My search confirms that “Anytown Wedding Photographer” is the most searched phrase in my niche. Next, use that phrase in Google and see who ranks in the top 10. Are these sites you can compete with? Copy the URL of the #5 or the #10 ranked sites into the backlink checker and see how many links point to it. Compare this with how many links your site has. Can you establish that many links in the next 6 or 12 months in order to outrank that competitor for that phrase? If not, you may need to go after a smaller whale word.

Use Big SEO Phrases on the Homepage

A homepage, or perhaps a very powerful top level page, are the only ones that can catch a whale. Therefore it only makes sense to use whale words on your very best pages. I often see photographers who use a phrase like “Anytown Wedding Photographer” on all of their sub pages or all their blog posts. It doesn’t make sense to optimize posts for whale words because posts are extremely difficult to rank in the top 10 for such a competitive phrase. Just look at the URLs in the top 10 and notice the pattern of homepage after homepage. Posts targeted for whale phrases don’t rank and therefore pass up a chance to rank for shrimp words.

Use Small SEO Phrases on Posts and Subpages

I recommend optimizing blog posts for shrimp words. The Google keyword tool tipped me off that people search for wedding reception photographer and wedding photographer pricing. These are shrimp phrases that will drive considerable traffic if I can rank for a lot of different ones. I might use the tool to come up with a list of a few terms I’d like to focus on (like pricing, reception, etc), but otherwise I can just use good judgment when writing posts.

A post about “Zach and Amber Wedding – 05/15/10” doesn’t capture any search volume. I need to think about what this post is about and describe it a little better, sprinkling in terms like wedding, photos, pricing, and reception so that users who don’t know me can find it.

Your web analytics keywords report is a great source for shrimp words. For example, if February sent you a lot of traffic in Valentine’s Day searches, then start making posts about every holiday. If you notice “best photographer” in your keyword report, think of similar adjectives users might type such as “top, most, cheapest, etc.”

Your task for this week might be simply to start a list of words that people might search to find your products and services. Perhaps it’s a list of headline ideas for posts. Then just work through the list from top to bottom as you write new material. A related task is to look back at some archive posts and update those slightly to change the titles and first paragraphs to use words from your list. Check your keywords report in a couple weeks to see if traffic increased for any of those words.

The more you post, the more shrimp phrases you will use without even knowing it. If you’ve given a tiny bit of thought to what keywords are in the headline or use my affiliate link for Scribe WordPress plugin to analyze your keyword usage, you’ll have an excellent shot at ranking for something relevant.

Hungry for More?

Zach Prez is a dad and social cyclist who loves to talk marketing over a cup of Lipton tea. Subscribe to his email class for photographers to get more clients with photography websites. You’re going to make your money back with your first booking! Follow @ZachPrez on Twitter.

Photographers are about as vain as any group of individuals I’ve ever worked with and around. We’ve got custom graphics on our cars, personalized license plates, fancy business cards and websites with our names in the URL, so it only seems fitting that we have vanity plates for our Facebook page instead of the standard out of the box cryptic URL Facebook gives us by default.

This is your typical run of the mill Facebook Fan Page URL

This is a custom Facebook Vanity URL

Below is a quick tutorial to show you how to bling out your Facebook fan page with a vanity URL that will not only look cool to your friends, peers, but also make it easier for your clients to find your page.

The first step in the process it to make sure you have a Fan Page; this is not your personal Facebook this is one set up specifically for the purpose of doing business on. I won’t go into the difference between the two types of Facebook accounts in this article as there are a million other articles out there on the internet that explain this particular nuance.

With your Fan Page in place head over to http://www.facebook.com/username/

Next to page Name Select the page you wish to create the vanity URL for and then enter the name you wish to associate with this account and click Check Availability.

If the name is available you’ll get the following popover screen, just select Confirm

Complete the signup process!

In the event you are trying to add a vanity URL and receive an error stating that you are not eligible for a username at this time the reason is that under Facebook rules you must have at least 25 followers before applying for a vanity URL, so hit up your inner circle and then give it a try again.

There are many advantages of having a Facebook Vanity URL including the ease of remembering, continuity in branding and most of all it’s FREE!

Have fun I look forward to seeing your new Facebook Vanity URL somewhere along  the Cyber Highway.

This tip was originally shared with my by Tim Suolo at FBML-Templates.net. Keep an eye out for the new ProPhotoResource.com Facebook Fan Page look compliments of Tim and his team.

