Experts confirm the integrity of World Press Photo winner Paul Hansen’s image

There was a lot of swirling debate after Paul Hansen’s image was named World Press Photo of the year. People argued that the image must have been digitally manipulated (Allen even wrote a blog post titled, “Why Do Photo Contest Winners Look Like Movie Posters?”).

Photo by Paul Hansen, World Press Photo winner 2012

As a result, the Word Press Photo submitted his image files for forensic analysis. Here were their conclusions:

“We have reviewed the RAW image, as supplied by World Press Photo, and the resulting published JPEG image. It is clear that the published photo was retouched with respect to both global and local color and tone. Beyond this, however, we find no evidence of significant photo manipulation or compositing.” – Dr. Hany Farid and Kevin Connor of Fourandsix Technologies.

Eduard de Kam, digital photography expert, adds, “When I compare the RAW file with the prizewinning version I can indeed see that there has been a fair amount of post-production, in the sense that some areas have been made lighter and others darker. But regarding the positions of each pixel, all of them are exactly in the same place in the JPEG.” (via World Press Photo)

Launch: Corbis Crave offers exclusive imagery for art buyers and art directors

Corbis launched a new image platform this week directed at creatives from “the world’s top ad agencies”. The site features “the most premium imagery without the stock image ‘flavor’”, according to the About page on Corbis Crave. The platform is accessible via the web and iPad, and features specific photographers’ portfolios. (via PhotoArchiveNews.com)

Unused Lightoom tools by Janice Sullivan

Fine art photographer Janice Sullivan specializes in macro, landscape, and travel photography. When she’s not taking photographs, Janice is passionately sharing her tips and tools with fellow photographers. Her YouTube channel features valuable information on sharpening and noise reducing, Nik software Viveza 2 tutorial, and even exporting image to PhotoShelter.

Janice was kind enough to create a unique video for the PhotoShelter community featuringunused Lightroom tools, including: tone curve adjustment and split toning. Check out her video below, and big thanks for passing this along.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Polaroid Years

After Polaroid announced that they would stop producing instant film and cameras in 2008, Vassar College curator Mary-Kay Lombino heard an outcry from artists who had once loved the medium. She started collecting Polarids largely considered to be works of art – some of which have appeared in museums, and some that have been largely forgotten. Polaroid was actually known for giving artists supplies on the condition that they would donate work to the company’s collection.

Prints from “The Polaroid Years” will be on exhibit at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College until June 30. See one of our favorites by Chuck Close below. (via CNN Photos)

Self-Portrait/Composite/Nine Parts, Nine dye diffusion transfer prints. (Chuck Close/Courtesy Pace Gallery)

Eddie Adams Workshop still accepting applications

The Eddie Adams Workshop is one of the premier photojournalism events for students and young professionals, and the only one that is tuition-free. The weekend workshop held in upstate New York offers an excellent opportunity to meet the top photojournalists in the world, and to work alongside the best photo editors in the business. Applications are being accepted until May 31, 2013. Find more information and apply here.

Harold Feinstein: Why I loved my Rolleiflex

Celebrated photographer Harold Feinstein has recently been making frequent updates to his blog, the latest of which professes his love for the Rolleiflex medium format TLR. “In fact I would call it the most beautiful camera I’ve ever seen,” writes Harold. “It was relatively easy to use, light weight, extraordinarily well-constructed, simple and had the best lenses in the business.” Harold shared a handful of archived images in the post from the late 1940s – check them out here.

Photo by Harold Feinstein

Comprehensive map of the photography landscape

Part venture capitalist, part professional photographer describes Taylor Davidson, creator of the map you see below. Taylor was inspired by LUMAscapes, a collection of maps of the advertising technology industry. With over 380 billion photos taken last year, Taylor thought it was high time to map the flow of a photo from the creators to a variety of users (people., consumers, brands, marketers, buyers, etc.). “It’s not meant to be exhaustive in naming all the companies in each bucket, but directional in capturing the main players that exist today,” says Taylor. He expects to make this an ongoing series.

By Taylor Davidson

TED talks: Brandon Stanton on The Danger of Good Stories

Last fall Brandon Stanton spoke at Columbia University on “The Danger of Good Stories”. Brandon is the photographer behind the wildly popular and inspiration blog Humans of New York, which stemmed from his idea that “it would be really cool to create an exhaustive catalogue of the city’s inhabitants, so I set out to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers and plot their photos on a map.” That idea transformed into a new two-year-old blog tha tprovides glimpses into the lives of strangers in New York, and worldwide.

Brandon speaks to the difference in what’s covered in movies and the news, and the reality we live in. Check out his talk below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The top 100 travel photographers in the world

UK off-the-wall blog Chillisauce (which claims to feature “the most utterly bizarre things people are doing around the world as they embrace a life less ordinary”) has compiled a list of the top 100 travel photographers in the world, featuring many PhotoShelter members. The list includes Ken Kaminesky, John Lander, Craig Ferguson, Robert Caplin, Jim Goldstein, Jacob Maentz, David Sanger, and surely many more. We hope everyone was notified!

