########################################

Key words in this issue: Photoshop | Wildlife Laws | Film | Veteran Competition | E-mail Tracking | Printers | Naturalist Photography | Photo Search |

NEWSWORDS: Scanners Obsolete | Anti-trust Bill | George Lee | ‘A Good Picture’ | FBI Photography | Epson Advances | Mobile Photography | Processing Kiosks | Voyeurs Banned |

########################################

## PhotoAIM weekly newsletter for 12/13/02 ## 387b

########################################

PhotoAIM, the weekly newsletter from PhotoSource

ISSN 1530-0511

If you no longer wish to receive PhotoAIM, see the instructions at the end of this newsletter.

########################################

PHOTOSHOP FOR STOCK PHOTOGRAPHERS PART 3

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

by David Arnold

Advance Notes: Last month I discussed Photoshop’s main features and what they can do for you. This month I’ll introduce you to the best of the several hundred Photoshop books, magazines, seminars, workshops, and packaged training programs available to help you learn and take full advantage of this powerful and flexible program. Then next month I’ll wrap up this 4-part series by introducing you to some exciting third-party Photoshop plug-ins that can save you time and enhance your images.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Introductory Books: (1) Adobe Creative Team, Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book, $45. Comprehensive step-by-step tutorials, CD with images for all the lessons. A good way to get started. (2) Deke McClelland & Barbara Obermeier, Photoshop 7 for Dummies, $24.99, an excellent intro, though the jr. high school humor can get tedious (the chapter on removing dust and scratches, for example, is titled "Cleaning Up Goobers").

Advanced Books: (1) David Blatner & Bruce Fraser, Real World Photoshop 7: Industrial Strength Production Techniques, $49.99. Superb in-depth discussions of color calibration and management, curves and levels, sharpening, etc. (2) Katrin Eismann & Steve Simmons, Photoshop Restoration and Retouching, $49.99. Advanced techniques you won’t find elsewhere. Broader than the title suggests, but still narrower than the others. (3) Martin Evening, Adobe Photoshop 7.0 for Photographers, $44.99. Excellent content, but much of it slanted toward studio fashion photography. CD includes two hours of excellent video instruction. (4) Barry Haynes & Wendy Crumpler, Photoshop 7 Artistry: Mastering the Digital Image, $55. The section on color correction and calibration and creating a master image is especially valuable. Includes CD. (5) Dan Margulis, Professional Photoshop 7: The Classic Guide to Color Correction, $49.99. Great on color correction. Emphasis on cmyk and prepress, so not for everybody. Includes CD.

Tips and Techniques for Everyone: (1) Scott Kelby, Photo-Retouching Secrets, $39.99. Illustrated tutorials guide you through such common problems as correcting color casts and increasing shadow or highlight detail. (2) Scott Kelby & Felix Nelson, Photoshop 7 KillerTips, $39.99. Ways to do things faster, better, or easier. Examples: how to undo a save; tuning your plug-ins for faster startup; making sure your whites are really white.

Reference Books: (1) Deke McClelland, Photoshop 7 Bible. The Photoshop encyclopedia. Excellent reference, but shouldn’t be your only Photoshop book. (2) Elaine Weinmann & Peter Lourekas, Photoshop 7 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide, $24.99. Brief tutorials for almost everything. A handy handbook to keep near your computer.

David Arnold is a travel photographer who has been writing about travel, photography, and computers since 1980. His photos have appeared in Popular Photography, Petersen’s Photographic, US Air Magazine, The Rotarian, the TWA Calendar, and elsewhere. He can be reached at david@arnoldrutman.com

########################################

This week's featured photographer on PhotoSourceFolio: Witold Skrypczak:

