NoBs Digital Dogbowl
The NoBs Digital Dogbowl Newsletter:
Keeping you up to date and informed on the latest, coolest, and outrageous happenings inside the world of NoBS Photo Success.
Loaded with Free photography tips, Photoshop tutorials, photo reviews,
and other totally relevant essentials. Be sure to check out the whole thing!
Hungry for more? Visit our digital photography forum.
October 2007 Digital Dogbowl
The Most Valuable Asset in Your Photography Business
What is the most valuable asset in your photography business? Is it your studio? Your studio name? Your cameras, gear and lenses? Is it your skills and talents? Is it your location? How about your super cool mix of products and packages that you offer to your clients and prospects? Is it your marketing savvy? Your personality? What is the most valuable thing that you can rely on to bring you a constant flow of sales and profits? The answer may surprise you. You can't really take this to the bank and use it as collateral. It's hard to quantify, but it is so valuable and important, take everything away but leave me this one thing and I will be able to start up a business and start cashflow in 30 days. What am I talking about? It's your list of satisfied and happy clients past and present. Your database. The 'herd'.
NoBS Member of the Month: SarahM
My passion for photography started in high school. I took a photography class thinking it would be an easy class and I wouldn't get much homework. When I saw the images come alive on the paper I knew I was hooked. I started spending all of my extra time in the darkroom and out photographing. My teachers told me that I should pursue a career in photography and they knew someone I could go study with.
Do You Have A "Real" Photographic Education?
What does one mean when they ask this? Do you have to have formal academic education to be considered a real photographer? Are you a better photographer if you have a photography degree? Are you less of a photographer if you never went to school for it? ummmmmmmmmm NO?!! Personally, and this is my opinion, those of you who are thinking of going to school for photography might be making a mistake. Well, not a mistake, but a big waste of time and money. Ask all your fellow photographers if they went to school or did they learn from the school of hard knocks. I bet over 80% of them say they are either self taught, or studied from another photographer. I think if you want to learn, and learn fast, the best way is to jump right into the trenches. Find a photographer who's work you emulate and see if you can mentor under him/her. What better way to learn the business/technical side of photography than from someone who is already doing it? Yes, you can learn all this at a technical institution, but in my opinion it's much faster, broader, and "deeper" if you're in the battlefield. Now, back to the underlying question at hand. Are you less of a photographer without a degree? What do you think? For those of you that said yes, take your heads out of your *sses and come back to reality. How many clients give a rat's *ss if you went to school or not? What the client sees are the images you put in front of them; they don't care how you learned how to do it, just as long as you're doing it. Even fellow photographers don't care if you went to school and have a photography degree. It doesn't matter to anyone but yourself. Maybe you want to do it as self accomplishment, maybe your parents are making you go so that you have some sort of "formal" training. So what do you think constitutes a real photographer? I guess that is different for every person. Should it make a difference? Does it make a difference? In the wedding/portrait side of photography I would say no.
A Very Special Addition To The NoBS Family
We'd like to officially welcome a very special new NoBS member, Marilyn Sholin to the Inner Circle. Marilyn is a world reknowned portrait photographer and expert in Painter who is based in Miami, Florida. Her passion for photography began when she was a young girl and blossomed into a career as a Master Craftsman portrait photographer. Wisely seeing the need to continue to evolve and redefine her craft , she branched out into Painter and has become one of the most sought-after experts and portrait artists. She travels all over the country and abroad giving courses on Painter. To see Marilyn's work, click here.
Marilyn recently posted a free Painter tutorial for NoBS members. To see that tutorial, follow this link. Thanks and welcome to the Dawg Bowl, Marilyn!
Looking For The Easy Button
A lot of my emails about Photoshop seem to start with the same question, "Is there A. (an easy way) or B. (a one click way) to do something?" While my current tag is about the only Easy Button I have found ($4.99 at Staples) there can be some easy buttons found in Photoshop.
One is found in both Levels and Curves which can be used for color corrections. These are the eye droppers for setting the white and black points. But first it works best if you set the sample size for the Eyedropper Tool on the tool bar.
Do You Know This Man?
At the last NSI seminar, Rob and James got to know a very passionate new NoBS member, Joce LaChapelle. Now, it's fair to say that a few of us have taken unusual roads to the world of professional photography, but Joce's experience is definitely not your run of the mill story. Here in his own words, Joce tells us how he came to NoBS and professional photography.
NoBS Get Togethers Flourish: SoEX 2007
Continuing the trend of regional NoBS members getting together, lisamphoto organized the Southern Contingency of NoBS, which recently gathered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was a wild success as evidenced by the many different threads started by participants.
Participant and fearless speaker, AC Armstrong had this to say about why they got together and how the experience was.
"I believe the original idea was to come together socially and share our photography talents and experience collectively. It was kind of a "get-to-know-you" - "show-me-how-you-do-that" weekend, and that's how the "sharemeniar" grew. I think we accomplished that and more.
