Photography

[affmage source="Overstock" results="30"]Free Photography Business Software[/affmage]
Free Photography Business Software
Is photoshop worth the money? Which one?

I run a small photography business on the side. I’ve used GIMP for the past year and love that it’s free, but am finding some limitations. I would love to cut down my editing time and use the actions available in photoshop. Having never used photoshop, I’m not sure it’s worth the money. Are the added features offered by photoshop (compared to GIMP) really worth it? Also, which photoshop software would be best for me?

I agree with everything said so far – just a couple of things you may not be aware of.

GIMP has many hundreds of plug-ins and scripts (similar to actions in Photoshop) for automating tasks. Many of these are available at http://registry.gimp.org/ – also GIMP can run many Photoshop Pugins by utilising the PSPI plugin here: http://tml.pp.fi/gimp/pspi.html
Other plug-ins I find essential for GIMP are here:

http://gmic.sourceforge.net/

http://sites.google.com/site/elsamuko/gimp

http://gimpfx-foundry.sourceforge.net/

And useful free third party RAW conversion software here which can be used in conjunction with GIMP:

http://code.google.com/p/photivo/

http://www.rawtherapee.com/

http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/

These may be enough to address the “limitations” you are finding with GIMP.

As far as Photoshop itself is concerned, the only version to get is Adobe Photoshop CS5 – it’s the industry standard. You probably won’t need to buy the Extended version which is considerably more expensive, and Photoshop Elements is a half-disabled version for the masses.

Another piece of software which may be useful is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. But a word of warning – Lightroom only allows basic pixel level editing – it’s not a replacement for CS5 – but it may be enough for your needs if retouching is not part of what you do. Many photographers find they can get by with Lightroom and Elements only.

One more significant cost you have to consider is that you will probably want to upgrade Photoshop as new versions come out. GIMP has no associated upgrade costs – since it’s free and so are all the native GIMP plug-ins and scripts.

Free Photography Business Software

How To Start A Part Time Photography Business From Home

Taking professional standard photographs is so easy these days that the opprotunity to set out to start a photography business of your own, part time or full time from home, is open to many of us. It used to be the case that you would need very expensive equipment, and perhaps even a darkroom to develop your photos in, but today many hobby photographers would already have a camera that would be good quality and would even have professional standard editing software on their home computer. So if you love photography, your think you have an eye for a good pic and can manage to bring out a consistent level of quality in the pictures that you take, and if you are looking for a business opportunity to help you to make a little but of extra money or as a new career, then you may want to think about how to start a photography business from home yourself.

The first thing that you need to think about is whether you want to be involved in taking artistic photos, and have the freedom to do your own thing, or whether you are happy to take on jobs for portrait, wedding, or some other niche stype of photo.

There are ways that you can create artistic work and sell it, either to order for design projects or even working off your own back and selling your work on stock photography websites. If you do this then the best thing is to join all of the sites that you can find and submit lots of quality pictures, because even if you do good work if it is not on a subject that people are interested in buying then it won’t sell, but more work equals more chances to sell your work.

If you want to find clients and take on jobs then make sure that you make the most of all the free online advertising, from using social networking sites and creating pages on web2.0 sites to free or cheap classified listings. If you just want to do this part time then you may be able to do that without even spending a single penny on advertising!

The work is out there, so if you really want this then keep trying, put your heart into everything that you do, and I am sure that you will succeed.

About the Author

Dean Walsh is a writer and entrepreneur who has published many online article about subjects such as how to start a photography business and how to start a business from home

Is there a website to make free business cards?

I am trying to make business cards to advertise my photography, and I was wondering if there was a free web site that I would be able to design and print them off. Or if there was some kind of computer software available. Thank you for your time!

Don’t be cheap. Those cards speak for your business. Have them done right by a reputable print shop.

Home Green Screen Studio | Greenscreen Software

JoySTART Your Year in Your Photography Business

The Poor Man’s Guide to Computing: Free Business and Home Computing Solutions to Everything You Want to Do! Wouldn’t it be nice if you bought a brand new computer and all the software was included? That you didn’t have to pay several hundred dollars for Office, Photoshop, and dozens of other programs that you want or need?Now you don’t have to! This book will show you over 100 alternatives to virtually every major software on the market, and how to download them. These free alternatives are just as good…

Textures: Windows/Macintosh: 100 Royalty Free Stock Photos £14.39 …