Bfrankphoto.com | Brian Frank | Photojournalism

How To Find An Executive's Phone Number Or Email Address

2010-09-30T14:29:00.002-05:00

http://consumerist.com/2007/10/how-to-find-an-executives-phone-number-or-email-address.html

So you've exhausted the normal customer service routes and want to shoot your complaint to the top, but you don't know how to reach that CEO or executive. Our resident contact info bloodhound, Dyan Flores, put together the tools and tricks she uses to sniff out executive customer service information.

First, check the company website. Many companies will have a list of their high-ranking executives, and if you're lucky they might even include their contact info too.

If the company is publicly traded, enter the company name into Google Finance. The current CEO should be listed under the bottom right area called Management. If the company isn't on the stock market, Google the term "CEO" and the company's name. This usually will yield news stories that'll mention who the CEO of the company is. Make sure you aren't looking at outdated stories.

Once you have the CEO's name, do a Google search that consists of his/her name, the term "CEO", and the term "email" or "phone number". Many times this will either bring up listings from business directories that may have the contact info you need, or it might also bring up company information that has the contact info for the CEO included.

If these basic searches fail, then it's time to get a little sneaky:

If there is a phone number listed on the company website, call and ask for the office of *insert name of CEO here*.
Can't hurt to try, right? Google Finance is again a great resource for finding the phone number for the corporate headquarters.

If you call after business hours, sometimes the company will have an automated directory that you might be able to navigate to get through to leave the CEO a message.

If you call and reach an operator, using a line like, "I'm updating my boss' contact list and I wanted to make sure I had the most current information for so-and-so," can get you far. Sure, it's a little dishonest, but it's a pretty reliable tactic.

Try finding an email address that shows the format of the company's email addresses. i.e. firstname.lastname@business.com. Often times you'll find this on press releases where company publicists will list their contact info. Try fitting the CEO's name into that email format and sending off an email to them. Sometimes companies will change the format of their executive's email addresses, but more often than not, this will work.

With a little Googling, persistence and maybe even some social engineering, you can increase the odds that your problem will land in his lap, or at least in the hands of his executive customer service team. — DYAN FLORES

Images from my last shoot of 2009

2010-01-01T20:24:00.000-06:00

Daily Photo: Grappling Tournament

2009-11-12T07:28:00.001-06:00

Daily Photo: Grappling Tournament

2009-11-11T07:41:00.000-06:00

Daily Photo: Grappling Tournament

2009-11-10T08:48:00.001-06:00

Daily Photo: Grappling Tournament

2009-11-09T08:27:00.000-06:00

Daily Photo: Trial Fights

2009-10-16T08:16:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo: Trial Fights

2009-10-15T07:48:00.001-05:00

The Estimate Doctor: Reeling In a Novice Client

2009-10-14T21:36:00.004-05:00

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/pdn-online/e3ibadf593c28401ee84d64b34e4dfba061

The Estimate Doctor: Reeling In a Novice Client

This is the first of a series of estimating case studies provided by John Harrington, author of the newly released second edition of Best Business Practices for Photographers.

It can be challenging enough to get your asking price from an experienced client, let alone a novice client subject to sticker shock. That weighed on photographer Mark Finkenstaedt’s mind when he got a call from Granny Roddy’s, a small two-year-old company in Annandale, Virginia that makes Irish soda bread mixes. The owner, operating out of her kitchen, had realized her product packaging needed a more professional look if her business was to grow.

“My first thought was, she is never going to pay what I want,” Finkenstaedt says. “She’s going from her husband’s point-and-shoot photography to me, and she has no idea.”

To his surprise, Finkenstaedt got his price--$4,000 including creative fee, expenses, and usage. He did it by juggling the numbers, and going out of his way to make the client feel more comfortable than she might with other photographers. “I didn’t know who else she was talking to, but I knew $4,000 would be really easy to beat,” he says.

The client’s inexperience was obvious from the start. She had found Finkenstaedt by Googling Virginia photographers. She liked the food photography she saw on his Web site, although he had shot it primarily for editorial clients, not commercial ones. He asked about her budget, but she didn’t have one, “and didn’t have a clue how much it would cost,” he says.

But as he quickly sized up her business, Finkenstaedt learned that Granny Roddy’s had distribution through several Whole Foods supermarkets in the Washington, DC area. So he took the inquiry seriously, asking the client why she wanted the photography and how she envisioned it. He found out that beyond her packaging, she wanted to use the images on her Web site and in trade show materials.

Initially, Finkenstaedt was under the impression that she wanted product shots on white seamless. But then she mentioned the packaging of a competitor’s product that she liked. Finkenstaedt looked at the competitor’s Web site, and saw that their packaging was “more pictorial” with still life shots of the bread on a table, juxtaposed with key ingredients.

“I thought it was a $1,500 job, but when she mentioned [the competitor’s] packaging, I realized there was a lot more too it,” Finkenstaedt says.

At that point, he momentarily set aside his concern that he was going to be out of her price range. She had complimented his work several times, so Finkenstaedt decided to try to “set the hook” with a sales pitch. He simply put himself in her place, imagined what her anxieties must be, and addressed them.

“Because she was just being a beginner, I didn’t want her to feel that she had no control,” he says. He suggested doing the shoot at her house, and mentioned that he would shoot it tethered so she could see the images as he was creating them. “I made her feel that she would basically be art directing. I was trying to give her a good feeling by describing how we would nurture her. I figured she wouldn’t get that from my competitors. So if everyone came in under my price, she would remember that I was going to take care of her.”

When he got off the phone, Finkenstaedt called John Harrington for some pricing advice. Finkenstaedt used to freelance steadily for the Washington Post at a fixed rate of $175 per day.

When he started doing other freelance work, it was Harrington who “brought him up to snuff” on pricing jobs, he says. “I credit him with teaching me how to be successful and win jobs.”

His discussion with Harrington revolved mostly around the creative fee, the usage fee, and what the client might be willing to pay for the entire job.

“There are natural break points for any consumer making a [buying] decision,” Harrington explains. “That’s why you see prices like $.99 or $99. I’m always asking myself, what is the client’s ceiling likely to be?”

For smaller clients, natural break points occur at $1000, $2,000, $4,000, $5,000, $7,500 and $10,000, he says. Based on the size of Granny Roddy’s business, its location (Google Maps showed that it was in a residential neighborhood; she wasn't a big commercial operation), and the client’s experience, Harrington and Finkenstaedt guessed that her limit was $4,000. Even that number might shock and dissuade an inexperienced client, they thought. But they couldn’t select a lower ceiling because Finkenstaedt decided that his creative fee alone had to be between $1850 and $2250, based upon his experience and his market. “That’s the number I want on average for this type of work,” he says. “I’m past those times when I would go out for any price.”

Harrington arrived at $2250 for the creative fee, figuring a product shoot in the market is generally worth $1,800, but this job merited a 25 percent premium because of the creative input required. After all, the client wasn’t asking for two shots on white seamless or handing the photographer comps.

Finkenstaedt calculated expenses on his own, allotting $200 for an assistant, $375 for capture and post production, $55 for output to DVD, and $25 for delivery, for a total of $655.

Harrington had asked if he needed a digital tech as well as an assistant. Finkenstaedt said no, because he had to keep expenses to a minimum. With the $4,000 ceiling in mind, Finkenstaedt also decided to recommend the client hire a food stylist separately, to keep a $500 line item off his estimate but still get the best results for the client that he could.

