Digital Scrapbooking Tutorials – First Lessons in Creating a Scrapbook

The art of making scrapbooks is toady getting at the top of the most fashionable pastimes. However, there are still lots of people who look upon this art as just creating an album from some materials. This is true in one sense, but it is more than this when looked from another angle. There are lots of things you ought to know. This is especially true if you are a novice to this art. Most of these will never be known if you fail to read through the following lines:You should begin by knowing what a scrapbook is all about. In the simplest sense of the word, a scrapbook is a volume of pages created with the use of materials that is often taken to mean waste materials. These waste materials may range from pieces of paper, cloths and even plastic and a range of other items. In the days gone, people used to produce scrapbook as a means to replicate meaningful events in the life of a person. These pages would then be fastened in a unified whole by using either a string or a ring. These were mostly done for personal use. What obtains today is that these scrapbooks are made and sold to others. In most cases, they are made leaving their pages empty. It is then left for you to post whatever picture you will want or whatever caption you will like to associate with the pictures. The coming of technology has facilitated the production of scrapbooks so much so that people can now design scrapbooks electronically to be printed ahead of selling them.The art of making a scrapbook is no longer considered a difficult task. In fact, everyone and even kids can successfully come up with a scrapbook of their choice. All what is needed is that you should possess the basic materials and you should know how to go about the whole process. Ahead of getting to work, you should begin by coming up with a theme for the scrapbook. Keep in mind that every scrapbook must have something special to relate to the mind. One of the simplest ways of getting to a theme of a scrapbook is to look at those memorable events in the life of a person and try to see if you could fashion out your scrapbook to reflect those events. Once this is done, you should browse through you album or anywhere that you can get some of those memorable pictures. Remember that you can turn to your friends for help. The essence is that you should have as much pictures so that your scrapbook does not end up wanting of pictures.After finding a theme for your scrapbook, you should go ahead to find the materials that will be used to build up the scrapbook. You may want to take a look at the arts and scrap shops around the corner. Remember to look for durable papers and quality stickers. Keep in mind that it is your duty to ensure that these materials do not have acidic properties in them. Remember that they can easily destroy your pictures when they get in touch with the pictures.There are also a good lot of these materials that can be found at home. All you have to do is to look through your old days and select what you think will be appropriate for your scrapbook.When you are through with the above, it is time for you to focus on making your scrapbook. Remember that you will not have to focus all your attention to the first pages. You should evenly distribute all your items on all the pages.

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Those Pesky Don’t Do Digital Clients – Another Way to Market Them

