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Tools for Doing In-Person Photography Sales to Boost Your Income Stream

21 Oct

The post Tools for Doing In-Person Photography Sales to Boost Your Income Stream appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jackie Lamas.

in-person-photography-sales

It seems now many clients only want digital files, however, there are still photographers doing in-person photography sales and making more from their art than the shoot and burn photographer. You don’t need a lot to get started with in-person photography sales. You can add products, samples, and such as your sales increase. Learn the tips you need to get started by reading below!

Image: Photo: John Schnobrich

Photo: John Schnobrich

What are in-person photography sales?

In-person photography sales are where you set an appointment with your clients to give them a personalized viewing of their photos and conduct a sales meeting with them at the same time.

You can set the date for the in-person photography sales appointment before the actual session or when the photos are ready to view. It all depends on how you handle and schedule your calendar.

Image: Photo: Annie Spratt

Photo: Annie Spratt

An in-person photography sales appointment is for photographers who wish to sell products like prints, frames, and other specialty items. These have a set profit margin so you can make the most out of a portrait session or wedding.

Why have in-person photography sales to begin with?

When a photographer gives away their photos in digital format, the client is allowed to print outside of the photographer’s studio, resulting in a loss in money for the photographer. With in-person sales, you are able to offer your clients their most valuable photos of their family, or event, and get top-quality products in return.

Image: You can use a gallery mock-up like this to sell wall galleries, frames, or other products dur...

You can use a gallery mock-up like this to sell wall galleries, frames, or other products during the in-person photography sales appointment. It helps your clients visualize the final product.

In-person photography sales give your clients more personalized attention. It also allows them to get their photos off digital format and onto their walls.

Giving your clients this personalized attention will also make your clients feel taken care of in the most intimate way. This rounds out the whole portrait photography experience. You’ll have them come to you next time they need that personal experience again.

What do you need to get started with in-person photography sales?

To begin with, you need an action plan. You’ll need to determine how you’ll be conducting the sales appointment. Choose a location with minimal distraction and noise, so that you can tailor your sales appointment to have the atmosphere you want. It can be a shared space, a rented location, or even in your home or the client’s home.

Image: Photo: Brooke Cagle

Photo: Brooke Cagle

You’ll also need some sort of device to showcase the photos from the session. This can be a laptop, iPad/tablet, or even a screen projector to showcase the photos large. If you have a studio space, you can choose a room or location inside that has a TV or computer to show their images.

Sign up with a professional lab

Next, you’ll need to make a catalog of the products you’ll be offering. Make sure to use a top photographic lab and not your friendly neighborhood Costco. While there’s nothing wrong with Costco for personal printing, they are not a professional lab with professional printers and top quality control.

Image: WHCC offers a program you can use on your iPad called Studio to create mockups of products yo...

WHCC offers a program you can use on your iPad called Studio to create mockups of products your clients want to buy.

White House Custom Color, Bay Photo Lab, Black River Imaging are a few of the leading professional photography labs, among many, many more. Find one that you like best and give them a try. All of them offer a variety of products ranging from loose prints to specialty items like tree ornaments, bookmarks, and even mugs with photos on them.

After you figure out what products you want to sell to your clients, figure out the pricing. Factor in shipping and the cost of the product. Only then can you determine how much of a profit margin you want. Depending on your market, you might be at a 40% profit margin or perhaps more.

Image: A digital catalog can help you showcase your products and pricing to clients without having t...

A digital catalog can help you showcase your products and pricing to clients without having to order samples. Some labs offer free product guides without branding or prices.

If you have capital, get samples of the products that you think will be top sells, and loose prints in various sizes. If you’ll be offering to frame, get the sample corners.

Each photographer has their own set of top sellers. With time, you can accumulate samples of those products. However, if you don’t have money to invest in samples, create a sales catalog in Illustrator or Photoshop. That way, your clients can see the products.

Image: Having sample albums in smaller sizes can help your clients visualize the final product.

Having sample albums in smaller sizes can help your clients visualize the final product.

WHCC has a site without any branding that you can use to get your clients excited about products. Many professional labs also offer samples at a discount so that you can afford some of the products to help you sell.

Payments

Sign up with a merchant account of some sort so that you can take credit card and debit card payments. You can get a card reader with some services like Square and PayPal to make processing credit cards and debit cards much easier. These also allow you to email receipts to your client.