From that point, the usage fee was a matter of reverse engineering. Finkenstaedt had asked the client how the images would be used, but forgot to ask how long she wanted to use them. So he and Harrington assumed a license for the life of the product. They also assumed it would remain regional. Prompted by a price range suggested by fotoQuote software for those usage parameters, they valued the usage at around $1,500. But the creative fee and expenses already added to nearly $3,000. So Finkenstaedt decided to charge $1,050 to keep the total cost just under $4,000.

The reason for avoiding a round figure such as $1,000 is psychological, Harrington explains. “I’d make it $950 or $1,050. I learned that from Cradoc Bagshaw, who developed fotoQuote. He never has an even number. That way, if I say $560, you think it’s $560. If I say $600, you think you can negotiate.”

When Finkenstaedt submitted his estimate, he combined the usage fee and creative fee as one line item for $3300 for simplicity’s sake. He explains, “[The client] was looking at the bottom line, and separate line items would just confuse her, I imagined.” With expenses, the grand total came to $3,955.

Granny Roddy’s hired Finkenstaedt within a week of receiving the estimate. The client didn’t try to negotiate the fee. Finkenstaedt is convinced his sales pitch made all the difference. “She wanted to work with me because she felt like she was going to get the service,” he says. She also took Finkenstaedt’s recommendation to hire a food stylist, and a good thing, too: the stylist noticed that a sheaf of wheat the client provided as a prop wasn’t wheat after all. “Had [the client] blundered along with just me, she would have had a sheaf of weeds in the picture,” Finkenstaedt says.

Asked if there’s anything he would have done differently in the way he estimated the job, Finkenstaedt says no, but cringes at one careless error. In his enthusiasm to provide the stylist’s contact information, he sent her Web address to the client. Then he realized the stylist’s Web site features images “by five other great photographers who shoot food all day long.” But by then, apparently, Granny Roddy had eyes only for Finkenstaedt, and the job was his.

Daily Photo: Trial Fights

2009-10-14T07:28:00.001-05:00

Daily Photo: Trial Fights

2009-10-13T08:42:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo: Des Moines First Fridays October

2009-10-09T08:48:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo: Des Moines First Fridays October

2009-10-08T07:48:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo

2009-10-06T08:41:00.000-05:00

Des Moines First Fridays October

2009-10-05T07:54:00.003-05:00

Daily Photo. 2008 Floods of Cedar Rapids.

2009-09-04T08:26:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

2009-09-01T08:09:00.001-05:00

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

2009-08-31T08:07:00.001-05:00

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

2009-08-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

2009-08-27T11:22:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

2009-08-26T08:35:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

2009-08-25T08:37:00.004-05:00

10 Tips For Great Telephoto Photography

2009-08-24T19:52:00.003-05:00

http://digital-photography-school.com/10-tips-for-great-telephoto-photography

Canon 1Ds Mark II + 600mm f/4 Super Telephoto Lens

One of the most exciting aspects of photography is working with Telephoto and Super Telephoto lenses. While out of the price range for most to buy, this lens family is easily accessible through lens rental services online or through local camera stores. Telephoto and super telephoto lenses enable photographers to explore a variety of subjects in new ways. Such lenses are often used in wildlife photography, but they can be used for a variety of subjects. Here are 10 tips and ideas for great telephoto photography:

1. Use A Tripod For Sharp Photos
By and large the vast majority of subjects photographed with telephoto and super telephoto lenses need to be tack sharp. Due to the narrow field of view and magnification of telephoto lenses ever so slight movements have an amplified impact diminishing image sharpness. The first thing you can do to ensure that you’ll capture sharp images is to use a tripod and a tripod head that can support the weight of your lens & camera. While this isn’t the only step to take to ensure sharp photos it is the essential first step. Using a tripod or even a monopod will also save your back and arms from unnecessary pain and fatigue.

2. Use A Shutter Release
Any movement is amplified when looking through the view finder of a camera using a telephoto lens. The simple act of pressing the shutter on your camera will cause even a tripod mounted camera and lens to shake when photographing a distant subject. To minimize camera shake use a shutter release. Quite simply a shutter release is a shutter release button on an extension cord. Minimizing movement of your camera and lens while mounted on a tripod will reduce unintended bluring of your photo.

Bonus Tip:
If your camera has a Mirror Lock-up function this in addition to the use of a shutter release will remove much of the mechanical vibration your camera itself can create. The mirror in the camera box of your dSLR allows you to see from the viewfinder out your lens. When you trigger the shutter the mirror will flip up out of the way so that light coming through your lens hits the sensor or film in your camera body. Mirror Lock-up will prompt you to trigger the shutter twice, first to move the mirror into a ready position and second to open the shutter. After the first trigger of the shutter you should wait 2-5 seconds for the internal mechanics of your camera and resulting vibration of your camera to settle to the point of being still before you trigger the shutter a second and final time.

3. Turn Off Lens Image Stabilization / Vibration Reduction for Tripod Mounted Cameras
When you have Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction active on your lens the internal mechanics detects movement and counter acts it producing a sharp image. When your camera and lens are mounted on a tripod movement is removed, but your lens can errantly activating its IS/VR mechanism creating an image that is less than sharp. For this reason its a best practice to turn off your lenses IS or VR functionality when it is mounted to a tripod.

4. Telephoto Effect - Bringing Far and Near Together
Telephoto lenses have a unique optical effect in that they flatten scenes with great depth. Fittingly this is referred to as a Telephoto Effect. Making use of this effect can be very useful in composing graphically striking subjects and scenes. Unlike shorter focal length lenses that can provide a great deal of depth to a scene the flattening of a scene with the use of a telephoto lens can give the illusion that multiple subjects separated by great distances are actually very close. This effect can generate a great deal of impact with viewers.

Canon 1Ds Mark III and 600mm + 1.4x teleconverter for a total focal length of 840mm

5. Tightly Frame Your Subject
The most obvious use of a telephoto lens is to magnify a subject so as to close the distance between you and what you’re photographing. This can be of extremely valueable if you’re photographing wildlife and would like to get closer with out putting your life at risk. Beyond wildlife using a telephoto lens give you creative license to get extremely close to your subject in some instances. This is particularly useful in highlighting details that would otherwise be lost with shorter focal length lenses.

Canon 1Ds Mark III and 600mm + 2x teleconverter for a total focal length of 1200mm
Taken on my last Sea Otter Photo Tour

6. Isolate Your Subject
Telephoto lenses are great to more distinctly isolate your subject. While this can be done with shorter focal length lenses telephotos enable you to have greater reach to subjects that might be too far off otherwise. This is a middle ground use of telephoto lenses where you’re not looking to crop in too tightly or close the gap between subjects that are far apart.

Canon 1Ds Mark II + 70-200mm IS f/2.8 lens at 200mm

7. Make Use of Ultra Shallow Depth of Field
Telephoto and Super-Telephoto lenses share an optical characteristic that can produce very shallow planes of focus. As a result an often discussed secondary characteristic of long lenses, Bokeh, is the optical signature of out of focus portions of a photograph. Use of shallow depth of field can provide a non-distracting background to your subject enhancing perceived focus and its isolation from competing background elements. Understanding how Bokeh will look from one lens to another will enhance your ability to produce the highest quality image.

Canon 1Ds Mark III + 300mm f/2.8 IS + 1.4x teleconverter for a total focal length of 420mm
Lens provided by BorrowLenses.com

8. Think Macro Photography
If you’re not into photo yoga an alternate way to shoot macro photography is to use a telephoto lens. Extension tubes in combination with super telephoto lenses shorten the closest focusing distance of a lens. Working with a larger lens will not give you every vantage point that a smaller lens can provide, but it will enable you to obtain other unique perspectives all while saving you from getting your pants dirty.

