This battle about digital editing has raged since Photoshop made its debut. The integrity of the image and even more so, the photographer,  is always at the center of the debate.

What is art? Is post-processing an art form separate from the actual capture of light, known as photography?  Can Yervant handle the heat?

Join in the conversation.

It should be for you too.  Facebook is still the fastest growing online social network with new people building profiles every day!

My Facebook marketing plan:

• Friend everyone I’ve ever met and some I haven’t
• Friend all of my clients, when possible
• Post their images to my profile and tag them
• Keep in touch, celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, births, comment on their statuses (stati?) and photos
• Be generally witty and funny in my updates and drive people to my blog and Web site  (good luck, I know!)

You are on Facebook, right?  Find and friend me, so I can collect some more and expand my campaign.

What are your Facebook marketing strategies?

Talk about capturing an important moment.  Check out the online photo gallery from NASA.

HOW do we determine these fees?  And what are our costs to do business??

Many factors go into deciding what you charge yourwedding clients, including the cost of our equipment, the cost to print albums, the cost of  professional memberships, the cost of advertising, even the cost of the DVDs.

All of those things being equal, why is there still such a discrepancy between that $500 shooter on Craig’s List and the photographers who command $6000, $8000 or $10,000??

It’s the creative fee of course.  The American Society of Media Photographer’s addresses the Creative Fee.

Check out the National Press Photographer’s Association’s online Cost of Doing Business tool to find out what your hidden costs are, and what it really takes for you to make a living as a photographer!

Pet photography is a growing segment of the market.  Pet owners buy special foods, gourmet treats and spend hours pampering their dogs at day spas!

Are you an animal lover, kind and gentle, good without a flash? With a highly competitive wedding and portrait industry, maybe your niche is with Fido?

You can find discussions of Pet Photography at the Nature Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum.  It’s free.

The generally accepted images editing software out there does cost a pretty penny and everywhere you look reviews seem to be popping up about GIMP, otherwise know as the GNU Images Manipulation Program.  The Digital Photography school posted a quick and dirty user’s guide just a few weeks back.

Check out all the GIMP has to offer on their Web site and start saving for that new 21MP body!

Creativity and artistry are something that I take for granted, especially when I’m working to shoot weddings and family portraits, editing images, blogging,  and writing marketing plans.

It’s dangerous for business if our images become stale or worse, when a client sees the same compositions on your Web site with different subjects.

A photo project like “Photo-a-Day” may be just the way to spice up your skills.  Among the tips from Taylor McKnight, at Photojojo.com – bring your camera everywhere, tell a story, and important: vary your themes.

Read Taylor’s tips on freshening your work through Project 365

We all know that you have to address this in your contract and do a gut check when you take on new clients, but what about after the check has already destroyed your business accounts?

With the economics woes we’re hearing on an almost daily basis, should we expect more bad checks?  I hope not, but perhaps it’s time to look into services like the one mentioned in this CNNMoney.com article.  You can instantly discover if the potential client has a history of bouncing checks.

Would you send your assistant to grab the bride a snack while she’s getting ready?  What about finding the cake knife that got lost in the bag that’s still in the back of the limousine?  Carry safety pins and fabric tape in your camera bag?  Maybe you should.  Remember in a saturated industry, referrals are the name of the game.  What you did to make her wedding perfect might just make your next booking.  Sometimes it’s not all about the money.

Myth: Price is the name of the game to expand share and profitability.
Fact: Great service enables you to deliver extra value, charge a higher price, and raise profits.

Price is the primary driver for product selection for only one-third of customers. The rest (that would be two-thirds) will pay a premium for higher quality and service. Surveys of more than 6,000 customers of three major retailers found that sensitivity to price is a function of the number of recent problems. Even one problem can double sensitivity to price.

Excellent service changes your competitive position and can enhance your margin. Customers will pay a premium when they encounter few problems and observe that any problems are quickly resolved.

via|Retail Customer Experience

Mashable is a sweet blog that highlights everything social about the Internet.  Follow them @mashable on Twitter or even better, get the feed right to your inbox.

Zack Arias is an editorial music photographer in Atlanta, GA. His one light workshops are aimed at giving photographers the confidence to use their flash. Not your standard on camera ETTL pop, but really learn how to use your lights to create out of this world images with your camera.

The One Light Workshop Web site launched in May.

The weepy bride has to hit up attendees for their snapshots, in hopes of cobbling together an album.

The Moral of the Story? Online storage IS a good great idea for everyone, especially for destination wedding photographers. There are hundreds of online storage options out there with prices as low as $5 for 5GB of space. Check out Top Ten Reviews’ matrix of online storage services.