Happy Mothers Day!

I so love finding fantastic programs to use. Today I had motivation to put a new video together, so I created this special one for you to for Mothers day.

I hope you love it!

PS If you want to know how I created such a fantastic video in no time flat, well I do love to share

Better yet Click this link - its free!!!!!

Photography Copyright info

Copyright is a confusing issue. I don’t claim to have legal training and this is not to be taken as legal advice, but it is my understanding that the photographer has automatic copyright over their work. If you have been paid (commissioned) to take photos; for example if you work for a newspaper or magazine and it is part of your job to take photos the company hiring you will generally own the copyright of the pictures.

If you are just taking pictures for yourself you will have automatic copyright. You can but don’t have to register it anywhere. 

 

Copyright is not transferred to someone when they purchase a digital image. They are paying for the use of the image and they can’t onsell the digital form or the image, just the product they create. 

Here is an excellent article on what you can take photos of and what you can’t and your rights as a photographer by Andrew Kantors   Legal Rights of Photographers

When I find a resource  to help clarify issues on Copyright and Photography, I add them here :

 

 

Calling all photographers- sell your photos online!!

We want you - Be a BotanicPhotos Bloomographer!

Our sister site, Botanic Photos is looking for contributors. If you’re like the millions of photographers out there with images stored why not sell through an online royalty-free image dealer. We are interested in all botanical images. It’s ok to have insects & birds as long as the image fits into the theme of “botanic” (Think botanical gardens!)

Join for free and start uploading images immediately, while your at it why not become Exclusive to Botanic Photos!  We don’t want to share you, and we’ll take very good care of you. Every day more photographers take the Exclusive plunge and never look back.
Earn up to 40% royalties!
With every image purchased through the BotanicPhotos website, you’ll earn  higher royalties if you are exclusive.
How do I become an Exclusive contributor?
If you have royalty-free stock images not available through other agencies, you can join our Exclusive photographers circle. Join Now & start earning!

Not sure just yet? that’s ok too! Join now with our standard contract and you’ll still earn great royalties from each sale.  You can stop at any time. You have control!

Want to know more?
Click here

Mastering Flower photography- watch the video!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

With so many web sites being developed daily, this statement is as true today as it ever was. Adding photography to your site is a valuable resource for any web business. Why?:

 

• Photos enhance the look of a website.

 

• Photos communicate so much more than words, they communicate emotions.

 

• Photos can be customized for borders and backgrounds.

 

• Photos have more impact than clip art. They give your site a more professional look.

 

• Stock photography is a big business and affordable stock is out there.

 

If you have a web business you’re most likely a small business and have a limited budget. Stock photography can be great resource for you. You can spend as little as a dollar or two or as much as $200.00 plus on one image. (Consider that if you hired a professional commercial photographer to your specifications it would cost you thousands and thousands of dollars.)

 

So remember to add that extra touch, say it with photos!!
 

Bloomography and me

Botanic Photos was born from my love of flowers and photography.
Like everyone, friends and family are constantly asking where I am now and what’s new, so I’ve linked my twitter page to Bloomography.
Bloomography was created as a centre for fabulous articles and resources for photographers as I find them. If you are looking for great tips and tricks of the trade why not subscribe for updates! Better yet sign up for the free eBook and use the invite someone to recommend the site to some friends and get access to our 5 part email course for free!
This site is for you.
Enjoy Bloomography.com
x Karen

How to effectively Manage your Photo files

Whether you’re emailing photos of your grandkids or putting images of your latest product on your online store, many people don’t optimize their photos for the web. We’ve all been on too many web pages where it seemed that the photos would never load, and sometimes they didn’t. So here are some steps to make sure that your photos always show up on your site as you intended.

1. Make a back up of the original format of your image. Never, ever alter the original! Believe me you will regret it. Burn it to disc and file away. (I use rewritable discs  so I can keep adding to them)

 

2. Copy the image to your computer. This is the one you will make the changes to. Open the image in your photo editing program

3. Crop to size. Make sure that you crop out any extra information that isn’t needed. Remember the larger the photo the longer it takes to load or send.

4. Resize to reduce pixels. There should be an option to resize according to pixels. You’re going to want the largest size to be no more than 250 pixels or you can reduce the dpi to no more than 96. (If you’re using Photoshop you can create actions to automate this process, more on this in the Photoshop tips & techniques category)

5. Reduce the colour palette. This is a great idea for images intended for web viewing only. Many images have millions of colours so you can reduce the colours to 256. You will lose some depth with this, but for viewing on the web it shouldn’t matter. If you keep the images small in size the smaller resolution will not be as obvious.

6. Save the file in a standard format. JPEG is the most common for photos and you can compress the image with a JPEG for further reduction in file size. It’s not unusual to see GIF or PNG as well.

If you’re creating a web page remember every photo that you add will add to the time it takes to download all of the images, so don’t make the image larger than it needs to be for your intended audience.

How to take great flower photos in 5 steps

Many of us out there love taking photos. With digital cameras as popular as they are this shouldn’t be a surprise.  Most of us want to improve our photography skills and we all go for the close up flower shots. While looking like one of the simplest forms of photography, flower photography can quickly become one of the most difficult.

Here are a few tips for you. (Keeping in mind that basic good photography skills are always useful.)

1. Use Soft diffused light. Look at the sky, a very overcast sky would be the perfect day for capturing some great images. Soft diffuse light enhances colour saturation, so if you wondered how or why pro photographers flower images seem so deep in colour this is one of the reasons why. (There are exceptions to this rule. I do some flower photography is bright or dappled sunlight but I’m usually trying to get an effect of light passing through the petals.)
2. Choose a Slow film speed. 200 ISO speed or less. I use 100 speed for my flower photography. Even with the use of digital cameras, check your ISO settings and set them the same as you would for film. Eg 200 ISO film, use the setting 200 for ISO in your camera. With so may models out there these days, you will have to look it up in your cameras manual.
3. Use a Tripod. Use one for this type of photography. Set up your shot, get everything in sharp focus, and then shoot. A tripod will keep your camera from moving on you and allow you to get the sharp detail you will need. If you don’t have a tripod, use a small bean bag, a post anything tht will give you the shot without the camera moving.
4. Look for great colours, a flower in full bloom next to a bud, keep the colours to a minimum (two is good) and don’t shoot on windy days, you will get too much movement & find it difficult to get a sharp image.
5. Move around try different compositions each time you take a shot.

Have fun

I love taking photos of flowers!

My first involvement was at an early ages with my fathers old “box brownie”.

It lead to bigger & better cameras, but the joy was in the actual taking of the pictures, getting lost for hours amongst the blooms. It didn’t get much better than that.

My love of flowers comes from my mother being a florist and spending hours amongst the fragrant blooms!

I was asked by a very good friend to do the photography for a book that she had wanted to create. This project took over two years to complete but the result was well worth it. I have a fantastic portfolio of beautiful flower pictures, a stunning book (if I’ve got your curiosity up go to High Tea in the Garden, inspired by Camellias for a sneak preview) and a well equipped photo bag with all the goodies. 

 

 

If you combine something you love with a strong desire, the outcome is guartenteed to be successful!

So go have a look at the book! 

I am also exitedly awaiting the re-launching my website BotanicPhotos, I will let you know when we “go live”

With love & prosperity to you

Karen