Canon 1Ds Mark III + 300mm f/2.8 IS + 1.4x teleconverter for a total focal length of 420mm
Note these clusters of flowers are smaller than a US Quarter

9. Panning for Action
Panning with a telephoto lens can provide high impact photos of almost any moving subject. Maintaining a sharp subject can be tricky requiring some practice. The added dimension of motion blur bring telephoto and super telephoto lens photos to life. This is a perfect technique for wildlife and action subjects alike.

Canon 1D Mark II + 70-200mm IS f/2.8 lens at 190mm + 2x teleconverter for a total focal length of 380mm

10. Experiment with Astrophotography
With a big enough lens your camera can become a low power telescope. Photographs likely won’t be in the exact same class as a true astrophotography taken with a telescope, but you’ll certainly get eye catching photos none-the-less. The key to successfully using telephoto lenses for astrophotography is:

1. Setting up in an area where there is little light pollution
2. Use of a tripod
3. use of a cable release.

The slightest vibration will be enough to blur a photo with a long lens so special care should be applied to avoid this. For greater drama in post-production with a high enough resolution sensor you can crop down your image while maintaining mouth dropping detail.

Canon 1Ds Mark III and 600mm + 1.4x teleconverter for a total focal length of 840mm
Cropped in Photoshop for an equivalent focal length of 1800mm

Jerry Courvoisier Tutorials

2009-08-24T19:36:00.002-05:00

http://www.jerrycourvoisier.com/tips-tutorials/

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

2009-08-24T07:08:00.000-05:00

Photo of the Day-Ghana Waiting for medical clinic

2009-08-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

Photo of the Day-Ghana

2009-08-20T08:24:00.001-05:00

Photo of the Day-Ghana

2009-08-19T04:40:00.001-05:00

Photo of the Day-Ghana

2009-08-18T08:28:00.000-05:00

Photo of the Day-New York

2009-08-17T13:18:00.001-05:00

Photo of the Day-August First Fridays Des Moines

2009-08-14T08:21:00.003-05:00

Photo of the Day-August First Fridays Des Moines

2009-08-13T08:22:00.000-05:00

Photo of the Day-August First Fridays Des Moines

2009-08-12T08:43:00.001-05:00

Photo of the Day-August First Fridays Des Moines

2009-08-11T08:10:00.000-05:00

First Fridays Des Moines

2009-08-10T07:29:00.003-05:00

Photo of the Day-9YO Grappling Tournament

2009-08-03T08:14:00.002-05:00

Take Low Light Photos Like a Professional

2009-07-28T16:28:00.003-05:00

http://www.lightstalking.com/low-light

Low light photography can be a lot of fun. And you don’t need to trade your soul for an expensive camera to do it. You just need to have one that has some manual setting options. I’m focusing on digital here, but I think most of what I’m going to talk about will apply to film cameras too. The only real difference is that with digital you get to view your results instantly, which allows you to adjust your settings on the fly and you can switch ISO without changing your roll of film.

You’ll have to adjust your methods to accommodate for film a little and keep better notes to track what you’re doing. I recommend keeping a small notebook with you no matter what you shoot with to track what you did so you know what works and what doesn’t.

OK, so before we get started there’s a few things you’re going to need. Here’s a list:

* Camera
* Tripod
* Flashlight
* Remote shutter release (this is optional if you have a timer on your camera)
* A subject to shoot. This can be anything; a person, landscape, an object, whatever. I recommend starting with landscapes or inanimate objects to keep it simple.

So, get your camera mounted on the tripod and either set it to timer mode or attach your remote trigger. You want to trigger the shutter remotely or use the timer to keep from jiggling your camera when doing long exposures. The remote is the best way since you never actually touch the camera, but I’ve also found that a solid tripod, a light touch, and a two-second timer work just fine. That gives the camera/tripod combo some time to stop moving if you bump it. If it’s not enough time switch to the ten-second timer.

I shoot with a Canon 1D Mk2n in Manual mode, so at this point I’m going to tell you what settings I use and you can tweak as needed to fit your camera’s capabilities. I use the following settings as my starting point:

ISO 100, 20 second exposure, f-stop 22. If you want a shallow DOF, you’ll have to cut your exposure time down drastically when you open your aperture. I use a small aperture to keep the subject sharp and I’ve come to the conclusion that 20 seconds is a good starting point for my camera and lenses. Usually the only thing I change is the shutter speed. I only change the aperture if I can’t get enough light with a 30 second exposure. I don’t use the bulb setting very often. I’m kind of ADD and my mind wanders after about ten-seconds of waiting for the shutter to close.

What’s the flashlight for? Well, it’s for two things. The most important function is for focusing. If you’re shooting in extreme low light conditions you’re going to need some light for your autofocus to work, especially if you’re using a point & shoot camera that won’t allow manual focusing. Even if you have the option to focus manually, you might still need the light to see whether or not your focus is sharp. It’s easy to be close and still be out of focus when its dark.

The flashlight is also for painting with light. This is a lot of fun. You can use a flashlight, a laser pointer, a hand held flash fired manually, basically anything that emits light. I like using a mini Maglite for still life subjects. One of the things I like about the Maglites is that you can adjust the beam diameter from a tight focused spot to a soft wide glow.

So, now you are ready to experiment. Keep it simple to start. Just pick an object from around your house and rig a black backdrop for it. I usually do this after dark so I don’t have any stray window light. I also like to go down to the waterfront late at night. The glow from the city lights and the street lights in the parking lot are more than enough light to shoot by. And experiment with light painting. It can be a lot of fun.

Spider Baby 02

Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)

Aperture: f/5

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 800

Single light source (clamp type shop light) from stage left. Lots of layers and adjustments in CS2 afterward, but no dramatic changes to the basic lighting effects from the original.

Red Queen & Black Queen

Exposure: 5 sec (5)

Aperture: f/4

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO Speed: 100

These are the same photo, except I converted one to B&W. This is an example of painting with light. It’s an abstract style and not normally my thing, but it was a fun experiment. I set the camera for a 5 second exposure and waved it around. When I got home I uploaded the photos, picked the most interesting area and then cropped it and mirrored it. Some of them I mirrored bilateral and others quadrilateral. Outside of contrast and curves adjustments in CS2, I didn’t alter anything else.

Reentry

Exposure: 5 sec (5)

Aperture: f/5.6

Focal Length: 75 mm

ISO Speed: 100

One of my favourites despite the fact that it reminds me of a Journey album cover.

Skull Baby

Exposure: 30

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Single light source (3 D cell Maglite) from stage right. I use a large piece of black poster board for a seamless backdrop for small objects like this baby head. The skull face was painted in Adobe CS3 and several layers of grain in opposing directions were also added later.

Deer Skull & Antlers

Exposure: 30 sec (30)

Aperture: f/32

Focal Length: 200 mm

ISO Speed: 50

This is another light painting. Black poster board background, pitch dark room, and a mini maglite. I set my focus with the lights on and then shut them off. I triggered the camera with a remote and then painted the skull and antlers with a mini maglite. This is a perfect example of trial and error. I think it took me around 15 shots to find the right combination of settings to get this photograph. So, if you don’t get it on the first try, don’t be discouraged. Remember that when you’re looking at someone else’s photos they’re showing you the two or three good ones…not the five hundred that went in the trash. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and then shoot some more!