Image: Photo: Thomas Drouault

Photo: Thomas Drouault

Some gallery services like Instaproofs offer merchant services and invoicing to photographers right from the gallery. They can also provide direct printing straight from the gallery.

Figure out what works for you and which service offers a better plan for you. It’s really helpful when more and more people use these types of services.

To recap, you’ll need the following:

  1. Figure out your plan. Where will you have the in-person photography sales appointments?
  2. Sign up with a professional photography lab.
  3. Figure out the products and pricing you’ll be selling.
  4. Invest in samples or create a catalog of products to show clients.
  5. Get a merchant account, Square, or PayPal for payments with cards.
  6. Stick to your plan!

What are the benefits of having in-person photography sales?

The benefits are many in that you are giving your clients something that they won’t get anywhere else – your personalized attention throughout the whole photographic experience.

Tools for Doing In-Person Photography Sales to Boost Your Income Stream

By having an in-person photography sales appointment with your clients, you are showing them their beautiful portraits via slideshow or even just in the gallery one by one. You are helping them choose their favorites, and setting them up with products that they’ll treasure for many years to come.

When you hand over digitals via an online gallery, you are missing out on the emotion behind the whole experience. They download, print, and buy somewhere else – leaving you with a loss.

Image: Showing your clients what their photos can look like in their home is also a good way to sell...

Showing your clients what their photos can look like in their home is also a good way to sell products.

Even if you offer digital products, having an in-person photography sales appointment with clients is the best way to show them that you not only take great photographs but care about your clients. It shows then that you are there with your knowledge and expertise to find the right product, photo, and gift to make their photos stand out.

In-person sales appointments are a great way to end the whole experience and create a deeper bond with your clients that an online gallery or digital photos never will.

What if my clients can’t meet or live out of town?

Although it’s better to be physically face-to-face with your clients, sometimes you can’t, and that’s okay. Luckily, there are other ways to hold an in-person photography sales appointment.

Image: Even digital mockups of products can help you sell more to your clients. Show them on your la...

Even digital mockups of products can help you sell more to your clients. Show them on your laptop or tablet after you show your clients their gallery.

If they can’t meet with you in person, offer a video chat style of sales appointment that best fits into their busy schedule. It’s understandable that clients can get busy with their families, life, work, and travel, however, make it a point to have some type of face-to-face appointment with them.

Use Skype so that you can share your screen with them and show them the slideshow of photos you’ve prepared. You’ll see their reactions and emotions to the beautiful photos and can then begin the process of selling your products.

Image: On the left is a catalog unbranded from a professional lab. On the right is a digital mockup...

On the left is a catalog unbranded from a professional lab. On the right is a digital mockup of various products using my own photos.

Make sure to send your product guide/catalog to them before the meeting so that they are aware of what type of products you offer and at what price points they begin.

Make the most out of in-person photography sales appointments

If you offer digitals with your packages, don’t make them readily available to your clients before your sales appointment. Chances are, they’ll walk away with the digitals and forget to make or go to the appointment since they’ve gotten their digitals.

It’s best to schedule the sales appointment before you have the actual session. That way, you can set a time and day that works best for everyone ahead of time. Families especially need careful planning so that they can attend the sales meeting.

Image: Photo: S O C I A L . C U T

Photo: S O C I A L . C U T

Set the tone for the in-person photography sales appointment. Even if you don’t have physical products yet, bring copies of your catalog. Perhaps offer drinks or snacks during the appointment and have the slide show and gallery ready to view. Make sure there is no need for an internet connection in all of your prep, just in case you meet at a place that doesn’t have wifi.

Give your clients an incentive for purchasing their photos. You could offer a gift print with purchases over a certain amount. Or if it’s part of your business plan, include a digital print of the photos that they get in prints or products so that they can keep that as well.

Image: Photo: Brooke Cagle

Photo: Brooke Cagle

Offer a payment plan to your clients. Put their credit card on file with a payment date so that you can automatically charge their cards when the payment is due. This allows them to have the products that they want most. Sometimes, payment plans can increase your sales because they offer more flexibility to your clients.

Set about two minutes worth of favorite images to music and create a slideshow. After, have your order form, catalog or samples, and begin showing the rest of the gallery to your clients. This creates excitement around seeing the rest of the images.

In conclusion

Having an in-person photography sales appointment doesn’t mean you have to have a studio or even samples.  You can get started right away with a catalog of products and prices. You can use a rented or shared space, or even have the in-person sales appointment in your clients’ home or via video chat.

