Accounting Options

Just like our on-going series on delivery options, we're going to keep a running review of various forms of managing your business' accounting. If you do your own accounting, this information will be of use to you. Some software keeps your data on your local machine - others store it in the cloud. Each has it's own set of advantages and disadvantages. Stay tuned for more analysis into this topic and we'll investigate the industry leaders in software and cloud-based accounting.

Exterior Shot Tips

Shot Addict recently posted an entry on architectural photography that I thought was worth sharing here. The article is geared towards teaching the basics like focus points, lenses, backgrounds, light (very important!), etc. Even if you are a working professional, I still recommend the article because you never know what you'll pick up.

Check out the complete article here.

Reruns

I'm a big fan of the expression 'you only have time for the things you make time for', or something like that. Well, I didn't make time for the podcast this week. I've recently accepted a few new projects in addition to my typical workload and found myself working straight through the weekend. This meant there was no time to outline and prepare the podcast, which meant there was no recording happening today.

We'll resume schedule next week with business start-ups. Thanks!

Correct Lens Distortion with PTLens

We mentioned in the second podcast how barrel distortion was able to be corrected, and in the fifth episode the software that can do that - well, here's a brief overview of PTLens.

PTLens is nothing short of an amazing tool for real estate photographers. It can fix all sorts of distortion problems including lens pincushion/barrel distortion, fisheye distortion, vignetting, perspective distortion, and chromatic aberrations. The main thing to point out is that it doesn't duplicate Photoshop's 'Lens Correction' filter and that's because Photoshop's filter is fairly limited. PTLens produces better and more consistent results than Photoshop for various reasons, but the main one being that: "Photoshop uses one parameter to correct distortion while PTLens can utilize up to 3 parameters. One parameter often does a fine job on standard and telephoto lenses. Wide-angle lenses typically require more than one parameter for accurate correction. For example, moustache distortion can be corrected with PTLens but not with Photoshop's Lens Correction filter."

The continually updated library of lenses is another selling-point. If you acquire a lens that isn't in the database already, you can send in some calibration images and they'll run run the distortion test on the files, then update the database. How great is that?

The final feature to note is the tight Lightroom integration. Say you just came back from a shoot, you've post-processed your files, and you are about to export them for delivery - well, just quickly send them to PTLens to correct the barrel distortion and you're on your way.

One thought remains -whenLightroom has the ability to do lens corrections, will it be as good as PTLens? More than likely not at first, but only time will tell.

The trial currently allows you to correct 10 files and the price for a license at the moment is $25.

We'll be doing a video review of PTLens and all it offers in the future, so stay tuned.

Check our PTLens here.

Episode 106: Business Skills

Delivery Options: Box.net

Box.net is a great option for delivering your files to clients. The word 'great' actually doesn't even begin to describe how useful it really is - it's fantastic. Basically, you can upload your .zip files containing the photos from your shoot to your client's folder, then give them private access to it.

As you can see from the screenshot above - the sharing options are pretty slick. You can simply copy/paste the link Box.net gives you and email it to your client. Another way to grant people access to the file is by clicking the 'send link' option, which then allows you to enter the email addresses of the people you want send the files to. Box.net immediately sends an email to the people and allows them to download the file. The only downside to this method is the all-unknowing spam filter on the other end. If you have a 'Pro' account (paid), you can password-protect the download links for an added layer of security.

The above screen is what your clients see when they click on the link you send them. After they download the file, Box.net generates an automated email to notify you that the file was downloaded. This lets you know that they got your file and everything worked out.

And finally, storage. Free accounts come with everything mentioned above (sans password protection) and a whopping 1 GB of storage (not being sarcastic). I say whopping because files for MLS systems are so small, it would take you a very long time to even reach half of that - that is if all you are doing is files for MLS. If your clients want their full-resolution images for ads, Box.net may not be the system for you. Free accounts have the 1 GB limit, and they also have maximum upload size restrictions. Each file you upload can only be 25 MB large, so if you have 160 MB of files to get to a client, you're going to have a number of .zip files to upload, and for them to download - making the process a lot less smooth on both ends.

Just to clarify - I talk about .zip files as if they are the only way to deliver files. They aren't. You could get your files to your clients one-by-one if you wanted, but I wouldn't recommend it. I use .zip files because, most obviously, you can compress a folder full of images into one, they can be uploaded and downloaded easily, and they are compatible with both Windows and Mac users.

Box.net Summary:

Price: Free

Storage: 1 GB

Upgrades: $9.95/month for Individual, $15/month for Business

Canon G11 Announced

The G11 was announced yesterday and some review sites are already putting in their two-cents as to why or why not this iteration of Canon's G-line is a worthy upgrade. Here's a snippet from Photography Bay:
'The G11 has less megapixels on its sensor than its predecessor, the G10. The series went from 14.7MP down to 10MP, therefore satisfying the needs of photographers who wanted cleaner images. Further, with the coupling of the DIGIC 4 engine there should be less of a problem with the processing of the image noise in the your photos. One poster in the DPReview forums (via 1001 Noisy Cameras) made a connection that there may be a Sony sensor of some sort inside the body of this little digicam.'

If you wind up getting one of these, either to hoist onto a pole or snap some detail shots of an interior, let us know how it performs.

Check our the complete article here.

Delivery Options

We're doing an ongoing review of different ways to deliver your photos to your clients - other than burning them to a DVD, that is. Two reasons discs are a pain: first, burning files to a disc wastes time and plastic. Second, it wastes energy physically delivering the disc either in-person or through the mail.

There are a number of ways to transfer your files electronically, one of the simplest being email. However, email has a number of drawbacks. Attachment size limitations, full mailboxes, junk mail filters, attachment filters, clients accidentally deleting emails, etc. The list is endless. The most efficient method for delivering your files to clients is on a server of some sort. Clients have access to their files, the clients can't mess with the files, the files are always there, etc. This list is also endless.

So enter the question: how do I get a file server of my own? Well, you can set your own up with relative ease, but there is some cost involved. For those out there who are less interested in the simpler route, that's where we come in. We're going to make some recommendations of various file-delivery services and weigh in on the pro's and con's. So stay tuned, there's one coming around the corner.

Episode 105: Software Part 2

Podcast Schedule

One question we've gotten multiple times so far is about when the podcasts are posted. In short, the answer is: the beginning of the week. More specifically, Monday or Tuesday of each week. Like many of you, I'm a professional photographer - and most of you would know that the profession can keep you very busy. I try to put the podcasts together over the course of the week and record over the weekend. Sometimes, I'm not able to do so and the recordings get pushed back into the beginning of the week, bumping the podcast post date to Tuesday. Hope that information helps.