Waterfront at Night

Exposure: 20 sec (20)

Aperture: f/4.5

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Tripod, remote trigger, and a hint of sunlight on the horizon. For all intents and purposes it was dark. I mean, we’re talking just barely a glow on the horizon.

Baby Head & Laser Pointer B&W

Exposure: 30

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 100

It’s that damned baby head again! I know…it’s my favourite subject for low light shots. This was shot with no light. I focused with the lights on and then switched to manual to keep the focus from changing when I hit the remote trigger. Then I just painted on it, scribbled really, with a three dollar laser pointer. It’s not the most exciting photo, but it gives you some idea of what you can do with a laser pointer.

Joe Graziano is a professional freelance photographer who also has some great photojournalism shots worth checking out. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter and check out his page on Facebook!

10 Web Site Strategies for Emerging Photographers

2009-07-28T16:21:00.004-05:00

http://www.lighting-essentials.com/10-web-site-strategies-for-emerging-photographers/

As a photographer and web designer, I really believe that the website should be a vehicle for making business happen, and connecting with clients and possible clients, not just an online brochure or replica of a print portfolio. Too many shooters have websites that simply mimic the old passive model of advertising and promotion. “Here are my pics, got a job?” Today, that may not be enough when you are an emerging talent. With less capital, less fame and a challenging working environment, there are things that must be considered when creating an online presence.

As the web moves solidly into a more interactive mode (Google Videos, YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook, Flickr, Twitter and more), it makes me wonder why photographers are creating websites that are more web 1.2 than web 2.0. (Before you write, yeah, I am over that 2.0 term too, but for now it works for our purposes.) Again and again I visit photographers sites totally done in Flash with no visible search engine ranking, no collaboration, no customer tracking, no interactivity – and, for the record, chasing your thumbnails around to click on them isn’t interactivity, it’s annoying.

Too many photographers seem to turn a deaf ear to the basic tenets of the new web, preferring to have monstrous, slow loading, nearly impossible to update sites that look far more like a commercial than a resource. I see it first hand as a web designer. Recently I had to turn a design job down because it just went against all that I believe in on creating useful sites instead of brochure sites. The photographer has nice images, and is just starting in the business, yet insists on having a site that will never be indexed and will drain him of assets while he has to traditionally market his website instead of having it found by people looking for what he does and his services. Spending money on advertising to drive visitors to your site is backwards, folks.

With a careful eye toward his budget he will end up with a beautiful site, with music and 60 images that will cost him a fortune to change out. No interactivity, no collaboration, scheduling, estimates, client area, CMS or CRM… just a site with images. And every time he wants to add an image, or change an image, or whatever, he has to go back to his Flash designer with the change, and some bucks. That restricts him too much in my opinion. Yes, there are some Flash designers who can build a backend management system for him, but not for his budget. So, to me, it seems like wasted bucks on a site that needs even more bucks to promote it, and will only be seen by those who have been prodded to visit.

Definitely last century web-think.

I have ten must-have’s for photographer’s websites. Let’s take a look. I have found some examples to go along with the information, so be sure to say hi from LE when you visit their sites.

1. Be Found When People Are Looking For You – Or Looking for What You Do
A very friendly search engine optimized site. For starting out in the industry, being found by people looking for you can be invaluable. Being found means for your work, not your name. There is a lot of information that can be found on how to make a site more friendly to the search engines, and the things you can do for your site should be done. Diligently and with a sense of purpose.

This means you have to have the tools in place to be found. That takes work. That takes stepping out of your comfort zone. It means you may have to give up on the notion that things should only be the way you want them to be, and accept that there are things that simply are as they are. I hear too many photographers say “I don’t know why I have to have text on the home page, so I won’t do it.” OK… but that sort of denial of the reality of the way Search Engines work certainly doesn’t make it work your way.

And, BTW, searching for Don Stevenson will return Don’s site, www.stevensonphotography.com. That is as it is supposed to be. Don has a redirect from the site name www.donstevenson.com. So that is about as magical as him answering the phone when you dial his number. However, search Google for “Arizona Corporate Photography” and you get www.stevensonphotography.com. Search for “Editorial Portrait Photographer Arizona”. Search for “Arizona Industrial Photography”. You will get the same websites… different pages. Now that is SEO.

Don gets about 40% of his business from being found by editors and corporate art departments. He is quite busy and keeps his site robust and ever changing. Daily, there are new articles or links added to the many landing pages he has created within his site. Not one to waste time, Don has a very detailed editorial plan, and keeps the site fresh and inviting to new clients and old alike.

2. Constantly Changing Content
And to keep the content changing easily, you need a tool to do that. It’s called a Content Management System. From WordPress to proprietary CMS solutions, it means that the photographer can change out the content on the page whenever they want. Calling or emailing a designer everytime you need to make a change is frustrating and not cost effective at all.

Using a system that allows you to manage your work effectively, while on the road, and on location, keeps the site fresh. And the easier it is, the better.

Look, if you want to learn how to do it in Dreamweaver, it really isn’t that hard. But, for most photographers, it is simply a waste of time. Find a designer / developer / platform that allows you to easily manage your site’s content. Wordpress, Joomla, .NetNuke… there are lots of ways to do it. Even Adobe’s wonderful Contribute makes it easy to update and modify the site.

And an ever changing site is very, very important to Google and other Search Engines. There are many reasons why.

Google looks at your site from the standpoint of a lot of different values. And the purpose is to decide if the content is relative to the search. If someone is searching for you, a food photographer in Cleveland, they are not really interested in deals on toner cartridges or online dating. So the relevance of your site to the searcher’s needs is very, very important. Google can only know that by what is on your page, gauging how others who were searching for food photographers in Cleveland reacted upon arriving and how popular the page is from places mentioning food photographers in Cleveland and then linking that to you. Trying to trick Google into thinking you are one thing when you are actually something else will not work.

So you need content about food photography. Food photography in the studio. And on location. And in Cleveland – and Akron – and anywhere else that is reasonably close enough for you to market and shoot in.

Keeping the text changing on the pages is important as well. Think of it as ‘proof of life’ for your site. Best way to do that is keep the content ever-changing and relevant.

Examples:
Enlight Photo
Don Stevenson (corporate events) (editorial portraiture)
GraphPaperPress
LE WordPress Themes

3. Content That is Compelling
By compelling, I mean that there should be some reason for clients to come back to your site. Projects are a great way to show images and keep interest high. “New Work” can be featured, and additions to the portfolio should be announced and published.

Projects show clients how you handle long form assignments. How you tie subject matter together… and make it interesting. Do you like telling stories or creating a set of images? Then that is a project. What I like about projects is that they can be ongoing. Adding a few pictures a month can be a compelling reason for people to come back to the site. Sure, you can do that on your blog, but that is a different architecture and doesn’t present the same way.

Look at your site. Is there a reason for me to come back next week or next month? Is there anything there that would change if I did come back in a few weeks or even a few months? Or would it be the same. Same won’t work. I just won’t bother coming back to the site if things are not changing.

Find ways to get new stuff on your site and let everyone know that there is new stuff there.

Examples:
Nick Onken – Stories
Chase Jarvis – Panoramic Project
James Cowlin (Route 89 Project)

4. Access to You.
A contact page is important. So is honesty. Trying to pretend you have no phone number because you are not wanting to give away that you live somewhere no one ever heard of is silly. Actually being somewhere other than the big centers could work to your advantage. You know, at some point you will have to give me a phone contact, so just get it over with. I have seen too many websites with insufficient contact information.

And forget contact forms. No one wants to fill out those things. If you must have one, keep it simple and to the point. Ask only for what you need and keep it to only a few fields of information.

