Posts Tagged ‘Google’

Google Acquires Online Photo-Editing App, Picnik

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

Earlier this week, Google expanded its cloud computing empire through the acquisition of popular photo-editing site Picnik. Moments after the news was announced on both the Google Photo blog and Picnik’s blog, users of both applications were asking one question: what happens next? Although no formal plans or changes have been announced for Picnik in the near future, the prospects for this new venture are receiving positive buzz. With this acquisition, Google has a golden opportunity to expand its Picasa user-base and product offering while connecting and maintaining relationships with online photo-sharing sites such as Yahoo!’s Flikr.

Picnik is the most widely used cloud-based photo editing site, with more than 2 million unique visitors each month. Although competitors like Aviary and Adobe’s online Photoshop boast more advanced editing features, Picnik allows users of every level to participate in the process of creativity, one of the aspects of the service that Picnik prides itself on. With the power of Google behind it, Picnik will be able to reach even more users, especially those who may not have heard about it before, or have just stuck to Picasa’s offerings. The Picknik team is excited about this aspect, saying on their official blog that, “with their [Google] worldwide infrastructure and world-class team, it is truly the best home we could have found. Under the Google roof we’ll reach more people than ever before, impacting more lives and making more photos more awesome.”

One of the aspects of this acquisition currently in limbo right now is the Picnik Premium service, which costs a year. Google is known for offering its apps and services such as Gmail, Docs, and Books for free, so taking on a business that already includes a paid service may be a bit tricky. However, Google may surprise everyone by dropping the paid service and offering these premium services free of charge to all users. If Picnik is eventually integrated with Picasa – a prediction many users are banking on – those premium features would most likely be free, as Picasa is already offered at no cost. It would be smart of Google to make that move, because it would keep them at the top of the competition while expanding its user-base that much more.

On the surface, the Picnik/Picasa news seems almost too good to be true. Picnik’s team gets to keep their jobs and become part of Google, while staying true to their company. However, there is one company in this equation that isn’t so pleased – Google’s longtime rival, Yahoo!. One of the perks of being a Picnik user is having the ability to upload photos from a number of popular photo-sharing sites, including Facebook, Picasa, and Yahoo!’s Flikr. Currently, Picnik is Flikr’s default photo editor. Now that Google owns Picnik, it means they’ve entered into Picnik’s agreement with Yahoo! – a messy web that will…

To read more about Google and Picnik, go to Sparxoo, a digital marketing, branding and business development blog.

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Posted in Photo Editing | No Comments »

Picking the Right Wedding Photographer

Sunday, December 27th, 2009
April asked:




Keeping the memory alive is one of the most important job descriptions of a photographer. He or she alone will be responsible for keeping the memory tangible. With that, whenever you have a special event, a wedding, birthday or baptismal perhaps, you need to pick the right photographer that can keep the memory alive in a beautiful and special way.

There are many people who take pictures for a living but only a chosen few have the right to be called a photographer. How then will you choose the right photographer for your special event? Here are some pointers:

1. Make a list of photographers that you have in mind. From the list you now have several prospects to choose from. You can ask your friends, relatives, etc for photographers that they have already worked with.

2. Most photographers nowadays already has websites, so either Google them or check out their website, if you have the address. In their websites, they have a portfolio of their work. From there, check out the work of the photographer that will suit best with your taste.

3. For those photographers that does not have a website, you can visit their shop to check out the work that they have done, they would be more than happy to entertain you and answer any questions that you have. However, remember not to pick that photographer right then and there, be sure to compare it first to the other photographers in your list. Then rank the top three photographers of your choice on your list .

4. To avoid wasting your time, only contact the top three on your list ( provided that you have not visited their shop yet), once you have made contact, you can now personally talk to the photographer and ask the questions that you would want to ask. With this interview, you can now find out, which photographer you are most comfortable with. Remember, being comfortable with a photographer, can really bring out the best in you and with that beautiful pictures will follow.