© Cris Mitchell

Typically split toning is performed on Black and White images with the end result to give a slight color tint to the shadows and highlights. I often use this technique to warm up a black and white images with a slight coffee tone, however the same technique can be used with color images to create a special effect much like cross processing with film or using a gel on your lighting. This is what I’m going to perform after the jump.

If you’ve ever edited an image in Lightroom and gotten to the area that says Split Toning and then just kept going because you had no idea what it was for, I’m going to show you how to quickly and efficiently tone an image.

I recently purchased a new camera and like I do with any new camera, I end up taking 2k shots around the house of inanimate objects to get a feel for it before heading out into the streets. The first shot below is one of those images, sorry nothing special but as I was inspecting it in Lightroom I thought it would be interesting to use the split toning effect to play off the name of the Microphone Manufacturer “Blue”

Below is the image as it came out of the camera with a few slight edits, crops etc… Feel free to copy this image off the site and use it to test the split-toning feature on your computer.

With the basic edits in place, (in the Develop Module) we now jump down to the split toning section and begin with toning the highlights. The process works by first selecting a Hue that you would like your highlights to display and then using the Saturation slider to introduce that hue into your image until it is pleasing to your eye. You will do the same process with the shadows as well, sliding both the Highlights and Shadows sliders back and forth until you get an effect that you like and works for your image.

One problem with the Split Toning feature is it’s a little bit like working in the dark. You select a hue but you can’t see what color you are using until you start increasing the saturation. This can be a little frustrating.

POWER TIP: There is a solution, if you hold down your Option Key on the Mac or Alt Key on the PC while you are sliding the Hue slider you can preview the color on your image making it much easier to find one you like. Once you have found a hue that works release the option/alt key and then dial in your saturation to your liking.

Below are the settings I used along with the after image of the Blue Microphone.

While probably not an image that I’ll ever use for anything it has certainly taken on a much cooler (no pun intended) appearance.

I’ll share one more edit with you, this image is from a trip to the Grand Canyon and while a typical edit of this image is just fine adding a little spit toning to it can give it a little something extra.

And here are the Split toning settings I used for this image and the after picture.

Power Tip #2: Once you find a color combo that you like you can save it as a Lightroom Preset to save yourself a little time the next time around. To create a Lightroom Preset,  select the + icon in your presets panel to create a new preset.

Then click the Check None button to deselect all the settings and then check just the Split Tone setting. Give your Preset a Name and Save it into a Folder of your choosing or in the default location and click Save. The next time you edit an image you can select the preset directly from your presets menu.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, if you have other creative uses or tricks for Split Toning in Lightroom or have examples of Split Toning in your own work we’d love to see and hear them. Just leave us a comment below.

© Cris Mitchell

Oh what a difference a year makes!

I ended up selling my trusty EP2 to facilitate the purchase of some other gear, but always felt that I wanted to fill that gap in my camera bag with another EP when the time was right. A few months ago when the EPL2 was announced I once again became excited about the prospect of picking up another small format companion to carry with me on my bike rides and hikes as well as to shoot the occasional video with, so I did what any good photo soldier does, I walked into my local camera shop plunked down 600 bucks and walked out with a shiny black EPL2 with the 14-42 kit lens, I was once again in the house of Olympus.

The one thing that attracted me to the micro 4/3rds format originally, was the ability to use lenses from other high end camera companies such as Leica, Zeiss, Nikon, Canon etc… via a third party conversion adaptor. So the first thing I did was remove the new and improved, much quieter 14-42mm kit lens and strap on my 50mm Leica Summicron and began shooting away, however my new camera excitement quickly faded into total frustration.

The first thing I immediately noticed when putting the camera in (M) manual mode with my Leica M mount lens and adaptor was the LCD Preview on the back of the camera was nearly 1/2 to 3/4 of a Stop darker than the correctly metered and taken photograph, while not a huge issue on a bright sunny day it became nearly impossible to use the LCD to gauge exposure when shooting in dimly lit scenes or to accurately judge exposure when shooting video.

Images below: take into consideration this is a pretty average scene which is only compounded when shooting in lower light situations such as photographing a sunset or an indoor birthday party.