It was a given that I was going to arrange for a model to help with my segment of the seminar, but I was truly given a blank slate on the subject of my seminar. I decided to concentrate on an aspect of model/portrait photography that often gets overlooked: Communication with the Subject.
With the help of Sarah and Jennifer (students at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga), I was able to discuss and demonstrate the best ways I have found to communicate with a model/subject during a photo shoot. We discussed how to take a role of leadership with a model, how to define and create a common language for direction and posing, how to use common hand gestures to convey non-verbal direction and posing, and how to give meaningful feedback during a photo shoot.
I personally believe that the Inaugural Semi-Annual Southern Express Photo Retreat was a smashing success. We worked a lot. We shared a lot, and quite frankly, we built lasting friendships with other professionals that may not have been formed without this event. It was nice to meet some of the fine photographers from my neck of the woods, and I?m looking forward to the Southern Express Spring Photo Retreat."
As mentioned, numerous threads were started to share images and stories. If you haven't seen all of the different threads, we've attempted to consolidate the list of links here:
Southern Express: On The Flip Side
It Really Works!
As we all know, NoBS has the most extensive collection of tutorials, downloads, and marketing tools on the internet for photographers. These are proven methods used by the Top Dogs themselves, Rob and James. Last year, Rob posted a video on his successful Sears Glamour Shoot promotion and setup, which you can find here. NoBS member Angel Navarro was inspired to give this a shot and he recently wrote to Rob to let him know of his success. He also very kindly shared pictures of his setup and the resulting image.
Hi Rob,
Pretty amazing! It happened just like that. Dillard's let us set up right at the entrance where everyone could see the softboxes and screen and other studio stuff on display. They did not pay us any mony but said we could sell the images as prints to participators getting their make-up done (as well as passerbys).
As it turns out they would like us to return again next month. The cosmetics manager said he'd pull some strings to get us into some higher BUCKs malls. We made enough to pay the assistants and the prints. I get zilcho but the networking was great and am looking forward to some phone gingles.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Sincerely,
Angel Navarro
The Picture Place, Inc.
In The News With NoBS
This month brings us a plethora of newsy bits from the Dog Bowl...
NoBS member Brian keeps the hits coming. Brian was among a handful of photographers profiled in the recent issue of Studio Photography for his innovative Senior marketing and photography. To read the article click here.
A big congratulations go out to Maria Sauserman who finally opened her studio last month. Maria also renamed her business Studio M. To see images of Maria's new place, click here.
Congratulations also go out to NoBS members carina, PhotoDiva, and imaginphoto who were all honored at a recent PPOC meeting. To read the details of their awards, go here.
For anyone attending the 2007 Inferno in Niagara, you will have the opportunity to participate in a print and album competition. For details on the competition, look here.
Have you already signed up for the Inferno? If not, you may be too late. The Inferno is nearly sold out! It promises to be another outrageous learning opportunity for NoBS members.
Finally, Rob has posted a new video in the Dangerous Downloads section. This download shows how Rob uses wallprints and referral cards at a local beauty salon to drive in business to his studio.
Mark Hamilton Caribbean Workshop
Mark Hamilton from Tim West West Backgrounds will be conducting a four-day workshop in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic early next year. The dates for the program are February 25 to 28, 2008. This program is sure to be a hit with photographers who are interested in further developing their portrait and lighting skills, along with marketing for their business. You may learn more about the program by contacting Mark directly through his workshops website. Mark will provide any NoBs member with a $ 100 reduction in the regular price of the program.
NoBs INFERNO 2007 - A Few Spots Left
The NoBs Event Of The Year - Almost Sold Out!!!!!
Don't delay, it's coming up fast, in fact just a few weeks (Nov 5,6 & 7). If your thinking of coming, don't delay, because once the spots are filled, we are closing the doors.
Read all about it here.
Take a look at the Kick*SS speakers we have lined up. They all have prove track records on successfull photography and business strategies. There is nothing better than getting together with you fellow NoBs members and sharing your ideas, views, marketing dos and don'ts and everything else photography. It's like photography summercamp without the Lake (but we do have one gigantic waterfall :) ) Plus we have a kickbutt print comp, album comp, live demos and much much more.
THREE DAYS OF THE HOTTEST PHOTOGRAPHIC, no-holds barred, knock 'em-down-grind-'em-out, 100% non-stop intense and hottest photographic education available anywhere today.
Check out this quick video that we took during one of our breaks. Notice everyone has a smile on their face? Everyone is interacting, showing each other images, talking about photography. This was during the break!!!! Don't miss out on this one NoBs Event, it just might change your life.
NoBS Photo of the Month: Navelgazer
It was about 30 minutes before sunset. The sun was setting facing the subjects, but it was already behind the trees, so that left us with great light and open sky. I originally had the couch facing 180 degrees opposite the way it is in the shot for back lighting, but the sun went behind the trees so we turned it around. (I also wanted the cool red barn in the bg!).