Photo by John Lander

10 young and talented photographers

In another list of the best-of-the-best, My Modern Met named its picks for top 10 young and talented photographers. “Over the course of several years, we’ve watched them grow, their innate ability coupled with their undying passion produced some incredible results…Believe us when we say, these ten are the ones you want to keep watching.” The list features mainly surrealist fine art imagery, including work from Brooke Shaden and Alex Stoddard.

Photo by 25-year-old Brooke Shaden

Mesmerizing facades of beach hotels in Venice by Luigi Bonaventura

Many of us don’t notice the architectural wonders around us, either because we’re not looking up or simply can’t isolate particular features. Thanks to New York-based Italian photographer Luigi Bonaventura we can appreciate the color and symmetry of the hotel facades in Jesolo Beach, a town in Venice, Italy. (via Design Taxi)

Photo by Luigi Bonaventura

Photo by Luigi Bonaventura

Photo by Luigi Bonaventura

Photo by Luigi Bonaventura

Eduardo is one of those distinguished visual storytellers who’s regularly asked to speak at events and workshops worldwide. That’s because he’s an inspiring educator who’s mastered his editing process – plus he’s very dedicated to helping fellow photographers enhance their own creativity.

Eduardo recently traveled to the Middle East, where he took 2,000+ images, and needed to bring that number down for an online gallery on his PhotoShelter website.

Some of his golden rules for both the online portfolio and physical books to show to clients are to get a second opinion, make friends with the “delete” key, and the 1% rule: only include 1% of all photos you took in your final story.

Check out the video recording of this hour-long webinar for more great tips on Lightroom rating and sequencing workflow, as well as quick tips on how to improve your image quality with the ColorChecker Passport, white balance, and custom camera profiles.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Follow Eduardo Angel on Twitter @EA_Photo and his blog.

Photo by Peter Casey

Senior portraits have come a long way since the days of the dreary (and often dreaded) school photos. Compared to the creative environmental shots of today, those images look vintage – and not in the good way. And since the work is improving so drastically, this vertical is also gaining a lot more attention among the pro photography community.

Senior photos can be a lucrative revenue stream for portrait photographers. They’re almost always in demand and the client base continuously replenishes itself. Many teenagers (or their parents) want their story told through photographs before they move on to the next phase in their life. But what basic tips do you need before setting out to shoot this sometimes tricky – and picky – client?

We talked to Virginia Beach-based photographer Peter Casey, who works primarily as a sports photographer for clients like the NCCA, MLB, and Sports Illustrated. But when he’s not covering sports, Peter takes beautiful, natural senior portraits in his beachside community. Here are his 5 “back to basics” senior portrait ideas for fellow portrait photographers:

1. Forget the studio – shoot environmental

By the time they’re seniors, high school students have likely had their portrait taken every year for 12 years in a studio setting. Here’s your opportunity to get them out from under the artificial lighting and into a natural setting where their unique personalities can shine.

“Teenagers are so much more dynamic than what they feel they are forced into at school and with their friends,” says Peter. To get them out of their social shells, Peter takes the time to learn about  his clients before the shoot, and scouts locations where they let loose and be themselves.

Environmental shots add more personality to your portraits (especially when you live somewhere as beautiful as Virginia Beach). That said, Peter advises photographers to find a place that provides an interesting setting and cover if the weather turns bad. “Choose a place that makes it easier to roll with the punches,” he says.

Photo by Peter Casey

2. Ask your senior to smile only 20% of the time

Portrait photographers know that asking your subject to smile is a surefire way to guarantee fake smiles. Peter elicits genuine emotions by being genuine himself. It sounds cliche, but as Peter says, “Teenagers can sniff out the bull crap quicker than anyone else.”

Get your senior involved in the process by building the idea for your shoot and poses together. That way, both of you can genuinely be on board with the photos you want to produce. Ask what they like to do in their spare time. If they’re a surfer, get them on the beach in a bathing suit and holding a surf board. If they play music, get them posing with their instrument.

Photo by Peter Casey

Props can be a good idea, just beware that they can sometimes get in the way of a clean photo. Let your senior play around, and then suggest putting anything distracting to the side, and start shooting before they loose the genuine happiness that it brought on.

3. Avoid working in front of an audience

It’s likely that the people paying you (i.e. parents) will be around, supervising. But as anyone who’s raised a teenager knows, they’re not always themselves around family. Even friends can cause your subjects to have a different vibe.

“At some point during the shoot, I like to try to get away from the parents or friends they brought along. Their involvement can be good, but sometimes it’s nice to get some distance and see how that changes their dynamic.” says Peter.

Peter likes to walk with his seniors to another location, maybe 5-10 minutes away. “That way we can talk a just ‘hang out’ for a bit.” They’ll likely relax and get in a different mindset – one that might bring out their best features and give you the best images.