Manual Mode – LCD Live View Display, correctly metered showing under exposure

Manual Mode – Image taken based on exposure above, considerably brighter

Certainly this couldn’t be an issue with this camera as it always worked properly on my original EP2, I figured this must just be a software setting oversight on my part. I tore into the manual and found no clues; I reached out to other fellow EP shooters, all who had no answers. So as a last ditch effort I proclaimed defeat and called Olympus to see if they help crack the code and solve my preview problem, why wouldn’t they be able to they created the camera… Right…?

It all goes downhill from here…

My first call to Olympus was greeted by a somewhat pleasant woman who tried to skirt around the issue by first blaming it on my adaptor and then on my lens… Nice try! the one caveat to this whole debacle is that in Aperture and Shutter Priority modes the camera performs perfectly, with that in mind, I dealt the ace up my sleeve and forced her to test the EPL2 with THEIR Olympus adaptor and legacy Olympus lens. After a giant pregnant pause she confirmed that she was able to repeat the problem and promptly re-routed me to their Senior Technical Support Department.

After 5 minute conversation with my new contact, let’s call him Bill for the sake of anonymity, he confirmed this was indeed an issue and promised to do some research and call me back the next day with an answer. After 3 days and no phone call, I called back to find out what was up, Bill was unavailable, however Support Person #3 insisted I was in good hands with them and after making me repeat the entire problem with this camera yet again, he also admitted he had no answers, but would make some calls and get back to me the next day. Nearly another week passed with no call, no answer and most of all no solution. As a last ditch effort, I placed my final call and hoped for the best, however I was greeted by the most combative support person I’d ever dealt with in 20 years of working in the tech industry, Support Person #4 insisted, much to my frustration to take this case on as his own personal plight, because he was convinced it was my error (which he told me repeatedly) and not the fault of the camera and in what has become typical Olympus fashion told me he would take the camera home for the weekend and test it with his lenses and adaptor and call me back on Monday… Seriously? I’ve already been down this road 3 other times, you really think you are gonna get different results? whatever have fun, I’m done!

At this point I give up, I can no longer wait around to see if Olympus is actually going to make good and call me back or even admit they have a major problem on their hands with this camera. I like to use my cameras to take pictures not beta test software for large corporations who are unwilling to pay me to do so. I’ll admit I’m as impatient as the next guy, I don’t want to wait around for a firmware upgrade to fix this oversight, and because I wasted over 2 weeks dealing with Olympus on this issue it put me past my 30 day return policy with my local store. So I’m left with nothing else to do other than put this camera up for sale online and let someone else deal with it, I’ve already moved on.

Bottom Line

If you wish to only use the EPL2 with the Olympus Micro 4/3rds lenses made for these new bodies then this problem is a non-event, they work flawlessly and you’ll probably love this camera. However, if you are the kind of photographer that likes to push things a bit and wants to explore the full potential of what this new breed of camera has to offer, then I’m afraid you are going to be sorely let down when trying to use lenses other than the Olympus Kit Lenses.

The most disappointing aspect of all of this is the lack of support and acknowledgment on the part of Olympus regarding this issue. A company that just a year ago I personally promoted and put on a pedestal, I now felt letdown and betrayed by. My hopes with this open letter is that someone high on the food chain at Olympus reads it and takes the steps necessary to address not only the issue with this camera but issues within their support staff before it escalates and gets worse.

For what it’s worth…

Cris Mitchell
Case #1108778

SAGA UPDATE:

Thursday 3-31-11 – It has now been 2 weeks since I was initially contacted by Olympus and since then I’ve not heard a peep, zip, nada, bumpkiss. I really hope others are not experiencing this level of disservice. From the looks of their twitter profile it appears they are spending all their energy hanging out at cool events like the Veil Film Festival and SXSW instead of supporting the customers who actually buy their gear… Shame!

Wednesday – 3-16-11 – Contacted by Olympus Technical Support today who has confirmed they are able to replicate my issue however not on a consistent basis. They are working with the software engineers in Tokyo to resolve this problem. I will continue to provide feedback to Olympus as needed and will continue to report the findings here until there is a solution. Stay Tuned!

Monday 3-13-11 as of 6:35 pm pst I have not received a response from Olympus nor the tech support person I spoke to on Friday who promised he would call me back today.

Sunday 3-13-11 I received a twitter DM from Olympus PR letting me know that my issue would be addressed immediately and I should expect a response

Free eBook and Videos after the Jump

Click eBook to Download

Here also are links to two versions of the video produced about the shoot. This was my most involved movie to date and it was not without some growing pains. The most important lesson that I learned was not to combine video formats. The video format from the Sony Camcorder was 1440X1080 and my Canon DSLRs shoot 1920X1080. Trust me, the two formats do not play nice together! It took me a long time–and the help of a very knowledgeable instructor at the Apple Store in Kahala to figure out how to make it work in Final Cut Pro.

