CLICKS 2 CA$H

Stock Photography – 3rd Submission

T Goodwin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:14:40 +0000

This is my third post recommending a stock photography site. This site has a fairly strict process, when it comes to accepting new contributors and approving images. With this in mind, I would recommend that you sign up with the other 2 sites first and submit at least 20 images to each. Of those 20, only use pictures that were approved and have been downloaded several times. Though it make take some time, it will be worth it in the long run. I have earned two times the amount on this site than the previous two sited combined, enough to get a nice lens or two!

The site is called Dreamstime, they have been around for a long time and have an established customer base. I really like how their pricing structure is set up, and I wish other stock sites would follow their lead. They categorize images in levels ranging from 1 – 5 based on the number of times the image has been downloaded. When an image is approved, it is added to the site at level 1 until it has been downloaded 5 times. At level one, the image can be downloaded for as little as 1 credit, but at level 5 the lowest is 9 credits! Since your commission is based on credits, your most popular images make money faster. Dreamstime’s pricing takes full advantage of supply and demand. If a picture is in demand, it makes sense that is costs more money.

They don’t have a very simple submission process, but I have come to find out, most stock sited don’t. You upload images, then you have to come back in a day or two to complete the process, then submit them for approval. I don’t know why they do it this way and it does get annoying, but what can you do about it?

Again, if you have not submitted to the other site, read my previous posts, and do those first. Then when you think you are ready, start with Dreamstime, and what they money really start coming in!

Be kind and use my referral code: res103204

Look, I have sponsors! Be sure to check them out as well.

Accepting Credit Cards… Priceless!

T Goodwin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 03:53:48 +0000

Are you on the Internet? One of the great things about the Internet and all the new technology currently available, they allows us to appear much larger than we are. As a small business owner, a really, really small business, I try to take advantage of that as much as possible. We can do almost all the same things as larger companies without all of the resources and expenses. There was one thing I was unable to offer that larger business owners were able to offer, and it was effecting the bottom line. I was not able to accept credit card payments and it was something customers want, even demand! I have come across the perfect solution that may even allow you to do things some larger companies can’t. It’s called Square!

Square is a software and hardware solution that works with iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android devices. It’s pretty simple, you sign up on the Square website, download the app, and you can start accepting payments. There are other details to set up in order to finalize everything, but literally within a few minutes, you will be able to accept credit cards. Square will send you are small card reader, that plugs into your device, oh yeah it’s free! You will also be asked to enter your bank account information so Square can deposit your money directly into your account.

It works like this, you launch the app and enter the amounts of the products or services. When you have the correct total, press charge. Square allows you to accept cash payments as well, but we only use it for credit card payments so select card.

If you have the reader, swipe the card… if not you can manually enter the credit card number as well. (If you swipe the card, the fee you are charged will be less than if it was entered manually.)

Press authorize and Square will process the transaction.

After the transaction processes, a place on the screen will pop up and allow the customer to sign for the transaction. They sign with their finger, then press the done signing button. They will be asked if they want a copy of the receipt sent to them either through a text message or email. After they enter the information, the transaction is done! Square also allows you to add sales tax even tips.

We have been using Square for about a month now, and we love it. Since we have it on our iPhones, we can accept payments everywhere. Our customers also think the whole process is cool, especially signing with their finger. If you are not able to accept credit card payments, Square is a no brainer, it’s something you have to have! Check it out…

Automatic Budgeting File

T Goodwin — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:48:35 +0000

I wrote a post last month about budgeting and how important I think it is to operating a successful business. I have created an Excel spreadsheet that helps us automate our budget process for all of our small businesses. It can be customized and can be used for any business type, not just photography. You can even use it to allocate extra funds in your home budget. I have recorded a video that displays what the spreadsheet does, you can view the video below.

If you are interested in purchasing the file for your own use, you can do so by clicking here. The price is pretty affordable and you can pay with PayPal. After the payment is made, you will be directed to a site that the files can be downloaded from. I will include a file for Microsoft Office (PC) Excel 97 and one for Excel 2007. I will also include a couple videos that have instructions on how to customize the file and use it. You will get everything you need to keep detailed records of your funds! Check out the video below, if you can make the file yourself based on what you see in the video have at it. If not, make the purchase and you will receive everything you need to get started. Leave a comment if you have any questions, I will respond as quickly as I can. If you think this will be helpful to anyone else you know, please share this post with them. Thank you!

Making a Budget

T Goodwin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:34:16 +0000

This blog is dedicated to Photography and earning some extra change. It does not matter if you are a full-time photographer or just really enjoy taking pictures as a hobby, there is something you can learn from this blog. This post has a much further reach than just photographers, it contains information that can be used for any business or even personal finances. It deals with budgeting; allocating how the money you earn will be spent. This is a very important part of any business, and we noticed significant gains in our Photography Business once we implemented and begin following a structured budget.

