BetterPhotoJim

Cute Pictures of Frogs

As I was looking through the many gorgeous photos on BetterPhoto's web site, I was struck by all of the cute pictures of frogs and how easily they made me smile. Not wanting to keep them to myself, I thought I would post some here for everyone to see and maybe get a smile too. Or maybe they will inspire you to take some cute pictures of frogs as well! If they do, don't forget to enter your best one into the BetterPhoto Photo Contest.

Here's hopping everyone has a great weekend!!

Frog on Bench © Joseph F. Kirkpatrick All rights reserved

Happy Frog © Charles Chipman All rights reserved

Tree Frog 7 © Crystal M. Howard All rights reserved

Tree Frog © Glenn Petranek All rights reserved

Frog's Menu © Lori Ditlefsen All rights reserved

Free Shipping on Books

Wow! We have had such a busy start to our summer and it is only June 28th! Jim is working hard at making some fantastic changes to our Campus Squares for the Summer School session of courses. We have had such a great response to the "tab system" of our new Member Centers, Jim is applying a similar style to the Campus Squares. This will make taking an online photography course with BetterPhoto.com even more navigable and entertaining.

If you haven't checked out the new "tab system" of our Member Centers, feel free to take a look at a Virtual Tour. You might be surprised by the updates.

And finally, the point of my blog today: We are offering free shipping on any book from our BetterPhoto Bookstore with an accompanying course enrollment. Be sure to take advantage of this offer before July 1. Classes are filling quickly and the free shipping offer will expire on July 1.

Also, be sure to email me or Karen if you have any questions about which online photography course would meet your needs.

Have a great day!

New BetterPhoto.com store!

Morning, everybody! Wouldn't you love a BetterPhoto coffee mug for your daily caffeine jolt with us? Good news: now you can! You may have noticed our new logo last week - and now we're celebrating the change with a new Cafe Press store! Visit CafePress for mugs, mousepads, t-shirts, and an adorable women's tracksuit that I know a couple of the staffers have already snapped up. There's plenty more there, but unfortunately no pens with printed logos a this point - something we hope to add to the store soon.

So, why'd we change the logo? We want to more accurately reflect what this site is all about: photography education, fun, and community. You're a huge part of what makes BetterPhoto.com what it is, and hope you enjoy the fun stuff at the Cafe Press store! As always, if you've got ideas or suggestions for me, comment here, or leave a note at our feedback form. Have a great day, everyone!

Bluegrass Arts and Crafts Festivals

There are literally thousands of arts and craft festivals in the U.S. every year, and I always associate bluegrass music with these festivals. Being an amateur mandolin player myself, I love hearing the old time tunes played with such artistry, outdoors, where I think it sounds best. My favorite bluegrass musicians, Nickel Creek, have unfortunately moved beyond the arts and craft festival circuit – I would have loved to get a picture of them at one of our local festivals! There's just something about being out in the open air, seeing gorgeous crafts and impressive artwork (including more and more photographers, I'm noticing). I've always wanted to capture the feeling of these events – the color and the variety, the crowds and the characters. I think I may try one or both of these BetterPhoto courses to help me out - Beyond the Postcard: Creating Memorable Travel Images with Brenda Tharp or Point, Think, and Shoot: Beyond the Snapshot with Kerry Drager. There's so much fun stuff to capture at an arts and craft festival, but it's overwhelming. I think one or both of these classes will definitely help me focus (ha ha) on getting a great shot. If you have ideas on courses you'd like us to add, let us know at the feedback page! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks! Cheers, Julie

Bluegrass Girl © Tammy L. Bevins All rights reserved Finger Pickin' Good © Kenton K. Elliot All rights reserved

Our New Auction E Bay

Yes, we have another one of Jim's signed books up for auction on ebay! Our first auction was so successful, we thought we would try it again so that others will have the opportunity to read this great book for budding photographers. All kinds of tips can be found in An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Taking Great Photos and there's a helpful question and answer section in the back. Peter Burian, contributing editor for Photo Life magazine, says that it's "An excellent starting point for anyone interested in photography. It will help readers take better pictures."

You can see our ebay auction by clicking here: BetterPhoto's ebay auction. Also, we are planning on opening an ebay store in the near future. We're really excited about it and hope everyone checks it out! Thank you for your continued support and have a great week!

Member Center - Contest Photo Management

This is for all you free photo contest fans out there. Often many of you ask us to check to make sure that a photo was entered into the contest or wonder which category you entered a photo under. From the "My Better Photos" tab of your Member Center, there is a "Current Contest Entries" link. From there you can verify which photos you entered on which day and in what category for the current month's contest. This is a great way to keep track of all your entries.

Another common question about contest entries occurs when Betterphoto members enter a previously uploaded photo into the contest via Photo ID, but then do not see their photo in the recent contest entries page. That page is sorted by upload date, not entry date. This keeps the content fresh on that page. Photos that were previously uploaded and discussed will appear in the later pages of the contest entries.

I hope this clears up some of your contest photo organization questions. Good luck this month!

Tips for Finding a Wedding Photographer

One of the most important things on your special day - besides the Groom, Minister, Rabbi, or Justice of the Peace – is the wedding photographer - the one who will record your Wedding Day for all posterity.

So, what do you do? How do you go about finding that great wedding photographer?

