AlbumExposure Blog

Help us choose some new music!

Jared — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:00:46 +0000

We’re teaming up with some local friends to bring you some fresh royalty free music from some great independent artists out of Zion Studios in Orange County.

But we need your help deciding on which songs! Check out the clips below and vote for your favorites!

November:

Month of Sundays:

I’ll be your Woman:

Small Hands:

Heaven Knows:

Sailing on to you:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Update: Thanks everyone who voted, the poll is now closed. We’ll be adding the new music soon as well as publishing a feature blog post on each artist!

Cheers!

The AlbumExposure Team

Who wants a free pass to WPPI?

Christa — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:40 +0000

Hey Photographers!

It was great to meet so many of you in person at SWPP and ImagingUSA… Hope everyone had great time!

WPPI Las Vegas is right around the corner, and we’ve got a few free passes to give away!

We have 2 Free Convention Passes (good for the entire WPPI event and classes- $399 value), and 5 Free Trade Show passes (good for unlimited access to the trade show floor).

If you would like a free pass, let us know! You can send us a comment via facebook, or if you’re not a facebook user, you can leave us a comment on this blog.

We’ll choose the recipients on Wednesday, Feb. 1st!

The fine print conditions about the pass:

You can’t already be registered for WPPI (but you could give the pass to a friend)
Registration doesn’t include a guest

If you’re coming to WPPI this year, make sure and stop by our booth for free high fives! Hope to see you there!

Cheers,
The AlbumExposure Team

New Year, New Features!

Christa — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:06 +0000

Hey guys! I hope 2012 has been treating everyone well so far.

We’ve been busy working on some new features for the site! As you may have noticed, we have launched three new languages for presentations. In addition to English and Portuguese, you can now present your albums in Italian, Dutch, and Spanish!

We are continuing to add new languages as they’re requested… If you would like to help us translate AlbumExposure into a different language, send us an email at support@albumexposure.com and let us know what language you would like to see, and/or what language you can help out with!

We are also excited to announce that we have added an optional “client notification” feature. This allows us to contact your client, on your behalf, via email that is branded to your studio. It will send your clients automatic notifications when you have posted comments, and provide reminders for you clients to view or approve an album. To enable this feature, go to your ‘album editing’ page, and check the box that says, “Enable Client Notifications”.

We will have more new features coming your way very soon!

Cheers,

The AlbumExposure Team

P.S. If you are in London for SWPP right now, be sure to stop by our booth and say Hi!

Triple Scoop Music: Holiday Discount!

Christa — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:43 +0000

Happy Holidays Everyone!

The year is quickly coming to a close, (perhaps too quickly, for some of us!) but don’t fret–we’ve got a great discount for our AlbumExposure users to finish off the year!

Get 20% off of your purchase from Triple Scoop Music when you use the discount code: HolidayCheer11

In case you’ve never heard of Triple Scoop, it’s an awesome music licensing service that is used by some of the world’s top creative professionals. Use Triple Scoop to get music for your album slideshows, videos, personal or professional websites, and even Facebook and Youtube. Pretty great, eh?

Visit www.TripleScoopMusic.com to learn more.

Discount code expires 12/31/11, so act fast!

Love,

The AlbumExposure Team

Free EXPO Pass!!

Christa — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:00:50 +0000

Hey Photographers!

We’re going to be in New Orleans in January for the “ImagingUSA” trade show, and we’d like you to join us! We’re offering free EXPO passes to anyone who wants one. Good deal, eh?

To register for your free pass, click here:

https://www.xpressreg.net/register/IMGX012/start.asp?sc=2012TSC

At the Imaging USA Expo, you can find the products you need, and build relationships with some rad collaborative suppliers and partners. You’ll also have the opportunity to engage with hundreds of service providers and product distributors who have innovative ideas to help you boost your business!

We’re not kidding around. Accenting Imaging EXPO is one of the largest international photography exhibits in North America. Come get inspired! And don’t forget to stop by our booth (1139) and give us a high five!

Hope to see you there!

Love,

The AlbumExposure Team

Internationalization is here!

Jared — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:55:03 +0000

Many of you have asked us about using AlbumExposure for your clients in other languages. We have just launched the Portuguese translation and more will be available very soon! We’re now in the process of translating the client side of AlbumExposure into French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Dutch.

If you speak any of these languages and would like to help us with translating or if you would like to suggest another language option, we’d be so grateful! Just shoot us an email at support [at] albumexposure.com!

Cheers!
The AlbumExposure Team

Portuguese Translation is Ready!

Christa — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:00:20 +0000

We’re happy to announce the launch of our first language option: Portuguese!

To select your preferred language, go to the “Preferences” tab:

Then find the “Default Presentation Language” box at the bottom of the page:

This translation will only affect the album preview/presentation view. The back end of AlbumExposure will still display in English for the photographer’s use.

Need a different language?

We’re in the process of translating the client side of AlbumExposure into French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Dutch. If you’re eager to proof to your clients who speak a different language, we need your help!

If you speak any of these languages or if you would like to suggest another language option, please email us today at support@albumexposure.com (and make sure to mention what language you can provide help with).

