Fashion Tweety Stock

Archive for February, 2010

Photography has come of age with the introduction of technologically advanced cameras and modern lenses and apertures. There was a time when photography was synonymous with black and white photos which needed to be developed chemically and photographers at remote locations had no options but to carry small apparatuses which would develop the photos. Photography was all about taking snaps as if it were a household chore. But these days are long gone by and in these times of rapid development photography has undergone drastic changes and has evolved into an enormous industry and has its own subdivisions like wildlife photography, sports photography, fashion photography, product photography, stock photography, corporate photography, photojournalism etc. it has become a lofty creative art form which finds itself pacing with incarcerating real life moments on digital print media and taking creativity to an entirely new level.

To create a perfect snap or meaningful photo one has to consider numerous significant elements like setting up the equipments properly, maximum usage of obtainable natural light, shooting from the appropriate angle, choosing proper background etc.

If you happen to be in a business firm and want to have professional snaps of you and your employees such that it can be presentable in front of an international audience I would like to suggest going in for a Corporate Photographer Brisbane ora Commercial Photographer Brisbane. With budding offshoots of photography, there came a range of paths which photographers could follow. Some chose to become Product Photographers or Stock Photo Photographer while others wanted to be sports photographer or product photographer Brisbane.

Photography tends to tickle emotions and is very effective. As a saying goes a single photo can narrate a hundred stories. Advertising photography helps businesses promote its product in a completely different light and can thus add to its sales. Likewise commercial photography can help a business grow as visuals are much more effective than any other type of promotion. Stock photography has also come of age and is fast replacing the copy and image format. Its basic concept is it shows happy customers using a specific product. For example one executive bringing home a brand new small segment car after getting a promotion or a child is coming first after drinking a certain energy drink. Thus these kinds of photographs can lead to actual rising of business. Thus the fact can not be denied that photography is playing a major role in every aspect of our life be it personal or professional.

Before the turn of the century, photographers, like most other professionals, worked with a vertical market. That is, they put their ads in a trade magazine or the Yellow Pages, and based on their talent, marketing know-how, and luck, they conducted their business.

This made for extreme competition. Longtime pros were able to cling to their top position because they built a following based on their competence and expertise. Newcomers to photography found it difficult to surmount this unless they brought superb talent or an exceptional fresh approach to the marketplace.

Eventually the field of photography fragmented into targeted areas. The photographer who could photograph most anything for a client, the “generalist,” was no longer the top dog in the industry. Like in most other professions, photographers evolved to specializing; the trend was to develop an expertise in specific subject areas, such as aerial, sports, fashion, documentary, etc., and to go after a “niche.”

With the arrival of the Internet, all of this has changed, especially in the field of stock photography. The changeover comes to light especially when you look at the market from the buyer’s approach.

In our field of stock photography, a buyer turns to an image or images to get a point across, whether it’s for an advertisement, brochure, or textbook. Since our thrust here at PhotoSource International is from an editorial standpoint, I’ll address editorial stock photography.

The arrival of search engines has brought sophisticated software that has been able to break down the former restrictions in the field and open it to any photographer with quality images.

At the same time, the publishing industry has become more and more specialized. Type any topic plus the word ‘publishing’ in a Google search, and you’ll find that a magazine, book publisher, website or other entity, exists for the sole purpose of supplying that interest area with information.

Here’s where every stock photographer can emerge from the “Yellow Pages” race and become an important resource to specific segments of the vast market for stock photography that has now emerged –thanks to the Internet.

A publisher in Albuquerque no longer consults the Yellow Pages, the local library, or a bevy of good ol’ boy favorites when producing an article on a certain way of harvesting desert cacti. She consults the Internet.

Why? Because that “just right” picture exists. The “Law of Probability” says that a local photographer might not have the picture. Surprise, surprise. She finds it on the Internet, through a search engine search. The photographer is not even a New Mexico resident, but a visiting tourist from Japan who has cacti as his specialization. Thanks to hi-res delivery of pictures, the publisher is able to meet her immediate deadline.

I hope it’s evident to you that as an independent stock photographer, you are part of the largest stock photo resource in the world. No, it’s not Getty, Corbis, or Jupiter – it’s the Internet. You are no longer competing against those major agencies – thanks to your silent partner — the search engine.

