to help camera  owners realize that potential. The benefits aren’t new. Former Baltimore Sun photographer David Hobby has managed to create a second career out of teaching enthusiasts about lighting on his Strobist blog, even as the newspaper industry cuts staff positions. And professionals have long met hobbyists in exotic locations to teach them how to photograph mountains, lions and volcanoes.

But those real-life, location-based workshops are themselves problematic, argues Mimi, who has turned down several offers to teach in person. They allow photographers to enjoy a vacation but do little to improve photographic skills or help a photographer find their place in the environment and shoot images that are meaningful to them, he says. What he calls “zoo-safari workshops” in which photographers meet in one place and are expected to take pictures of real life

“are useless and damaging for the local reality that they are photographing in that there would be an implicit exploitation of a given surrounding, whether that’s an African village, or a London street market.”

Photowrap gives students the freedom to roam sites where they feel comfortable and removes the sense of competition that comes from having multiple photographers in one location, he says.

Online Workshops Are Good for Students and Teachers

An online workshop then might have real advantages over the usual lessons in which students arrive en masse to see who can shoot the best picture of the same scene. It allows students with day jobs, children and inflexible hours the freedom to improve their photographic eye without changing their schedule. It lets them learn from professional photographers wherever those photographers might be and wherever they might be.

But the biggest advantage is what an online workshop can do for a knowledgeable photographer. Mimi might have an ideological opposition to location-based workshops — even though the participants may well enjoy them, if mostly as vacations — but while they can be enjoyable for the photographer too, a long trip can also be an inconvenience. Giving tuition through a website, Skype and Flickr can be a lot easier, bring in a broader mixture of students and still generating a useful additional revenue stream to supplement sales and commissions.

Related posts:

1. Photography Workshops for Profit, Travel and Inspiration
2. Wildlife Photography Offers Beautiful Images and Teaching Opportunities
3. Different Ways to Teach Photography
4. The Art of Seeing Photography Opportunities
5. An Easy Way to Sell Your Photo Prints Online

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PhotopreneurBlog/~3/k3knbaZdwvk/teaching-an-online-photography-workshop

Photography: Elmada

It doesn’t matter how great your photography teacher or how respected your course, it’s only when you reach the church and spend time with the bride that you realize exactly what’s involved in completing a successful wedding shoot. It’s only then that you understand what to bring, who to photograph, how to manage the guests and what it means to make a living out of events. One way to pick up that essential experience is to follow around a professional photographer before you start trying to land clients of your own.

For a new photographer, the benefits of being a second shooter are clear enough. You get to attend weddings, become used to the way the shoots work, learn from an established professional, gain an understanding of professional photography and build a portfolio with real wedding shots. You can also get paid. The rates vary, and for shoots that involve shadowing rather than shooting (and especially the first few times with a new photographer), can be nothing. But for photographers coming to the end of what is in effect a kind of internship, it’s not unusual to earn as much as $500 for a day’s work taking pictures and learning the business without the responsibilities that come with being the main supplier.

The Five Jobs of a Second Shooter

For the professional too, having help close to hand can be invaluable. Dani Leigh has been shooting professionally for three years. She worked as a second shooter while she was building her portfolio and still deciding whether photography was a career she wanted to follow. After a year shooting alone, she invited a college friend to come with her on a job and has used assistants ever since, even inviting students to join her on packages that don’t include additional staff.

“Now, I could not imagine not having a second shooter,” she says.

Dani’s demands of her second shooters tend to take five different forms. The first few times an assistant comes out with her, she expects them to shadow her closely. They can take as many pictures as they want, but she wants them to stay at her side. Once she’s comfortable with them, and once they’re comfortable working with her, she’ll send them to photograph the groom and the groomsmen while she focuses on the bride. During the ceremony itself, the second shooter should be at a location opposite the spots that Dani has chosen in order to maximize the angles. And the second shooter also needs to help during the formals, organizing the guests so that they’re ready for the photo and allowing Dani to move quickly on to the bride and groom.

