BetterPhotoJim

Photo-related Ideas for mothers day gifts

© Mary Oei

Spring is such a wonderful time of year, thanks to better weather, longer days, lots of new opportunities for creative photography, and of course, an extremely important occasion: Mother's Day!

At BetterPhoto.com®, we have lots of exciting ideas for mothers day gifts. Just check out the BetterPhoto Store for great photographic products for the special mother/photographer in your life - from books to apparel to DVDs.

One great gift of photography is the BetterPhoto gift cards ... and for Spring 2007, there's this great deal: Get an additional $5.00 FREE for every $50! In other words, we will add $5 for each $50 that you spend, and mail a fine spring gift card to you or your gift recipient. And we have lots of possibilities for photo-related mothers day gifts. For example, a BP gift card can be used for online photo courses, BetterPholio photo sharing options, or for any books, DVDs or apparel in the BetterPhoto Store.

By the way, would you like to capture eye-grabbing photos like the accompanying contest winner by Mary Oei? Then take a closer look at our online photo classes on photographing people.

That's it for now. Have fun with your photography!

Digital Photography School: Get Inspired in a BetterPhoto Online Course!

by Kerry Drager

One of the great innovations in photographic education has been the advent of the online photography class - BetterPhoto.com's specialty. BP's courses are highly interactive and take place in a unique virtual classroom, where there's lots of give-and-take between instructor and students, and among the students themselves.

Flexibility is the key to the school's renowned success. In fact, with students from all over the world, there are no live chats - i.e., there are no specific times in which you must be online. At the same time, the weekly lessons and assignments motivate you to get out there shooting ... now how super-cool is that! You then post your assignment shots in the mini Web site known as Campus Square, where your work will be critiqued by your pro instructor. In between critiques, you can ask questions, read answers, take part in discussions, and share "extra" non-assignment photos ... so much information and inspiration!

Oh, don't take my word for it. :-) Try before you buy: Sign up for a real course and see, firsthand, how a Digital Photography School online class works. Sample a free digital photography online course. Still, for a brief course overview, take a quick-and-easy tour.

BetterPhoto offers more than 100 classes - divided up in nine categories (Digital, Fundamentals, Composition, Light/Exposure,Photoshop, People, Camera-Specific, Specialty, and Nature/Travel) - so there's almost certainly an inspiring one for you. For all the details, explore BetterPhoto's Digital Photography School.

Book Review In Seattle P-I

One of the BetterPhoto.com® staff spotted a review of my book, The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Nature Photography, in a recent edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a Seattle-area daily.

Here's an excerpt:

"Digital Nature Photography" comes from someone who, as a Redmond resident, knows about Northwest mountains and seashores and, as a professional photographer, also has an eye for technology that far surpasses point-and-shoot.

With this volume, Jim Miotke takes the reader through a craft that, in the computer age, has changed spectacularly, even as it has stayed the same. Which is to say that the art of photography still hangs on timing, light and composition, but its physics have fled the chemistry tray for the universe of electronics. Rather than chemicals on a strip of cellulose, it's "binary digits" (bits), "picture elements" (pixels) on a recording sensor and something called "shooting in raw."

Keep reading.

Miotke breaks it down, much as he does in the course work he and his instructors offer -- for a price -- at betterphoto.com. That's the Web site he founded in 1996. (Alternatively, for free, you can retrieve Miotke's photo-talk interviews from the archives of wsRadio.com. Search for "Miotke.")

To read the full review, click here. Also, be sure to pipe up if you see you a review, or any other evidence of BetterPhoto.com®'s presence in your corner of the world! We love to see the results of our ever-expanding community.

Have a great day,

Jim

Check out BetterPhoto.com®'s Online Photography Courses and Photo Sharing options today!

New: Adobe Lightroom PhotoCourse™

Professional photographers, especially in this digital age, are constantly looking for better ways to organize and catalog the thousands of images they accumulate. Over the years, I've tested many photo-organizing programs, and have often been underwhelmed by their functionality. However, the recently released Adobe Lightroom (a companion to Photoshop) is just fantastic - both as a catalog, and as an editor, working in tandem with Photoshop.

Accordingly, BetterPhoto.com® is happy to announce a photography course focused exclusively on Adobe Lightroom, and it's wealth of practical applications for the photography professional or the hobbyist. Don't hesitate to enroll, it's filling up quickly!

You can browse our entire selection of world-famous online photography courses by stopping by our Course Category page. Or if you're into photo sharing, check out any of our BetterPholio™ products.

Share Photos at BetterPhoto.com®

Taking the Big Leap © Jim Miotke All rights reserved

At BetterPhoto.com we have four terrific choices for sharing your photos with the world. In addition to the free BetterPholio, we offer the Premium BetterPholio, Deluxe BetterPholio and Pro BetterPholio. Each of these websites includes several design choices, as well as individual options - all very affordable.

The BetterPhoto team has given much thought to the varied needs of those who share, and sometimes sell, their photos. We have options for an increasing number of photos to be shared with sleek new designs, as well as options for biography and contact pages, your own domain name, image sales, and visitor statistics.

Begin having fun sharing your photos soon and let us know how you like it!!

Announcing Our New Community Page!

The BetterPhoto.com® community is growing and improving every day! Our latest enhancement was unveiled today -- a new and sleek Community page to help members and new visitors easily, and visually, navigate to some of our most popular sections and pages. This hub of activity highlights the Photo Contest Winners and Announcements pages, showcases Blogs, Forums, the upcoming Photography Conference, and our Member Spotlight section. You will also find links to each of our fantastic and ever-improving BetterPholio™ products.

We are always looking for ways to please our members, and make our online community more functional and versatile. This new page is just another small step in this process -- there are many more improvements to come!

Have a terrific week photo fans!

Jim

PhotoCourse™ Promotion!

Calling all visitors!

Whether you are a BetterPhoto.com® member or a photography enthusiast passing through for the first time, we'd like to invite you to partake of our most recent PhotoCourse™ promotion. It's not too late to enroll in an enriching course for the April session. By enrolling before April 11th at 6pm PST, you'll receive a one-year Premium BetterPholio™ subscription for free!

Try out any of our 8-week or 4-week courses. Taught by world-renowned photography pros, each course offers detailed weekly lessons, thoughtful assignments, and personal critiques of your own photos! Stop by our beautiful new Course Category Front Door, and choose the course that will be perfect for you.

Have a wonderful week!

Jim