Embedded maps to your studio makes it valuable for your clients as well.

5. Information For Clients – and possible clients
This is especially important for those of you who do work with the same kind of subjects. Senior Portrait and Wedding Photographers have information pages that can be very robust. From fees and packages to what to wear and what to expect, these pages give a client confidence in the professionalism of the photographer. Make it downloadable so they can print it out, share it with friends, and spread your name around.

If you are working with portraits, have a page that can relax the ordinary person. What to expect, what to wear, what to do to get ready. Make sure your contact information is there. (Actually, I like contact information on every page.) Let the possible client know how well you prepare for your shoots. It can be quite interesting to people, who are not currently clients, when they see the detail and planning that goes into your work.

Examples:
KaizenPhoto (LA)
Kevin McLellan

6. A PDF to Download
Whether it is a portfolio, or a few images in a project, or even a fee/information document, a PDF download can be a wonderful way to get viral with your work. It may get printed then passed around and seen by people you have no way of every marketing to. That is called viral… and that means that you also have no cost involved in delivering your message to those people who inadvertently ended up with your PDF.

Creating something that can be taken by the client, possibly printed out and saved is a great branding tool. And if they can send that portfolio to peers and clients, that just gets the work out to more and more interested people. Keep your branding on every page in case the document gets split up. Wouldn’t it be terrible if someone saw an image and really wanted to work with you, but couldn’t find you because the contact information was on a page not attached? Suck? Oh yeah.

Mini Portfolios can be designed in InDesign, Word, Photoshop or Illustrator and then saved out as PDF presentations or documents. The nice thing is that they work cross platform and nearly everyone can see them. Keep your branding and contact information on every page and hope that tons of folks download it.

Examples:
Frank Petronio (Possibly NSFW)
Cherrystone Photography
Jim Lewchuk

7. Big Photos.
Yes, we are now at the point in our connections that we can show big pictures. And show them really big. Buyers love them and if they are optimized well, they look great and download fast.

I don’t recommend any larger than 900 pixels wide, as larger could be a problem with some browsers having to go sideways scroll to see the full image.

Should they be in html or Flash… I don’t care really, but my strategy is to allow every image to be searched with keywords, alternate text and keywords. Searching for an image and finding mine could lead me to some new clients. If I try to hide from the world from fear of someone using my images, I may lose to someone who puts the images out there with no fear.

Fearless promotion means being comfortable enough to show the big images big. Without worrying about the occasional thief. And when you do find someone who took your picture be ruthless and powerful and do whatever you can to expose and punish them.

8. iPhone Compatibility
The smart phones and devices are becoming very hot right now. Make sure your site can be seen on them, or at least mostly seen. I have known photographers who have gotten portfolio showings from their iPhone presentations. Me being one of them.

As more and more smart devices become the rage, being seen there will be an important strategy. People Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo and more from their smart phones… looking at websites is one of those things they do as well. To dismiss that trend as meaningless (as someone did recently) is to be simply unaware of the way things are going. I like to be out and have a nice presentation at my fingertips. I’ve shown it at restaurants, pageants, the skate rink, in airports… and walked away with contact info. Three jobs this year directly tied to the iPhone presentation.

So if you have to have a site in full Flash (sigh) then at least make sure that the portfolio images can be seen on an iPhone or other smart devices. (BTW, Flash is not compatible with iPhone technology at this writing.)

Examples:
Steve Dreisuszun
Chase Jarvis
Eccentris

9. A Very Strong “About Me” page.
Introduce yourself. Tell us about who you are and why we should consider using you for our assignments. There are lots of photographers with good work. There are probably other photographers that do a similar style, and subject matter. There are cheaper and there are more expensive shooters, and there will always be. But there is only one of you. Let us know a little about your sense of humor, and how you see yourself. Above all, be clear and concise and be who you are.

The “about” page is one of the most viewed pages on a site. Does yours say anything about who you are? Are you comfortable with people not getting the impression you want? Do you have an impression that you want to impart on them? I hope so. People hire people. They like knowing a little about who is behind that site or voice on the phone.

Make your “About Me” page as robust as you can. Tell ‘em all about you… you crazy devil you.

Examples:
Chase Jarvis
Don Stevenson

10. Multiple Channels of Content Delivery
That’s a fancy way of saying you need to have other ways to get content under your site. The most easily understood is a Blog. Whether it is a full text and image Blog, or a Photoblog, it is a way for your site to gain content and keep the visitors interested in what you are doing.

Wedding and portrait shooters have been successful in building interest in their work by showing images from recent weddings and engagement shoots, portrait sessions and just fun personal shots.

Commercial shooters are using blogs to create buzz and interest in their work. And interest begets interest. When people are talking, it creates a sense of excitement. And that creates interest and that creates more visits by more people. More people mean more exposure and that can mean contact from people you have never met in places you have never heard of.

A. Blog or Photoblog
B. Social Network (FaceBook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Plaxo)
C. Twitter – even if only for a tweet a day… to stay connected.
D. Email Portfolio showings
E. Additional Portfolio Sites to show off your work.
CarbonMade
BigBlackBag
Format Pixel
Viewbook

These are places where your work can reside, and portfolios managed. Most of them have great tools for sharing those portfolios on all kinds of sites and digital media. So more people can see your work and link to to your site. And that means a higher ranking with SEO. And that, gentle readers, is a good thing. A very good thing.

I hope you enjoyed this post for the business section… “Going Pro”, we are back with a lighting post and two Photoshop posts next week. On the following weekend (Aug 8, 9) I will be in Seattle for a workshop. Hope to have some time to wander around and shoot. I will keep you all posted.

32 Ways to Use Facebook for Business

2009-07-23T09:35:00.002-05:00

http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/07/21/32-ways-to-use-facebook-for-business/

Facebook’s not just for keeping tabs on friends and filling out quizzes — it can also be used as a highly effective business tool. It’s great for marketing your products, landing gigs and connecting with your customers.

Here are 32 ways to use Facebook in your business.

Manage Your Profile

Fill out your profile completely to earn trust.
Establish a business account if you don’t already have one.
Stay out of trouble by reading the Facebook rules regarding business accounts.
Install appropriate applications to integrate feeds from your blog and other social media accounts into your Facebook profile. (Although you should be careful before integrating your Twitter feed into your Faceboook profile, as a stream of tweets can seem overwhelming to your contacts.)
Keep any personal parts of your profile private through Settings.
Create friends lists such as “Work,” “Family” and “Limited Profile” for finer-grained control over your profile privacy.
Post a professional or business casual photos of yourself to reinforce your brand.
Limit business contacts’ access to personal photos.
Post your newsletter subscription information and archives somewhere in your profile.

Connect and share with others

Obtain a Facebook vanity URL so that people can find you easily.
Add your Facebok URL to your email signature and any marketing collateral (business cards, etc.) so prospects can learn more about you.
Post business updates on your wall. Focus on business activities, such as “Working with ABC Company on web site redesign.”
Share useful articles and links to presentation and valuable resources that interest customers and prospects on your wall, to establish credibility.
Combine Facebook with other social media tools like Twitter. For example, when someone asks question on Twitter, you can respond in detail in a blog post and link to it from Facebook.
Before traveling, check contacts locations so you can meet with those in the city where you’re heading.
Research prospects before meeting or contacting them.
Upload your contacts from your email client to find more connections.
Use Find Friends for suggestions of other people you may know to expand your network even further.
Look for mutual contacts on your contacts’ friends lists.
Find experts in your field and invite them as a guest blogger on your blog or speaker at your event.
Market your products by posting discounts and package deals.
Share survey or research data to gain credibility.
Use Facebook Connect to add social networking features to your web site.
Suggest Friends to clients and colleagues — by helping them, you establish trust.
Buy Facebook ads to target your exact audience.
Read up on Facebook Beacon to see if it might be useful for you.