5. During the interview, you can explain to the photographer what kind of event or occasion that will be held. After that, you can then ask him or her if he or she have had any experience with a similar event , if they do, then you can ask them how will he or she make the photos in that event special or unique from the other similar events that they have handled. In this particular are, you really have to take note of their answers, since this is the deciding factor on which photographer you should pick for your special event.

6. Another thing to remember is there are photographers that specialize in certain areas such as wedding, studio portraits, corporate events, birthdays and others.

With those pointers, picking the right Wedding photographer will not be difficult anymore. A photographer will shoulder a big responsibility in any events, so you really have to pick the right Wedding photographer that will keep the memory alive in a beautiful and unforgettable way.

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Posted in Photography | No Comments »

How To Find The Best Online Photography Course

Saturday, October 10th, 2009
Alex W.K. asked:




There are many online photography courses scattering on the World Wide Web. Many are claimed to offer the best online photography course, but after enrollment the lessons turned out not as promised earlier. You have to make a careful research and find the course that you think has the quality required. The lesson should designed by real professional photographers. You should make a wise decision before paying the fee.

This article will show you how to find the best online photography course that offer high quality lessons and designed and taught by real photographers. If you have come across on many first pages or the sale page of a photography website, you will see the testimonials filled with positive feedbacks about the course but there is no backup for the statement. You should research the course name with google and search for what people are saying about the course. There are forums and blogs usually filled with positive and negative comments about a certain photography course. Review wrote by users are more reliable than source that is written by the owner of the course themselves. Because review wrote by the course owner usually contain bias information and telling the positive side of the lesson but not revealing the negative part.

Before you decided to enroll for any online photography course, you should do some homework before making for the enrollment. There are many legitimate and scam photography courses spreading across the cyberspace so my advice for you is to be aware and do careful research before enroll for the course.

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Posted in Photography | No Comments »

Marketing Stock Photos on the Internet

Saturday, April 18th, 2009
John M. Lund asked:




This process of making the web work for your stock photography business can be a long and arduous one. I started my serious efforts eight months ago, and while I have seen results, they aren’t as impressive as I hoped for. But I am not discouraged, far from it. I am more convinced than ever that a strong presence on the Internet is going to be increasingly beneficial and important to all stock shooters.

 

My goal is to be getting 10,000 to 20,000 visitors a day to my site. Right now I am averaging a tad over 300 a day. That is up from one visitor a week eight months ago, but obviously I have a long, long way to go. But even with just 300 a day I am seeing a benefit. Today I was contacted by an Agency in New Zealand about licensing an image they found on my site. I asked them how they happened to find me. They told me they had searched Getty and Corbis and the “usual places” but couldn’t find the image they wanted. They then did a Google search and found my image.

 

Since virtually all of my images are handled by various agencies, most of those who find something they are looking for on my site are sent on to the respective agency handling that image, and I don’t know if they make a purchase or not. But I do see that every day numerous visitors do go to an image page and then on to Blend Images, Getty, Corbis, and Kimball Stock. I don’t know what percentage of these visitors’ license stock photos, but some do, and as my traffic increases so will those sales.

 

As I mentioned, success on the Internet, for me, is proving to be not just long, but arduous as well. The process of uploading my images, along with the metadata entry, is agonizing for me. In each of the arenas I am attempting to incorporate there is a ton of work to do. I am way behind in tagging and key wording the images I have on ImageKind. My CafePress site requires mountains of work before it will be ready for prime time. My efforts with Flickr at this point are pathetic and my own site is rife with mistakes, misspellings, inadequate key wording and lack of images…and what I really want to be doing is making images! But I firmly believe that in the long run getting my images seen is at least as important as making new ones.

 

Getty has instituted “stacks” in their search. The result is that while overall the bulk of my images will be seen more readily, some images will be buried much deeper. What can I do about that? I can get more eyeballs on my images through my Internet presence. I can do that by getting all of my images up online, making sure that they are key worded well, and that my site is filled with well-organized quality content. I am attempting to add quality content by writing articles, interviewing important people in our industry, and sharing my experiences by way of these articles I write.

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Posted in Internet Marketing | No Comments »

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