Ladies and gents, we have a winner!
From the comment contest last week, the winner it none other than Richard Hales – a.k.a. #4 from the Random Number Generator:
Congrats to Richard, and thanks to the folks from Easy Release for their contribution – if you could get in touch with me via email Richard, I’ll connect you both to arrange distribution of the license or discount code for iTunes. Thanks to all for their participation!
On Wednesday I put out a review on some very cool software that is available for both Apple and Android devices – Easy Release, which lets you take digital model and property releases out with you in the field and people can sign the release right on your mobile device, using only their finger! You can also email the release to yourself and the model as PDF files too! It’s pretty slick, and while you have likely read the review, perhaps you missed that there is a comment contest going on to win the app for your own phone/device! Priced at $10, and you can win it for free, just by throwing a comment up in the post!
Live Learning Webinar
In other news, the next Live Learning Webinar that Kerry Garrison and I are heading up for the folks over at Nations Photo Lab is ready for registration. We can take up to 100 registrations for this event. It sold out fast last time, and we expect things to go quick for this one too. Sign up here: http://livelearninglab.eventbrite.com For the inaugural one we covered some great stuff on Lightroom, and this go around, we’ll be talking ‘Shop (as in Photoshop)! It’s only for an hour and it’s completely free!, thanks to the sponsorship of Nations Photo Lab!
Last Chance Sale on 49 Photo Tips, Vols 1 and 2
This weekend is also the last weekend before the 49 Photo Tips books are pulled from the eJunkie store to be completely revamped for an entirely new product line, so get ’em while you can! The laundry list of tips (49 Photo Tips, Volume 1) is only $2.99 and the full color photo-included list (Volume 2) is only $7.99. Get them both and save $5 (that’s nearly 50% off…) using the coupon code FINAL !
That’s it for the Friday Freebies (and discounts) for this week. Be sure to get your own comments in for a chance to win! Gotta be “in it to win it”! Happy shooting and see you back here next week!
Easy Release! is designed as a model release application that lets you get model release signatures straight from your smart phone (either Android based or iPhone based, which in and of itself is pretty cool!). Some of the cooler features of the app include:
Having said the best features of the app, it kind of needs a few minor improvements though. In the next version, let me import pre-made release forms for specific purposes. While Getty and Alamy outlet acceptance is huge, there are other custom needs like TFCD and TFP that would be tedious to type out into the custom function area. Let me use a PDF of my own creation and add a signature field at the end for models to sign. Some photographers already have custom ones on file from their attornys (yes, I have a few) that are already created in PDF, and that import function would make this just about a perfect app! The interface for building one internally is a bit clunky, and this would make things a lot easier.
In order to appeal to a broader market, lower the price a little…$10 is a bit much for an app that only has two forms. Right now the appeal is there for those who do only model and property shoots, but the app marketplace seems to average around $5 for a high end app, so $10 is a little pricey. (It’s not insanely overpriced – after all I did buy this app, but I would have liked to see it lower) Yes, I know the ROI is lower initially, but you’d likely get more buyers from a lower price. $4.99 is about the max I’d think apps would go for unless they were super powerful or utilitarian. If the standard model releases covered more situations, then sure, but more and more, releases for things like TFP, exchange of services, and other variations are becoming the norm, not the “old fashioned” model releases, and the price is just a smidge high for my liking. Different strokes and tolerances for sure, so some may find this completely reasonable, while others may find the price something of a barrier.
Here’s my screen captures from installing it on my iPod:
For those that are interested in getting a copy of this app – I did contact the developers, and they were generous enough to donate a license for some lucky reader – so, here’s the deal:
Share your own thoughts on the app here in the comments below and at the end of the week – some lucky reader (as determined from the Random Number Generator, based on comment #) will win a license key for this app! Thanks to the developers for their generous donation, and thanks to everyone who takes the time to comment. Oh yeah, try to provide at least some value from your own comments as that is what makes dialogs fun in the first place! I’ll announce the winner Saturday on Twitter (you are following me on Twitter, aren’t yo?) and again here on the blog on Monday! Good luck all, and thanks again to the folks at Easy Release!
On this weeks show, I take a look at the power of the pen – the artist statement. For those of us with aspirations of sharing our work with others via art shows, galleries, and contests/competitions, the value of the artist statement can make the difference between getting into a show, gallery or other event and buying a ticket. So, if you want to learn what the artist statement is, how to write one, and things to consider, this is the show for you. Here’s the show notes:
Another news item I forgot to mention in the podcast is an upcoming web seminar series for photographers, free, from Adobe. Here’s the dates:
Link for more info and to register is here
Make sure you stop in and grab the podcast from the good folks over at Personal Life Media, and visit our show sponsor Lensbaby if you are thinking about the Lensbaby Composer. Diggs from PLM and reviews from iTunes are encouraged, welcomed, and appreciated! Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here tomorrow! 🙂
Don’t forget, you can email me from the show link with any questions, comments, feedback or thoughts, as well as share comments here, and reviews on iTunes. For those without iTunes or Zune, I can provide an mp3 version of the show on request.