Use Network, Group and Fan Pages

Start a group or fan page for product, brand or business. Unless you or your business is already a household name, a group is usually the better choice.
Add basic information to the group or fan page such as links to company site, newsletter subscription information and newsletter archives.
Post upcoming events including webinars, conferences and other programs where you or someone from your company will be present.
Update your group or fan page on a regular basis with helpful information and answers to questions.
Join network, industry and alumni groups related to your business.
Use search to find groups and fan pages related to your business by industry, location and career.

How do you use Facebook for business?

18 Great Sites To Learn A New Language

2009-07-23T09:29:00.001-05:00

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/18-great-sites-to-learn-a-new-language/

BBC Languages

BBC Languages’ site is very aesthetically pleasing, even though the organization is a bit confusing. The site is aimed at travelers, who only need to have a basic knowledge of a few key phrases in order to stay in a foreign country. Thus, BBC Languages offers “Quick Fix Phrases” in 36 languages to aid the weekend traveler in surviving abroad.

However, for those inclined to pursue either French, Spanish, German, or Italian further, BBC Languages offers a total of six 12-week courses in those languages. BBC Languages’ use of multimedia resources, including audio recordings of dialogues and videos of people encountering language-related mishaps overseas, makes this site a worthwhile site to check out, especially if you’re learning a language to travel.

LiveMocha

LiveMocha is one of the most full-featured language learning sites on the web: not only does it offer structured lessons for over twenty languages, but it also links you with other users all over the globe who are learning, or already fluent in the language you are learning.

As an incentive, LiveMocha uses a reputation system to encourage its users to submit flashcards and other teaching content, contact one another in order to practice speaking, and correct one another’s assignments.

The only drawback of using LiveMocha is in the event you are learning a language that does not use a Latin writing system – LiveMocha does not teach other writing systems, so for languages like Korean or Mandarin, you are on your own.

Check out Saikat’s review of LiveMocha here.

Babbel

Babbel’s premise is similar to that of LiveMocha – community driven learning. However, akin to previously mentioned Busuu, Babbel only offers Spanish, French, German, and Italian, and does not have LiveMocha’s structure.

Babbel teaches mostly vocabulary, and offers a very limited set of grammar lessons and writing exercises. However, when it comes to teaching vocabulary, Babbel is very thorough: it offers almost ten different ways to learn words, including “Listen and Match,” and “Slideshow.”

Like LiveMocha, Babbel also offers a chat, but rather than being one-on-one, Babbel offers five different chat rooms in the languages it teaches. In addition, Babbel hosts its own forum for users to interact and help each other learn.

Foreign Services Institute

The courses offered by the Foreign Services Institute were created by the United States Government and geared largely towards developing a verbal command for any particular language. All of the languages that FSI offers come with either a scanned textbook, a large number of audio lessons, or both. Some of the more popular languages even come with a workbook.

In terms of solid material, FSI has the most usable content, but its lack of social features that allow you to interact and practice with other people is a major drawback, at least for me. However, if you’re not me, and would rather not have a social component to your language-related pursuits, then that shouldn’t bother you at all.

So today, I’ve introduced to you a few useful websites that will kickstart your language-learning adventures. However, the above sites may not be enough for you knowledge-hungry cosmopolitans out there, so indulge yourself in the following, language-specific links.

Spanish

Study Spanish - Best used in conjunction with Babbel, Study Spanish is great with grammar, but very limited with vocabulary.

Voices in Spanish- A Spanish Podcast – for intermediate to advanced students.

Learn Spanish at About.com – A conglomeration of other articles, the highlight being lessons on Spanish culture.

Chinese

Min Multimedia – Although the main page is a bit disorganized, the lessons are quite structured. Each has embedded audio, practice worksheets, and homework.

Chinese Tools – Grammar lessons, in addition to useful tools for writing in pinyin, converting between simplified and traditional, etc.

CRIENGLISH – Every lesson comes with a flash video, a review of difficult points, vocab, cultural tips, and more.

French

French Language School – Very well organized grammar lessons, but lacking interactive exercises.

The French Tutorial - Lacks exercises, but the lessons are downloadable as a printer-friendly PDF textbook.

Japanese

Learn The Kana – Uses cute image association tricks to help students learn Hiragana and Katakana.

Nihongo o Narau – A great collection of resources, including Japanese songs, to help you learn and practice Japanese.

Italian

Learn Italian at About.com – A collection of articles teaching various points of Italian grammar and vocabulary.

Italian Language School - The most complete, free Italian lessons I can find; comes with podcasts too!

German

Deutsch Lernen - 34 German grammar lessons (10 beginner and 24 advanced), accompanied by exercises and tests

DW-World – An impressive range of interactive lessons categorized by difficulty, and a progress meter for each lesson!

Whew, that was a lot of links. In any case, you should now have no excuse not to play around with the links and learn something new. If links don’t cut it for you, check out previously covered AIR application Popling , which pops up vocabulary words in your chosen language, or watch somesubtitled music videos!

Are you dabbling in any languages? Do you have a tried and true site for learning languages? What do you think is the best method to learn a new language? Let us know in the comments!

Conflict Journalism Safety

2009-07-21T18:31:00.002-05:00

http://www.lightstalkers.org/conflict-journalism-safety

A friend recently sent me this link and I’d thought I’d send it along. Great information, had some things I hadn’t thought about.

http://www.fpa.org.il/?categoryId=431

There’s also the CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/

and they came out with an even more detailed safety guide for journalists which is the most complete that I’ve come across so far, including phone numbers and websites: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2003/safety/journo_safe_guide.pdf

I also found a link to the Rory Peck Trust for killed or kidnapped journalists: http://www.rorypecktrust.org/

by Menashe Wodinsky at Mon Jul 20 15:41:47 UTC 2009

some links I compiled recently for photographers heading out to the badlands:

Emergency travel services:
http://www.globalrescue.com
http://www.internationalsos.com/
http://www.findmespot.com/en/
https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/

Resources:
http://www.rorypecktrust.org/
http://cpj.org/
http://www.rsf.org/
http://frontlineclub.com/

hostile environment/wilderness survival training:
http://www.centurionsafety.net/
http://www.akegroup.com/training/hostile-environment-training/
http://www.boss-inc.com/

gear:
http://www.thewaterproofstore.com/
http://www.bulletproofme.com/

news:
http://www.reliefweb.int/
http://smallwarsjournal.com/
http://www.longwarjournal.org/

by teru kuwayama | 21 Jul 2009 00:07 | Knoxville, Tennesee, United States

http://www.alertnet.org/

"Last Round" Audio Slideshow Now Playing

2009-07-10T07:34:00.000-05:00

http://bfrankphoto.com/Ronnie2/

Ronnie Britt, also known as the “War Frog”, is a 44 year-old mixed martial arts fighter in Des Moines. Outside of the cage he delivers oxygen and medical supplies, and is a quiet, easy-going fellow. Inside the cage, he is a tough competitor that uses choke holds to make his adversaries submit, or “tap out.” Over the years, he has earned a grass-roots, blue-collar following that has made him one of the most popular fighters around, and I was fortunate enough to follow him around for about seven weeks as he trained for his last fight.

This is the first in-depth story I have ever done. I hope you enjoy.