The beauty of digital transmission of photos is that one image can be seen in forty (or forty million!) different places– all at one time. I wish that I could write that all photobuyers are accepting, or are ready to accept digital images via disk or on-line. They aren’t. Even though the digital concept is sound, and the technology is available, many of your photobuyers may continue to cling to 20th century methods for accepting transparencies only.We are all faced with the dilemma and transition that this technology presents us. Should we “wait” until the greater majority of our photobuyers are up to digital speed, or should we operate as if digital photography did not exist?My advice would be: Go at it, ‘business as usual.’ Here at PhotoSource International we find that 90% of editorial photobuyers have made the switch to digital. However, what you do about those lucrative accounts that still have not made the transition? As long as you’ve developed existing clients, you can always make the transition to digital when they are ready. Eventually, when they are ready to make the transition (it’s usually a budget decision), you’ll be able to offer advice. By helping them through the transition period you’ll have increased their dependence on you as a supplier.INTERIM MARKETING
In the meantime, you’ll need to wrestle with the age-long problem of sending original transparencies to those photobuyers on your Market List.
Since your images are your stock in trade, you want to have them available when you get a photo request. If some of your original transparencies are at a photobuyer’s, being held for consideration, those images are tied up and can’t be out there available for sales opportunities.
Stock photographers are put in a bind when a photobuyer holds a transparency longer than normal. (“Normal” is two to three weeks.) On the one hand, if, after three or four weeks, you ask for the transparency’s return, you might lose a possible sale. And on the other hand, if you let it remain at the publishing house, you have taken it out of circulation and others can’t see it (or buy it).One of the answers to this dilemma is to always make “in-camera dupes” when you are photographing with film. This way you’ll always have extra “originals” and not be at a disadvantage when one buyer holds your picture(s) too long. Then you can circulate these other “similars” to buyers on your list who “don’t do digital.”THEY’RE HOLDING YOUR IMAGESWhat is an acceptable amount of time to hold an image? Magazines, with their short turn-around time, will usually hold a picture no longer than two weeks. Book publishers, in contrast, because of the complexities of putting an entire book together, will hold a transparency six to eight weeks or more, depending on the situation.Publishers to avoid are those who by their actions show a disregard for photographers and little or no sensitivity to their need to keep pictures moving. Either because of faulty administrative practices or just plain ineptitude, these photo editors tend to hold transparencies well beyond a fair length of time. Publishers of bird, horse, and pet magazines, particularly, will often be lax and sometimes cantankerous in their attitude toward photos and photographers. (This comes from their advantage of having a huge number of photos and photographers to choose from.)NO WORRIES: THE PERMANENT FILEProbably the best way to solve the “holding” problem is to place your duplicate slides in a publishing house(s) that maintains a “Permanent File.” This, of course, would be publisher you’ve worked with a good while, and who has a track record for handling photographers well.
In their central art library, an administrator files your (reproduction-quality) duplicate slides or B&W prints for possible future use. When a photo researcher at the publishing house uses one of your pictures, you receive a check. After publication, the image is returned to the central file until it is re-used, and a fee again is paid to you, usually 75% of the original fee they paid you.
This no-worry method has been used for years by longtime stock photography professionals.THE DIGITAL ADVANTAGEOnce your publishing house begins to realize the digital advantage of storing photos for reference in this manner, you will be able to scan appropriate photos in your collection and download them digitally to a publishing company’s central art library. It’s much more to your advantage to keep your digital pictures with a trusted buyer, rather than hoard them at home where no one can see them.As far as thievery goes, yes, I have had a couple of reports where a new art director has come in and assumed that all the photos in their digital file belonged to the publishing house and therefore were accessible. However, we’re speaking of the early stages of a new technology, and a new working method, and such change is always fraught with mistakes and inconsistency. Give it a chance. You’ll find that as we progress in this new digital era, we’ll find fewer and fewer errors.You’ll also update your digital collection when you return from a trip or assignment. You’ll repeat this process with each of the small core of publishing houses you work with. And, because you are a specialist in their specialized interest area (aviation, dog training, environment, agriculture, butterflies, backpacking) there will be little need for them to go outside their central library to obtain that “just right” image.

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Mailing List Mistakes To Avoid

Everyone who does internet marketing knows the power of having a good mailing list. For some people, a mailing list can mean instant money as if you have a good customer base you can often be guaranteed of making a sale every time you send out emails. However, there are some people that make big mistakes with their list which can cost them in the long run.I used to subscribe to a well known guru who I very much respected and so did many people online. A lot of people on forums spoke very highly of him and everyone was recommending him to everyone else. I bought a few of his personal products and they were fantastic.However, it seemed that after a while either the success or the money went to his head. It was obvious to anyone that he had a massive mailing list with good potential so what happened next was people started renting his list.Now this guru had a great reputation so what he would do was send out a mailshot selling other peoples products that were “highly recommended”. However, this was a big mistake as the internet marketing community isn’t stupid. Most people could see instantly that some of these products were scams and word soon spread.What made it worse was that the frequency of these emails selling other peoples products increased too. Sometimes I would get two a day!!Well I started to read on forums that everyone else felt the same and everyone kept saying they were unsubscribing and I did the same.He might well have carried on selling those cheap products but I know a lot of people who will never be buying anything recommended by him again!

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