2-minute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2IAkGz-KX4

4 minute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqFLNOwZgJo

The hair light is, in my opinion, one of the most important and yet often overlooked components of your set. It is often the same light positioned in the same place yielding the same results. I like to play with my hair lights as much as I do with main/fill combinations. The following three images from my Portrait Lighting for Digital Photographers: The Basics and Beyond (Amherst Media) show the different effects that you can achieve by changing the size of the light source:

The lights increased in size from the first image to the last. You can see that not only does the size of the light spread as the source size increases, but the specularity–or intensity–of the light on Lindsay’s hair decreases. Let’s take a look at when and why you might want to change the light sources–and where you might want to position the lights.

I like to use larger (softer) lights for hair lights in beauty photographs and portraits, but this is not a rule set in stone.

I like the longer light for beauty images because it is an excellent way to show of a hair product for example. The specular highlight is spread out and is evenly distributed throughout Camille’s hair. I like to use two lights positioned behind our model and angled in towards the set to surround her hair with light.

I might want to use only one light for a hair light in a portrait–or you may only have one light and want the light evenly spread across your subject’s head. The solution here is to  use a boom stand to hold the light over head.

You want to “feather” the hair light in this case just like you would when positioning a softbox for a main light. The front edge of the Stripdome is positioned just over Rachel’s  forehead so no light can spill onto her nose.

The medium Stripdome adds a soft even light to both sides of Jayme’s head.

I usually opt for the smaller spotlights as hair lights in fashion or glamour shoots. I want the harsher light because it creates an image with more contrast and tends to be more dramatic than softer lights.

Two spotlights fit with 20-degree grids were used for this fashion image of Tasha Johnson. The lights were placed in the corners of the set and angled in.

The boom can come in handy on glamour sets too–especially when you need to get the light high and/or you cannot risk showing a light stand.

You can see more of the images from this collection of Angelika Marr as well as a step-by-step sequence of how they were created in On The Set and Behind the Scenes (ProPhotoPublishing.com).

© Steve Dantzig

The Annual Great Hawaiian Rubber Duckie Race:

It is that time of year again and I once again ask for your support with this annual benefit for the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawaii. Duck adoptions are only $5.00 per duck and the proceeds go to programs that provide supports and services to kids and adults with Cerebral Palsy. Most of you know by now that I have Cerebral Palsy and UCP was a great help to me growing up. There is no cure for CP and the condition limits–sometimes severely–the ability to move, speak and even think. Services for the youngsters at our Child Development Center include needed physical (gross motor), occupational (fine motor) and speech therapies. Early intervention programs are also available to help children whose cognitive skills are affected by Cerebral Palsy. Please consider sending a $5.00 (or more) donation. Your adopted duck may even win you a prize from my Hawaii School of Photography. The Race is on March 26th, so the deadline is SOON!

Mahalo nui loa.

It’s time for me to put on the silly duck hat again…I posted this photo on the VERY public Facebook so that has to be worth a few duck adoptions!!!!!

Hawaii School of Photography is a proud sponsor of the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawaii’s 24th Annual Great Hawaiian Rubber Duckie Race!

Every year UCPA-Hawaii picks a special prize to represent the number of years that the event has run. This year marks the 24th year of this amazing–and amazingly important–fundraiser. I am EXTREMELY proud to announce that my Hawaii School of Photography has been chosen as this year’s 24th place prize. The lucky duck will earn it’s adoptive parent a 12-hour Introduction to Digital Photography class for four adults ($1,000.00 value). MOST importantly your duck adoptions will go a long way to ensure that kids and adults with physical and often cognitive disabilities continue to receive the therapies that they need to be as successful and independent as they can be. I have Cerebral Palsy. UCPA was there for me 45 years ago when my parents and I needed it and now it is a great honor to have my school “return the favor.” Please adopt a duck…or 10…or 100! Maybe I’ll see you in your own photography class! Cut and paste the following form to adopt your ducks! (See the end of the form to check out some of the other great prizes you could win!)