Image: Photo: John Schnobrich

Photo: John Schnobrich

Either way, giving your clients this personal and handheld experience to get the most out of their photos will mean more income for you and wall portraits for them. This makes the whole photographic experience more meaningful!

Do you make in-person photography sales? What tips can you offer other photographers? Share in the comments!

The post Tools for Doing In-Person Photography Sales to Boost Your Income Stream appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jackie Lamas.


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Elgato announces Stream Deck XL and Stream Deck Mobile

29 May

Elgato, now a subsidiary of Corsair, has announced Stream Deck XL and Stream Deck Mobile. Stream Deck XL is a new, larger version of its original Stream Deck, while Stream Deck Mobile is an iOS app that emulates the Stream Deck experience on your iPhone or iPad.

Stream Deck XL

The Stream Deck XL features 32 keys (8×4), more than double that of the 15 keys (5×3) the original Stream Deck had. Like the original Stream Deck though, the Stream Deck XL features the same functionality, with the ability to almost infinitely customize various shortcuts and macros needed to streamline your video or photo editing workflow, thanks to built-in support for various post-production applications including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere and more.

The unit measures 182cm x 112cm x 34cm (7.17in x 4.41in x 1.34in) and fixes two of the biggest complaints we had in our review of the original Stream Deck: it now has a much more sturdy stand and it features a detachable USB-A to USB-C braided cable that measures 1.5m (60in). Not only is the 45-degree stand more robust, it’s also magnetic, making it an easy snap-on, snap-off for when you want to move it around and lay it flat on a desk.

The Stream Deck XL is available to purchase for $ 249.95.

Stream Deck software update

Elgato has also announced an update to its Stream Deck software (version 4.3) for macOS and Windows. The update now adds support for new programs, additional customizability options and overall addresses various bugs. It can be downloaded directly from Elgato’s download page.

Stream Deck Mobile

If you don’t want to purchase a physical Stream Deck, you can now have similar functionality using your iOS device. Elgato has taken the custom shortcut experience and brought it to iOS via a new app called Stream Deck Mobile. As its name suggests, the app effectively brings the Stream Deck experience to your smartphone by creating a collection of shortcuts that can be accessed and triggered via your iOS device.

There’s no word on whether or not Elgato plans on making an Android version, but on iOS, the app can be downloaded and used for free as a three-day trial. After the trial, you can opt to pay either $ 2.99 per month or $ 25 per year for the full experience.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Review: The Elgato Stream Deck is a customizable hardware control for post-processing

06 Apr

Elgato Stream Deck
$ 149 | elgato.com

The Elgato Stream Deck is a small, customizable keypad primarily targeted at gamers who stream live content. I’m not a prolific gamer, but it occurred to me that the Stream Deck might also be a useful tool in my daily post processing work, cutting down on mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts, and speeding up my workflow.

In my case that means a non-linear editor, or NLE, for video editing. However, the Stream Deck isn’t limited to NLEs; it can be used with just about any editing software such as Photoshop, Lightroom, or Premiere Pro.

Key features:

  • 15 customizable keys, each with its own LCD screen
  • 210 actions* available by using folders
  • Macros** can be assigned to each key
  • Different profiles and key sets can be created for different applications

The power of the Stream Deck is that each of the keys contains an individual LCD screen behind a concave plastic window. You may remember the Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard which, when launched in 2007, had a full qwerty keyboard with an OLED display on each key. The Stream Deck takes this idea and makes it more accessible at a price of $ 149.

Design

The Stream Deck’s fascia is aluminum while the body is plastic, with dimensions of 118 x 84 x 21mm (4.6 x 3.3 x 0.80 in) and it connects via a captive USB cable approximately 1.5m long. Included in the box is a lightweight plastic stand which allows the Stream Deck to sit at multiple angles, and it includes rubber feet on the bottom to stop it from sliding across your desk when you push a button.

The Stream Deck’s stand. It does the job, but as I discuss below there’s room for improvement.

Setup

Out of the box, the Stream Deck does nothing, so the first step is to download the Stream Deck software from Elgato’s website, which allows you to completely tailor each key. It’s already loaded with several shortcuts for popular streaming software like Twitch, OBS, YouTube, etc. and these can just be mapped to the keys on the device.

However, my reason for buying the Stream Deck was to use it with Davinci Resolve, my NLE of choice, though it can be used just as easily with tools like Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X, or Lightroom. However, doing so requires a more involved setup process as there are no pre-configured shortcuts available for these applications.

