A Japanese proverb goes something like this: “One written word is worth a thousand pieces of gold”

Granted this is a thinly veiled commercial for an online content marketing company, but this video is a must-see for all photographers.

a) It's for photographers who don't think blogging is all that useful
b) It's for photographers who have embraced blogging but only post images on their sites and don't express themselves in words as well
c) It's for photographers who spend their time only lurking on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and don't consistently engage with their audience/target market

Now that you know WHY words can make a difference I bet you are scratching your head about HOW to go about blogging for your photography business.

First, I highly recommend Zach Prez's ebooks – Photography Blog Success AND Photography Web Marketing Guide. These two guides are filled with great information and you can't go wrong. I am plugging them here as affiliate only because I think it is worthy of being promoted because they are so useful.

Still not convinced you should write? Hit this blog post I wrote – Read, To Write. Then go read Juan Mireles' synopsis of Jasmine Star's approach and what makes her so successful.

Other awesome resources for you to consider:

Blog Topics by Chris Brogan and friends – a weekly email that will help you come up with a variety of posts if you start to suffer from writer's block. “For $9.97 a month, you get over 40 topics and tons of writing advice.”

I am a huge fan of Kristen Kalp. Her ebook, “Circus Circus” is like a laser guided missile that will hit its target – writing for your business. It's not just about blogging, though that is covered briefly. If you need help writing even a bio, an about me page, a manifesto about what you bring to your target market that is unique, then you've gotta get it.

I am just getting into this book now – Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life – but it came highly recommended, so I figured I would pass that recommendation along to you as well.

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.

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!