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October Photo Contest Winners: CLICK TO VIEW THE CURRENT PHOTO CONTEST ENTRIES AND ARCHIVES __________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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News Last month was really busy for our programmers as they continue to work on the new features mentioned in our last newsletter and this month is no different. We are getting close and you will receive an email as soon as the become available. Our October photo contest was a huge success and picking the winners was harder than ever. Everyone who submitted photos is to be commended for their great work!
SEO- Top Questions from Support
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_________________________________________________________________________________________________ Full Length Articles... _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Decisions...Decisions...Decisions....
by Paul Collins Which camera and lens should I be using at this particular moment in time? Which will provide the BEST image to communicate what I feel should be captured at that moment in time. Where will I plan to be when I shoot the image? When I shoot a University of South Carolina football game I work in concert with my photographer 'teammate', CJ Driggers. This makes life so much better not only for me but more importantly for those viewing the Photo Galleries that we produce. How so and why, you may wonder. Have you ever noticed how large the football field is? Especially at Williams-Brice matters are made more difficult because NO ONE is allowed behind the end zones to shoot or to stand around (in our way).
However, I digressed. The beauty of working with another photographer is that we each have a different angle on the action. You would be amazed how often, even with the best of planning and scheming to avoid it, someone gets directly between the camera and the action. That someone could be, but is not limited to, one of the many officials (Side Judge, Back Judge, Umpire, Referee, etc.), Network people (Red Cap - communicates to Ref's when TV is on/off, Instant Replay (IR) people, sideline reporters for radio and TV, and many others), law enforcement people, the chain gang, ball boys, etc. Even the coaches and players can block the action from your view if the action is down the near sideline and you have the wrong angle. If you are on the twenty yard line and the play is at the other end of the field, you will NOT get the picture that you so desperately want. As anyone who knows football can attest, sometimes the action is in your area of the field and quickly it can move to the other end and side of the field. So CJ and I will diversify, or divide and, hopefully, conquer. If we're on the same end of the field, we are usually on different sides. If one is behind the end zone, say in the corner of the end zone, if at Williams-Brice since we can't get 'behind' the end zone there, the other one is probably out around the 15 or 20 yard-line. With the crush of photographers, we often have to shoot from our knees and someone is behind us shooting over us. This is really not a bad scenario as I personally like the angle when I am low and shooting 'up' at the players. However, your line-of-sight can sometimes be limited, especially when the action moves to the other side of the field. At this time, I won't go into many of the specifics on the different lenses and camera combination's but merely mention a few high points. One of the problems that cause a photographer great concern is having a 'dust particle' on the camera's sensor. The good way to help minimize the chances of this occurring is to be very careful whenever you are changing a lens. Lens changing should be minimized and when done, the environment should be as dust-free as possible. Yeah, you can even be a bit fanatic about it. A good rule is if it is windy and dusty, do NOT change lenses. It is worth noting, as I am asked this question too frequently to ignore it, NEVER use one of those handy aerosol cans of compressed air to attempt to clean your sensor. The air dispensed is NOT pure and clean. Having something on the sensor, is of more concern than having something on the lens or the filter that is helping to protect the lens from being scratched. Lenses, especially telephoto ones, are amazing. You have probably noticed photographers shooting through the 'screen' at a baseball of softball game, and in most cases, when you view the image you would never even realize that there was a screen between the camera and the subject. So in a game situation, I would generally have three cameras with me and the lenses are already mounted on them so, in effect, the cameras are impervious to dust particles. Basically, one camera has the long telephoto lens mounted and is supported with a monopod (as the camera and lens weigh almost 15 pounds), the 2nd camera will usually have a medium range zoom lens on it (for shots in the Red Zone, for instance), and the 3rd camera will have a wide angle lens (maybe a 16-35mm) for a shot of the stadium, close in shots of cheerleaders, players, coaches, fans, the band, etc.
Although I would 'generally' have three cameras with me, this would NOT apply to shooting in the rain. Briefly, shooting in the rain is a story in itself but suffice it to say, keeping up with one or two cameras in those conditions (and all the other gear) will usually max me out. The beauty of having the three cameras is that you can quickly, almost instantly, change cameras and capture an entirely different shot. But another 'decision' regards the weather and how the weather will impact your ability to shoot the game.