To do this, I set up a new Davinci Resolve profile in the Elgato software that auto-loads when I run Resolve. This can be done for any software that’s being used, and therefore you can have multiple sets of shortcuts (210) for each program. It’s completely feasible to have different set ups for Resolve, Premiere Pro and Lightroom for example.

Configuring keys with the Elgato software.

I created keys for common tasks, some of which were duplicates of already available keyboard shortcuts, but with larger dedicated icons I didn’t have to remember the shortcuts for some of the lesser used key commands. It also meant that some actions that used a three-key combination for something like ‘freeze frame’ could now be achieved with a single button.

There’s also a certain satisfaction in quickly navigating pages of shortcuts with a single button press. Trust me – you have to try it to appreciate it.

Customizing Keys

For the functionality that I wanted I needed to register the required Resolve keyboard shortcuts in the Elgato software. I also created icons for the buttons. Some of this was achieved with the Elgato Key Creator, which is web based, but quite a few of my keys were also constructed with Photoshop. Any image editing software will work as you only need to create a 288 x 288 pixel PNG file for each button.

There’s a certain satisfaction in quickly navigating pages of shortcuts with a single button press.

Like anything worthwhile, setup and customization took some time. At first it seemed a little involved, but effort spent configuring at the start saved more time later. I spent a lot of time making the icons for the buttons and assigning functions, but also some thought into where to place them and how far down into the sub pages to go.

But, I hear you cry, fifteen buttons is not enough! Well, in that case you can actually use one of the buttons to access up to fourteen more sub pages of buttons, each with another fourteen buttons on them (one is reserved for going back a page). In this case you can see the appeal of the screens providing labels and icons representing their function. I certainly couldn’t remember what each one did without them.

One example of a bespoke key set on the Stream Deck.

However, the ability to customize the Stream Deck doesn’t stop there. With the help of software like Auto Hot Key for Windows or similar scripting software for Mac, scripts can be written and assigned to any button. This means if there isn’t an exact shortcut available in the software you want to use it with then you can record something like a simple mouse click on an on-screen button and assign it to a stream deck key. Although I haven’t used this yet, It might be something I look at doing in the future as my workflow evolves.

Workflow improvements

After working with the Stream Deck for a couple of weeks I’ve found it very useful, though not without making some adjustments. First, getting used to having the device placed to the left of my usual keyboard was a bit unusual (of course it can be placed anywhere). This, combined with the fact that I had to think and stop myself using the regular on screen buttons, also slowed me down initially.

After about half a day I found that my usual edit process had sped up, probably on the order of 20-30%.

After about half a day, however, I found that my usual edit process had sped up, probably on the order of 20-30%. Persistence pays off, and sometimes it’s all too easy to forget and go back to the old ways of working, but when I did I found that I slowed down again. After about a week or so of using it I needed to reorganize the button layout a bit, something I think will be an ongoing process.

Opportunities for improvement

Overall the Stream Deck works well and I’m impressed with the feel of the keys, however there are some improvements I’d like to see. First, I’d like the option for a detachable cable rather than a captive one. What happens if the cable get’s damaged? There have also been reports from some users of screen burn in on early units, but this seems to have been addressed in later ones and Elgato have been swapping out units with this issue.

The Stream Deck attaches to your computer using a captive cable. I’d prefer a detachable cable in case it gets damaged.

The Stream Deck’s stand is just OK, and I’d like to see a way of making the unit fit more securely into it. The way it adjusts for different inclinations could be improved as well, such as having a much more positive lock into position. I would also like to see a more ergonomic version of the Stream Deck; three rows of five keys works, but it’s a bit cramped and the spacing could be better. The way my hand lies it would be better if it was wider, and I’d like to see they keys placed more naturally.

Elgato also makes the Stream Deck Mini with six keys. Perhaps there could be an option for a Stream Deck Max with 30 keys? I know this would probably take it out of the realm of being a pure streaming tool, but it opens up possibilities for other markets. If Elgato really wanted to they could compete with other control devices by adding knobs and sliders, but I guess this might be a little outside their key user base.

It is for you?

Considering it’s a product aimed at online gamers, the Stream Deck is a tool that can be easily adapted for use by photo and video editors to streamline and speed up everyday workflows. It can take time to set it up properly and develop the muscle memory required to use it, and will probably require some ongoing tweaks to get the most out of it, but the time invested up front will be saved in use.