Photo by Peter Casey

4. Start with headshots, then move to full body images

If your seniors are immediately comfortable in front of the camera (which many aren’t), then start with some simple headshots. Most are already familiar with someone photographing them like this, so they can start to loosen up.

“I like to start out with the generic headshot type of photos, and from there my subjects’ walls start to come down, which makes for a very natural session,” says Peter.

What about poses? “Everyone has a particular way about them,” notes Peter. “My directions are more guiding seniors toward their best natural pose. If there’s a pose that absolutely works, then I’ll ask them for hold it for a minute. If something just isn’t working at all, we move on.”

Photo by Peter Casey

One of the keys to successful senior portraits is to be natural with your subject and let your personality shine. Most people react by being themselves, too, and then as the photographer you need to be observant and ready to capture the right moment.

5. Bring a camera body, lens(es), and nothing more 

You don’t want to be lugging flashes or strobes around on an environmental shoot; plus, the light during sunset is often the best. Peter likes to shoot with a 70-200mm lens, and moves closer and further away from his subject to get the right frame.

Photo by Peter Casey

“I think there is an organic quality to natural light that lends itself well to senior portraits,” says Peter. “So most of the time I go out with just a camera and lenses.”

This minimalist mentality should apply to your shot setup, as well. Keep in mind the golden rule of environmental portraiture: remove as many distractions as possible from the background so the focus can be on your subject. “I am pretty obsessive over clean backgrounds,” says Peter. The environment should add something to your image, but not be the main event.

Learn how PhotoShelter helps portrait photographers run a better business

Today, making a personal connection with your client comes way before the day of the shoot: it starts with an elegant website that’s customized to fit your brand – one that gives potential clients a sense for what it’s like to work with you.

The Portrait Photographer’s Tour of PhotoShelter is an 18-page PDF guide that details how our customizable websites help draw attention to your best work, and add some branded personality to your online presence. With PhotoShelter you also get the best image delivery for your clients, so creating and sharing private galleries is fast and easy. Check out our websites and features in this free guide.

10 things an art director looks for in a photographer

Advertising photographer Dennis Davis has shot for businesses ranking from Bank of America to Intel to Swarovski and even NASA. This week he posted an article on 10 Things an Art Director Looks for in a Photographer, and what keeps them coming back for more. On the top of his list is being enjoyable to work with, able to problem solve when the unexpected happens, and loving your job. (via PetaPixel)

12 ways to use your camera for good

Earlier this month Pop Photo posted 12 ways to give back through photography, which was a huge hit with their audience. Our post, 5 Ways Photographers Can Give Back, also gained a lot of traction. It’s inspiring to see so many photographers interested in using their skills for philanthropic causes. Among our favorites are Flashes Of Hope, which photographs children with cancer, and Heart Gallery, which helps raise awareness of the foster care system and provide children with respectable portraits.

Kickstarter: Black Tsunami by James Whitlow Delano

Photojournalist and PhotoShelter member James Whitlow Delano was there the day of the nuclear meltdown following the devastating tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. Delano has lived in Japan for 20 years, and photographed the conditions immediately following the disaster and “eerie emptiness of the contaminated no-entry zone and the conditions facing displaced people.” He plans to publish a hard copy of his book “Black Tsunami: Japan 2011″ with FotoEvidence. Preview some of his work and consider donating to his Kickstarter campaign here.

Photo by James Whitlow Delano

Sedar Sunny Unal photographs Los Angeles to Buenos Aires via motorcycle

Editorial travel photographer and PhotoShelter member Serdar Sunny Unal traveled for two years and 42,000 miles from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires via motorcycle to explore and photograph the Americas. Upon his return, he started working on the photo-travelogue of his epic journey, which was recently released exclusively for the  iPad. Check out his route and resulting images here.

Jill Knight’s emotional series “Special Delivery” explores surrogacy

Kristen Broome originally contacted photojournalist Jill Knight for advice on website design. Kristen was starting a site to document her surrogacy, which she took on after her second cousin Jamie Pursley lost her 16-week old baby and became infertile. Knight followed the remainder of Kristen’s pregnancy, up until the point that the baby boy was born, and the Purselys named him Liam and took him home. Her series “Special Delivery” explores the emotional connection between both mother and surrogate, and of course the newborn.  In an essay she plans to publish soon on her blog, Kristen writes, “I have been asked more times than I can count how I felt when I gave Liam away. My first response is always that I didn’t give Liam away; he was never mine to give.” (via Lens Blog)

Photo by Jill Knight

The faces of McDonald’s customers

Is there such a thing as an average McDonald’s customer? Photographer Nolan Conway set to find out, photography 150 restaurants in 22 states. You’ll be surprised by some of the results. (via Co.Create)

