George Jardine

File names are hard.

Nailing down a coherent and consistent file naming strategy for my own library took some time. Let alone for my clients. And the thread goes way back. Back to before we even starting thinking about how to support folder structures and manipulate file names in Lightroom.

I think a lot of the reason why photographers have such a hard time with file names in general, goes all the way back to the innovation of “files and folders” in early desktop computer user interfaces. As much of an innovation as the graphical display of files and folders was, the one fatal flaw was that it reinforced a very distinct real-world behavior that eventually conspired to actually make finding a specific thing in the computer more difficult.

PhotoShelter

The best photography websites today aren’t just pretty displays for your pictures anymore. Now they’re full-blown sales and marketing tools that can host your photo archive, sell photography online, and more. Bottom line: they’re an integral part of your photo business. Allen’s video for #6 Tune-up Your Website is a good reminder of what a functional photo website must have in order to draw clients and customers.

PhotoShelter

SEO for photographers is no joke – if you aren’t employing the most basic SEO strategies (at least), then you’re selling yourself and your photo business short. The goal of SEO is unsolicited website traffic – people looking for whatever your service or product is, without yet knowing who you are. In section #5 Build Your SEO, Allen talks about three main areas that all photographers can focus on immediately to improve their website’s SEO.

British Journal of Photography

10b Photography has established itself as one of the world’s leading digital darkrooms, handling post-production for scores of award-winning photojournalists who trust that the company knows where to draw the line between processing and manipulation. Olivier Laurent meets the founders.

The Visual Student

Combining strong photojournalism with strong graphic design is a win-win. In the crowded and competitive photojournalism marketplace, it behooves you to make every part of your online presence look thoughtful and professional.

PhotoShelter

Joe Gosen, a Visual Journalism Instructor at Brooks Institute, is teaching a class on web design for photographers. From my perspective, college classes in web design always seem to be behind the times, arming students with knowledge that’s a touch out-dated, and are structured around “how it looks” than “how it works.”

But his class is different.

The Visual Student

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll discuss how to choose a template, modify it using basic HTML and CSS and add useful plug-ins. To quote Placeblogger C.E.O. Lisa Williams, “No journalism student should be intimidated by the process of setting up and managing a website — it is well within your ability, and it can all be learned and practiced before you graduate.”

The Online Photographer:

The intended audience is those who haven’t done any serious digital printing but would like to. In other words, this is the introductory stuff (and, to pre-answer the question I know I’ll be asked again, no, there is not going to be a series on advanced printing). It doesn’t matter if you have wet darkroom experience or not. If you don’t have digital printing experience, this is for you

The Visual Student

This is the first of a three part series on how you can plan, design, build and maintain a successful photojournalism portfolio website. Part 1 focuses on planning your website