Its usefulness will very much come down to the individual and their workflow. The more time you invest in getting things working correctly for you the more benefits you’ll see. I’ve yet to really use it to it’s full potential and I’ve already seen the benefit.

What we like

  • Ease of use
  • Customization options
  • Cost
  • Tactile feel

What we don’t like

  • Stand design; positioning and adjustment could feel more positive
  • Captive cable
*An action may be any function assigned to a key on the Stream Deck, such as a keyboard shortcut or combination of keys pressed simultaneously.
**If you use macros to create automated scripts on your computer it’s possible to map an entire macro to a single button.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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20 Random Thoughts on Google Photos in a Rambling Stream of Consciousness Format

10 Apr

Google Photos Mosaic

Not exactly beat poetry, this list is a rambling mess of 20 things that I thought about today about my experience with Google Photos.

This list is very poorly written and absolutely lacks coherence. It’s a stream of consciousness jumble of unrelated thoughts about Google Photos.

I’ve been using (and uploading to) Google Photos non-stop since it launched. I think the service holds great promise but is also flawed in some ways at the same time.

Disclaimer: these are my experiences. My experiences are probably different than yours. I likely have more photos on Google Photos than 99.999% of users, so things that may be broken for me may work perfectly for you.

Album is Empty

1. My single biggest complaint about Google Photos is how long it takes to generate shareable links to content. Being able to share a photo or album or video by creating and copying a link is a nice feature, but in my case it typically will take several minutes to several hours in order for that link to actually work. When I create a link and copy and paste it I always get: “Album is empty use the plus to add items,” when I first try to share or access that album.

Link sharing should be instantaneous (like it is on Flickr), but even if it is not it would be better for the user to get some sort of messaging saying “your album will be ready in 27 minutes, come back later” or something like that. For the first six months or so I just thought sharing by link simply did not work, now I know it’s just a delay thing.

2. Google face tagging is awesome! It’s wonderful to have my family and friends’ photos grouped by face and I love that I can go back and put their name on them. Unfortunately Google Photos would appear to limit you to 200 different people at which point the tagging functionality will no longer tag any new people. In my case Google Photos early on chose to facial tag a lot of musical acts that I photographed at Coachella leaving no space for other real friends that I wish were in there.

I’m not sure why there is such a low 200 face limit or why there should be any limit at all. At a minimum, Google Photos should let me manually tag people and then run facial recognition on these people instead of the random 200 that the software has selected.

3. I wish Google Photos had a public sharing option. Private by default is nice, but it would also be nice to be able to make some photos in the service public.

No Keywords in Google Photos
Your titles, descriptions and keywords do not get uploaded with Google Photos.

4. I wish Google Photos used all of the careful keywords and metadata that I embed in my photos. One of the nice things about Flickr is that when I add descriptive keywords to my photos in Lightroom and save them to the file Flickr automatically populates the tags along with the photo’s title and description. Google Photos ignores this data. I’m not sure why Google Photos does not care about this data as I would think it would be very useful for search and also very easy to include with uploaded photos. If Google Photos can bring in the iso and shutter speed setting with my photos, why not the keywords too?

5. Google Photos gives you a “card dismissed” message when you dismiss a card using Google Photos’ assistant. This message disappears after about 10 seconds. The problem is that if you are trying to go through a number of different Google automatic creations the page jumps as this message disappears. This makes you accidently click on the wrong place on the page all the time when trying to process more than one creation at a time. This message is not important enough to justify the instability it creates for use on the page.

6. On March 22, Google Photos announced smarter auto albums. It’s been several weeks now and I have not had a single automatic album suggested for me yet by Google Photos assistant. It would be nice to experience what these are like.

7. Since Google Photos launched I’ve found that it takes much longer to upload my photos to Google+, usually as long as 2 minutes or so to upload a photo. Not sure that this has anything to do with Google Photos.

8. Google Photos seems to do a little better job uploading photos than it did in the early days. In the early days sometimes it would only upload 50 photos for me in a single day. Now it typically will upload several hundred a day, but it’s still going to be a long time before it finishes with the 489,052 remaining in the current batch — and then I will still have many more batches to upload. By contrast Amazon Photos does not resize my RAW files at all and goes about 10x as fast.

9. Sharing very large albums with people does not work. At present Google Photos will not allow you to share over 2,000 photos at once. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to share all of the photos I’ve taken with my friend Scott Jordan with him the other day. Finally I had to give up trying and just create a new Google Account that we could both share and reupload all of the photos to that account. That was a pain and there should be a better way for people to share larger albums of photos.