########################################

KRACKER BARREL

````````````````````````````

Need the answer to a stock photography question? At our website >www.photosource.com/board< you'll find our Bulletin Board, called "The Kracker Barrel." Check it out. Our staff answers marketing questions; fellow photographers offer their input and experience. The following is a typical exchange.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

An amateur nature photographer asked this question recently on the Kracker Barrel:

Q: I love to photograph nature subjects, but my boyfriend tells me that there are actual federal regulations that prohibit photographing too close or feeding wildlife. Is this so, and where can I get more information about this? I don't want to harass wildlife but I do want to get pictures.
June Jarman

A: A good rule of thumb is to follow the same Hippocratic Oath that physicians use, "Do no harm." As far as federal regulations, here are some guideline manuals published by Government (U.S.) organizations: "NOAA Fisheries Policy on Human Interactions With Wild Marine Mammals."

These manuals outline penalties for blocking escape routes for wildlife, touching them, following them, chasing them or tampering with their nests, and approaching too close (Steve's suggestion of a telephoto lens is a good one). Some states also have strict rules for photographing in the wild. (Not only animals but wildflowers, too.) -Rohn Engh

PIXEL PALACE

``````````````````````

Back to Phase 1

I had an interesting experience the other day: I shot some film. At the beginning of the year my ratio of film to digital was 80/20. When the Canon EOS D60 came into my life, the ratio has gradually changed to 20/80.

It wasn’t just the film I was using, although Konica’s Centuria color negative film (available in ISO 100 to 1600 speeds) is amazing stuff, but rather the camera itself. I was having an all-Konica experience, and photographed an event using the company’s Hexar manual focus rangefinder camera. Sure, it has motorized film advance, automatic exposure—manual is available too— and uses Konica’s version of the Leica M-mount, but draws on skills that have lain dormant in my photographic psyche.

A DOG EVENT

The event was an annual Halloween costume contest for dogs! The wide-angle lens allowed me to photograph a woman dressed in Native American garb, as were her three miniature poodles, all in the same frame, without making her feeling self-conscious. After all, I was photographing her poodles, not her. (Yes, I asked permission.)

I decided to shoot it Cartier-Bresson style and attached the M-Hexanon 35mm f2 lens and cool slotted lens hood. The Hexar’s understated, elegant body didn’t scream "PRO" and intimidate the pooch’s owners, many of whom were dressed in costumes too. The experience of working with a manual focus rangefinder film camera, while challenging, with active subjects such as a Chihuahua dressed as a taco, was freeing at the same time, allowing me to have lots of fun.

BACK TO DIGITAL

What’s this got to do with digital photography? Since it was an all-Konica experience, I scanned the negatives and printed the images on Konica’s outstanding QP ink-jet paper that has a true high gloss surface and looks and feels like a "real" photograph.

CAN A VETERAN STOCK PHOTOGRAPHER COMPETE WITH THE AMATEURS?

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Editorial Stock Photography in 2003

Are there still any veteran editorial stock photographers around?

The World Wide Web has made us all amateurs! If that sounds outlandish, it starts to make sense when you re-read some of the postings on Web chat groups of two and three years ago, when established stock photographers were just beginning to recognize the potential value of the Internet for their business. What may have been good advice or a good observation then, may be obsolete today. What is helpful tomorrow, may very well be useless next month.

Because of the Web, former methods used by sellers and buyers to communicate and do business are now outmoded. Both amateurs and pros alike are discovering new, faster, and more precise ways to communicate and make deliveries. The one difference is that pros have to "unlearn" many techniques and tricks. Amateurs are starting out fresh and unencumbered by attachments to "the old ways" of doing business with a photobuyer.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

" When a pro says that "the markets are drying up," it usually means that the markets have moved in a new direction from the way he or she is doing business..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Because equipment today is constantly changing, conversations about hardware and tools are like the latest news, fresh now but stale tomorrow. Innovations that seem to fit well into the present world of photography, are immediately out-smarted by even newer ideas and products. Amateurs and newcomers to the field, having dealt with constant change from the get-go, roll with it and keep up. Many veteran photographers, if the complaints and gripes on photography chat groups are any measure, resist change.