Simple rules of poster design

If you are about to design a poster for a client, or you want to have-a-go at creating your own company posters, there’s a few handy tips that you may want to follow so that you can create an effective poster print.

With all the wealth of online design and print resources available to freelance designers and small business owners nowadays, it’s not difficult to create a really professional-looking poster. However, it’s not easy to create a poster that will immediately engage the passerby and peak their interest. To create a successful poster, it is essential that the combination of words and imagery are straightforward and convincing.

I have worked in many design, advertising, and marketing environments, and I have been given the same advice by every Art Director and Creative manager I’ve ever worked under; keep the design simple and the message clear!

Some of the most successful poster campaigns of all time are a simple collaboration of words and images. No matter what century they were conceived in, they have a common appeal; a harmonious combination of color, beautiful graphics, and a convincing headline. Simple but eye-catching graphics and minimal text are the key to making your poster eye-catching.

With a little thought and imagination, it isn’t difficult to create a really convincing poster.Before you begin designing, here’s a quick visual rundown of some of the things you should be aware of when creating a poster:

* The less text and imagery you can put on a poster the better.

Advertising and marketing studies on the length of time that a consumer will view an advertising piece have concluded that up to 50 percent of viewers will bail in the first 4 to 8 seconds! That means that your poster hasn’t got very long to make a connection. With this in mind, you would be well advised to keep everything “neat and clean”.

It’s very fashionable to create “busy” designs nowadays.  With the invention of Photoshop, a designer often finds it irresistible to keep adding layers upon layers of design elements to a piece. This might work well for a magazine ad or a flyer – where a person has more time to view it, but customers walking past a poster, view it in a more “transient” fashion. Its influence has to be immediate.

Exceptionally detailed designs look great when the viewer has time to appreciate them. As a designer, it’s always tempting to create a “many layered” design that looks really good in your portfolio. However, your average Joe doesn’t respond to the subtle nuances of design and doesn’t appreciate the time and effort that you’ve put into creating your “masterpiece”.  Your average Joe is looking for something far easier to visually comprehend.

* Keep a structured layout and display bold and easy-to-read lettering -the design should not detract from the text.

There is a logical and structured path that the average person’s gaze takes. Because we learn to read from top to bottom of a page, our minds naturally follow this same path, whether it’s textual or visual information.

You should always bear this in mind when designing a poster.  Although it’s not a “hard ‘n’ fast rule” that you must create a poster with a typical headline-image-body copy, it’s a formula that works! Unique layouts can be great and show inventiveness and originality, but a designer must put themselves in the mindset of an “average Joe” walking past the poster and ask themselves; “Can I read this easily?” and “Does this visually make sense?”

* Use color wisely

A designer should always try to choose harmonious colors, i.e,  reds, oranges, and yellows create a very ‘energetic’ statement. Used correctly, this color combination is very effective when a designer needs to convey excitement. In contrast, green, yellow, and blues represent “natural” colors that people associate with clarity and calmness. These are good colors to use when you want to give an impression of reliability. Different colors mean different things, and the pairing of colors is often difficult. Try tpo stay away from flourescent colors or ‘shocking’ colors. Generally, people don’t respond very well to colors that “yell’ too much.

There’s really no clear definition of a “bad color choice”.  However, a designer should take the time to play around with color variations and to choose colors that send an appropriate message, i.e., don’t choose only dark colors to advertise a florist and don’t use only pale and pastel colors to advertise a business that sells Halloween Costumes!

* Use a modern up-to-date design style

If you’re about to design for the first time, or you haven’t done it for a while, it would be advisable to familiarize yourself with what’s going on in design lately. Don’t try to directly “copy” a design but certainly be aware of current trends. Whatever type of business you are advertising, it’s easy to find examples online of up-to-date design styles. Do your research before you begin your poster.

To create a design, you may want to utilize the many online stock resources. Stock sites are an essential design tool, but you have to use their stock wisely.  Most stock sites are a mix of really good up-to-date images and slightly behind-the-times stock photos and illustrations.  The trick is, to take different stock elements and put them together in an interesting way to create a whole new image.