Thanks!

The AlbumExposure Team

Internet Explorer Update

Jared — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:46:09 +0000

Just over a year ago we posted a blog article about why we were ditching flash and with that went support for book view in Internet Explorer. Today I’m happy to announce that AlbumExposure now supports book view in Internet Explorer 9. If your client is using IE 8 or less, they’ll simply be redirected to slideshow view when book view is your default. Clients using IE 8 or less are still able to review albums and post comments, just only in slideshow view.

If you’re using IE 9 on the backend, things might still look a little off due to IE 9′s lack of support for css3 and html5 video, but should work regardless. We of course still recommend Firefox or Chrome for using the backend of AlbumExposure on Windows, but IE 9 should work if you prefer it.

Cheers!

Jared

Guest blog and discount from PWD Labs!

Christa — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:00:45 +0000

Hey Folks,

If album season’s got you feeling swamped, we’ve got some good news for you! This week our friends at PWD Labs are offering you 25% off an album design. You’re welcome. :)

PWD has an awesome team of professional editors and designers who will learn your signature style so that your album designs are spot on, getting you the credit you deserve without the headaches! Plus, they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so you can rest assured knowing that your pictures are in good hands.

To redeem your 25% discount, use discount code: ALBUMEXPOSURE

Today we’ve got a guest article from Jerry Weiner of PWD Labs. He’s here to give us some advice about client involvement in album design. Check out what he has to say!

Involving Clients in Album Design
By Jerry Weiner

A number of decisions must be made when designing an album, not the least of which is how much to involve the client. While most photographers involve the client to at least some extent, some involve them very little or not at all.

Most observers would tell you that the more the client is involved, the longer and more arduous the process will be. While clients may think they know what they want, they don’t typically think in terms of design and story-telling. This can lead to delays and non-cohesive designs.

And yet, many photographers perish the thought of designing an album without their client’s input. So, what is a photographer to do when it comes to client involvement in the album design process? How much client involvement is enough? How much is too much?

The answers to these things are never simple, as each photographer has to define their own approach based on their business, clients and market pressures. Here are a couple basic questions that can help create the groundwork for a set of rules:

Who picks the images to be included in the album?It’s usually the photographer, the client, or the photographer with subsequent modification by the client. As indicated above, experience indicates that limited client involvement in picking the images is more likely to produce better results within a reasonable period of time. If a client is involved in the decision making process, however, it is advisable to enforce certain constraints such as a time limitation to keep the process moving along.

Will the design be presented to the client for input before it is finalized? If yes, how many rounds of changes is a client allowed and over what period of time?If the photographer is designing the album, it’s her responsibility to decide on the rules. If, however, the photographer outsources the project to a designer, the designer will likely have their own set of rules for how the process flows (and the photographer need only follow and enforce the rules in place). Either way, if clients are involved, it’s again advisable to enforce constraints to keep the design project from bogging down. Photographers can also make use of tools like AlbumExposure’s proofing site to streamline communications with the client.

Whatever you decide, set your rules, set your clients’ expectations and enforce the rules. The client chose you based on their appreciation of you and your art, so control the process and give them a design that makes them feel good about their decision to hire you in the first place.

What are you waiting for? Head over to PWD Labs and get a discounted album design… Then get off the computer and go enjoy all the free time you have now!

Guest Blog: The Option of Outsourcing

Christa — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:00:08 +0000

Happy November Everyone!

We’re starting the new month with a guest blog from our friends at Revolution Design & Imaging. They’ve got some interesting input regarding a common dilemma photographers deal with: To Outsource, or Not To Outsource.

The Option of Outsourcing

Earlier this month, our friends at Shoot Dot Edit did a great job of debunking the myths that many wedding photographers deal with on a regular basis when it comes to how they spend their time.

According to the International Society of Wedding Photographers, the average wedding photographer spends close to 40% of their time between editing photos & other computer tasks and album design & production. Earlier this year, we wanted to take this one step further and see how much time exactly is invested within these post-production related categories by conducting a client survey.

The Results:

Does this look familiar? The tasks above total more than 45 hours—of which approximately 70% is spent in front of your computer screen. If only brides and grooms (and all clients for that matter!) realized how much happens behind the scenes in what we know as post-production! Please keep in mind that these are averages, as we know some of you out there are culling masters or Jedi artistic editors.

For some photographers, the above post-wedding workflow just plain works. However, for many others, there are just not enough hours in the day! When was the last time you had the opportunity to:

-Window shop for new gear?

-Sweat out stress at hot yoga?

-Converse with a real human friend (outside of Facebook, Twitter, G-chat and Skype)?

-Pursue a dream of tightrope walking?

-Eat dinner with the family sans phone… Dare we even suggest prepare the family meal?

When you realize you want the opportunity to do any of the activities listed above, or others you may have only dreamed about—consider the option of outsourcing.

So there you have it! Post-production has never been easier, because Revolution is a company that loves to do the heaving lifting for you! Be sure to check them out, and take advantage of their offer… Get a Design, Print and Bind for $299! Click here to order.

Cheers!