The Claim: “Earn $200+ per day taking simple photos in your local area.”

“Make money taking local photos for national companies. A step-by-step guide to getting started in this virtually unknown industry.”

Easy Photo Biz Home Page

The Truth: Well, the fact that I don’t really know what to call this product already starts it off a little lower than the competition.  Do I call it “Easy Photography Business”, “Easy Photo Biz”, “Make Money Taking Local Photos For National Companies” or “Earn $200 A Day Taking Local Photos?” I’ll be honest, I don’t really know what to call it.  The author, John Carroll, has done a poor job in that regard.

Once I looked past the naming snafu, I found there was actually a pretty good product underneath. John Carroll does provide over 100 sources that are looking to have pictures of items (cars, homes, boats, etc) on their behalf.  The one thing you need to understand though, once you start contacting these companies is that not all of them are going to be looking for people in your area.  There’s a big list for a reason.  If you do want to use this system, then keep trying until you get a “yes” from someone.

The nice thing about this system is that it’s great for people who need a lot of flexibility.  For example, stay at home moms, students, and people with otherwise busy schedules can use this system, make money, yet still manage to fit this into their already hectic lives.

Many books will teach you how to make money with your pictures regardless of what pictures you’re taking. However, that can turn out to be low paying work if no one wants pictures of what you are photographing.  In this book, however, you’re getting paid very well for taking simple photos.  They might not be exciting photos, but it’s still a good way to earn money while you learn to become a better all around photographer.

Highlights:

• No major investment in photography equipment required.  A consumer level digital camera is all you need to get started
• A flexible opportunity – great for students and stay at home moms or anyone with a busy schedule
• Other opportunities to earn money performing additional services these companies are also in need of. (not necessarily photo related, but helpful to anyone in need of money)
• Bonus: This system also comes with a bonus called “Hometown Freelancing” (he named the bonus but not the actual product?). This bonus was a great addition since it provides several other methods you can use to make money with your camera.  If you decide you’d like to expand or have more creative freedom then this bonus can definitely help you.

We found the eBook to be packed with content, not fluff and filler.

Credibility: At DigitalShotsGuide.com, we like it when the author of a book “walks the walk” instead of just “talking the talk.”  Easy Photography Business author John Carroll is an individual who is actively involved in the business himself, which gets earns him a gold star in our book.  Rather than just talking about theories, this book delivers “the goods.”

Rating:

Easy Photography Business has earned an excellent rating – 4 Stars! It was close to earning that elusive 5th star (but can you really earn 5 stars if you don’t give your product a name?), but we settled on a four. This is a highly specialized niche that few others even know about…much less reveal how to profit from.  John Carroll does an excellent job teaching anyone with a camera and a computer how to make money taking pictures.   Recommended.

Click Here To Learn More About Easy Photography Business

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Website URL:
www.easyphotobiz.com
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Want to learn how to take pictures of fireworks or lightning? Want to be able to take those cool pictures with only a background and the blur of a light or of writing in the air with light? Well you can create all these effects and more using one simple rule: low light, long exposure.

All you need is a tripod and a camera with an adjustable shutter speed. Set up in an area with little or no light (except the subject of your picture, of course) and set the shutter to be very slow (several seconds). Be sure not to move or jerk the camera when your picture is being taken (using a camera remote helps, but is not needed) and you can capture moving lights and objects creating unique, artsy, or just plain cool pictures. Below are a few examples to start with, but there’s really no limit to what you can do.

Blurring Lights

One application of this is blurring lights. Many of us have seen this technique (maybe on video) where the background is clear and crisp, but anything moving appears blurred with the lights showing up particularly well. For outdoors pictures, twilight is best (or even when it’s dark). Take the picture when one or more objects in the picture are moving. It looks best when a moving object is lit up (i.e. headlights on a car) because this will show up best in the picture. The length of your exposure (as always) depends on the speed the object is moving and the light level around you. Set your exposure as long as you need to in order to capture the scene. If the picture turns out overexposed or even completely white, shorten the time your shutter is open.

