Favorite Blogs and Websites
- Managing Your Digital Life Dealing with and using all the electronic stuff we accumulate
- Photofocus Formerly TWIP… photographic news and reviews
The Strobist
THE place to go to to learn about lighting… Also a lot of info on making your own photo gear.
Tag Archives: links
Vistaprint – legitimate supplier or scam central?
If you have an email address, odds are if you check in your spam folder you’ll see at least a few junk emails from Vistaprint. They’re usually offering a whole bunch of business cards for a real low price, or even free.
I admit, I had seen so many offerings from them that I was fairly certain that they would either take me money and run, or send me a really crappy product with smeared ink, etc. Boy, was I wrong!
I started off with some “free” business cards. I use quotes because you still pay postage and handling. Also, if you want to upload a picture of your own instead of using their stock clip art (and as a photographer, do I really have a choice?), they charge a couple of bucks. All told, for a 250 full color cards and slow (21 day) shipping, I was charged about 13 bucks, including shipping. Faster shipping would have cost a few bucks extra. The same deal at Office Depot costs $30, with free shipping, and no fees for uploads. Printing them yourself is faster, but far more expensive, and the inks have a tendency to smear or run.
The cards arrived a bit faster than 21 days. I was very pleasantly surprised. The cards are well made, with bright colors and crisp lettering. Everyone I’ve shown them to has been impressed.
The design for my business card.
So far I’ve gotten business cards, magnets, rubber stamps, address labels and postcards from Vistaprint, and have been satisfied with every item. I think all the negativity associated with them is from the fact that people are more likely to complain than praise online, which skews perception.
To get the most from Vistaprint:
The worst thing I can say about them is that once you have finished your order, you have to go through a virtual obstacle course of special offers, affiliate offers, other deals, and “hey, are you sure you’re not interested in our affiliate offers?”. It’s a minor annoyance, but it only takes a few clicks to get through.
Judge for yourself at their website.
Android DOF calculator
DOF?
DOF stands for “Depth of Field”… basically the ranges at which an object is in focus or out of focus of your camera. It changes based on lens focal length, aperture, and even camera body.
The web site “TNW” has a more detailed description and a link to a program for the Android phone operating system that helps you calculate this. I found it via Lifehacker, an excellent resource of helpful hints on a wide range of things, including photography.
If you just want the program, search for the program by name (“DOF Calculator”) in the Android Market or scan the QR code underneath this paragraph to download it.
QR code that links to the DOF program
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Space Shuttle Atlantis and Hubble Telescope
A photo taken from a point a little south of me that shows the shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Telescope passing in front of the sun.
STS-125 Atlantis and Hubble Solar Transit
The picture was taken by Thierry Legault. More of his photos are here. His work is simply amazing.
The interesting thing to me, though, is that this picture was taken using off the shelf equipment (5 inch refracting telescope and a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera).
Photography has come a long way…
Scott Bourne is having a contest…
Photographer Scott Bourne, who has an excellent website, also twitters (and twitters useful stuff!), and he recently made this announcement:
Scott Bourne Contest Update
Between now and April 30 I’ll give away:
1) A second generation Firewire Drobo – value $500 (US and Canada only).
2) A ScanCafe.com gift certificate for $500 worth of scanning (US only).
3) $1000 worth of RayFlash ring flash adapters (five valued @ $200 each). (Worldwide)
4) Well who knows? I am a giveaway machine.
I’ll be giving away something roughly every two or three days so stay close. I’ll try to make it fun.
The base rules for my contests are:
a. You must be at least 18 years of age.
b. The contests are void where prohibited by law.
c. All taxes are the responsibility of the winner.
To be eligible to win, do any one or all of the following: (If you do all you increase your chances of winning)
1: Place a link on your website or blog to http://www.photofocus.com.
2: Place a link on your website or blog to http://www.mydl.me.
3. Follow me on Twitter.
4. Follow me at http://www.scottbourne.com.
5. Send this Tweet out ONE TIME if (AND ONLY IF) you think my contests are a good idea…
Follow @scottbourne for a chance to win a Drobo, ScanCafe gift certificate or a RayFlash. Details here: http://bit.ly/17i6R8
If you are already following me and/or have links to my sites, you’re already eligible to win.
The full details are here.
“Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness.” — John Heywood
Remember my conversations with Ink Publishing? It seems that they aren’t the only company trying to get something for nothing. The website “The Photography Biz” wrote an article a couple of years ago about the value of giving away a photograph in exchange for “a photo credit… Their opinion? I think the title says it all:
Why photo credit lines aren’t worth the paper they’re written on
Since the advent of digital more and more people are making images. That’s a good thing. The downside is that the explosion of photo sharing sites like Flickr and PBase have created a ready made amateur market for business savvy publishers to exploit.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re not doing anything illegal. They are simply playing on the fact that there are lots of new image producers in the marketplace who don’t have the first clue that their images are worth anything, and they are banking on the fact that “being published” is reward enough on its own.
Read the rest of their piece here… Highly recommended (as is the website), if only to get the link of Harlan Ellison ranting…
“In Business As in Life, You Don’t Get What You Deserve, You Get What You Negotiate”
TwipPhoto.com has an excellent article with ten tips for negotiating a price for your photographs and photographic services…
1. Think and aim high. There are plenty of low-ball photographers out there. They will offer to do the job for less than you. Let them. Don’t be afraid to ask for a FAIR price. If it’s too high for your client – better to let it go to a low-baller. This keeps the perception that you are worth more alive, probably helps drive the low-ball competitor out of business, and leaves you in position to charge this client more next time.
Copyright? Trademarked? What’s legal to photograph?
There’s a very informative discussion of these topics over at Dan Heller Photography…
This page is worth bookmarking, and the whole web site has useful topics regarding the business of photography.
I definitely plan on spending a bit of time there, so I can avoid repeating the mistakes of others in favor of new, creative mistakes of my own.