So, you have been following some of the tips and suggestions in this blog, and now feel like you have some money to burn. Before all of your hard earned cash goes up in smoke, consider making a budget and only spending what is available to spend. In my opinion, the best thing that happened as a result of us making a budget, was never being broke! When you sell a portrait package that comes with prints or an expensive album, you get a really bad feeling when the customer places an order and you don’t have the funds available to fill the order. At the time, the new lens seemed like a good idea, but now you realize it could have waited.

Our budget involved us categorizing everything we spent money on to run our business. These categories included prints, marketing, savings, equipment, office supplies, charity and others. We allocated a certain percent of all income to go into each category, and followed this diligently. We never ran out of money, when we needed supplies we never had to think twice, cash was available. It does take some discipline, you can’t book a wedding and go out and spend all the money on a new camera body, or sign a $1,000 contract for marketing. You can only spend what’s available in each category. We would update our allocations on a monthly basis if needed. If we had a few hundred dollars in office supplies, we would reduce the allocation for subsequent months.

We actually found it was a great way to motivate us to bring in more business. If we wanted a $300 flash, and had 20% allocated to equipment, we knew we had to generate $1500 in incomes. So take more pictures and get a new flash… but the best part was knowing we would not be broke after splurging on a flash with the first $300 that came in!

I will post a follow-up, sooner than later, with the file we used to automate our budget. It is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and I will make a video that shows what it actually does. If you can replicate it based on the video, great! If not or you don’t want to invest the time, you will be able to download it for a small fee. I hope you found this information useful. As always, leave me comments and I will respond. Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Stock Photography – 2nd Submission

T Goodwin — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 04:25:18 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Within the last 24 hours, I requested payouts from two of the stock sites I submit images to. This reminded me to make another post to the blog about submitting pictures.

If this is the first post you are reading, I recommend you go back and review the other posts I made about stock photography. Those post have tips that will save time and make the stock submission process a lot smoother.

In my last post, I included the first stock site to submit to. If you have any feedback, questions or ran into any problems, leave a comment. I will respond to comments as quickly as I can. The next site is called Graphic Leftovers and is another good stock site. I have not been with this site very long, but already making sales. This site is not very strict and will allow you to start uploading pictures quickly. I have the information posted below, sign up and enjoy!

Graphic Leftovers

Stock Photography – 1st Submission

T Goodwin — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 03:49:47 +0000

So it’s a picture of an ugly frog, or is it a Prince in disguise? This is another example of an image that can make money instead of just sitting on your hard drive doing nothing. In this post, I will introduce you to the first stock site to begin making your submissions to. If this is the first post you are reading, I suggest that you go back and read some of my other posts about stock photography. They provide hints and tips that will make the stock submission process a lot easier.

Stock Site: 123RF
This is one of my favorite stock photography sites, they gave me an iPad! A few months ago they ran a promotion and gave away 4 iPads a week for 12 weeks! I was one of the lucky winners. Besides that, they have a lot of consistent customers, pay up to 50% commission and you can request a payment when your account reaches $50. This is a great site to make your first stock submission to, they are not overly strict and will help build your confidence. Upload your strongest images and after a few days, check the status of your images. Make sure your images are sharp, the color balance and lighting are correct and have great composition. You will also need thick skin when it comes to uploading images, they may reject some of your favorite images. Try not to take it personally, and learn what you can from the feeback they provide. You now have all the information you need, what are you waiting for? Let me know if you have any questions and Good Luck!

123 Royalty Free
Images must be photographed with a minimum 4 Megapixels camera.
Images must be at least 2200 pixels x 1700pixels.
Images must NOT contain any company names, product names, date or trademarked designs.
Images must NOT contain recognizable brand named products.
JPEG Images must NOT be bigger than 20MB
Do not put copyrighted keywords into description or keywords field, not even name or brand of camera used to take the photos.

Stock Photography – Keywording

T Goodwin — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 04:50:05 +0000

So this is my second video post, and I didn’t even listen to this one. I really don’t like the way I sound, so why listen? I have a 5 minute time limit and I ran out of time during the first take. I pretty much ran out of time on the second take as well, but got enough to not record it again. With that said, this post is a follow-up to my first post in regard to stock photography. Each image uploaded to a stock photography site has to have a title, description, and keywords. If you end up signing up with several stock photography websites, it can be very time-consuming entering this information for each image at every site. In this video, I show you a couple of ways to attach this information to the image before you upload it. Each site will pull the information and apply it to your upload. This will end up saving you a lot of time in the long run. View the video below for detailed instructions.

By now, you should be gathering your images, and adding descriptive information. My next post will introduce you to the first site I recommend you begin uploading your images to. It will be a site that does not have requirements that are too strict, and will allow you the chance to begin earning income. Enjoy!