Ronnie at Home

2009-07-08T08:03:00.001-05:00

Ronnie Britt and Danielle

2009-07-07T07:59:00.003-05:00

First Friday's Des Moines

2009-07-06T07:41:00.001-05:00

Ronnie Britt

2009-07-02T07:32:00.000-05:00

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair

2009-07-01T07:01:00.005-05:00

MCC 21

2009-06-30T08:34:00.000-05:00

Ronnie Britt Weigh-In

2009-06-29T08:09:00.003-05:00

Hy-Vee Triathlon

2009-06-25T07:54:00.003-05:00

Ronnie Britt Training

2009-06-24T07:58:00.000-05:00

Getting the Most Out of Blurb

2009-06-23T10:22:00.002-05:00

http://www.consumptive.org/?p=544

Technical notes on making a Blurb book:

Use the B3 custom work flow; this will help assure color and density consistency from book to book. Also you will be able to see a very close soft proof on your monitor of what your printed images will look like. You need to have a color calibrated monitor for B3.

Use the premium paper; it is thicker and brighter white. This makes for a more brilliant image with clean highlights.

Convert your images to the sRGB color space. Also resize your images at 300ppi to the size requirements of the layout [remember to use "bicubic sharper" in Photoshop image size dialog box if reducing] and save in RGB mode as a jpg at the highest quality setting. Should you leave it to Blurb to convert the color space and resize your images, you lose control.

For monochrome images I recommend using a duotone preset from Photoshop. I’ve read complaints that it can be difficult to obtain a neutral grey image from Blurb’s printer. With a duotone, though the color might subtly shift from screen to print, it will present far less of a problem than a slightly magenta or green tinted neutral grey would. Also a duotone will lend a pleasing dimensionality to your images.

Blurb’s printer renders midtones and highlights beautifully, but tends to block and muddy the shadows. Also, due to the difference between subtractive color [ink] and additive color [monitor], images often look darker when printed than they appear on screen. Its likely your first book will look too dark as mine did.

I was uncertain how much to lighten my images, so for the second attempt I simply lightened all the photographs by 10% using the “lighter” preset from the drop down menu in Photoshop’s curves dialog box. I knew this was going to be too light — but that’s ok. Between the too dark first proof, and the too light second proof, I had two known control points – 10% apart – with which to more accurately judge the correct density for optimum shadows.

For the third proof I individually adjusted the density of each image to where I felt it should be between the too dark and too light proofs, making careful note of the curve data. When I received this book, it was very near acceptable. Following my curve notes for each, I re-adjusted the density of about a third of the images; very slight increments were needed at this point, just 1% or 1.5% up or down to open up a shadow or bring back a little mystery, as well as to balance the layout as a whole.

If I were to make another book I’d use the same process, but print the too dark and too light images in one large book, to save time and money.

For you darkroom printers, you might recognize my strategy as not unlike zeroing in the correct density by using test prints. Michael A. Smith’s outflanking the print is my guide.

Ronnie Britt Training

2009-06-23T08:31:00.000-05:00

Ronnie Britt Training

2009-06-23T08:06:00.000-05:00

Ghana corn field

2009-06-19T08:05:00.001-05:00

First Fridays

2009-06-18T07:51:00.005-05:00

New Orleans Katrina 1-Year Anniversary

2009-06-17T08:38:00.003-05:00

New Orleans Katrina 1-Year Anniversary

2009-06-16T07:59:00.002-05:00

Credit Karma

2009-06-15T11:37:00.002-05:00

Credit Karma recently launched the free Credit Report Card service that assigns letter grades to each component of your credit score. If you want to improve your credit score, try to bring up your performance in areas where you have low or failing grades. Not every component has the same bearing on your score, so underneath each section Credit Karma tells you how much weight it has. For those who look at their reports and scratch their head, the Credit Karma report card, which is drawn from your TransUnion report, makes understanding why your credit score is the way it is a snap.

http://www.creditkarma.com/

Boy Sleeping in Church

2009-06-15T08:46:00.003-05:00

25 Free People Search Engines

2009-06-13T13:38:00.000-05:00

http://www.findermind.com/free-people-search-engines/

25 Free People Search Engines to find Anyone in the World

I’ve been in this people search industry for over 2 years now and while researching, I found many free, high quality free people search enginesto help you reconnect with friends, family, school friends or any other person from your past. So I decided to put them in one huge list. Here they are:

Find People Online – Search if a Person is present on the Internet

1. 123 People

What does it do: 123People searches through many social networks (like Facebook, Hi5, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster) forums, Wikipedia and other communities to see if the person you’re looking for is a registered member there. You can also enter additional details to narrow your search by city, zip code, country and so on.

2. MyLife

What does it do: MyLife is in my top 3 list for best people search engines. It searches over 800 million social network profiles via name, age, email address and so on. You can keep the contacts in one place via their interface.

3. TinEye

What does it do: With TinyEye you can search by PICTURE. Yeah, I’m serious. If you have a picture of a person and you want to see where that picture appears elsewhere on the web this is a great tool. They currently index 1 billion images…and this is a very small proportion of the web but the index grows rapidly every month.

4. Tweepz

What does it do: Search for people on Twitter by name, profession, religious background and many other criteria. Twitter grows every day and so the number of people registered there.

5. Spokeo

What does it do: If you have your friends’ email address and you want to see if they’re on Facebook, MySpace or any other social networking site Spokeo is the perfect site for you. It currently supports searching over 40 huge social networking websites.

6. Wink

What does it do: With this free people search engine you can search by name, phone and email. It does something similar to MyLife and 123 People.

7. Spock

What does it do: Its primary purpose is people search. But I found Spock to be EXCELLENT if you’re searching by profession. For example, you can type: professor “University of Sydney” and get lists of professors of that university! Very neat.

8. Username Check

What does it do: If you know that the person you’re searching for has an unique username you can use this tool to search by that criteria and see where he is registered.

9. Pipl

What does it do: Pipl is also one of my favorites free people search engines. They get their data from various sources and display them on one page where you can see online profiles, blog posts that person made, archives and other valuable information.

10. Yasni

What does it do: Yasni is a mind-blowing resource that you can use to find people by name.

11. PeekYou

What does it do: PeekYou will search by first, last name or user name and deliver you all-in-one results on one page.

Find Classmates & Workplace and Military Friends

12. Alumni.net

What does it do: Alumni provides a list of alumni websites all over the world to help find your classmates. It is the biggest website on the internet of its kind.

13. Classmates

What does it do: Classmates is a big people search engine to help you find your friends from college, workplace and military.

14. ZoomInfo

What does it do: Zoominfo will search for large range of employees for different companies. Use this site to find professionals and workplace friends.

Find People using White Pages Directories

15. White Pages

What does it do: White Pages is the most popular directory to search for a person’s addresses and phone numbers. You can also do a reverse phone and address search so if you know the address or the phone, you can easily find the name.

16. AnyWho

What does it do: I’ve found AnyWho, although it has a smaller database than WhitePages, it containts some information about people that White Pages does not currently have. So I recommend you use them in a combination.

17. ZabaSearch

What does it do: This is a quite different website than the previous two. Here you can also find addresses and phone numbers like in Anywho and Whitepages. Sometimes they display different data than White Pages, but that is not often.

Find Maiden Names and Relatives

18. US Search

What does it do: This is a website for background check and it is not free. However there are some free functions they provide and that’s why I put it in the list. If you type a person’s name, in the results you’ll see previous names of the person. Often if you’re looking for a married female you can find her maiden name this way (or if you don’t know her married but know the maiden name.) You will also see previous locations where that person lived.