Photo by Nolan Conway

Photo by Nolan Conway

Photo by Nolan Conway

Photo by Nolan Conway

Photo by Nolan Conway

Photo by Nolan Conway

Photo by Nolan Conway

Photographer hitchhikes with teenage freight train riders

In 2004, photographer Mike Brodie began documenting a group of his friends who hitchhike across the country by freight train. The project came about somewhat by accident when Mike discovered a Polaroid camera behind a car seat. Now his adventures have taken him through 46 states and over 50,000 miles. His amazing images shot with 35mm film are part of a collection featured in his book, A Period of Juvenile Prosperity. Check out a few shots below. (via So Bad So Good)

Photo by Mike Brodie

Photo by Mike Brodie

Photo by Mike Brodie

Photo by Mike Brodie

Photo by Eduardo Angel

Eduardo Angel – acclaimed visual storyteller, educator, and consultant – possesses a keen sense of aesthetics and vision, as well as a technical expertise in digital photography and film-making workflows. His global workshops help photographers and filmmakers use technology to enhance their creativity.

Eduardo shares stories from a recent trip to the Middle East, and he walks us through a streamlined online portfolio that he created from more than 1,500 images. We also gained insight into Eduardo’s digital workflow, which includes how he uses the ColorChecker Passport to improve image quality, and witness the thought process behind one of his latest photography projects.

You know who…Instagram by Sarah Jacobs

You might think that bearded, Carhartt-wearing, ironic dudes riding fixed geared bicycles in Brooklyn are obnoxious – but a different brand of 21st century hipster is helping make photography, er, awesomer. Let’s celebrate the nerdtastic dedication that possesses these photo hipsters.

1. The Impossible Project

This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the group of individuals who thought it was unacceptable for Polaroid to stop making instant film. Instead, they bought the production equipment from Polaroid, and within two years, concocted their own formulation, thus making the impossible, possible. In the words of the founders, they “decided to take action against the death of Instant Photography.” Shooting Polaroid is like owning vinyl. In a world increasingly filled with the digital, there’s just no analog to analog.

Website: the-impossible-project.com

2. New 55 Project

Although The Impossible Project has succeeded in making film for the traditional SX70, Polaroid 600, and 8×10 view cameras, there’s a huge gaping hole for all the 4×5 owners. Not to fear, the New 55 Project was designed specifically to fill this niche (and help revitalize the Sinar F1 that is sitting in my living room). If there’s one thing hipsters like, it’s DIY projects, and New 55 founder Bob Crowley took this to heart in explaining why he created the project: “One day on Twitter I noticed that The Impossible Project said they were not going to focus on 4×5 materials, so I said that I would do it.” No biggie.

Website: new55project.blogspot.com

3. Instacube

Originally started as a Kickstarter project (hipster alert!), Instacube is an appliance that can display your Instagram feeds, which is so much better than those lame digital picture frames of year’s past. Do you really need one? Nope. That’s why we bought the two-pack.

Website: goinstacube.com

4. Instagram Halloween Costume

Hipsters don’t buy Halloween costumes, they make them. But not all handmade costumes are alike. My costume, for example, consisted of strips of construction paper glued to posterboard. Eric Micotto was inspired by a spat of iPad-related costumes, and decided that he would rig up his Nikon and iPad, print out an Instagram shell, and glue it to some cardboard he had lying around.

Website: petapixel.com/2012/10/26/a-instagram-camera-halloween-costume-that-actually-takes-pictures

5. Digital Tintypes

“I’ma take your grandpa’s style, I’ma take your grandpa’s style,
No for real – ask your grandpa – can I have his hand-me-downs?”

– Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Thriftshop

Yeah, you want an old school tintype because you’re a retro hipster who wears his grandpa’s style. But ack, those chemicals! Who needs the hassle or the fumes? Fortunately for you, Digital Tintypes allows you to upload any digital picture and order several sizes of tintypes. I would suggest a portrait of yourself with a thick beard and an Abe Lincoln top hat.

A black tintype made from a digital file

Website: digitaltintypes.com

6. Tiny Atlas Quarterly

Most photographers maintain a crappy old blog where they post some “personal” pictures and talk about their creative slump. And then there’s Emily Nathan, who travels around the world to exotic locales, often with a team of producers, make-up artists, and models. She has a lot of talented friends who do the same. So why not make a really cool blog that makes you wish you were her, and use it as a subtle marketing piece of your enormous talent, which will continue to make you wish you were her?

Website: tinyatlasquarterly.com

7. Lens Stool

Sculptor and Etsy proprietor Sandra Díaz decided that someone should have a stool that looks like a lens. It’s a one of a kind (duh) made in Andalusia, Spain, and undoubtedly the hipster who made it would love for another hipster to sit on it every day.

Website: www.etsy.com/listing/127895091/reflex-lens-stool-dsrl-paparazzi-stool

8. Photoville

Maybe you’ve been thinking about producing a civic art installation, and wondering exactly how you might accomplish that feat. In the olden days, you might request a grant, or petition the city council. But this is Brooklyn, so fuggedaboutit. Last summer, the folks at Photoville raised over $30,000 via Kickstarter to create a “photo destination” in Brooklyn Bridge Park composed of empty shipping containers and lots and lots of photography. Did ya miss it? Don’t worry, it’s coming back in September 2013.