10. Auto facial recognition is good but if it can’t auto tag everyone, Google Photos should let you manually tag people. A combination of automatic AI facial recognition with manual user tagging would make more complete collection.

11. When scrolling through your main Google Photos Library Google Photos will let you fast forward many years into the past. For example, it will start by showing me photos I took yesterday but then I can pull the slider all the way down and easily jump to say photos from 2010. When you are scrolling through photos of people Google Photos has facial tagged though they will not let you jump forward this way. If you have a lot of photos of someone getting to the year 2010 can take a very long time if you have to scroll through everything to get to that time.

12. Sometimes thumbnail versions of photos load very slowly on Google Photos. Other times they render quickly. Not sure why the diffference at times.

13. When I search for cats on Google Photos it brings up a lot of photos of my black labradors. If Google Photos uploaded my keywords they would probably have a better idea that it was a dog in the photo than a cat.

14. The share photos to Facebook functionality doesn’t work for me on Google Photos. Sharing Photos to Google+ seems to work just fine though.

15. Google Photos has only identified 143 “things in my photos.” I’ve collected over 2,000 albums on Flickr, many dedicated to specific things. My Flickr albums are much better organized than my Google Photos albums. Flickr allows me to build albums by my keywords though, Google Photos does not. After using the service as long as I have with as many photos as I have I feel like it should have identified more than 143 things.

16. I have to launch Google Photos and the Assistant to get it to add photos from my iPhone to Google Photos on wifi. I wish as soon as my phone connected to wifi photos from my phone just automatically uploaded to Google Photos, even without having to launch Google Photos app on my phone.

17. When you can get album sharing to work it can be a very powerful way to share photos with people. Here’s an album of all of the photos that Google Photos recognizes of my friend Robert Scoble by face. This includes both my processed and unprocessed photos so the quality is very mixed. I bet Robert hasn’t seen some of these photos.

18. I love how much infinite scrolling Google Photos uses. Paging sucks. Flickr should take notice of how much better Google Photos does infinite scrolling.

19. I wish there was a way I could see how many photos I’ve uploaded to Google Photos. Actually there is a way. Thanks Thomas O’Brien. So far I’ve uploaded 748,892 photos to Google Photos.

20. I wish in the share menu for Google Photos there was embed code where you could embed the photo on your blog or somewhere else on the web.


Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

 
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45 Random Thoughts on Flickr in a Rambling Stream of Consciousness Format

01 Apr

Not exactly beat poetry, this list is a rambling mess of 45 things that I thought about tonight about my favorite photo sharing site Flickr. This list is very poorly written and absolutely lacks coherence. It’s a stream of consciousness jumble of unrelated thoughts about Flickr.

There is no order or rhyme or reason behind any of these thoughts. These are just my thoughts as a heavy user who uses the site every day.

1. Flickr could be the most successful stock photography site in the world. They could be bigger than Getty Images and could become the leader of a multi billion dollar industry.

2. On the Flickr mobile app, comments specifically take too long to load.

3. Yahoo requiring phone numbers to create accounts (and by extension Flickr) greatly reduces the amount of harassment and trolling that takes place on Flickr. This is a positive thing.

4. On the Flickr mobile app you eventually run out of your contacts’ photos. There should be no reason to run out. When people run out and it defaults to a repetitive staple of Flickr promoted photos this encourages the user to close the app and go to another social network. Flickr should strive to keep users in their app for as long as possible.

5. While the “connect” splash page in the mobile app encouraging users to try to hook up their Facebook and Twitter friends in Flickr is likely a good thing, after you have seen this splash screen 500 times it’s just wasting real estate. Flickr should limit the number of times it shows this screen to users or allow users to dismiss it after say 60, 70, 300 times it’s shown and no action is taken.

If you actually click on the “Facebook” button on the connect screen and follow it through, it is the most convoluted mess I’ve ever seen in a mobile app and asks for Facebook verifications, SMS, and all kinds of other things that no user would actually go through.

6. On the Flickr mobile app you can double tap to favorite a photo. Frequently I will accidentally tap the photo once and an unwanted larger version of the photo appears. Instagram does not have this problem. Might there be another gesture to open larger photos or an option for advanced users to disable one click photo opening?

7. Groups were where the magic happened in the early days of Flickr and the conversations that took place in the discussion forums were powerful social lubricant. By diminishing the discussion functionality of Groups, Flickr hurt social on Flickr. Groups can and should be rebuilt and represent Flickr’s greatest possible potential in social. The rebuild should focus on social and conversations over pool photos.