UCPA Duckee Adoption Form

MAHALO TO OUR SPONSORS:
Benefits by Design, Hawaii School of Photography, Hawaiian Tel Federal Credit Union, Kahu Palekaiko Motorcycle Club, King Windward Nissan, KSSK Radio, McCully Shopping Center, Rising Phoenix Jaycees, Savers Stores, Sea Life Park, Sizzler Restaurants, Vacations- Hawaii, Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, Waikiki Yacht Club

Multiple entries accepted.  Winner need not be present to win.  Employees of UCPA not eligible to win.  Winners will be notified of how to pick up prizes.  No purchase necessary.  Prizes will be awarded to the first 50 finishers and last place duck.

This is where Media Pad Pro by MediMobile comes to the rescue http://www.medlmobile.com/index.php?page=viewapp&appId=68

Media Pad Pro is a complete solution for creative types to organize and display galleries of Images, Videos, Music and Graphics, it’s the new world equivalent of carrying around one of those old giant portfolios.

There are two distinct parts to Media Pad Pro the Managers Assistant for editing images and customizing the interface and the frontend for viewing images, audio, videos etc…

When you first launch Media Pad Pro you are greeted with a splash screen,  this can be completely customized from within the Managers Assistant, this is accessed via the button in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Once in the Managers Assistant, you can customize just about every aspect of how clients or friends will view Media Pad Pro on the front end.

Adding assets such as images and video files is a little tricky out of the gate, but once you know how to do it, it’s a piece of cake. My best recommendation is to watch the 11 minute video below which does a great job of covering the basics of using Media Pad Pro.

MediaPad Pro Video Demo

From the clients perspective using Media Pad Pro is about as easy as it comes, select a gallery and then view images in slideshow mode or in the typical iPad fashion by flicking through them one at a time.

While some iPad owners might shutter (no pun intended) at the price of $14.99 for an iPad app, Media Pad Pro is worth every penny. If you are a photographer wishing to give your clients the best image viewing experience on an iPad then Media Pad Pro is a clear winner. While there are several apps that attempt to do what Media Pad Pro does, nothing is as complete of a solution as Media Pad Pro and for that I give it two thumbs up.

I’ve been told by the developers of Media Pad Pro, there is an updated version coming out very soon.

Well there you go, two great photography products to add to your wishlist. Here’s wishing you get everything that is on your holiday wish list and then some.

© Cris Mitchell

In the age of Internet marketing and social media networking it’s critically important now more than ever for creative service professional to take advantage of every opportunity to get your work in front of and connect with our target audience.

With websites, blogs and social media tools like Facebook and Twitter just to name a few, they are more avenues than ever for pro- photographers to reach potential prospects. So the question becomes “if it’s easier to connect with our prospects online – how do I capture the leads I receive on my blog -or- website?”

The answer I give my clients is the opt-in form sometimes referred to as a squeeze page. Now I’m going to tell you that I’m not a fan of the term. I’ll explain in a moment, but first, I’ll share with you the terms origins.

A squeeze page is a word coined by the Internet marketing world meaning “to squeeze” the site visitor into giving up their email address usually in exchange for a free offer of some kind.

How the technique is used is simple: create a single webpage that limits the site visitor’s option to either supply the publisher with their contact info or click away.

The concept of the squeeze page gets a bad rap in my opinion because it’s term “squeeze” denotes the concept of pressure. But I believe that if you provide “real value” to your prospective subscriber via your free offer then there’s no pressure. Either they want what you have or they don’t.

Again while I’m not a fan of the term, I’m a huge advocate of the results it provides. But I prefer to think of the squeeze page as a “welcome” page. For professional photographers our images constantly provide us with numerous options to create compelling content for our welcome page.

I’ll give you three examples:

1. You could combine your images with your notes about the origins of the images into a diary or journal style format. Then create and publish a PDF document that your potential subscriber can download. You could sell it for a small amount.
2. If you teach photography classes you could create and publish a special report supplying sample lessons; again either in PDF format or perhaps in a series of video lessons.
3. You could be interviewed over the telephone or live in person about your work and publish the replay in either MP3 or physical CD format.
   These are just three examples of how you can turn your existing content and knowledge into a compelling offer that will entice your site visitors to begin a relationship with you by supplying you with their contact info.

Why would you want a welcome page? Because it’s the fastest way to build an online mailing list of prospects online. It’s actually a win-win for both you and your prospect. Your prospect receives a tangible piece of content that acts a soft introduction to what you do. And you gain a new prospect that you can build a relationship with over time to promote your services, products and programs to over and over again.