Website: www.kickstarter.com/projects/upi/photoville-in-brooklyn-bridge-park-this-summer

9. Ona Bags

Black ballistic nylon is so passé. Hipsters prefer leather. Rich corinthian leather, or something like that. Ok, you might prefer your rolling suitcase, but you have to admit that these bags look pretty scrumptious. In the words of the founder, Tracy Foster, “In summer 2010, I launched ONA with a simple vision: to offer style-conscious photographers and photography enthusiasts camera bags and accessories that complement their life and style.” So you see, it’s less of a bag, and more of a lifestyle.

Website: onabags.com

10. Phoot Camp

No, that’s not a typo. That’s called cool. Phoot Camp is so cool, in fact, that you need to be invited to participate. No amount of money will get you into this exclusive retreat, well, unless you want to personally sponsor the thing.

Website: phootcamp.com

11. Self Publish, Be Happy

Even just the name “Self Publish, Be Happy” embodies the new-age hipster photographers’ attitude. The organization’s goal is simple: promote the work of self-published photographers. SPBH was founded by Bruno Ceschel in 2010, who prior to launch worked in traditional publishing. Bruno became frustrated by the long process of publishing a body a work, and seeing the work he loved get rejected simply because it was not “commercially viable”. He decided to take matters into his own hands, creating an online store front and advocate for the little guys publishing their work in zines, and books. SPBH now hosts events all over the world, including many at the Aperture Foundation.

Self Publish, Be Happy

12. Fourteen-Nineteen

Publishing house Fourteen-Nineteen was started by two young British photographers, Alex F. Webb and Lewis Chaplin. Alex and Lewis felt there was a place needed online for young image-makers who were still developing their talents, and carving their space within the fine-art and documentary world. Mainly, images of skateboarders, rowdy boys, and of course some blood. Inspired by friends and each other’s work, Fourteen-Nineteen became a popular online platform for  photography students to see what their fellow peers were creating. The project took off and soon the two were expanding the business, publishing books and stocking them at swanky shops such as Fourth and Main. Did we mention their recently published I Don’t Warna Grow Up by Sean Vegezzi made Time’s Best of 2012: The Photo Books We Loved? Check it out here.

Image by Theo Lloyd-Hughes

Website: home.fourteen-nineteen.com

13. Mossless Magazine

The success of Fourteen-Nineteen allowed the boys to sponsor other online platforms and zine producers such as Mossless – which was started by Romke Hoogwaerts while he was studying in New York City. Like those before him, Romke’s ultimate goal was print, but he knew like any young hip photographer should: he had to start online. He began producing his humble blog Mossless a little over 3 years ago which interviewed emerging photographers such as Bobby Doherty and David Brandon Geeting before the two had starting shooting for clients such as New York Magazine and Bloomberg Business Week.

Issue 2 of Mossless

Website: mosslessmagazine.com

14. Little Brown Mushroom

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Alec Soth, let’s just say it’s hipster-tastic. Alec is an enormously talented photographer who took a series of roads trips along the Mississippi River and produced a book of stunning portraits. But you know, hipsters or Alec’s ilk aren’t content to just take photos. So Alec founded his own publishing house called “Little Brown Mushroom” which takes an experimental approach in working with artists to produce new modes of story telling. How do we know that this is truly a hipster endeavor? Because Little Brown Mushroom books are featured in the new Warby Parker retail store in Soho.

Upstate by Alec Soth and Brad Zellar

Website: littlebrownmushroom.com

15. Indie Photo Book Library

As we’ve seen, self-publishing is a massive movement in the photography space that is helping to produce tremendous works of art. But did you ever contemplate the longevity of those pieces, and what will happen to this incredible canon of work? Worry no more because Larissa Leclair is collecting, exhibiting and archiving as many self-published photo books as she can out of her home in Washington, D.C.

Website: indiephotobooklibrary.org

16. JR

The ultimate hipster is a French street artist who started out tagging graffiti on the sides of buildings, and somehow wound up winning the 2011 TED prize while putting up massive photo installations in the favelas of Rio, the train tracks of Kenya, and most recently in Times Square. And lest you think JR is just some flash in the pan, take some time to listen to him speak, and find out why “authenticity” is the calling card of a true hipster, and why he has inspired so many people throughout the world with his brand of photography.

Inside Out New York City by JR

Website: jr-art.net

Do you have any hipster-esque projects to add?

So what’s been the result and how has it affected your website? The change means that the source page (i.e. your website) will no longer load up in an iframe in the background.

Users can click the displayed domain name, “Visit page”, “View original image” or the image itself to navigate to the source page. While the new search seems highly intuitive for someone searching Google Images, analytics suggest that fewer users are clicking to the source page.