Because photography is both a technical and creative medium, the changing times have forced the pros of yesterday to reconsider their future. Many of the talented old-liners who found their niche in the last century, are surging forward in new endeavors that lend themselves to the digital Era. Others have chosen to remain steadfast to their old ways of making commerce. They are content with the markets they have fought for and won. They stand their ground and let the digital world move on. Not unexpectedly, this latter group fined their markets diminishing. Yes, there are some buyers who also remain in "the old school," but they are gradually phasing out or moving on.

MARKETS DRYING UP ?

When a pro says that "the markets are drying up," it usually means that the markets have moved in a new direction from the way he or she is doing business. The world of commerce requires that we employ the methods of commerce that the common denominator of buyers and sellers are using today.

In the new economy of the Internet, we find that the amateur photographer, if they produce quality material, has a chance to deal with the customer on the same footing as the pro. There has been a shift in image awareness and appreciation. The picture becomes important, not who made it. This creates an uneasy feeling for veteran pros who find themselves shoulder to shoulder with persons who have just entered the marketplace.

However, a difference between the pro and the amateur jumps out when it comes to the delivery of the product. To a buyer, the old values of reliability, trust, dependability, familiarity, are often worth more than a one-shot blockbuster photo by an amateur. Buyers like to deal with veterans familiar to them, and amateurs have to pay their dues 'til they can finally break through the door. In that sense, when you examine the difference between the pro and the amateur, or newcomer, nothing has changed.

Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35^th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA E-mail: info@photosource.com Fax: 1 715 248 7394

BUSINESS NOTEPAD

`````````````````````````````

ON-LINE

````````````

Inkjet vs. Laser Printers

Which to choose, which to choose? A couple of questions may help you choose: What do you want it to do, and how quickly do you need it done? Inkjet printers work by spraying ink from very tiny nozzles onto paper. Lasers work by using light to impart a static charge to paper which then attracts the toner (really, very small plastic beads coated with black powder) to the page, which then must be heated to fuse (melt) the black beads to the paper. Ever wonder why laser-printed pages get stuck to plastic sheets when left in contact for a while? The plastic of the toner and the plastic of the sheet melt together.

Inkjets are generally slower than laser printers (for the same quality), and the cost of consumables (ink cartridges and/or print heads) are much higher, page for page, than laser printers. And as a rule, lasers produce a clearer and crisper image on paper than inkjets. Unfortunately, as photographers, we're pretty much expected to have color printers. Sure, you can get color lasers, but they are still fairly high priced for most of us, unless you do custom work (and then you'll probably have one of those 36" wide, 7-head inkjet printers). Most color inkjet printers do pretty well when it comes to printing images, especially if you're using them for sell sheets and envelope-stuffing mailers.

My suggestion, if you can swing it, is to have both. (Hint: Check out your local office supply and computer stores for demo models.) A laser printer for general correspondence and all the other stuff you have to print out, and a color printer for those special tasks and custom promo sheets (where you only print when needed and can tailor the image content to your target audience). Make sure that your color inkjet has at least two cartridges (one black and the other for color). That way, when you run out of black ink, you don't have to toss the remaining color out with the black. The better printers have one cartridge (and sometimes one print head) for each color, minimizing waste.

And while we're on the subject, I'd stay away from those all-in-one printers that can scan, fax, copy, print, etc. Problem is, if one component fails (say the faxing part) you can't do anything (like print or make copies) while it's in the shop being repaired.

Those Dirty Popup Messages

It can be as bad as a shooting gallery at the fair. Just as soon as you close one popup window in your browser, another opens up. Here are some suggestions. If you're using Netscape 7.0, you can put their popup killer back in (it was there in beta releases, but removed, or rather turned off, in the final release) by visiting this link: http://ufaq.org/ns7/adblocker.htm. http://ufaq.org is also a good place to visit for Netscape questions. There are many popup killers out there. To find one suited to your tastes, use www.dogpile.com, www.google.com or other search engines and search for "popup killer."