8. Flickr allows you to view your contacts’ photos by contacts and friends and family. More customization here would be helpful. Google+ failed but their idea for circles was interesting. Allowing advanced users the ability to create more than two buckets would be a wonderful power user feature.

9. Sometimes users will change the “date uploaded” on their photos to make their photos appear more often in their followers photos from contacts page. This can be annoying as a consumer of photography, but I get it, they want more views on their photos.

10. Flickr still needs strong block functionality. Facebook has done a much better job here and should be studied. If I block someone or someone blocks me Flickr should do everything in it’s power to make sure that we are entirely invisible to each other. This should include making comments invisible from someone you are blocking in all areas of the site, including the help forum and groups especially. When you block someone their photos should not appear in your search results on Flickr.

11. When you block someone their existing comments will be removed from your photos. This should happen faster than it happens at present.

12. My single personal biggest complaint with Flickr today has to do with the photos from my contacts page. As the page adds photo it jumps around. Very often exactly as I’m going to favorite a photo the entire page will jump and I will accidentally open a photo that I did not mean to open. This page should remain static and in place as new photos are loaded.

13. Collections and Profiles should both be included under the “You” menu at the top of the Flickr page.

14. Explore is interesting but it would be more interesting if there were two versions. One for general Flickr and one specifically for the people that you are following.

15. Flickr needs a better way for Flckrmail to work on mobile.

16. The non-app mobile site for flickr m.flickr.com is very slow. Chrome users frequently have to use “request desktop site” to use the web version of Flickr on mobile.

17. Publicly designating Flickr “Pro” accounts as well as prominently showing the date someone joined the site are very helpful tools. It allows users a good way to gauge authenticity of accounts.

18. I never use any of the camera or editing functionality of the flickr mobile app.

19. Flickr is currently the best site on the internet for photo sharing for more serious photographers.

20. On the Flickr photo page there is a “date taken” field. This field should link to the archive view of that date for the photographer in question.

21. I love using SuprSetr for managing my albums on Flickr. I don’t know why when using SuprSetr Flickr’s API limits me to 4,500 photos in an album.

22. Personal interestingness scores seem to have deteriorated over time on Flickr. There especially seems to be given preference for more recent photos, but overall it feels like it’s heavily discounting the value of favorites, comments and other social data. The result is that when using the Flickr API to sort a SuprSetr album by interestingness, it is not really in the best order.

23. Similarly with search on Flickr when you search and rank by interestingness. A photo with 1 favorite should not appear ahead of a photo with 100 favorites.

24. The “albums” page for Flickr users should not have any paging at all, it should infinite scroll forever.

25. Recent Activity is the most important page on Flickr. It is so well done and the ability to filter it by different types of activity is very powerful.

26. I wish Flickr had so much more infinite scroll than it does. While iterating on designs over the past few years there was a point when it had more than it has today. If I had it my way I’d never have to page on Flickr for anything ever.

27. Stats are awesome and worth the price of Pro alone.

28. When looking at your Flickr contacts’ photos if your mouse is over a photo and you press the F key on the keyboard it should favorite that photo.

29. I miss notes in Flickr.

30. In most areas of Flickr they use an empty star for an unfavorited photo and a full white star for a favorited photo — except on the photos from your contacts page where a full white star means the photos is unfavorites and a pink star means the photos if favorited. Flickr should be more consistent. On the photos from your contacts’ page it should be changed to match the format with the rest of the site.

31. When you hover over a tag on Flickr it should tell you who added that tag. Flickr used to do this.

32. Flickr should show more than 6 albums on the main photo page without a user having to click on “show more albums.”

33. I love the fact that flickr uses AI to auto tag my photos with tags that I forgot.

34. Sometimes I feel like I’m interacting with photos from people on Flickr that are just autoposts from their instagram accounts and that these people do not really interact on Flickr. Instagram auto posts to flickr diminish the authenticity of the flickr experience and are much less valuable than organic posts to flickr.

35. Interestingly enough my own personal Instagram to Flickr functionality has been completely broken for about a year. Probably Instagram’s fault though.

36. Sometimes if I put 16 photos in the uploader form to upload some of the photos immediately generate a thumbnail while others might take several minutes to generate a thumbnail. I’m not sure why this is and feel like all photos should generate a thumbnail immediately.