Finally, during the reception, the second shooter can relax and create the images he or she wants.

“Their job is to shoot to their heart’s content,” says Dani, “and get me Cokes.”

Dani uses two second shooters on a regular basis. Lauren Cunningham is a college friend and a marine biologist with a keen interest in photography. After working with Dani for two years, she’s now setting up her own photography company. Steve Bloom is an old school friend who had majored in photography and was looking to break into the wedding business.

Not all enthusiasts and photography graduates though are lucky enough to have studied with someone who went on to set up their own studio, and finding second shooter positions might not be simple. Flickr has a group on which professional photographers advertise positions and keen learners describe their availability. But the group isn’t location-centered and isn’t always a good place to look. Other options can include job sites, but Dani recommends steering clear of wanted ads placed on Craigslist. Reputable photographers, she says, do not post positions on the classified site.

Get Your Own Site

A better option, she argues, is to research a photographer you’re interested in learning from, and send them a personalized email explaining why you’d like to work with them. You should also meet with them in person — and perhaps offer a bribe.

“While a lot can be explained through email, a face to face email is very important. As busy professionals, if we are taking time out of our day, be willing to give us something in return, like free coffee.”

More importantly, you should have a professional website and not just a Flickr stream or a Facebook page. When it costs as little as $15 a month to set up and maintain a photography site, being willing to make that investment says much about a photographer’s commitment to the profession.

Getting the most out of the experience though, requires not just a commitment but an open mind, a willingness to learn, and the kind of likable personality that helps the couple, the guests and the boss all feel relaxed around you. An ability to read the photographer’s mind and bring them the extra equipment they need before they even knew they needed it would be useful too, as are  patience and perseverance.

“Don’t give up after the first time,” recommends Dani. “Do keep in mind that things go wrong [and] if your lead photographer is having a bad day or is unhappy with the images she is getting from the shoot, it could affect the second shooters. Don’t let a single experience form your judgment – try again.”

That might be the best advice of all. Becoming a professional photographer isn’t an overnight switch. It’s a process that runs through skill acquisition, curiosity, doubt and a host of questions about how the work is done and whether it should be done by you. None of those questions can be answered without actually picking up a camera, meeting paying clients and photographing them in action. Doing that alongside an established photographer is a great way to pick up the knowledge before you start looking for clients willing to let you pick up their cash.

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5. Photography Shows Build a Career

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PhotopreneurBlog/~3/7Hyal94EEYo/start-your-photography-career-as-a-second-shooter

Photography: Entrer dans le rêves

If you’ve ever felt that Flickr’s Explore page has been ignoring you, that your images deserve the attention the page brings and that Yahoo’s site just isn’t fair… you’re right. Flickr’s Explore page is neither fair nor intended to be fair. As Serguei Mourachov, an engineer responsible for the page’s algorithm, explained to us in 2008:

“The algorithm that populates Explore pages is not fair by definition. It’s not created to judge, but to find something that could be interesting.”

The probability of reaching the explore page, referred to as “PEP” by Flickr’s engineers, is based on the numbers of views, comments, and favorites an image has generated. Of those three, favorites are the most important, followed by comments, with views carrying the least weight. The relationship between the three elements though is changed several times each year to adjust to the “current climate of the Flickrverse.”

Photos also need to meet a number of conditions: they have to be public, safe and contain EXIF data. And they need to have passed a threshold, such as picking up at least two favorites, in order to be eligible for assessment by an algorithm which can be so important for any photographer looking to market their images on the Web’s most important photo-sharing site.

Crowdsourcing Isn’t Fair

The premise of the algorithm then is inherently unfair. Flickr doesn’t employ reviewers to assess each uploaded image, judge its quality and decide whether it deserves an airing on the site’s most important platform. Instead, it uses crowdsourcing, working on the assumption that images that the community has deemed popular are those that must be the most interesting.