I've Said It Before

GOOD STUFF

````````````````````

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

``````````````````````````````

"I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all."

–Ogden Nash

FREE THIS WEEK

````````````````````````

THIS WEEK'S WEB FEATURE

`````````````````````````````````````````

Our PhotoSource International Home page can be the first page your computer calls up when you sign on to the Web.

Watch for developments in the field of stock photography in PhotoAIM's

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS

``````````````````````````````````````````

You'll be the first to know…

Note: If the URL is long, it may extend to two lines. In that case - clicking on it won't work. Instead, "copy and paste" the URL.

Scanning technology already obsolete? Digital Images Continue to Edge Out Need for Scanners - Thirty-five percent of creative professionals say their use of scanners is decreasing as a result of having access to a digital camera.

Here's a bill intended to provide an anti-trust exemption for freelance photographers, artists and writers. It will be re-introduced in Congress next year with changes meant to dispel concerns that the bill might force freelancers to join unions or lose their copyrights, a House judiciary committee aid says.

How photographer George Lee's new book saves a piece of Santa Cruz history

'A Good Picture' Newspaper Photography and The Washington Post - "A good picture asks questions," Elbert says. "It doesn't give answers."

Digital Photography Gets Serious - Here's a sobering statistic from the FBI's National Crime Center: Last year, more than 800,000 children were reported missing. This week, I learned that, without realizing it, that most people have been participating in a program to help protect children-their own.

Epson gives new dimension to photography - Epson claimed it was creating a new medium for the world of digital photographing by introducing three key technologies at the same time, offering endusers a new "photographic culture."

Mobile photography will lead MMS take-up - European consumers rate digital photography as the best MMS application. However, because mobile network operators and handset makers are only just starting to advertise MMS services in Europe, their consumer awareness is minimal.

Processing kiosks are revolutionizing amateur photography - For digital camera owners, printing snapshots at home can be anything but a snap and online alternatives don't always sate the appetite for instant gratification. So the photo industry, beset by declining sales of regular film, is pushing high-tech processing kiosks. It's getting them by the thousands into supermarkets, drug stores and copy shops.

Photography Exhibition Celebrates Women's Sports - Images by some of America's best fine-art photographers and photojournalists are featured in the special exhibition Game Face: What Does a Female Athlete Look Like?

University of Texas may ax photojournalism program. It may cut its undergraduate photojournalism program to focus on studies that emphasize video and other new media.

'Upskirt' Video Voyeurs Now Peep-Less in Seattle - Voyeurs will no longer be free to take pictures or film up women's skirts in Seattle, after the City Council unanimously passed an ordinance to close a loophole that previously made such acts legal.

########################################

Photobuyer address changes can be found by typing in ' Changes' in the Search section of PhotoStockNotes.

Feel free to forward this issue of PhotoAIM to your photographer friends.

########################################

Got a question about " on-line"?

########################################

As a subscriber, you can search back issues of PhotoAIM. On your Web browser go to:

and type in your keyword. (Your password is listed on the final entry of your current newsletter)

To cancel your subscription, send email to:

with "PhotoAIM UNSUBSCRIBE" as the subject line.

########################################

PhotoAIM weekly newsletter is a product of PhotoSource International, Rohn Engh, Director, who is solely responsible for its contents. Photo Search.

To sign up for our newsletter:

For information about PhotoSource International:

########################################

PhotoAIM Archives: http://www.photoaim.com/list/

User name: photosource

Password: gift

########################################

384b

Next Week:

"Just wanted to let you know that PhotoSource has come through for me on numerous occasions. The service has never let me down. I mostly use the service when I can’t find a "hard to get or research spec." I have also used the service when I have trouble finding very unique photos. The service is a great source and at some time or another there is a photographer out there that has what I need. I’m glad this service is available and hope it continues to be available for many years to come."

- Elaine Soares, Photo Researcher, Pearson Education, NJ