Users can click any of the four links boxed in red above to navigate to the image’s original source page.

In the past three months, we’ve seen a 78.69% drop in traffic to PhotoShelter members’ websites from Google Images search results (not Google web search results, but specifically image search results).

Why did Google do this?

One idea about the “why” of this change is that it’s a content grab on Google’s part. Other updates, like including IMDb results on the sidebar when you search a movie or Wikipedia results when searching a notable person, are other recent tactics that Google has employed to keep you in their ecosystem instead of visiting the “destination” site.

Google now displays IMDb and Wikipedia results when search for movies or notable people.

In many ways it provides a better user experience, but it also removes the need to utilize other sites. Some SEO consultants also suggest there’s danger here, because users no longer find the need to navigate to the source page now that they can see (and potentially steal) a high res photo directly on Google.

Is anyone else seeing these results?

PhotoShelter members are far from alone on this point – it’s an issue that the entire SEO community is grappling with. Webmasters were quick to react on dedicated forms like WebmasterWorld and Digital Point. An SEO consultant shared the effects one of his clients saw within a month of the change. The client is an artist and her site is 99% images – the consultant observed an 80+% drop in referral traffic from Google Images.

More recently, SEO consulting firm Define Media Group analyzed 87 domains worldwide from a variety of networks and business verticals, and found an average 63% decrease in referral traffic from Google Images after the January update. Those defined as “photo sites” are down 74%. Fashion, lifestyle, and entertainment sites are down 78%.

What happened?

PhotoShelter members have always seen a steady stream of referral traffic from Google Images (as is the case for most photographers’ websites). In 2012, the average number of visits to PhotoShelter members’ sites (in aggregate) from Google Images actually increased by 35.19% in the second half of the year.

Referral traffic to PhotoShelter members’ sites from Google Images increased by 35.19% in the second half of 2012.

Then on January 27, 2013 – the first full week after Google’s update to its image search – something changed:

In the three months since the January 23rd update to Google Images, referral traffic from Google Images has decreased by 78.69%.

Here’s a closer look at that data from the past 6 months:

Referral traffic from Google Images to PhotoShelter members’ sites in the past 6 months.

A nearly 80% drop in referral traffic from one of the top three referring sites to PhotoShelter members’ sites is nothing to scoff at. But there are some important things to note:

• Referral traffic from Google web search has remained relatively consistent over the last year and a half.
• Average site visit duration (how long someone spends on your website during one visit) and number of pages per visit have also stayed nearly the same.
• Bounce rate and percent of new visitors (people who have never been to your site before) have also stayed about the same.

The community is also talking about the concept of a “truer visit”. Internet marketers at MoreVisilibity explain that with the new image search, Google Analytics code does not have a chance to fire, “removing page view credit and decreasing referral traffic.” Meaning that it’s possible many of the visits you were seeing before were people who saw your image in the iframe that popped open in the background, but these people never actually clicked through to your website at all. So while this change may seem extreme, it might just be a more accurate count of visitors who click through to the original source.

So while the absolute number of visitors to your site may have decreased in the last three months, the true visitors are still behaving the same once they land on your website – which makes sense assuming you haven’t made any major changes in that time.

What can you do about it?

First, you need to truly assess the impact beyond simply reading the analytics. Start by asking if your business has been materially impacted in any way. If not, then the concept of a “truer visit” may actually be relevant to you.

Still, if Google Images is only sending a fraction of the “useful” traffic to your site as it previously did, then you might consider focusing on other traffic sources. For example, the #1 source of referral traffic to PhotoShelter members’ sites in 2012 was Facebook. Google Images and PhotoShelter.com were #2 and #3, followed by Twitter and Pinterest.

It’s also clear at this point that Google is taking social media – specifically Google+ – activity into account when ranking search results.

The photographer community has continued to grow on Google+, but if you’re still averse to getting active on another social media platform, consider this: Google Authorship, which links the content you post on a specific domain (i.e. your photography website) with your Google+ profile, is becoming a huge factor in how Google ranks your website. People who have set this up are often ranked higher for their targeted keywords. (Read more and learn how to set up Google Authorship here.)

Trey Ratcliff, known for his huge presence on Google+, ranks on the first page of search results for the term “hdr photos”. His headshot and name show up in the search results because of his Google Authorship (of course, over 5 million people have Trey in their circles, so keep that in perspective).

Overall, best practices in the wake of Google Image search update will likely be to continue optimizing your website with on-page text that Google can crawl and index in regular search, and build authorship via Google+ to help influence how your content appears in search results. Likewise, we will continue to optimize our own tools to help facilitate this.

How can you see the changes to your website’s traffic?

To see how your traffic has changed, log into your Google Analytics account and navigate to Traffic Sources>Sources>Referrals. Click on the google.com link and look for /imgres. Clicking this will give you a picture of how referral traffic from Google Images has changed over time. Be sure to look at a time period containing the week of January 28th, 2013 (the first full week after the update).

Survey shows photographer day rates in the UK and U.S.

