How to Achieve Lab Quality Print Results For Less

Do you print your own digital photos? In this article I expose the most common myths of digital printing, showing how you can achieve outstanding lab-quality print results, without the high cost.

5 myths of digital photo printing

1. You need an expensive heavily-featured printer. Not true. Printer manufacturers will want you to believe that you need a top-of-the range inkjet photo printer. You don't. It is possible to achieve lab-quality prints using standard low-cost colour inkjet printers.

Choose a printer that will deliver the size of prints you need, and at the speed you need. If you don't need a fast printer or the added features, why pay the extra.

2. You need a high megapixel camera. Yes, it is true that high megapixel camera produces better print results. However, you don't need a high megapixel camera for everyday use and printing. Only if you want to print large-scale: A4, A3 and larger. If you only ever need 6"x4" or A5 prints - you don't need any more than a 3 megapixel camera.

Choose a camera for the output you require. Opt for a high megapixel camera if you want large, very high quality prints. Opt for a lower megapixel camera if you want small prints or want to upload images to the web.

3. You need to use original printer manufacturer's ink. Not true. Inkjet printer ink isn't cheap. However, there are cheaper compatible printer inks and refilled ink cartridges that will do the job just as well as the printer manufacturer - or original ink cartridges. There are also suppliers of genuine brand-name printer inks that retail at a fraction of the price. They're cheaper because either the box is damaged, incorrectly packaged, or not branded.

Shop around for cheaper ink options, including refilled cartridges, compatible printer ink, or suppliers of damaged, re-branded, or re-packaged original printer manufacturer's ink.

4. You can use automated printer settings. Not true. Don't simply accept the automated printer settings. Make sure the printer is set to deliver the results you want. "Maximum DPI" is not a default print option - however your images and photos will look better if you set the quality setting to maximum rather than best. Before you print - adjust your printer settings to get the results you're looking for. If you don't need high quality prints, you can adjust the quality of the print accordingly - saving ink.

5. All photo paper delivers the same results. Not true. It is the paper that makes the real difference. However, there are major differences between premium photo papers. You would think that if you bought premium paper, you would get a quality print. That's not always the case. Most brand name photo papers are only suitable for printing at 1440 and 2880 Dots Per Inch - or DPI. Professional photographers find they achieve far better results by using premium German-manufactured photo paper that delivers over 5000 DPI. Ironically, this better quality paper is often equivalent in price to branded premium photographic papers.

Look out for the highest quality photo paper that enables you to print at 5000 DPI and more. Premium German-manufactured paper has the best reputation in the market for delivering outstanding 5000-plus DPI print results. It is therefore possible to achieve lab-quality photographic prints without expensive cameras, printers, ink, by using premium quality German-manufactured inkjet photo paper.

There are a number of good online suppliers of quality inks and photo paper. I buy my premium German inkjet photo paper, delivering an impressive 5760 DPI, from ink2paper in the UK.

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Tips to Make Money From Food Photography

This is quite a difficult field to get into and possibly one of the most challenging and demanding areas of commercial photography. It is quite similar to fashion photography where you have a team of people involved in the shoot, from the chef to a food stylist and an art director. So the pressure is on to deliver. Here's how to start.

You need to be able to get along with people and take direction. The client is the one who will give you the brief and expect you to create an image that is only in their mind. The ability to keep cool is essential and the ability to bite your tongue a great asset. Here's how to shoot great food images.

1. Know the trends and styles

This is where you need to do your research and keep up to date using the latest books and magazines. Many mags have a food section and this will give you a good idea of what the trends are. Get to know the lighting set ups so that you can duplicate this.

2. Detail is king

When photographing food you are trying to get a good representation of how the food looks and in the case of restaurants, what will be delivered to the person's table. Because you are shooting so close to the subject and often using close-up lenses you will see all the imperfections such as dust, hairs and fingerprints. So you need to make sure that everything is clean and free of any imperfections. With digital it is essential to review your images in high resolution while on set to check all the details.

3. Create a portfolio

Every food photographer has a portfolio of their work but what do you do if you don't? Create one. It's as simple as that. By studying magazines and books you will know the trends so setup dishes in you own kitchen of if you have a friend crazy about cooking do it in theirs. Copying the lighting, back grounds and techniques of top food photographers will give you practise and help create a portfolio of what you can deliver.

4. Do a workshop

We have a local photography school that offers a weekend workshop in food photography. This is the perfect way to hone your skills and refine your techniques. Most times they are offered by experienced food photographers from the industry and you will learn helpful tips and ways to get a foothold in the industry.

5. Market yourself

It's very difficult to market yourself if you don't have a track record so start small and approach local restaurants and non-chain fast food outlets and offer your services. Often they don't have big budgets and are looking for people to photograph their products. Offer your services to local cookery or chef schools where students are looking to create their own portfolios.

As I said, this is a demanding industry and you need to stay focused and work hard while looking for opportunities. Perseverance is key and the ability to endure rejection is essential. If you can stick it out and overcome the pitfalls you'll find your niche and achieve great success. Happy shooting!

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Where to Sell Photos Online

When deciding where to sell your photos online, there are a variety of options that are available to you. Every option has its own advantages and disadvantages and in order to make the best decision, it is important to understand which option is right for you.