• Collect several names to call: Ask your friends for referrals; someone in your circle must have gotten married in the last year. You could also check with a wedding coordinator. A wedding coordinator is a fountain of information, and could be a great resource to help set up your wedding. (Having been a wedding coordinator in a past life, I can attest to the fact that I have a plethora of information digitally stored in my brain that I’ll never use again.)

• Make a decision about what kind of photographs you want. Do you want black and white photos? Color? Or maybe you’d love to have a video. A combination of all of the above is often the decision. Most photographers have an assistant that will help in taking the still shots and video.

• It’s time to write your questions for the interviews. The more you ask, the better feel you will have for a perfect match of your photographic ideas, visions and expectations. These will give you a good start: “How long have you been a wedding photographer? How many shots will you take? What special effects do you use? Do you retouch the images? Will you shoot with 35mm film or digital? What kind of cameras do you use? (This will impress them.) When will my proofs be ready; will they be available on CD? How long will the prints take once ordered?”

Greetings, and Photo Contest Feedback

Hi everyone! I joined BetterPhoto a little over two weeks ago as the resident marketing maven, and I am so stoked to be part of such a dedicated and talented team – and such a fun site. I've always wanted to be a part of a company that combines fun and education, not to mention great art, and I've found it here. Plus, I love telling people, when they ask what I do, "I help people unleash their creativity." What a cool job.

Red Eye © Dan J. Holm All rights reserved

I'm even more excited to know that our team is truly focused on one thing: you. A big part of my role here (beyond PR, advertising, etc.) is to find out what you want, and help the team deliver it. That's why we did the member survey a couple of weeks ago, and why we'll be asking you every few months how we're doing, what you want, and what you want us to change.

As a matter of fact, Jim and Jay have been implementing a number of your suggestions already, including adding judges' commentary to contest entries. Now, you'll be able to get an idea, in a more immediate way, what the judges loved, and what they felt could be improved. It's a great way to get feedback and direction that can easily help you improve your technique.

We're always looking for your feedback, too. This is a community of photographers, of creativity, and it belongs to all of us. Look out for the next survey in a few months – and if you have great ideas before then, drop us a line at the feedback form!

Cheers!

Julie

Country Cool: Farm Barn Design Pictures

New England Classic © Harry Lichtman

Hi everyone,

Framed by fall color, winter snow, spring colors, or summer foliage, barns make awesome photo subjects.

Very classic and very cool, these country icons are such picturesque symbols of rural life. Best yet, view the eye-catching images of BetterPhoto members and instructors, and you'll quickly discover that barns come in all sorts of styles and colors - and from new and freshly painted to old and beautifully weathered. It's no wonder that farm barn design pictures turn up repeatedly among the winners and finalists in BetterPhoto's free photography contest.

Shooting tips? Consider these:

• Try to avoid the straightforward "this is a barn" approach. Instead, look for eye-catching angles, zero in on a close-up detail, or include the surrounding countryside for an "environmental" portrait. The two photos shown here are great examples of the variety of picture possibilities that are possible.

  Yellow Trim © Wendy Stevenson

  
  

• Also, give every lens a workout. For example, zero in on lines or angles with a tele-zoom, or with a wide-angle, use a foreground object to frame your subject.

For shooting ideas and inspiration, check out BetterPhoto's excellent gallery: farm barn design pictures

That's it for now. Enjoy your weekend!
Kerry Drager

Spam, Spam, Eggs and Spam

Bad news... We have been getting more and more spam attacks at BetterPhoto.com lately. Deluxe Site guestbooks have been hit by machine-generated spam and many BetterPhoto members have been getting those bogus emails about "my husband, the king of Nigeria, just left me a million dollars... blah blah blah".

Worst of all, I have recently become aware of emails where the sender is pretending to be BetterPhoto, sending out emails in our name and using scare tactics to pressure the recipient to "click here to update your account". The only problem is that, if you were to click on their link, you would go to a completely different site than BetterPhoto.

Here's an important tip that I hope you find useful. When you get an email that appears to be from a trusted source like BetterPhoto.com, stop and take a moment before you click on the link. Even if the graphics and the link itself says "betterphoto.com", hover over the link and look at the actual address down in the lower left of your browser's border (the status bar). If this URL differs from the text you hover over... BEWARE... don't click the link!

I have received emails that appeared to be from eBay and appeared very real and authentic. The only thing that tipped me off was that it was sent to one of my old email addresses. The fact that they were trying to pressure me into updating my eBay account only heightened my suspicions. I then hovered over the link and saw that it went to a different Web site. I emailed eBay and they responded saying, "Yes, that was not from us... you were right to suspect it."

Dealing with this kind of stuff is one of my least favorite things about the job. I have blocked the IP addresses of these recent attackers. But this is just one small step. I plan to take many more steps to keep this spam problem down to a dull roar at BetterPhoto. We are also developing an "anti-spam" page for our upcoming Help area at BetterPhoto. We want to help you win the war on spam.

In the meantime, don't open up suspicious attachments. Don't click on fake links (hover before you click). Just delete the Nigeria inheritance hoaxes. And don't think an email is sent from a trusted source like BetterPhoto just because it says our name in the From field. I know it's confusing... hang in there. I have hope for a spam free world. I have a dream where we will all be free from this problem. I know it can happen.