As previous posts have indicated, the time has been approaching where the podcast will be moving from being hosted here at CB over to Personal Life Media. After some of the initial duplicating of audio posts from here over to PLM, the feed is nw prepped and ready for migration. I’ll still have original copies of all podcasts, both video and audio here, but as we move forward, future audio podcasts will all be hosted by the folks over at PLM. I’m looking forward to the partnership, and hopefully it will result in better quality both in podcasts and in blog posts for the listening and reading audience.
As the tentative schedule yesterday indicated, some initial podcasts (14 total) will be repeats, but starting next week, all-new content will be posted over at the new site. You can bookmark it directly via your web browser or pick it up in iTunes at the new addresses below:
Via the web: http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/516-learning-digital-photography
Via iTunes: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Learning-Digital-Photography
I will continue to post content here on a regular basis, to inclue photos, articles, photographer interviews, product reviews, contests and all the content you have enjoyed for the past two years. The days that podcasts come out though, the blog here will become the repository for show notes, so there will be some minor adjustments as I massage the schedule to accommodate those ends. It looks like the podcast date will also shift once again to Monday for publication. I think this makes 4 of the 5 days of the week where I have tried publishing, so we’ll see how it goes… If things need to change again, I’ll be sure to keep everyone up to speed here on the blog.
So, that makes two maintenance and housekeeping posts in one week, but now that things are “official”, figured I’d better let everyone know to update their feeds accordingly – if you like the blog posts, then don’t change a thing. If you like the podcasts, then update your feeds. If you like both, then just change a little bit. Regardless of whether it’s the blog, the podcast or both though – never forget to go out shooting! (That’s what I’m doing tomorrow), so thanks to everyone for all the support and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
Episode #66 of the Canon Blogger Podcast Series (CBPS) is up and ready for download. In this weeks’ show:
On the blog front, for those of you who had been suffering through the feed breakdown – I figured out the source of the problems, and was able to reconcile the feed XML file against iTunes. So, the history of shows is up again back through May of 2008. As I go through more Archives of both audio and video podcasts more should come back to life as time permits. If anyone would like to hear a specific subject addressed in future podcasts, please feel free to share your thoughts with me in the comments section or via email.
Another little tidbit – the graphic for the “Archives” of all blog posts and for the “About” page has been changed too, so be sure to stop over there and see the new layout! Lots of fun stuff from over the weekend to share! The final bit of news is that a fellow NAPP’er will be in town this week and we’ll be getting together for a mini photowalk here in downtown Denver. So, if anyone is in the area and would like to join us – drop me a note and I’ll get you the details. Hope everyone else had a fun weekend. Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
So, for the feeders that are picking up the podcast from iTunes – I want to apologize. Apparently there is something that is “not right” with the iTunes feed. Apple has been very helpful with this (sense the sarcasm here). Since I have been less inclined to push out posts and content that are just “filler”, you’ll notice that there have been several days this month that have not had blog posts. Such is life, and as the attention of my life waxes and wanes in other areas, so too will the quantity of posts here at CB (I really don’t want to post content that does not have some measure of quality).
Having said that, I am pleased with both the quality and quantity of podcast material that I have put out to date. I’ve received a number of excellent feedback comments from a number of listeners, and more email is coming in regularly where people have personal questions they would like addressed. What I am not pleased with though is the “black magic” of getting your content published in iTunes – there is no reason why they should not have all the shows populating – the URL is correct, as is the directory, and the feed validates from both Feedburner and Google – why Apple decides to not pick up the feed is beyond me.
So, if you would like Apple to bring it back online, my suggestion is to tell them. Do a search on iTunes for “CanonBlogger”, then click the link to “Report a Concern”. From there you can specify problems with the download. If enough people start reporting it, perhaps Apple will look at things on their end. I will not hold my breath for them though, as we all know how much respect I give to big behemoths that expect customer loyalty but then do nothing to retain that loyal consumer base. Apple, are you listening? Without Jobs at the helm – you may not have much of your own “magic Pixie dust” left, so start listening to your customers. Innovation is nothing without retention.
For the other bloggers/podcasters that are out there – if anyone is fluent or well-versed in the black magic of how itunes feeds work and would be interested in helping me get things fixed on this end, please let me know and I can get some kudos set up via linkbacks to whomever can get things working again. (Here is where I decidedly will repay the helpful fanbase, as I do not have the time to correct this myself – I don’t even know what’s wrong!)
As PLM is working to re-launch the podcast with a new title and graphics, I have also let them know about the problem (they actually mentioned it to me when we first started talking about re-launching under their umbrella), but I have not heard back yet, so this offer stands to anyone willing to help an old codger out! Thanks in advance, and hopefully someone will step up to the plate! Until tomorrow then, keep on shooting!
