Product Photography lighting.

Here is a great spa theme/aroma therapy image that has gathered over 1084 downloads in about a year. The artist is Lisa Gagne, and the image is from istockphoto.com



Here is a great tutorial for do it yourself product photography.
http://www.jyoseph.com/blog/detail.cfm/post/18
Here is another one worth checking out.
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/product_photo_training.html
Tip:
One thing I have noticed, if you have white ceilings, think about pointing a light towards the ceiling to reflect light of the ceiling to light the top of the object being photographed.
Continuous Lighting:
Continuous lighting refers to lighting that is on all the time. I have some opus lighting units, so I can replace them with normal light bulbs that stay on continuously. Try this technique if you can. Of course, you will need to use a longer shutter speeds and a tripod because the light produced is far less than with flash units.
Still Life Themes:
If you are looking for themes that sell well, think about spa. Images of candles, flower peddles, herb bottles, etc, etc, are always great sellers. Keyword some of these in istockphoto.com and you will see what I mean.

photosights.net

It appears shutterstock also runs a site called "photosights.net". I wonder why they do this. Maybe to earn extra revenue? Any answers to this question anybody?

Also, it appears in Europe that Fotolia runs a sight called "http://snaparazzi.eu/" I guess they do this because the name is more catchy in Europe. One can only guess.

New York City search.

Cool, one of my photo's showed up here. The Asian guy in a suit holding a fan. It's times like this it all seems worth while. Thanks for using it. Check it out at. Thanks for crediting my name! Article by Kara Zuaro
http://newyork.citysearch.com/roundup/42336

It also appears on of my photos was used in the book called "Brannigan's Building Construction for the Fire Service By Francis L. Brannigan, Glenn P. Corbett 4th edition". Not all that exciting, but my name was in the credits. Hey, I can't complain.

Another link to my work. http://www.pressrelations.de/
http://www.pressrelations.de/new/standard/result_main.cfm?r=255926&aktion=jour_pm
Thanks for the credit guys.

Gettyimages.com VS Istockphoto.com

The changing of the guard. This graph shows the cross-over of Gettyimages and Istockphoto. As you can see, it was a good idea for Getty to buy Istock. This is significant, because as many know, Getty images are very expensive, and this graph shows people are not willing to pay more when they can find a good image on istock. Corbis is the line at the bottom, and they have stayed very consistent over the years.

5 big players

Here is a breakdown of the 5 major players in Stock photography. Istock is well ahead of the pack, white the others are slowly growing too, with the exception of Bigstockphoto.com.

Where do I look for photography jobs?

Where do I look for photography jobs?

Well, this is something I am always doing, so I have some very valid advice. The first place to look would be craiglist.org. They have a very informal environment in which to look for jobs. I find that most of the jobs on this website are of a very temporary nature. I have found one steady gig, a couple hours every week, but for the most part, I have just found models who want to work on a TFP (time for photo) basis. And this does not pay the bills, because as many photographers know, it is a long climb up before you can make enough to live off from stock photography sales.

Also look at http://toronto.kijiji.ca/, or simply kijiji.ca. They are set up a lot like craigslist, but they are only for Canada. The have a more sophisticated looking website with more features than craigslist, but many may prefer craigslist's low tech design. Anyway, Kijiji is well worth a look.

If you want to look for more career oriented photography jobs, take a look at http://www.workopolis.com, or http://www.monster.ca/. These seem to be the big two with a wide range of jobs. Also, http://jobbank.gc.ca is a great place to look. It is run by the government of Canada, so they wouldn't steer you wrong.
I have just discovered http://www.specialeventphotography.ca/. You can sign up, as I just did and see what happens. As most places the specialize in event photography, they seem to be very wedding centric.

The future for Photographers looks bleak.

The future for Photographers looks bleak.

I can't speak for everybody, but I have been working hard for over a year and a half as a photographer, and still good work is next to impossible to find. Unless you know somebody important, or have great connections, finding work on the Internet is a damn hard game. And what work I have found, for me anyway, it is very dull and uninspired. The job that least appeals to me is working as a wedding photographer, and there are a couple of those gigs kicking around. When people ask me to do a wedding, I quote them a standard, fair rate, and they still think it is too expensive!! Why is everybody so cheap. How do they expect a photographer to make a living.

Anyway, I would far rather work as a product, event, travel or fashion photographer. The number of people with good equipment doesn't help either. The cost keeps coming down and down. I would guess that in the future, Photography may become a basic skill like hand writing, or operating a computer.

Well, my search for decent work continues........Maybe I should become a writer, lol.