Picture of a rotating fiber optic Christmas tree taken using a long exposure. (click image for larger, high-quality shot)

Drawing With A Laser Pointer In Your Pictures

Have you ever seen Picasso’s light drawing of a bull? This was doing by using a very long exposure time and a bright light beam (point flashlight). When I first showed my friend this technique, he thought the pictures were of someone writing on glass. In actuality, the subject simply writes slowly in the air with light while the shutter is left open for a long time (depending on how long the artist needs and how long your camera will allow you to keep the shutter open). If you’ve never tried this technique you should. It is great fun and you get a product that definitely gets a second look. Just remember to set up in a room or area that is VERY dark. If you can block any light coming in, do so. This way the writing or drawing will show up best.

Taking Pictures of Fireworks

Using a long exposure time is also a great way to take lightning or fireworks pictures. You really can’t just guess when lightning is going to strike (and if you can, please tell me how) and it may be hard to predict fireworks as well. In a lightning storm (or fireworks show), simply set a long exposure time and let the camera sit. For lightning, you probably want to start with the slowest shutter speed possible and work down. Fireworks can use a faster shutter speed because you can predict them better and they may blur. Since these pictures will be generally shot at night or under dark cloud cover, you don’t have to worry about overexposure, but the slow shutter speed will allow you to capture the light show without psychic powers. If you don’t want to do all this hard work yourself, many cameras have a fireworks setting that does all the work for you. But using a tripod still helps for crystal clear shots.

Photo of fireworks taken using a slow shutter speed. (click image for larger, high-quality shot)

These are just a few ideas for great pictures you can take using this technique. There are endless possibilities for other fun things you can do. Why don’t you try using this idea to take pictures of stars (watch your exposure time though, the stars do move), go out during a meter shower, or come up with some ideas of your own?

1. Blurry Photos

• Turn on the lights in the room so that your subjects’ pupils will decrease in size.
• Ask them to look to the side of your camera rather than straight at the camera when you snap the picture.
• Divert babies or pets so that they look away from the camera.

3. Lens Flare

These simple tips should have you taking better, and more consistent, photos in no time!

Today I’d like to talk just a little bit about one of my favorite features on a digital camera – the articulating LCD screen – in fact I will not buy one without this feature.

If you were to ask me what my favorite advance in photography in the past few years was, I wouldn’t say photo editing, increased megapixels, or even DSLR’s. I would tell you about my articulating lcd screen (also called a “flip out and twist” screen), and I’d probably go on about it for another 10 minutes.

Not only is my lcd screen protected when I’m not using it (it’s folded into the body of the camera), but I can take pictures from almost any angle with out having to leave the framing to blind faith. This way, even if you don’t have an external flash, you can still bounce it and see what you’re shooting at the same time.

My dad’s favorite part is the great candid shots you can get. Who would suspect you’re taking a picture when your camera is sitting in your lap or on the table. You can get great realistic shots without posing or camera shyness. If you get really good, you can even take pictures of someone standing behind you!

While it’s a piece of cake to find a video camera with an articulating LCD screen (it comes on virtually all consumer models), for some reason an articulating screen is harder to find on digital cameras, and just because the previous model of a camera had one doesn’t necessarily mean it’s next version will.

Case In Point. The Canon Powershot G7. While it’s predecessors (dating back to the Powershot G1) all had articulating LCD screens, Canon didn’t include on in its most recent release with the G7.

So here’s a list of digital cameras with articulating LCD screens. You’ll notice a lot of Canon cameras in the list, and they do certainly make more flip out and twist LCD screens than any other manufacturer, but they’re not the only one. I tried to cover all the current models in this release, but its likely I missed some. If that’s the case, then please post any corrections or omissions in the comments below.

Canon Powershot G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, G6.
Nikon Coolpix 5000, 5400, 8400, 5700, 8700, 8800.
Canon Powershot S1 IS, S2 IS, S3 IS, S4 IS, S5 IS,
Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200
Canon Powershot A80
Pentax Optio 750Z
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50K (one of the best higher end cameras with this feature)
Canon Powershot A640, A650 IS
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 (flip out only, no twist)