Eposure, “the UK’s best platform for sourcing commercial photographers”, conducted a survey to find out more about the day rates of both UK and U.S.-based photographers. The survey found that almost half of all respondents charge $900 or more per day. 10% charge more than $2,000 for a days work. Day rates were considerably lower for UK-based photographers, with the majority charging somewhere between 300-700 GBP (although factor in the currency change).

Jonathan Hobin recreates the world’s most brutal tragedies with children

Canadian photographer Jonathan Hobin‘s In the Playroom series features children reenacting some of the more horrific tragedies of the past century. It includes 9/11, the death of Princess Diana, and Hurricane Katrina. “The funny thing is, kids play games where they kill each other all the time,” Hobin told Vice in an interview. “Whenever a kid plays with a water pistol they’re pretending to kill someone. It’s something we see constantly. I’m directly referencing where kids might be learning to do those things and that makes people very uncomfortable.” See all the images here.

Photo by Jonathan Hobin

Photo by Jonathan Hobin

Photo by Jonathan Hobin

Photo by Jonathan Hobin

Photo by Jonathan Hobin

Winners of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

Last week, winners were announced for the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards. Norwegian photographer Andrea Gjestvang was named Photographer of the Year for her series of portraits of children and youths who survived the July 2011 massacre on the island of Utoeya, outside Oslo. Photographs were judged in six different competition categories, including Professional, Open, and Student Focus. See all the winners over on The Atlantic’s In Focus blog.

A portrait by Andrea Gjestvang, named Photographer of the Year in the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards. The photograph comes from a project called “One day in history” featuring portraits of children and youths who survived the massacre on the island of Utoeya outside Oslo, Norway on July 22, 2011.

UK Parliament passes legislation making it easier to use copyright material

Last week Parliament passed The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, allowing photographs and other creative works to be used without the owners’ explicit permission as long as a “diligent search” has taken place. Then the company may license the image for commercial or non-commercial use. The act has been dubbed the “Instagram act”, in reference to a recent scuttle surrounding the use of images posted to the image-sharing social network.

The Department for Business, Innovations and Skills claims that the act will help remove unnecessary barriers to legitimate uses of work. The licensing money can be claimed by the image owner should they come forward at a later date. The BBC reports that the exact workings of the new legislation in relation to copyright are yet to be formalized.

The Image, Deconstructed

The Image, Deconstructed (TID) examines the mental thought process behind a photographer’s image. Much of the work is based in photojournalism, and several PhotoShelter members have been featured in recent weeks including Todd Spoth, Pete Marovich, Amy Toesing, and Brendan Hoffman. One of the founders, editorial photographer Logan Mock Bunting, is also a PhotoShelter member.

Pete Marovich’s images are of a protester outside the U.S. Supreme Court as they debated Califonia’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. “The biggest challenge shooting in the morning in front of the Supreme Court is the light, especially on a sunny day,” he says. “The sun rises behind the Court, so if you want the Court in the background, you end up shooting into the sun.”

Photo by Pete Marovich

“I saw this guy with the sign earlier in the morning, and even though I had already made some images of him, I kept tabs on him,” says Pete. “I was standing off to the side of him and I saw that he was now facing away from the Court and that the white sign he was holding up was kicking light back in his face. I made my way in front of him as quickly as I could to make an image before he lowered the sign or turned around.”

Buy gear and name your price with Greentoe

Greentoe.com has been showing up in the news quite a bit lately. The site works with authorized retailers to sell photography products – the only difference is that you name your own price. Watch the video below to learn more.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Altering photos deemed fair use in Patrick Cariou-Richard Prince case

Some important implications have come out of a closely watched copyright case between photographer Patrick Cariou and artist Richard Prince. Prince used dozens of Cariou’s portraits from his book on Rastafarians to create a series of collages and paintings. In March of 2011 a judge found that the use by Prince was not Fair Use and Cariou’s issue of liability for copyright infringement was granted in its entirety. 

But the appeals court held last May ruled that the judge’s interpretation was incorrect, and that a majority of Prince’s work manifested “an entirely different aesthetic” from Cariou’s pictures. Language seems to be doing a disfavor to the artists in this case, with terms like “different character”, “new expression”, and “new aesthetics” being used to determine whether or not the work falls under Fair Use. Fair Use has always been a gray area for photographers, something which was not any more cleared up from this case. (via APhotoEditor and The New York Times)

Gorgeous images from Shangai’s Sightseeing Tunnel

German photographer Jakob Wagner captured these gorgeous photos through the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel in Shanghai, China, a popular tourist attraction that takes you on a 5-minute tunnel ride featured visual and audio effects. Wagner used long exposures to showcase the colors and transform the tunnel into another world. (via My Modern Met)

Photo by Jakob Wagner

Photo by Jakob Wagner

Photo by Jakob Wagner

Photo by Jakob Wagner

Portrait photographers know that making a personal connection with subjects is key to producing memorable images. And today, that connection comes way before the day of the shoot: it starts with an elegant website that’s customized to fit your brand – one that gives potential clients a sense for what it’s like to work with you.