Crowdsourcing though ignores the different ability of individuals to move crowds. When an image depends on the actions of others to push it through the Explore page’s algorithm, contributors who are as good at networking as they are at photographing are going to have a distinct advantage. Great photographers who prefer to shoot, then sit quietly while admirers tell their friends about their fantastic imagery will struggle to achieve results.

That might not be fair but it’s also the way the world works. Despite the importance of online portfolios and marketing, it’s still word-of-mouth and personal connections that bring in the jobs for most professional photographers. The same is true of attention on Flickr, a site that’s been known to bring in licensing sales, print purchases and even commissions.

Other apparently unfair conditions are worked into the algorithm too. The aim of the Explore page isn’t to show the best images submitted over a particular period but to show the most “interesting” images. If the algorithm were left entirely to itself, some photographers, particularly those who both shoot well and are well-connected, would inevitably dominate. Their images would be shown again and again at the expense of other photographers with equally good images but with perhaps less developed online social skills. A photographer like Rebekka Gudsleifdottir, who has been on the site since 2005 and whose images pick up thousands of views and hundreds of favorites within days, would be on the Explore page with every upload.

The algorithm then uses a number of calculations intended to reduce the benefits of either deliberate marketing or the massive popularity of some photographers. Submitting images to more than 15-20 groups reduces the PEP score, as does entering them in groups set up specifically to bring in comments and awards. Groups that have a high number of unsafe submissions are also treated with suspicion.

Photographers Are Excluded at Random

To maintain variety and ensure that newer photographers have a chance of being profiled, the algorithm introduces a random element each time the PEP is calculated. It might exclude a particular picture that would otherwise qualify, or it can even choose to ignore all of the photos of a particular user.

Most importantly, Flickr also limits the appearance of photos shot by the same photographer so that they’re are only shown at intervals of several days.

“The problem we try to avoid is typical for our Last 7 Days page,” Serguei told us, “where sometimes you can see the same photos after page reload.”

There is then an element of unfairness built into Flickr’s Explore algorithm. Using a system that looks only at the numbers generated by an image rather than the image itself gives an unfair advantage to photographers who are good with people rather than — or as well as — skillful with their cameras. Good images can also be ignored because the photographer has been successful in the recent past — or for no reason that has anything to do with the image at all.

But those quirks in the system are there for a reason. Excluding photographers at random allows other photographers with lower PEP scores but equally interesting images an increased chance of hitting the Explore page. Reducing the scores of photographers who submit to lots of groups means that popularity has to be gained over time and with a portfolio of images rather than with a big push on one photo. Most importantly, both those conditions help to ensure that the Explore page is genuinely interesting and varied.

For photographers looking to pick up the benefits of the massive exposure that a hit on the Explore page can bring, the strategies are clear enough:

1. Make friends. Comment on people’s photos, take part in group discussions and use the site for networking as well as photo-sharing. Those friends will look at your pictures in return, boosting your PEP score.
2. Upload at intervals. You should only be uploading your best pictures to Flickr but if you can’t hit the Explore two days in a row, it might be worth waiting before you share your next Explore-worthy image if you’ve just been successful.
3. Shoot great pictures. It doesn’t matter how good your networking skills, the currency on Flickr is good photography. Without good images, you’re not going to win the favorites and comments you need to boost your PEP score.
4. Don’t take it personally. Hitting the Explore page is not a judgment on your abilities as a photographer. It’s the result of an algorithmic calculation based on the reactions to your image.

“Explore pages are for viewers and not a photography popularity contest,” says Serguei. “Many great photos of excellent photographers never made Explore because of various reasons. And it does not mean they are bad.”

Learn more about Flickr and its ability to generate sales for photographer in our book The Successful Flickr Photographer, available from Amazon.

Related posts:

1. What It Takes to Get Your Photo on the Flickr Explore Page
2. Ad Men Seek Flickr Photos and Flickr Members
3. The Best Ways To Pimp Out Your Flickr
4. Flickr Still Beats Facebook for Photographers
5. Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir’s Tips For Flickr Success

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