The scenario

I visited Washington DC over a year ago and photographed every possible building I could.  With so much to see, do and photograph in the city, it would be impossible for me to remember every name.

The Solution

Month ago, Google announced a new image search feature.  In fact, I wrote about using the new feature to find your photographs used without permission.

Below is a quick screencast of how you can utilize Google Images to learn what the name of a building you photographed is.

And now I know that the building is the US Supreme Court Judicial Branch.  Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

Scott

Did you set Google Analytics up for your website?

Have you been tracking website visitors and actions?

Did you know about the Real Time feature?

Accessing Real Time

1. Visit your Google Analytics account
2. Click on the Home tab
3. Click the Real Time Beta panel
4. Choose your Real Time view

Why is this important?

Have you ever published an article that you really hoped would be read by many people?  I know we all want our work viewed and read that much, but I’m talking more than normal.

Last week I published an article on helping Speeding up WordPress by Removing Plugins.  When I publish an article that I hope for higher traffic than normal, I all leave Google Analytics open on Real Time view.

Just seconds after publishing the article and sharing it on Twitter, the traffic started to build up.

The article was also shared on StumbleUpon and Facebook – the traffic continued to build up.

At one point the article had over 100 people reading it at once.   Goal reached.

But is that all?

Real Time Analytics will also show you locations of traffic.  In fact, if you have Google Earth installed, you can view your traffic in a fun Earthy way.

If you’re a New Jersey Photographer, like me, are you trying to reach only New Jersey customers?

My target audience is different than many photographers.  My audience is to sell photography services in New Jersey and consulting services around the world.

What about you?

How are you using the real time feature of Google Analytics?  Leave a comment below to share.

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

Scott

I photograph foreclosed homes for a company that flips houses.  Many times the rooms are so boring that the photos do not warrant sharing.  However on the other hand – there are sometimes photos worth processing in my own style.

In this photo, for example, I wanted to accept the glow coming from behind the door.  The room I was standing in was just dark enough to make some minor adjustments to achieve the goal.

1. Open in Lightroom
2. Enable lens correction for wide angle
3. Crop as needed
4. Lower exposure slider slightly
5. Adjust tone

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

Scott

Here is my take on it.

If you do not understand how to build functions into your WordPress theme, then use plugins.

If you do understand how to build functions into your WordPress theme, then do not use plugins.

Easy enough, right?

So how do you determine which plugins are causing your site to slow down, or too much strain on your host/server?

Check out P3 Plugin Performance Profiler.  It’s a WordPress plugin that you install only to diagnose your plugin usage.  It helps determine which plugins are slowing down your site and will create performance reports for your site.  Often times, WordPress sites load slowly because of poorly configured plugins or because there are so many of them. By using the P3 plugin, you can narrow down any plugins causing slowness on your site.

In the Runtime by Plugin graph, you can see that WordPress SEO and Cart 66 are both running pretty hard.

In the Detailed Timeline you can see when plugins stop performing during page load.  As you can see, not many of them are running for too long (aside from the WordPress core application.

The plugin also shows an overall view of your plugin impact.

• Plugin load time
• Plugin impact of page load time
• SQL Database queries

My recommendation is to activate the plugin, see what is causing too much slowdown and remove those plugins.  If nothing else, it gives a great overview of easy ways for you to improve your page speed and in turn, page rank (as Google now uses speed as a ranking factor).

Thanks for reading and happy blogging,

Scott

During the time, I walked around the brewery photographing everything that I could.  One of my favorite things at the brewery, also happened to be one of the simplest things.

The upstairs bar is open for tastings after you have a tour of the brewery.  You’re greeted not by employees, but the owners of the brewing company.  They care about what they do, and show it when they speak about their beer.

Carton Brewing has fantastic beer, so if you are ever int he Atlantic Highlands area, please stop by and tell them that I sent you.  Maybe you’ll get an extra tasting.

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,
Scott

The New Jersey Craft Beer (NJCB) Membership Club is a great way of supporting your local businesses while saving money around the state.

So here it is…

Now that you’ve seen both sides of the building, which is your favorite?

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

Scott

Tomorrow I am going to share another photograph from the Casino. However, it will be from the other end of the building. You can be the judge of which side you like better.

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

Scott

When something catches your eye make sure you stop and think if it is worth photographing. I was with a group in New York City when walking past this building. I was practically blinded by the sun bouncing off the bright yellow windows. I knew I had to photograph the windows do the unusual color.

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

Scott

I am not a sports fan in any way.  One of the things I dislike about sports is the fighting and politic-esq attitudes found in so many professional sports.

When I was asked to photograph my brother-in-law’s Ultimate Frisbee game, I gladly accepted for many reasons.

1. He’s family
2. Ultimate is an amazing sport
3. The team (Rowan University) is a collegiate club.  It is NOT professional

The guys who play collegiate club sports do it because they love the workout, the camaraderie and most important, the game.

Find yourself a collegiate club sport to photograph and you will be glad you did.  I promise you.

As you can see in this Ultimate Huddle photograph, the players are relaxed and enjoying the game.

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

Scott

I decided to share my photo.  It’s very different from Brian’s, as he was spending the day experimenting with distortion.  I hope you enjoy my version and then head over to Brian’s website and check his out.

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

Scott