PhotoShelter has released a new free educational workbook, SEO for Photographers. The workbook provides valuable insights to coach photographers on search engine optimization tactics and online tools that will improve search engine rankings and drive more traffic to their websites. The SEO for Photographers Workbook can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/SEOforphotogs

As an added bonus when photographers sign up, they will also receive the SEO for Photographers Bootcamp, four weeks of additional SEO tips delivered straight to their inbox. The Bootcamp includes:  
      

• Week 1: Interpreting SEO Metrics for Success
• Week 2: The Simple Explanation of How Google Ranks Websites
• Week 3: Proven Tactics to Beat the Competition
• Week 4: Tracking Your Progress to Get More Business

The SEO for Photographers Bootcamp is PhotoShelter's second online educational series joining The Photo Business Bootcamp, a series equipped with interviews and business tactics from the industry's leading professionals.

The SEO for Photographers Workbook is the latest in PhotoShelter's ongoing series of free business guides for photographers and marketing professionals. PhotoShelter's e-book library includes 19 educational guides including topics like email marketing, search engine optimization, and starting a photography business. All can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/psresearch.

It's almost February and the New Year's resolutions you promised yourself are already fading into the background of daily life. But don't worry, we still have one resolution that's never too late to accomplish: backing up your hard drive. Although it's one of those tasks that rates somewhere between flossing your teeth and checking the air in your tires, it's a necessity that can cause great regret if not done regularly.
 
Backing up is the first rule of thumb for protecting all your important data (like all those images!) and, clearly, it has real benefits. Yet it's surprising how many people don't do it...or do it improperly. A suitable backup means that a duplicate copy of your data resides on a different storage medium than your main hard drive. Copying your data to another folder on the same drive doesn't count because when (not if) your drive crashes, you may not be able to access any of the data.
 
What's Your Backup Plan?
A good backup plan starts with deciding what files you want to back up. This can take awhile if you have a large hard drive and thousands of files collected over the years. To speed up the backup process and reclaim valuable space on your hard drive, it's a good idea to do a little digital housekeeping and archive old data to semi-permanent storage media, such as DVD-R, BD-R or even CD-R. Although these media are "write-once," the expectation is that they will last about 100 years before deteriorating.
 
Once you've archived data to your discs, it's recommended that you verify and check the data on them to ensure that everything was properly transferred and that none of the files are corrupt. Lastly, you should make more than one set of these archive discs and store them in different locations. You might keep one at your office, another in a safe deposit box and perhaps an additional copy at the home of a family member.

Read the full article here.

Pre-order one of Anne's gorgeous coffee-table books today, and be guaranteed a personal signing by Anne herself at her book signing during PPA's Imaging EXPO, January 12, 2009.

1. Pre-purchase an Anne Geddes book/s of your choice from Anne's online gift shop and receive 30% off!
2. Print out your email confirmation and submit it along with ID to the book signing station at PPA's Imaging EXPO, January 12, 2009.
3. Collect your new books onsite to have each copy personally signed by Anne herself, especially for you.

Limited places and stock...SHOP NOW to save disappointment!

Peachpit announced The Digital Photographer's Notebook: A Pro's Guide to Adobe Photoshop CS3, Lightroom, and Bridge by Kevin Ames, a focused and thorough guide to Adobe's three major photo applications.

Author Kevin Ames, known for his popular Photoshop User column, presents an in-depth digital photography resource with a personal touch. Whether dealing with workflow, organization, or truly creative enhancements, Kevin shares his own image-making process from start to finish while illuminating many key issues relevant to today's professionals. The range of topics covered, such as the profound differences between RAW and JPEG, when to use which application, and how they work together, make this an essential guide for users who have been shooting digital for years as well as those just making the switch from film.

In a joint statement, Nikonians.org and Rocky Nook announced today they have joined forces. The international community of Nikon enthusiasts partnered with the Santa Barbara-based photography publisher to launch a new program of books for photographers geared toward both professionals and advanced amateurs. The project, under the Nikonians Press banner, will mostly cover Nikon equipment and books in the series will go well beyond the scope of technical manuals. Written by experienced photographers, they will help photographers become better at producing high quality images more efficiently, and to achieve consistent results.

Written in an easy friendly style, the books from Nikonians Press will cut through the technical jargon to help readers understand not only their camera, but also the wealth of photographic advantages it can deliver.