Stock Photography

T Goodwin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:30:35 +0000

Hello everyone! The main point of this blog is to let you know ways to make money from photography, not matter what level of experience. Anyone can make money from their pictures, with Stock Photography! As defined by Wikipedia, Stock Photography is the supply of photographs licensed for specific uses. It is used to fulfill the needs of creative assignments instead of hiring a photographer. There are many websites that allow photographers to register and upload images to their data base. Once approved, the images are displayed online and customers can download and use the images for a fee. The website pays the photographer a commission each time one of their images are downloaded! There are many sites that offer stock photography, with their own payment schedules and approval criteria. Over the next few post, I will give you all the information you need to start uploading and making money from pictures, you already have!

I have 3 of my highest earning stock images in this post, and their is nothing special about the pictures. Don’t get me wrong, they are good images and technically sound, but nothing extraordinary. Over the past few years, I have earned over $1,000 from these three images. Just imagine having a portfolio filled with images performing this well. You only have to do the work once, and they keep earning for you. Only one of the shots were set up, the other two, I just thought they would be cool pictures. I figured it would not hurt to upload them, so I did. Since then, the cash has been flowing in. The sites send payments to me via PayPal, some automatically and others you have to request the payment. The images must be categorized, have a description and several related keywords. (In my next post, I will show you how to add a description and keywords only once, no matter how many sites you upload the image to.) Some site have an evaluation process before they allow you to upload images, and have very strict acceptance guidelines. I will post the sites that are the most strict last, so you have a strong portfolio before you attempt to sign up.

Over the next few days, start collecting the images you think will do well as stock photographs. They should not include any logos, or trademarked images. If you have images that have people in them, they will require a model release. I will discuss model releases in a later post as well. If you follow the steps I outline over the next few post, and have strong images to upload, you can also make thousands of dollars from your images as well.

Basic Digital Editing – Adjustment Layers in Photoshop

T Goodwin — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 16:00:12 +0000

Well, this is my first video post and I’m posting this reluctantly. I recorded the video last Friday, and felt the way most of us feel, I hated the way my recorded voice sounded. If that was not enough, I ran into more problems trying to edit the videos and get them to one file. It was not happening, no matter how much I tried. So I’m just going to post three separate videos this time, and hopefully by the time I’m ready to do my next video I have a better solution.

Update: I wrote everything above on Monday, October 18 (My Birthday) but could not get the video to link properly from my website. So I signed up for a YouTube account and posted the videos there. They are High Definition, so you can view them in full screen mode for more detail. I will try to have them as one file in the future!

In this video (series) I discuss using adjustment layers in Photoshop for non-destructive editing, make sure you watch all three. Check them out and post comments and give me feedback. I hope you enjoy!

This is a short video introduction, very short

Part 1 of Adjustment Layers in Photoshop

Part 2 of Adjustment Layers in Photoshop

Goodwin Photography – The Beginning

T Goodwin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 21:10:33 +0000

The image above was taken at the first paying session we completed as photographers back in 2006. While we made money through other means when it comes to photography (we will discuss these later) when dealing with a customer, the level of expectation is much higher. I remember how nervous I was when I showed up to our customer’s house with nothing but my brand new 8 megapixel digital camera, a black towel, and a yellow flower. I worked with the young lady at my full-time job, she had a new-born baby and wanted to have pictures taken. To help take the edge off and relieve some of the stress I was placing on myself, I offered to do the session for free. I told her sometime after the session, she could order the pictures she really liked. This idea worked out great for both of us, and it’s something I would recommend to anyone starting out.

When I arrived her baby was sleeping, that also helped since she was still. I captured the image above while she was still sleeping and it turned out to be the Mother’s favorite after it was edited. Since the baby was wearing pink and the flower was yellow, I changed it to black and white and left the flower in color. The mother loved most of the pictures, placed an order that was well over $100 and recommended me to many more customers. When I look at that image now, there is so much I would change or do differently. I know I could tear the pictures to shreds with all that is wrong, instead I’m going to focus on what’s right!

The best thing I did was step out of my comfort zone and took a chance, and it ended up paying off. I learned that the most important thing is how your customer feels. Our customer loved the pictures, so it does not matter how much I pick it apart after the fact. This is something you should keep in mind before you talk yourself out of your first session, you have more experience than your potential customer. Use your experience and take pictures your customer’s will love. If you are still nervous, don’t charge them for the session and have them pay for the pictures they want. Put all the images up on SmugMug so they can select and order their favorites. SmugMug is a website where you can upload your images into galleries and allow your customers to view and place orders. If you upgrade your account, you can set prices and totally customize the site. Click here for more information about SmugMug or to sign up. Also, use this coupon code for a $10 discount: b9R2SsAx81bFI

Practice on your family and friends for a while, then take the first step. You maybe surprised at how much your customer will love your work and how quickly your clicks can turn into cash!