Where to Sell Photos Online

1. Your Own Website or 3rd Party Websites

The first decision that is a photographer must make is whether to use a 3rd party website or to create and host their own website. The advantage of creating your own website is that you have total control over everything. Additionally, you get to keep 100% of your profits. The drawbacks are that you must maintain your sites by yourself, which can often become a time-consuming task. Additionally, you will need to get customers to find your website and choose it over the competition. With 3rd party websites, they work hard to drive traffic to your photos. In many cases, you only pay them a commission when they sell your photo. The downside is that you may be limited to how many photos can be hosted, and many have caps on the price you can demand.

2. Pay Per Download or Pay Per Sale

When using a 3rd party website to house your photos, there are two common methods of making a profit: pay per download and pay per sale. Pay per download websites will pay you every time your photos get downloaded. These websites charge buyers a monthly membership fee and allow them to download whatever images they want. If they download your photo, you get paid. The other option is pay per sale. This is fairly straightforward. Every time your photos get sold, you get a percentage of the sale and the hosting website gets a commission. Few websites have exclusionary rules, so you can even add your photos to a variety of sites to create multiple streams of income and find out which websites work best for you.

3. Commission or Monthly Fee

3rd party websites will either charge a monthly hosting fee or take a commission off of each sale. Often, it is financially beneficial to start off on a commission basis. Since you only have to pay when you make a sale, you can never lose money. Whereas, with a monthly hosting fee, you have to pay the fee regardless of whether or not you made any money. On the other hand, if you are making a large amount of sales every month, it may be cheaper to simply pay the monthly fee. The commission rates can get fairly high on some websites and if make $1000 in sales in on month, you could be paying nearly $200 in commissions, instead of a $50 monthly fee. Both options are great choices, depending on how many sales you average per month.

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Image Editing Services and Manipulation

A huge image takes a lot of space in the reminiscence of your PC. If you want to move the image it is yet again a bit intricate due to the huge size of the image. The traffic is pretentious as the huge image will entail a larger bandwidth and hence be time consuming. By using Image editing services you will slice the bigger images. This service not only will optimize your images, but also preserve the required equilibrium between volume and speed.

If the volume of the image is diminutive it will take less space of the memory and hence in the equivalent space which was earlier acquired by a single file can now be disseminated among the other files. The smaller file will take a smaller amount of bandwidth while the transfer of the file takes place and thus dipping the traffic. By using Image editing services you can slice the image that will permit you to generate the rollovers within the larger image. As it involves substitution of the images rollover is not probable with the larger images.

The pictures take us down the memory lane and always make sure a big smile on our face at whatever time we have a quick look of it and admire our near and dear ones in the picture or at times even our personality. Time is an imperative factor and photographs tend to be neutralize with the transitory of time.

A Digital camera provides us with appropriate resolution of the image but still due to inappropriate background or due to ordinary reasons like poor light conditions, weather condition etc. one does not get the preferred outcome. Image editing services are used to augment the digital photography and the picture perpetually comes out looking enhanced yet totally diverse.

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Wedding Photos

Wedding is the time which everybody wants to capture and store as the most precious moments of one's life. As mentioned by everywhere, it's a lifetime opportunity and experience, the memories of which define the eternity of the husband- wife relation. These photos are too strong and descriptive, that they have the power to take the person back to his wedding venue and recreate all the beautiful memories in his mind once again. The majesticity of the wedding album is also felt by the person who has not attended the marriage; he or she, sometimes actually regrets their reason for not attending the marriage.

Taking the photograph is in itself is a great art, which needs a lot of creativity and experience for the person to actually implement or practice his profession in a marriage. Photography is also divided into different fields and forms, according to which the styles and methods of photography vary, and there are different professionals for each field of photography. Same ways, wedding photography is a separate profession and experts are preferred to hire for the wedding photography. Immature or freshers, if hired can prove to be dangerous for the wedding album, as they don't know the techniques and intricacies of the procedures involved.

Wedding video is another form, by which one can store D- moments of his life, step by step, each and every minute as it is. It's an invention of science, which has proved to be a blessing for the marriage ceremonies. The marriages now - a- days are fully loaded with celebration and dances, the times which witnesses the largest gathering in a family function.

Here are some of the factors which should be kept in mind, while clicking wedding photos:

The wedding album should start with the photos of the bride and the groom, which are always clicking their traditional manners. Though some changes take place, with time in the creativity and the form in which these pictures are taken and presented, but the cultural values and ethnicity of the wedding photos remain same.

These days' people spend a lot of money in the venue of the marriage especially at marriages in India, so they want that the beauty of and the uniqueness of the place should be covered in the video or the wedding photos in the album.

A lot of importance is also given on the dresses of the groom and the bride; a lot of close up shorts of the bridal and the groom make-up are captured to keep them alive in the wedding photos

The use of flash, different lenses, camera body, zooms, should be done in a proper manner to improve the quality of the photo and add creativity and personal style to the wedding photos. Each wedding photographer has his own specialty and style, which can be seen in his work in the wedding albums.

Catching some humour moments, which are also the traditional customs or rituals in Indian weddings, is the main thing one wants. The bride or the groom always looks for the best moments, the traditions, which won't be performed by them, any further in their life time, so such rituals and practices are a must to capture.

Excellent technical knowledge of photography can make a person good photographer. Also immense interest and practise needs to be done by the photographer to understand the minutest details of the profession.

The beauty of the wedding photos or the album should be such, that, moments, like, should make bride and her relatives cry again, when they see those pictures. Such should be the majesty of the photos; originality and creativity are the fundamentals, following which one can become successful in making a happy wedding album.

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