Mikkel Aaland turned his experiences from a once-in-a-lifetime photography expedition to Iceland into a striking guided tour of Lightroom in "Photoshop Lightroom Adventure" (O'Reilly, $39.99). Along the way he shows readers how they, too, can use Lightroom to create exciting new images. More importantly, Aaland, an award-winning photographer and bestselling author, inspires readers by providing a far deeper experience than most instructional manuals. Part Icelandic road trip, part photo essay, "Lightroom's" photo-rich pages come packed with beautiful, exciting photographs from a dozen talented working photographers.

Read the complete story and download the excerpt here.

Inspiration with Instruction: A Journey to Iceland to Master Adobe's Lightroom 1.1

"Field testing in Iceland turned out to be a stroke of brilliance," enthuses George Jardine, pro photo evangelist for Adobe Systems, about Mikkel Aaland's new book, Photoshop Lightroom Adventure (O'Reilly, $39.99).

Aaland turned his experiences from a once-in-a lifetime photography expedition to Iceland into a striking guided tour of Lightroom. Along the way he shows readers how they, too, can use Lightroom to create exciting new images. More importantly, Aaland, an award-winning photographer and bestselling author, inspires readers--everyone from photography enthusiasts to working professionals--by providing a far deeper experience than most instructional manuals. Part Icelandic road trip, part photo essay, "Lightroom's" photo-rich pages come packed with beautiful, exciting, and emulate-able photographs from a dozen talented working photographers.

"Yes, it's a technical book. Yet it's not only a complete guide to the latest version of the application, but a pleasure to look at, too," explains Aaland. For this is not an update of previous Lightroom versions, but the first book written specifically for Lightroom 1.1. "And my new book honors photography through the beautiful images that fill every chapter," adds Aaland.

Both the title and most of the content of his new book emerged from Aaland's singular passion to road test Lightroom in a wild and light-filled setting. So last year Aaland convinced 11 colleagues, including Jardine, and five Adobe Lightroom team members to travel with him last July to Iceland, long known Nature's Lightroom. In July the picturesque arctic nation is suffused in various shades of dappled light for nearly 24 hours--making it the perfect landscape to test and experiment with Adobe's revolutionary, all-in-one imaging application.

The GIMP, an image editor whose power and ease-of-use rivals that of Adobe Photoshop, is one of the world’s most popular free software tools. Artists and designers rely on the GIMP to retouch photographs, composite multiple images, and create artwork from scratch. The Artist’s Guide to GIMP Effects (No Starch Press, August 2007, $44.95, ISBN 978-1-59327-153-4) is a beautiful 4-color book that shows how to harness all of the GIMP's powerful features. Author Michael J. Hammel's extensively illustrated, step-by-step tutorials are perfect for hands-on learning and experimentation.

After a crash course in using the GIMP's interface and core tools (such as brushes, patterns, selections, layers, and masks), readers learn:

• Photographic techniques to create ripped edges or sepia-tones, swap colors, produce motion blurs, even fix rips in an old photograph
• Web and interface design techniques to create patterns, navigation tabs, and fancy buttons and borders
• Type effects to create depth, perspective, and neon- and graffiti-style lettering
• Special effects to simulate clouds, textures, cracks, lighting, and underwater effects
• And much more

The Artist’s Guide to GIMP Effects is sure to teach readers some new tricks, whether they are new to the GIMP or have been playing with it for years.

Additional Resources:
Table of Contents: www.nostarch.com/gimp_toc.htm
Sample Chapter: www.nostarch.com/download/gimp_sample.zip

Most photographers will agree that after buying cameras, lenses, computer gear, and software, the spending never seems to end. More gear is needed for studio, tabletop, and flash photography, and for accessories here and there. Often, the right accessories are not even available. That is where this book comes in.

Low Budget Shooting is the one-stop source where you will find instructions and a shopping list on how to build an array of useful and inexpensive photographic tools.

Filled with full-color images and easy-to-follow text, this book shows how to build essential lighting and studio equipment for use inside the studio as well as in the filed.

In this book you will learn:

• How to make the perfect light-table for shooting small objects
• How to build reflectors, soft-boxes, and light-tents that really work
• How to build equipment for use on the road
• Where to get some of the little helpers that make a photographer’s life so much easier.

This clever little book is a creative and valuable resource for most any photographer.

Pioneering computer graphics author Deke McClelland updates his bestselling hands-on tutorial for Adobe Photoshop CS3, the latest version of this industry-standard image editing and production program. As with previous editions, Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One (O'Reilly, $44.99 US) guides readers step by step through the program's features and functionality. A key appeal of the One-on-One series is the two hours of DVD-video material included. Once you read about a particular technique, you can see how it's done first hand in the video. The combination is uniquely effective. And hugely popular.