19. Private Eye

What does it do: If you go here and click the first “Search” button then you’ll get to a website where you can see possible relatives and room mates of the person you’re trying to find. You will also see the ages of the relatives and the room mates so you can determine more accurately if that information is true.

Find People using Public Records

20. Public Records Finder

What does it do: If you scroll down below you’ll see a list of public records by state. There you have thousands of websites that provide free public records.

21. Infobel

What does it do: Infobel is by far the world’s largest directory of white pages resources. Use it for international people search.

22. Ancestry – Social Security Death Index

What does it do: Search people by their social security number and see if they’re still alive. Or you can use this search engine to find deceased people and do further research.

23. Criminal Searches

What does it do: This is the only free criminal records engine. You can search for a person and see if he has a criminal record.

Find People Using General Search Engines

24. Google People Search

What does it do: You can use Google to enter a phone number (this is only for United States) and it will give you the owner of that number. You can also search for a person using Google. Just make sure you surround the first and last name in quotes. So, write “John Smith” instead of John Smith.

25. Yahoo People Search

What does it do: Yahoo uses their search engine to find people for you. It is a great resource.

So those are the top 21 free people search engines to find anyone no matter where they’re from. Which is the best? There’s no best engine here. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. So the more you use, the bigger the chances are you’re going to find the person you’re looking for. Good luck!

Farmers Market Papusa Stand

2009-06-12T07:40:00.002-05:00

Ronnie Britt Training

2009-06-11T08:22:00.003-05:00

Ronnie Britt Training

2009-06-10T09:08:00.003-05:00

Ronnie Britt Training

2009-06-09T06:23:00.003-05:00

Project Gutenburg: Audiobooks

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http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/1

Free Audiobooks

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Free Classic Audiobooks

2009-06-08T10:51:00.001-05:00

Foreign Languages

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http://www.openculture.com/2006/10/foreign_languag.html

Audiobooks

2009-06-08T10:48:00.001-05:00

Free online College Courses

2009-06-08T10:45:00.005-05:00

Free Lectures & Courses from Great Universities (Audio and Video)

Des Moines First Fridays June

2009-06-08T07:00:00.005-05:00

Gethuman: Bypass Automated Customer Service

2009-06-05T19:03:00.004-05:00

Gethuman, the awesome website that lists shortcuts to help find your way past automated menu trees and reach live people, now has a free standalone version for iPhone and iPod Touch owners.

http://gethuman.com/

Ronnie Britt Training

2009-06-05T08:20:00.000-05:00

Ronnie Britt Training

2009-06-04T07:56:00.004-05:00

Mixed martial arts fighter Ronnie Britt, 44, trains for his last professional fight at Spartan Strength in Clive.

MMA Fighter Ronnie Britt Training for His Final Fight

2009-06-02T22:19:00.007-05:00

10 Online Photography Magazines We Love

2009-05-13T08:35:00.000-05:00

Photo mags: stylish, stirring, spendy.

Unless you know where to look, that is.

Get all the art rags you could want online without dropping a single ducat!

We’ve been dredging The Internets and rounding up 10 of our favorite webmags.

Get inspired, see what’s new, or submit your work and start building a name for yourself; just start reading!

10 Online Photography Magazines We Love

p.s. We still love printed magazines, too: JPG and Blind Spot are two favorites!

Photo credits: James Harris, Laura Pannack

CLICK FOR PREVIEWS

Click on each magazine’s logo to see photos from the current issue!

1000 WORDS

1000 Words pairs cutting edge photos with photographer interviews and book reviews.

In this issue:

Urban Japanese “landscapes with a corpse”
A surprisingly evil collection of snowglobes
Working-class portraits from South Philadelphia

AHORN

Ahorn Magazine has some weird navigation issues; you have to do a lot of scrolling through each story to get to the pictures.

It’s worth it though: nice big photos, interviews with photographers, and good book reviews.

In this issue:

A photographer goes through his grandfather’s house after his death
Portraits of AIDS patients in Odessa

BLUEEYES

The photos in Blueeyes are presented in slideshows. It’s not our favorite viewing choice, but the photos are large and edgy. Also: sneak-peeks of soon-to-be-released books.

In this issue:

Skatopia: 88 acres of skate-park anarchy
Retired steel workers in Titusville, PA
Review of Flight Attendants by Brian Finke

BURN

Burn focuses on the work of emerging photographers. Most of the photo essays are presented as slideshows with audio, but we like hitting mute and seeing one photo at a time.

In this issue:

“Postcards” from the English seaside
Heroic portraits of fast-food employees

DEEP SLEEP

UK-based Deep Sleep has an urban aesthetic. Each issue has a different theme: the first one is “invisible” (”alien” and “dance” are up next).

The site design is a little counter-intuitive; click on Stories to get to the good stuff.

In this issue:

Industrial landscapes in China
Night photos of the banks of the Thames River

FLAK PHOTO

Flak Photo features lots of book reviews, tips about online photography exhibitions and an enormous Photo-of-the-Day.

In this issue:

Review of Sawdust Mountain by Eirik Johnson
New print-based photography magazine Lay Flat

LENS CULTURE

International photography is the focus of Lens Culture. The magazine also sells limited-edition prints by featured photographers.

In this issue:

Life in the pre-fab environs of suburban Slovakia
Traveling acrobat troupes
A French photographer’s view of Egypt

MAKINGROOM

MakingRoom pairs interviews with each photographer along with their photo essays. Photos can be viewed as slideshows or one at a time. The magazine also features a few painters and illustrators.

In this issue:

Roadside portraits of stranded motorists
The shantytown community of the Guatemala City Dump

PURPOSE

French webmag Purpose looks and reads like the pages of a print magazine. There is very little text, and each issue has a broad theme like “memory” or “childhood”.

Two things we don’t like are the soundtrack that we can’t turn off, and using the arrow keys to turn the pages. Still, the photos are good enough to make us put up with it.

In this issue:

Portraits of children and families
Scenes from a little girl’s imaginary world
Childhood photos of four sisters recreated by their adult selves

VEWD

Though we don’t usually like slideshows, we like what Vewd does with them.

The photojournalism site uses multimedia with audio to create a hybrid of photography and documentary filmmaking. We like.

In this issue:

Leprosy patients in Vietnam
An annual Christmas light feud in Charlottesville, VA
Transient hotels in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district

HONORABLE MENTIONS

FOTO8: Online version of the popular UK magazine.

mooncruise*: Fashion photography mag that looks just like Wallpaper*.

FILE: Unusual perspectives on common subjects.

VII Photography: Photos of everything from Amy Poehler to Tanzanian albinos.

Bokeh: All in Spanish, downloadable as a PDF.

20+ Photoshop Actions for Photo Editing

2009-05-13T08:34:00.002-05:00

Photoshop actions can be extremely helpful for experimenting with different effects and for saving time during the photo editing process. Of course, the ideal situation would be to take photographs effectively in the first place. However, as a designer you are likely to find yourself in situations where you won’t be the one taking the photos, and you’ll need to work with something that isn’t exactly what you need. In these cases, the actions featured here may be helpful for your photo editing.

For more Photoshop actions, please see:

HDR Fantasticalizers

Oscar Pilch Photoshop Action

Photoshop Actions 41

Old Style Sepia Effect

Photoshop Actions 71

Photoshop Actions 63

Photoshop Action 24

Photoshop Action 16

Photoshop Action 25

Photoshop Actions 33

Photoshop Action 22