Potential Pitfall of the Squeeze Page:
You should never restrict your site visitor’s ability to view your photographic work by forcing them to give you their contact info. Therefore I do not recommend making the “opt page” the front page of your website, especially for photographers. I do recommend integrating your free compelling offer and opt-in capability throughout your existing blog or site.

My three suggestions to make welcome pages work effectively in your creative service business:

1. Do not and I repeat do not, limit or force your clients and prospects to sign up for your mailing list before they can view your images on your main website. It won’t work if you force.
2. One option is to publish an opt-in page as a stand along page with its own identity separate from your main blog or website. –Or- provide an opt-in box preferably in the upper portion of your blog or website.
3. Always promote your free offer with a “strong call to action” on your welcome page and/or throughout your site as well as your social media outlets, for example: “If you enjoyed today’s video/special report/audio lesson/whatever, then visit my website @ www.yourwebsite.com to view more of my work and find out when I’ll be teaching in your area”.

Do you see the potential in this?
The bottom line: If you’re serious about securing new business your goal should be to always be prospecting. This is crucially important especially in this challenging economic environment.

Today’s Get Into Action Checklist
Create An Effective Opt-in Page:

• Set up an account with an email management service
• Make sure your page is very engaging
• I believe video works best since you are a visual storyteller use your images to create a story that evokes a mood and lead the viewer into wanting to take the ‘next step’
• If you opt to use video, consider a service like Animoto.com to produce videos quickly and affordably
• Consider working with a professional Videographer who can help you develop an even richer experience that includes your being interviewed as well showcasing you at work.
• Create your compelling offer, remember it doesn’t need to be a physical product it could easily be a telephone consultation. Just make sure your offer is engaging
• Use a graphic to showcase your offer. For example a CD/DVD cover, book cover, etc.
• To design your own 3D graphics consider a program called Cover Action Pro. The program is actually an Adobe Photoshop plug-in that works with most versions of the software located at: www.coveractionpro.com
• After your offer is created along with any graphics (if you elect to use them) copy and paste the html form code generated in your email management service into your blog and website.
• As visitors become subscribers commit to a schedule to continually communicate with them.
• Automate the process by using a service that offers auto responders. An auto responder will allow you to pre-create your messages and deliver them in a timed sequence.

Todays article was taken (with permission) from the e-book: Eye On Marketing: 41 Days From Struggle and Confusion to Clarity & Profits written by Creative Marketing Strategist, Rodney Washington and is currently available in the ProPhotoPublishing.com.

The reason I write this article is because recently I placed my mint condition Leica M8 for sale on a few of the more popular Buy/Sell Forums, within minutes I had potential buyers asking me what the camera’s shutter count was to which I replied “I have no clue” … not out loud, only in my head. However this left me wondering if there was a way to find out this hidden information short of a trip to the mothership in Germany. Alas I stumbled upon a little German software developer who has made the process of displaying your camera’s image exif data a snap, everything including ISO, Focal Length, Shutter Speed are displayed as well as the much sought after  shutter actuation. Before you tell me you can find all that info in your RAW Processing program or Photoshop… I know, however what we are really after here is the shutter count which is not displayed by those programs.

The software is available for the Canon 1D Series, Nikon, Nikon D3 and the Leica M8 and M9 series bodies by heading over to the Wolfram and Sons Website

All versions of the program are available on both Mac and PC and are Free with one caveat being the Canon 1D Series specific version of the software which they charge for, it’s available from www.enjoyyourcamera.com for 11.52 euro’s which i believe is roughly around 15 American dollars or so.

Using the Software is Simple

1. Download and extract the .sit or .zip file to your hard drive.

2. Open the Program

3. From the File Menu Select Open and then Select an image from the camera model you wish to find the data on.

4. Once the image has been opened a new dialog box will appear with all the details of that image including the shutter count, in my case listed at the bottom at 2499 clicks of the shutter.

That’s all there is to! If you have another method or program you’d like to share with us for detecting other camera manufacturer or models shutter actuation we’d love to hear from you. Just leave us a comment below so everyone can benefit.

That’s it for now… oh yeh the M8 is still for sale if there are any takers

© Cris Mitchell

Most of you who have followed the PhotographersHandbook in the past or have heard me speak online or elsewhere are painfully aware of my stance on All FLASH websites and since it’s been a while since I’ve gone on a tirade about the subject or even posted on the PhotographersHandbook.com for that matter, I felt like this was a good opportunity to do so.