The Portrait Photographer’s Tour of PhotoShelter shows how our customizable websites help draw attention to your best work, and add some branded personality to your online presence. With PhotoShelter you also get the best image delivery for your clients, so creating and sharing private galleries is fast and easy.

One of the contributors to this guide is Neil Binkley, who works as a photographer consultant and co-founded Wonderful Machine. No matter how many portfolios Neil has seen, it still excites him when a photographer comes to him with images that clearly express their “creative DNA” or personality. His perspective on targeting clients is based on a strong belief that the best thing to do is shoot what you love and aim to inspire.

Below is Neil’s advice for attracting your dream client with your photography portfolio.

How does a photographer target a dream client with his or her portfolio?

The best thing you can do is pretend that you are your dream client and think, What would I hire me to shoot? Every portfolio shoot that a photographer does is a chance to do the work they find most exciting.

I think that portfolio projects are the single most important things that photographers can do to propel their businesses forward. And when I say portfolio projects, I also mean personal projects – they’re the same thing to me. A portfolio project has the potential to make you more money, but also provide more artistic satisfaction.

How do you recommend coming up with a project that’s portfolio-worthy?

There are really two things that can help you come up with portfolio projects. One is practical: think of what you need to fill in the gaps of your current work. The other is to think of what work would get you excited. Because when you’re excited about the work, it can be infectious.

I think that the more photographers can do to show off their personality the better – whether a subject matter or a style. It’s harder for others to replicate something that’s personal to you.

It happens more and more these days that a creative director will see some work on someone’s website, regardless of whether it was done for a client, and they will be inspired and want it re-created for a client of theirs. This is a win-win situation because the job becomes more of a collaboration. So the goal with your portfolio should be to inspire creative directors and art buyers.

What are some specific go-to practices for a photographer who can’t come up with a portfolio project?

I used to be a designer, and the hardest thing to do was to design for myself. There’s a lot of pressure to create something from nothing. Photographers are up against a blank canvas when starting a new portfolio project so themes can help them react to something.

Some tips:

Pick a color and run with it for six months. Then do a portfolio shoot every week or two (this is the red project, etc.) and see what that means for you. Then on your website you can have one gallery that says, “latest project” or the “red project” or the “rainbow project.” That way a client can look at it and say, “This person did a really great job across these 10 images. There’s a thread that shows this is a cohesive work and yet it’s exciting because they’ve obviously tried to do something a little bit different.”

How do you recommend thinking up a portfolio project that is both personal and can be targeted to a dream client?

Think of 10 things that you enjoy doing the most and choose one of them to be a portfolio project. Say it’s a hobby or taking your dog for a walk. Think of how taking a dog for a walk is interesting, and interesting in a way that you haven’t seen done. Make it personal to you. Try to make it a story.

Good marketing is good storytelling – everyone likes to hear stories. Maybe you just focus on the tail of the dog, which is something I’ve never seen. This also adds a limiting factor. A limiting factor helps you use your creative mind to execute the shoot. Maybe it’s through lighting, styling or the environment that the tail is photographed against. You can add irony or humor. All of those things tell an interesting story and give the images variety, but the theme of the tail will keep it all cohesive.

How do you keep your dream clients once you’ve got them?

I never give people permission to stop marketing themselves. You have to sell yourself to people even if they’ve already hired you. If Coke and Pepsi have to advertise then why wouldn’t a photographer whom no one has ever heard of not have to do the same thing? It’s just a reminder, that’s all.

It’s possible that you may never do work for publications like GQ or Vanity Fair or Esquire, and you should forgive yourself if you don’t. There are only so many projects and only so many photographers in line for those projects. You can do work for many other clients. If you have five clients that hire you, with a few rotating in and out, you can have a very solid career.

Takeaway: Why a photographer with a fast, intuitive portfolio comes out on top.

I consult photographers foremost, but I was recently tapped by an ad agency to find a local photographer for a specific region in the country. The client wanted high quality and happened to have a really odd combination of specialty needs (food and lifestyle). I found several people who were good at one or the other, but it was hard to find someone good at both.

Every time I hit a website that wasn’t quick and easy to use – if it didn’t have thumbnails, for example – I was less patient. It was taking a day and a half to find a couple of good contenders to send to this ad agency, and I really saw the weaknesses and strengths of website designs.

When someone is trying to quickly assess your photographic value, it’s important to help her do her job. We’re not in the beautiful, animation-rich, Flash era that we used to be. It’s important not to get in the way of function. It happens all the time that the best photographer is not the one that is found. And there are a lot of great photographers out there, but it’s not always about finding the best. It’s a combination of having a good edit and being able to have it found by the right clients.

For more information on what goes into an exceptional online portfolio and  how an online portfolio should fit into your marketing plan, check out our free guide: