This guest post is by David Macvicar. He and Sean McGrath are wedding photographers based in Nova Scotia, Canada. Storyboard is their bright idea.

Have you ever wanted layout photos like in the image below, but were absolutely defeated by the number of steps and amount of time required to make this happen?

I think the process goes something like this: Create a new image at the right size, open up each image, resize, drag, resize again, nudge image, etc. etc. Even with an action, you are still doing a number of steps that slow down your blogging workflow. Wouldn't it be fantastic if this process was completely automated and worked at the touch of a button, or a simple run of an action?

That's why we created a photoshop script called Storyboard. It makes blogging diptychs and multiple image layouts as easy as selecting the images and clicking a button. We built this tool for ourselves, because we didn't have time to do layouts the traditional way, but just loved the impact they have on a blog post.

So what exactly is Storyboard?

Storyboard is designed for photographers who blog their work and love to show numerous images which provide a sense of storytelling. Diptychs, triptychs and other combinations of images are perfect for telling a story from a wedding or a portrait session. It works with any blog size & color, any number of images, any combination of aspect ratios, and best of all it was designed with speed in mind. We wanted it to be as fast as possible to build image layouts for your blog.

Why use Storyboard?

We have heard from photographers who have resorted to a tonne of different ways to handle this situation – create actions that still require a lot of user input, photographers who have created InDesign documents with predefined layouts (who wants to jump between different applications!?) and a few other situations which were less than ideal. Other blogging actions often lock you into pre-determined blog sizes (900px, 750px, 600px to name a few) … what if your blog is a different size? What if your blog background features a different color? It's much better to have options than it is to be pigeon-holed into some other photographer's idea of how to blog. Since creating these layouts is a challenge and the brands and blogs of photographers all vary, we thought it was time to solve this problem and provide the best solution for blogtographers! With Storyboard it is possible to create an entire blog post worth of images in just a few minutes.

What does a storyboard look like?

Here is a basic example:

And here is something a bit more complex:

How can I configure Storyboard to work with my blog and workflow?

Storyboard is a simple script, but has a powerful configuration panel. Within a minute you can have it working specifically for your blog. Here are the parameters you can change to work with your blog:

– Set your blog width
– Set the space size between your images
– Change the background color to match your blog brand
– Run actions before your Storyboard saves (perfect for running web sharpening actions)
– Save your Storyboard's automatically and have them close out for quick workflow speed
– Choose your destination/save folder and filename
– Handy archive to folder feature moves images you have already used into a folder of your choice
– Visual re-ordering of your images in your Storyboard by seeing thumbnail order of your images (get the most visual impact by choosing the image order)
– Loop Mode: Storyboard will prompt you to keep making boards – the fastest way to create a blog post

Check out this video on how to configure Storyboard for your blog:

Availability

Storyboard is available at an introductory price of $54.99. Get your copy here and to learn more about Storyboard visit us on the web at http://www.storyboardrocks.com/

Win! Storyboard is generously offering ONE free license to a Tiffinbox subscriber. Here is how you may be able to win this awesome Photoshop Script.

1) Subscribe to the bi-monthly Tiffinbox newsletter

2) Tweet the following:

I just learned about an amazing new Photoshop Script for blogging @Storyboardrocks on @PicSeshu’s Tiffinbox.org Please RT!

IMPORTANT: Don’t forget to mention your Twitter handle so that I can make sure you have done both. I need to see a minimum of 50 real, honest, entries before I can give this away on January 20, 2011.

David and Sean also want to mention that anyone can enter this contest. If you have previously purchased Storyboard, you can still enter and they will just refund you.

Today's guest blog post is by Zach Prez. He says: “I'm a dad and social cyclist who loves to talk marketing over a cup of Lipton tea. I write about SEO, email marketing, social media, and web design for photographers over at http://photographywebmarketing.com”

Last week I was walking through the dreaded mall with my family. As I browsed the storefronts and window displays I realized marketing at play. I’m carrying what feels like 200 pounds of shopping bags, pushing a stroller and am in no mood to browse. I take about 5 seconds to glance at each store’s design and promotions and decide with my subliminal consciousness if I skip it or take a closer look. I peek through the window as I shove some more goldfish crackers into my toddlers’ mouths. Do I have time to go in? Anything in there I need to buy?

I often think about the amount of marketing that goes into those windows; hooks and promotions used to get me in the door. Then there’s the marketing inside the store to turn me from a person browsing to a new customer. Many things at play move me toward a purchase: clear navigation, lack of clutter, style, social proof, no wait time, product placement, and marketing messages. The same 7 concepts apply to your website and become critical in converting the window shoppers to paying customers. The first item, clear navigation, is discussed below and you can pick up details on the other 6 in my Photography Web Marketing Guide.

Create Clear Navigation

Start with navigation because edits are fast, easy, and you need to move your customers toward a decision as quickly as possible without losing their interest.

A homepage is the most visited and most important page of the site. Many new visitors (potential clients) begin here. In looking at your homepage, is it clear what you want them to do?

If I were to offer you a potential client right now and send them to your homepage, what do you want them to do? Think about exactly what you want them to read or click. My guess is you want them to contact you and book an appointment immediately more than you want them to read your blog or mobile website.

Plan out specific goals for the page and the importance of each goal on a scale of 1 to 5. For example:

• Contact me to schedule an appointment – 5
• View my photo gallery – 5
• Subscribe to something (Email, Facebook, Twitter, RSS) – 3
• View my photography blog – 1
• View informational text or other important pages (About me, Pricing, etc) – 1

In this case, your homepage should look like this

View My Photo Gallery	Contact Me to Schedule an Appointment
Subscribe for great information: Email | Facebook | Twitter | RSS
View my blog
Text about me Links to important pages

Notice how each section has clear text that tells the user what to do (View… Contact… Subscribe…) and the least important information is smallest and at the bottom of the page. The same can be said for top navigation on a site or blog.

As a new user to your website I want:

• examples of photos (Galleries)
• information about the photographer (About)
• pricing information (Pricing)
• contact information (Contact)

Those should be the first links in your navigation. Don’t confuse people with clever names like Investment. Does that mean pricing? As a user I’m not sure and might not click it. Remove any unnecessary links like Client Proofing since that has no relevance to new customers.

Effective navigation can be easily obtained by reducing the amount of choices given to a user. If you have kids you know what I mean. Offer them 10 different candy bars and you’ll be in a decision stalemate for eternity. Offer 1 or 2 and they’ll choose quickly. Focus your user’s attention on the most important actions by removing clutter.

Want to learn more from Zach Prez? Buy his new e-book, “Photography Web Marketing Guide” that takes on a whole lot of topics that will be of interest to working photographers who want to excel in their online marketing efforts.

If you liked the post, or have a perspective you think might help us understand this topic better, please post your comments below.

This is a guest post by Stuart Sipahigil. He is an amateur photographer in the traditional sense of the word; that is, he does it for the love of the craft. His photographs have won awards, appeared in publications, and have made their way into homes and businesses around the country. Stuart also teaches workshops to help other amateur photographers find great photographs close to home. Stuart’s work can be found at TheLightWithout.com.

So, you're “just” an amateur photographer… but you've discovered that you have a love for making photographs and you seem to be pretty good at it. Your friends and family are telling you they love your photographs and several have said you are “good enough to be a professional.” Maybe you've entered a local photography contest or two, and you've done pretty well. Or perhaps you've even sold a few prints of your photographs to the local coffee shop or restaurant.

Now you're thinking to yourself, “maybe I could be a professional photographer,” and then, “how would I do that?” So you check out a couple of books about being a pro photographer — David duChemin's VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography or Dane Sanders' Fast Track Photographer, for example — and discover that it's actually quite a bit of hard work. You already have a career right now and well, it's paying the bills and you're doing okay, even in this economy. Shifting gears to becoming a pro is a big change and would disrupt your life quite a bit. It might be doable, but it would be painful, and you're just not sure it would be worth it.

So now what do you do?

Traditionally, there were the only two paths available to you: turn pro, with all of the responsibilities that entails and the costs associated with it. Or remain an enthusiastic amateur, occasionally selling a print or two at your local art fair, or maybe shooting your cousin's wedding for a few hundred bucks (and thus, pissing off an entire group of professionals—but that's another story). However, I think there are several other choices you can make; several other paths you can trod that don't involve becoming a traditional “pro” to find satisfaction as a talented amateur photographer.

The Internet has changed everything. You have many more outlets for your work now than ever before. Traditionally, if you wanted to get your photographic work out into the public eye you had only a few choices; magazines, gallery showings, or stock photography, for example. Today, you can sign up for a blogging service and start your own photography blog, publishing your work to a worldwide audience in about five minutes. If you're a little more ambitious, you can self-publish your own “coffee table” book of your photographs using services like Blurb or Inkubook. Or publish a photography ebook, either on your own or through a publisher like Craft & Vision. All of these things were prohibitively expensive and perhaps even impossible to do on your own only five years ago.

There used to be an old saying, “Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.” That's simply not true these days (and it never really was). Many professional photographers like Joe McNally, David duChemin, and Zack Arias — all terrific photographers — offer workshops and seminars about the vision, the craft, and the business of photography. But not everyone is ready for (or can afford) workshops with these big names.This can create an opportunity for you to step up and use your skills to help others that are as passionate about this craft as you are. Is there a local arts center in your town? This can be a great place to start and to hone your teaching skills. If you don't have that opportunity, why not just try leading a few photo walks, either on your own or in concert with Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk in July? Signing up to be a walk leader is easy and can get you started on the path to becoming a photographic instructor.

Are you good at talking about photographic tips and techniques? Do you think you can interview other photographers? Maybe you should start a photography podcast. In a few minutes, you can set one up in Apple's iTunes and publish it to a worldwide audience on a regular basis. The folks at Faded & Blurred have done just that, combining it with their own regular photo walks and a lively online community to create a terrific resource for passionate photographers.

If you are currently a professional photographer, you too can benefit from “going amateur.” I don't mean that you should give up your business and find something else to do, but to try to carve out a little time in your life to do some work for yourself. Personal projects are your connection back to why you started in the field to begin with: your love of photography, the feel of the camera in your hands, and the joy of seeing something that moved you appear on film or in the LCD. There is enormous value in removing the pressures of running a successful photography business and just do it for yourself.

Maybe there are other opportunities that you could use to expand your business (and reputation) as well. Matt Brandon, a professional travel and humanitarian photographer, publishes regular interviews with other pros like Ami Vitale, Gary S. Chapman, and Chris Orwig on his Depth of Field podcast. David duChemin created the Craft & Vision eBook publishing business by starting with a few of his own ideas about photography. Chase Jarvis has added The Best Camera, a best-selling book and phone app, as well as the Creative Live educational video series to his successful endeavors. Many other pros are adding to their repertoire of services by taking advantage of these new avenues.

And if your photography business isn't very successful, why not step back and take a fresh look? Is it just a production job for you now: prepare, shoot, post-process, deliver? Have you lost that love for the art that you used to make? Perhaps it's time to re-think photography as a professional career. That may seem a bit harsh, but I'm simply saying your photographic life might be more rewarding without the pressures of trying to make a living at it. Or perhaps you just need to shift gears and, like some of these other pros, add some new roles to your career, such as broadcaster or teacher. There may be opportunities available to you that you just haven't considered.

There are great rewards to becoming a professional photographer if you're willing and able to put in the time and effort it requires, but there is no shame in trying to be a great amateur photographer. Making money with photography doesn't always equate to making exceptional photography. If you love photography and want to do more than just make slideshows for your friends and family, there are more opportunities now than ever before. Overcome your doubt and hesitation, step out and see what you can accomplish as “just” an amateur.

Please support this site and buy Stuart's awesome e-book, Close To Home, through the Craft & Vision website. [affiliate link]

The Mystic Seminars run from January 6-9 and yes, that's in Mystic, Connecticut. Not terribly far from the famed aquarium, so you could really hit two birds with one stone, if fish is your thing. I assure you, that both will be fascinating, but the former will actually inspire your photography and may just make you more money in 2011.

So, my question to you is a simple one: are you attending the annual Mystic Seminars?

Here is the complete lineup of speakers:

Yervant, Jennifer Hudson, Jesh De Rox, Cliff Mautner, David Beckstead, Justine Ungaro, Michael Greenberg, Joseph Victor Stefanchik (JVS), Todd Laffler, Davina + Daniel, Chuck Arlund, Matt Mendelsohn, Sergio, Sean & Melanie McClellan, Angela Carson, John Edgar, Doug Gordon, Andrew “Fundy” Funderburg, Richard Esposito and of course Mystic Seminars' founder, Walter Van Dusen.

It's going to be quite a show. Some are well known names in the business. All of them have been around the block and know what's what in the industry. A few photographers on that list offer workshops and I have attended them (yes, on my own dime). Some, I can even claim to call my friends. But it isn't some freakish form of nepotism that makes me ask the question again: are you attending the annual Mystic Seminars?

If you have the usual gremlins asking, no, doubting your intentions for going to the Mystic Seminars this year, here are 5 reasons why you should attend this annual event:

1) You'll be inspired by what other photographers are doing – craft, vision and business.

2) If you consider yourself even a wee-bit shy, the seminar is a great place to break the ice and connect with other photographers. Think networking for referrals or 2nd shooter opportunities.

3) It will put the “social” back in social media. Do you follow some of the speakers I mentioned above on Twitter or Facebook? Well, there is no better opportunity than the seminars to step up and introduce yourself.

“Social media shouldn't replace being social in person. It should enhance it. Nothing beats face to face.” – Scott Stratten

4) Giving yourself the time to get out of the home-studio/cubicle for a few days to recharge your batteries is the sanest thing you will do for yourself and ultimately your business

5) It's at the very beginning of the year. What you are doing now and in the early part of the year for your business can make or break it.

If you are a wedding photographer or a portrait photographer, it just makes sense to register for this event. This year, the presentations will run over four days at the Mystic Marriott. Each of the photographers mentioned brings a completely different aesthetic to their approach. The diversity is intentional and I applaud Walter for bringing us a very well organized event year after year.

The cost for early-birds like me was $400. If you want to go now, it will be $600 and I say it's still worth it. If you can't make all 4 days, don't fret. Walter is offering day passes at a very reasonable $200, until TODAY or whenever they get sold out.

Yes, the event is in January. Brrr! Right? Well, thankfully the presentations are all going to be indoors. And I really have no excuse to miss it since this takes place right in my back yard (well, close to it).

So, who will I see at this year's Mystic Seminars? Sound off below. If I hear from a bunch of you, perhaps we can plan on doing dinner together? Let me know. I know it will be fun to connect with you all. Let's take this opportunity in early January to reinvigorate ourselves for what will be an incredible 2011 wedding and portrait season.

Tiffinbox, at its core, is about providing solutions and resources for photographers, by building a community of “go-givers.”

Will you join me in making this happen?

For 2011 and beyond I am looking to grow Tiffinbox into something much bigger. As the diversity of guest blogs have shown in 2010, I know that a group effort is much more interesting for all.

7 Things You Can Expect From Tiffinbox In 2011?

1) Video Interviews with photographers

2) Tips on how you can use social media to grow your photography business

3) Portfolios from emerging photographers that will inspire you

4) Reviews of the following:
– popular Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets
– photography equipment
– workshop DVDs, seminars and conventions
– online solutions to streamline your studio workflow

5) More fun contests and giveaways of products you will actually use

6) Opinion-editorials on a variety of topics (some even controversial because we still need to discuss them!)

7) A brand new design that will make it easier to find and share information and connect with other photographers

Seeking Your Support

So, if you are just starting out, or, you've been in the photography industry, for a while, I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions, suggestions, tips or heck, even strong opinions about one topic or another, please feel free to email me at – seshu at tiffinbox dot org.

I might be able to answer your question(s) or someone who has guest blogged here might jump in. Or, even better, someone who hasn't written for Tiffinbox before might offer an answer in the form of a quick article.

a) Guest Blogging For Tiffinbox

My heartfelt thank you's to ALL the 2010 guest bloggers here on Tiffinbox.

If you are interested or even ready to guest blog for Tiffinbox, feel free to submit your ideas now. I am scheduling guest posts for 2011 and will publish them in the order they are received. The sooner you send me your pitch, the sooner your post will show up on the site.

If you have been following my Twitter stream @PicSeshu, you'll know that I am pretty good about promoting the articles you see here on Tiffinbox.

The benefits of guest blogging can be summarized by these three points:

1) Helps you take the first steps in establishing yourself as a credible authority
2) Link back to your site from mine (happens to be a PR5 site)
3) Gain a loyal following of your own if you publish regularly here

b) Tiffinbox began as a labor of love. It will remain so for the most part, but I do have expenses to deal with. If you find the content here valuable, please consider the following 7 ways to support this site:

1) Express yourself. Write a guest blog post.

2) Make a small monthly donation of $1 or more (my PayPal address is – fei8ht at gmail dot com)

3) Buy the e-books you see on the right hand side of this site. I wouldn't recommend anything if I didn't think it was of value. Yes, I make a small commission off of each sale.

4) Buy all your camera equipment from Adorama using this affiliate link: http://www.adorama.com/?kbid=66174. Their prices are competitive and their customer service is awesome!

5) If you are into blogging yourself, consider using WordPress and the Thesis Theme (great for SEO) and Hostgator for your hosting needs. Go on click on those affiliate links and sign up.

6) Help Me Spread the word! Tell your friends, blog about Tiffinbox, Tweet or use Facebook to mention a specific blog post.

7) Sponsor a series of posts in a particular month. Contact me for details on ways that I can help publicize your company in exchange as well.

The end goal at Tiffinbox is to create a community of passionate photographers who are looking to openly learn from each other, elevate their craft and thrive in their businesses together.

Thoughts, reactions, responses, suggestions or opinions? Sound off below in the comments. I would love to hear from you, especially if it is constructive. [grin]

Happy New Year To You All!