Maybe, just maybe I can keep one photographer from making the dreaded mistake of developing an ALL FLASH website or change your thinking in regards to All Flash websites than I can sleep a little better tonight. Insert dramatic music here.

Below are my opinions regarding ALL FLASH websites and my opinions only, if your the owner of a FLASH based website, I understand that you paid a lot of money for it and need to feel good about your purchase. Unless you can point out specifics for why my issues are not valid then please spare me the hate mail.

Before you begin the process of developing a website you need to ask yourself the following 5 questions:

1. WHO IS MY INTENDED AUDIENCE?
Chances are most of you who are reading this blog post are probably amateur to advanced photographers either doing portrait or wedding photography and your typical end user is probably someone that may or may not be particularly internet savvy or be living on the bleeding edge of technology for that matter.

By creating a FLASH website you have already created THE number 1 Cardinal Sin, something I call “The Barrier to Entry” simply put you’ve created your site using a technology that requires your end user to have a special plug-in to view your site. Strike 1.

Yeh Yeh I know that Flash has 98% market penetration or at least that is what Adobe would like you to believe, but just be aware not everyone has the most up to date version of the flash plug-in or wants to take the time to download it just so they can view your masterpiece in all its glory. Also remember, they just might have been the client willing to pay you 10 Grand to shoot their only daughters wedding. Just Sayin’.

2. WHO AM I REALLY ENTERTAINING?
The only people that are entertained by all the animated wizardry on your website are yourself and the people you force to look at your site, sorry but sometimes the truth hurts. If someone out there can tell me specifically that they booked a photography job because the client was so impressed by the music on their site or their dancing logo, more power to you…keep on doing what your doing.

Simple fact is that not everyone is going to like your choice in music and when you have stuff bouncing around all over the screen it detracts the viewer from doing what they set out to do in the first place, which is view your photography and figure out if you’re the one they should spend their hard earned cash hiring. There are 10 million other sites far more entertaining that yours on the Internet… Trust me!

3. IS MY SITE EASY TO UPDATE
Ok, This is where it starts to get really funny.

Unless your using one of the slick services by companies such as BigFolio, BluDomain or a host of other service providers, updating your website is going to be a flat out PAIN IN THE ASS. Either you are going to get stuck buying FLASH and begin the daunting task of learning the software or your going to continually end up paying your designer to update your site. (I think this is the biggest reason designer’s like Flash sites, it gives them a recurring revenue stream).

The beauty of a website is that it is dynamic work of art constantly evolving and changing over time as you see fit, unlike it’s counterpart the printed brochure. This not only allows you to keep your site fresh, but also does wonders for SEO. If your site has been built using FLASH you’ve just done yourself a giant disservice and are going to go crazy trying to make even the simplest of changes.

4. IS MY SITE USER FRIENDLY
What I hate even more than Flash Sites themselves are Flash Sites with Mystery Navigation. If you have to explain how to use your website, then you’ve just won the FAIL 2.0 Award.

Again people want to see your photography, not follow the spinning balls to un-earth what’s behind door number 2. People, if you are going to use Flash make it easy on your viewers, give them straightforward navigation and ways to access your information.

Also remember not everybody can take advantage of your spiffy Flash website, there are folks out there with physical disabilities who rely on special browser plug-in’s to help them with their online viewing.

And Last, have you ever tried to bookmark a page on a flash based website? Yeh, good luck with that.

5. CAN PEOPLE EASILY FIND MY SITE?
While great strides have been made in optimizing FLASH for search engines, Flash flat out SUCKS when it comes to SEO. I don’t care what any web developer tells you, remember most are only going to tell you what you want to hear because all they see are dollar signs in their eyes when they know they’ve got you on the hook for a Flash site.

Flash doesn’t even come close to touching a CMS System like WordPress or Joomla when it comes to SEO. So if having people actually find your website is important to you please consider this very carefully.

With all this said. FLASH does have its place. Flash shines when it comes to developing web based applications or for using sparingly for an online photo gallery, heck I’ll even go as far as saying creating your navigation system using flash is OK. Just do yourself a favor and don’t build the whole damn thing with it.

Honestly I’m really not this bitter in real life, those who know me will attest to my easy going nature , the tone of this post was mainly for dramatic effect in hopes someone will find my words useful and besides you guys just asked for my opinion, I’ve been happy to oblige.

For what it’s worth.

Cris…

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