37. It is a very cool thing that Flickr has figured out a way for both regular content and adult oriented content to exist on the same site.

38. I wish there were a way for flickr to identify photos that have signatures, watermarks or borders and then give me an option to eliminate those photos from my search results.

39. Flickr is an amazing tool to find things to photograph if you are going to be visiting some place new. It’s my number one “go to” place for researching things to photograph ahead of any trip that I embark on.

40. I’d love to see “suggested” facial tags for my flickr photo stream that would go into a holding bin for my approval and private photo facial recognition along the lines of what Google Photos offers today, grouping people into private albums.

41. Yahoo Image search should rely much more heavily on Flickr than it does. Flickr has the largest, high quality, highly organized collection of images on the internet today. Yahoo image search should strive to send traffic to Flickr photos over other photos on the web and should weight Flickr images and Flickr tagged images (and especially highly rated interestingness images) very high in their image and web search results.

42. It’s harder for me to blog flickr images on my blog than it used to be. The html doesn’t render right. Having the old code was cleaner.

43. I should be able to have an easy option to exclude certain flickr users from my search results when searching for images on Flickr. This is different than a block, I should just be able to easily exclude a list of users from my search results.

44. With regards to search results there are two different thumbnail views I can select. I wish I had a third that was just a bit bigger and more consistent with the size of photos on the “photos from my contacts’” page.

45. I always visit the Flickr page of anyone who adds me as a contact on Flickr. If I like what I see I add them back. If their photos have signatures, watermarks, or are largely commercial related images I never add them back.


Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

 
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Posted in Photography

 

Windowless Flights: 2 Planes to Stream Live Panoramic Views

21 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

windowless jet panoramic projection

The latest contender for ‘most scary yet exciting passenger cabin ever designed’ has trumped its predecessor – the first version boasted horizontal strips of screen on both sides of the plane’s interior while this latest one features effectively see-through ceilings as well as walls.

windowless plane in flight

windowless jet interior view

The S-512 being developed by Spike Aerospace boasts a four-hour flight time from New York to London, in part due to the reduced engineering requirements of a windowless cabin (and leading to at top speed of 1375 MPH).

windowless jet plane shot

windowless plane both sides

In this audacious private jet, the windows and their supporting infrastructure are instead being replaced with view screens that stitch together live footage being shot of the plane’s surroundings while it is in flight.

windowless concept cruising altitute

windowless plane city view

windowless plane mountain view

Meanwhile, six months later, Technicon Design has released concept drawings of Ixion, which likewise uses cameras mounted on the fuselage and wings to capture images for interior high-resolution display, but with an added dimension of also disappearing the rooftop of the cabin.

windowless jet night cruising

windowless plane architectural section

windowless plane walls roof

windowless plane space view

The nearly-continuous visual experience would be segmented by strips providing lights and air conditioning, and in theory the projections could be shifted on demand, from realtime scenery to other full-surround displays. For now, though, only the first is a series proposal for a real private plane – the latter is a conceptual design pushing the idea further but with no plan for actual deployment.

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Posted in Creativity

 

Stream your photos… via backpack?

19 May

hanerbackpack_0.png

It’s not that uncommon for a photographer to create a new photographic backpack. But it’s unusual for a photographer to put a high-tech photo streaming studio into one, creating a mobile photo transmission solution that shaves precious time off of submitting images to editors. But that’s just what New York Times staff photographer Josh Haner did. Learn more

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Posted in Uncategorized

 

Meandering Stream

12 May

. : LIGHT and SHADOW : .

 
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Posted in Equipment

 

3D Stereoscopic Mountain Stream, Stormy Sea and UK Snow clips

07 May

These are some test clips done with my new XDCAM EX 3D side by side camera rig. The video here is an anaglyph so dig out those Red-Cyan Glasses to view these clips in 3D. I will be filming more natural wonders throughout the year. Next week I will be in the Arctic filming the Northern Lights, then it’s off to Iceland to film the geysers and Glaciers and in the spring I will attempt to film a Tornado in 3D.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

During my visit to Pixar Animation Studios in March, I got to interview Stereoscopic Supervisor, Bob Whitehill who describes himself as the person who gives you a headache when you watch 3d movies. He then went onto explain that hopefully, if he’s done his job right, you shouldn’t be experiencing that headache when watching one of his movies. He talks to us in depth about working with 3d in Toy Story 3. Please note, some small spoilers are mentioned during the interview.

 
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Posted in 3D Videos