Obviously getting 4 children under the age of 6 in a shot WITH their parents is challenging and the 2 year old wanted no part of the couch. I desperately tried to get her on the couch, but all I kept seeing through the lens was a little white bow bobbing back and forth behind the couch. She was actually walking on a board that we were using to prop up the couch and tilt it forward just a bit. When she got to the end of the board, noticed that I could see her whole head at that point. The next time she got to the end of the board, I yelled her name and she turned and grabbed the back of the couch.
This shot is proof that especially with kids, if you are patient enough, the shot will present itself!
Nikon D70 at ISO 200, 1/80, F4.5 and the 50mm 1.4 lens.
September Chat
I would like to thank Steve and Shelley for being my special guests at our September Chat Room meeting. They had lots of information to pass out and they even had a very nice gift for everyone there that evening. Thank you to Nicole N and Eric for getting the transcript to Riff so he could post it on the forum. The next meeting in October has not been finalized but the info will be posted on the forum.
The NoBS Stalker, chat room moderator.
Here's the link to the chat transcript.
Midwest Express
Hot on the heels of the SoEx NoBS get together, KrisG is in the midst of planning the Midwest Express (M.E.X.) with a tentative target date of November 16, 2007. Stay tuned for dates and details.
Silverlake Group Buy Voting Results For October
The latest votes are in and the next backgrounds available at a discount for NoBS members are titan, polar, and hickory. For details, links, and dates of the special click here.
Hodgysoft Gets A Makeover
Our resident moderator AC Armstrong has made our Hodgysoft action even easier. Now when you run it, instead of brushing "OUT" the softness, you brush it "IN". This way you spend less time brushing, and more time making money. The action runs exactly the same, but when it's finished, simply brush the spots that you want soft. How is this different from the other softening actions? Or Gaussian Blur? Well, the Hodgysoft action has a different form of rendering the blur and blending it into the image. You'll find it's much cleaner than any other action out there. Now with AC's Mod, it's even easier. Thanks to AC for his modification on the Hodgysoft action. To find out more and download the update, click here.
Free Workflow Tutorial Video
This month, Hodgy shows us his simple workflow. He reveals the secrets to minimizing your time in Photoshop! Click here to watch this free video.
New NoBS Vendor!
The Top Dogs continue to look out for all the members of the Dog Bowl with another addition to the NoBS Vendor Family. Paramount Cords is the latest vendor to join the ranks here at NoBS. Paramount sells PC and sync cords among other things. Check out their website. Stay tuned for more information on the discount that will be available for NoBS members.
NoBS Studio Tours
Last month, the Top Dogs visited the studio of NoBS member imaginephoto (Alison) in Saskatoon and James shot some video, which is currently available in the Downloads section for NoBS member to view. Alison's studio is quite stunning as is her work. Members, to see this video click here.
Check Your Preferences
Just a friendly reminder to all NoBS members to look in their preferences and make sure that you have the "can receive emails" option checked. Otherwise, you'll miss out on important announcements!
Putting The Dangerous In Dangerous Downloads
Got your attention, yeah? Rob treats us to another delectable marketing download in the Dangerous Downloads section. This month, Rob takes us on a trip to a beauty salon where he delivers a wall image and referral cards for the salon owner to display. Click here to see the video and samples.
Just Added! More Wedding Videos!
Want to see James work a wedding? Courtesy of Richard from Ottawa, we have new wedding videos of James to see.
There are many more videos that are available NOW to NoBS Inner Circle Forum Members.
To see a Free video, click on this link. Members can find the rest of the videos here.
PDN PhotoPlus Expo This Month
Be in New York City from October 18-20, 2007 for the annual PDN PhotoPlus Expo where you'll have the opportunity to see new products, learn new techniques, and network with other pros. For more info and details go to this link.
Stuck For Ideas?
As we all know, it can be a challenge coming up with novel marketing ideas and studio setups. What isn't a challenge is knowing where you can turn when you are in a creative funk: NoBS. Members are always there for each other to provide inspiration and motivation. They are also there to tell you when you're idea isn't going to cut it. This interaction seems to be perhaps one of the single most valuable things available to members aside from the downloads and tutorials.
An example of this spirit of sharing is evident in a recent thread started by In The Lens entitled Little Hints, Tips & Secrets. This thread was started in an effort to encourage sharing of ideas. Click here to see the thread.
Another helpful thread was recently posted by Improv to get ideas for Christmas setups. To see what fellow members are doing click here.
So never fear, NoBS members are here-- to help bring out the best in each other.
A Quick PS Trick
Thanks to Bill Guy for yet another cool PS tutorial. In this tutorial, Bill teaches us how to dodge and burn without using the actual burning and dodging tools. To see this tutorial, click here. Thanks, Bill!