And, yes, you can guess wrong and wish you had your super telephoto when the touchdown was in the far corner or you can be glad that you did NOT use that telephoto when the pass was caught a few feet in front of you. You ought to hear the photographers guessing what play is going to be run from the two (or five or whatever) yard line! Then again, if we knew whether the play was going to be a run or a pass and to where and to whom, the odds are that the defense would know as well. This is an entry from Paul's photo blog. http://paul.gamecockcentral.com/ You can also visit Paul's ifp3 website at paulcollinsimages.com
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ SEO- Top Questions from Support Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks," the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. For more information see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization Here at ifp3, we receive many questions about how SEO works overall as well as how SEO works within an ifp3 site. This article will provide an introduction to SEO as well as answers to the most commonly asked SEO questions. SINCE MY IFP3 SITE IS FLASH, CAN IT BE INDEXED BY THE SEARCH ENGINES?
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THE SEARCH ENGINES TO INDEX MY SITE? WILL SEO ALLOW ME TO COMPETE WITH THE LARGE STOCK HOUSES? HOW DO I SET UP SEO ON MY SITE? I PLAN TO APPLY MY OWN DOMAIN NAME, SHOULD I SUBMIT MY WEBSITE TO BE INDEXED BEFORE OR AFTER? WHY DOESN'T MY SITE SHOW UP ON SEARCH ENGINES? Another is how a search engine indexes all websites. In the case of Google for instance they like to see lots of links coming from other sites to you so they feel good that you are a resource they want to move to the top of their listings. Another issue is how competitive the market is and if your competition is spending the money to get SEO specialists working to push their listings up to the top. Another is the vastness of results in a search. At the time of this writing the term "Colorado Springs wedding photographer" Google has 398,000 listings. From this you can see just how competitive a search term or phrase can be even if you are specific. If you want to get to the first page of results you have 398,000 other photographers you will have to compete with. There are so many factors in moving up the search engine ladders. What we suggest to most site owners, especially in the first year, is that you need to do a good deal of outside marketing beyond just putting up a website and putting some meta data behind it. If you are serious about getting people to the site, especially in the beginning we would highly suggest Pay Per Click advertising (PPC). Google and Yahoo are the main players in PPC. They are the little text ads that show up when you type in a search term into either search engine. These ads are the ones that say "Sponsored Listings". For example there are 10 or so of these ads in Google when you type in the term "Colorado Springs wedding photographer". The meta data and text on a page are only a small piece now in getting a website to the top of the listings. We offer the ability for our clients to do this because we understand it still is important and want to give our clients control over this element. But to truly get the most out of a website today you'll need to market your site heavily as your one stop catalog on everything a person would need to know about your business. And luckily your ifp3 site can do a good deal more than be just a great looking catalog since customers can view an online portfolio, proofing, purchases, etc... DOES GOOGLE ANALYTICS WORK WITH MY SITE?
ARE PRIVATE GALLERIES AND IMAGES SEARCHABLE BY SEARCH ENGINES?
I HAVE MADE CHANGES TO MY SITE, SHOULD I RESUBMIT TO THE SEARCH ENGINES?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ The November contest is now open, the theme is: Creepy Crawlies: Insects and Arachnids. That's right, bugs and spiders are the theme of the month. Enter your best Creepy Crawly shot and go for the prize money! We will be accepting submissions through the 21st of this month. To enter, just click the "Monthly Contest" Link in the "Your Account" area in your ifp3 admin. A panel of judges will review all submitted photos and a winner will be announced in our next newsletter. Thanks for your support of this contest and GOOD LUCK to all of you!! Prizes: How to win!!!
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Become a Contributor to the ifp3 Newsletter
There are many advantages to contributing articles to ifp3: Ready to get started? We are looking for writers to bring a unique perspective to the table with relevant and valuable material. Whether it is a story on travel, event, stock, wedding photography; or technical or marketing tips; or your opinions on industry trends, we are looking for information that will be valuable to our readers. We've made the process as simple as possible. To be included, articles must contain at least 500 words. Email your article and any applicable images to news@ifp3.com. We prefer a Word .doc, or an email with embedded photos. Submitted articles may be edited for professionalism, length, accuracy, and clarity. Final decision on if an article will be published or not will be at the discretion of ifp3 management. By submitting an article, you are not obligated to continuously provide material. We welcome any contributions ad hoc or regular contributions. Please contact us at news@ifp3.com for additional information.
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November Photo Contest 
By the way, the new $35.6 million baseball stadium is nearing completion and will be a fantastic facility to either view a ballgame or more importantly (?) for photographer's to shoot the game. The first game is set for February 20, 2009 against Duquesne.