Monday, June 22, 2009

To stock or not to stock

Well, what do you think? Is stock photography a no-no in the digital world? I am unsure!!!! I don’t have small children in my home, so childhood kits are purchased and relegated to linger in my hard drive forever….. But I do have tons of photos of nature and my cat, Sunshine. Family and friends are egar to provide me with pictures of their children but sometimes you just need that one perfect photo to make a layout pop!!!!

So what’s a scrapper to do?

I decided to take a few minutes to google stock photography. And came back with nearly 41,000,000 sites. Ok… I am not gonna go look at all of them but I did look at the major sites that were one the top.

1. IStockphoto:

Huge selection of photography available! But WOW is it expensive to buy stock photos. Subscriptions begin at $979.00 for 3 months with daily downloads at 30. You can buy individual credits minimum of 12 for $18.00 . But most photos would require 6 credits to get a decent photo…..expensive but has the stock for every occasion.

2. Shutterstock

Not as many photos as the above site, but the site is very user friendly and easy. Subscriptions begin at $249 per month with 25 downloads per day. Individual credits begin at 12 downloads for $49. Not much else to say about this one except easy to use.

3. Canstock photo

Has one million photos and by far the cheapest stock company I have found. Very good quality of photos!!!! And 300dpi photos are still only one credit WOW!!!! There are even a few free photos available. Subscriptions begin at $35.95 for one week with 10 downloads per day or one month at $99.95. Individual credits start at $18.00 for 9 photos. Sooo Best Value and easy to use by far my favorite.

I hope that you have learned something about what is avialable in the stock photo world. But as far as the decision to use or not to use????? That remains to be seen!!!!!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Studio Berena is have a sale!!!!! A huge sale on her eye love you products!!!! They are adorable.

So go to my Studio Berna @ SBG:

http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/ma...ufacturerid=28



(Oh, and by the way, you can still download the Mother's day freebie from my blog (just these few 48 hrs!!!!) that's this one (this one is really the 20th kit, but it's only temporary downloadable and totally free!):


NOTE: Please know that from Saturday morning the 13th until Saturday morning the 20th 2009 my ' Eye Love You' products will be available all for 25% off!!!!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Ok-so it is nearly lunch time here in the burbs of KC and I am up and ready for a Monday at work. (Not really!!!!! But dh found red bull cola and my is it tasty…)

I had a boring little lecture on the theory of triangular spacing and layout composition, but instead I decided to share with you the coolest site for playing with your landscape photos. If you read DST over the weekend you probably know what I am taking about, but if not let me introduce you to the mini maker…… TILTSHIFT

This photo site turns any photo into a miniature scale. It is so difficult to describe what it does so let me show you. But my best reference is think movie set miniatures that they make for sci-fi movies.

kcskyline

This is my home town of Kansas city. This is actually an aerial shot of the downtown metro. Now once you upload to tiltshift and they doe their magic I am given this.

kcskyline-tiltshift

A miniature scale model of my home town….how cool is that? Even better? IT’S FREE!!!!

Now the rules: The photo action really works best on landscapes and those that have some depth of field. To make the miniaturization more pronounced. Not really for those portrait shots.

Go have fun…….show me some of your home town shots miniaturized!!!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

To stock or not to stock

Well, what do you think? Is stock photography a no-no in the digital world? I am unsure!!!! I don’t have small children in my home, so childhood kits are purchased and relegated to linger in my hard drive forever….. But I do have tons of photos of nature and my cat, Sunshine. Family and friends are egar to provide me with pictures of their children but sometimes you just need that one perfect photo to make a layout pop!!!!

So what’s a scrapper to do?

I decided to take a few minutes to google stock photography. And came back with nearly 41,000,000 sites. Ok… I am not gonna go look at all of them but I did look at the major sites that were one the top.

1. IStockphoto:

Huge selection of photography available! But WOW is it expensive to buy stock photos. Subscriptions begin at $979.00 for 3 months with daily downloads at 30. You can buy individual credits minimum of 12 for $18.00 . But most photos would require 6 credits to get a decent photo…..expensive but has the stock for every occasion.

2. Shutterstock

Not as many photos as the above site, but the site is very user friendly and easy. Subscriptions begin at $249 per month with 25 downloads per day. Individual credits begin at 12 downloads for $49. Not much else to say about this one except easy to use.

3. Canstock photo

Has one million photos and by far the cheapest stock company I have found. Very good quality of photos!!!! And 300dpi photos are still only one credit WOW!!!! There are even a few free photos available. Subscriptions begin at $35.95 for one week with 10 downloads per day or one month at $99.95. Individual credits start at $18.00 for 9 photos. Sooo Best Value and easy to use by far my favorite.

I hope that you have learned something about what is avialable in the stock photo world. But as far as the decision to use or not to use????? That remains to be seen!!!!!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Studio Berena is have a sale!!!!! A huge sale on her eye love you products!!!! They are adorable.

So go to my Studio Berna @ SBG:

http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/ma...ufacturerid=28



(Oh, and by the way, you can still download the Mother's day freebie from my blog (just these few 48 hrs!!!!) that's this one (this one is really the 20th kit, but it's only temporary downloadable and totally free!):


NOTE: Please know that from Saturday morning the 13th until Saturday morning the 20th 2009 my ' Eye Love You' products will be available all for 25% off!!!!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Ok-so it is nearly lunch time here in the burbs of KC and I am up and ready for a Monday at work. (Not really!!!!! But dh found red bull cola and my is it tasty…)

I had a boring little lecture on the theory of triangular spacing and layout composition, but instead I decided to share with you the coolest site for playing with your landscape photos. If you read DST over the weekend you probably know what I am taking about, but if not let me introduce you to the mini maker…… TILTSHIFT

This photo site turns any photo into a miniature scale. It is so difficult to describe what it does so let me show you. But my best reference is think movie set miniatures that they make for sci-fi movies.

kcskyline

This is my home town of Kansas city. This is actually an aerial shot of the downtown metro. Now once you upload to tiltshift and they doe their magic I am given this.

kcskyline-tiltshift

A miniature scale model of my home town….how cool is that? Even better? IT’S FREE!!!!

Now the rules: The photo action really works best on landscapes and those that have some depth of field. To make the miniaturization more pronounced. Not really for those portrait shots.

Go have fun…….show me some of your home town shots miniaturized!!!!