Intro by Skip Cohen

I'm not sure how I missed this, but wandering through the Photodex blog, I ran across this post from January. I couldn't be more proud to work with the Photodex team, but there's something else I love about this.

We're an industry filled with a variety of resources to help artists raise the bar on their images; run their businesses better and essentially enhance their career path as photographers. The team at Photodex never slows down on ways to help you create the finest presentations for your clients. 

If you haven't been on their YouTube channel it's time you took a "scroll" through cyber space and checked it out. It's loaded with great content, tips and examples of how to make the most out of your images.

We're all part of an incredibly competitive industry and you've got to find ways to make your work different from everybody else. Just click on the banner below for the gateway to five hundred different videos, all thanks to Photodex and their never-ending focus on expanding our creativity.

It’s time to celebrate! Our Photodex YouTube Channel hit 10 million views! Actually, it’s more like 10,052,449 views.

​Thanks to all of our ProShow fans for watching and sharing our videos. We post step-by-step training videos, spotlighted shows, product demos, and more to provide #quicktip information on ProShow Gold, ProShow Producer, and ProShow Web for you.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check out our playlists!

• ProShow Gold & Producer Training
• ProShow Web Training
• Nature & Travel Slideshows
• Wedding Slideshows
• ProShow StylePacks & Demos
• Kids & Family Slideshows
• Seniors & Sports Slideshows

by Skip Cohen

For the past few years I've written numerous posts about the importance of slide shows and hybrid technology. In the 175+ year history of photography, artists have NEVER had more tools than they do today. Photodex is responsible for a number of those creative tools.

There's very little that beats a great demo slide show on your website. In fact, it's the perfect marketing tool to demonstrate your storytelling ability, skill set and relationship with your clients. Plus, video slideshows are an ideal product to be part of the services you offer every client.

Photodex has just added a full collection of changes for their ProShow Web customers. The creative tools, now at your fingertips, give photographers an even greater ability to demonstrate their skill set!

Check out this list of new features from their recent press release!
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• Built-in Photo Editing
  Powered by Adobe Creative Cloud, users can now use built-in photo editing tools to crop, color adjust, sharpen, focus and more.
• New Theme: Infinity
  Co-designed with award-winning photographer Sal Cincotta, the new slideshow them 'Infinity' features sleek and simple FX that showcase photos and videos beautifully. Here's a preview:

• 175+ New Songs
  Over 175 new royalty-free songs have been added to the ProShow Web music library offering a wider array of song selection for slideshow makers. Users can save songs as 'favorites' to easily access them in the future.
• Vimeo Output
  Video slideshows can now be output directly to Vimeo.com, Photodex's preferred video service because of its high-quality, superior design and ad-free viewing.
• Updated UI
  Fresh, new user interface implemented for simplified navigation. Users have easy access to photo editing and FX.

"We're excited about adding these new features and look forward to seeing all the creative ways our customers use them to produce professional-quality slideshows ," said David Eddy, CEO of Photodex.

Pricing and Availability: New features are available online now and are free for all ProShow Web customers. New users can sign up for a free account by visiting www.ProShowWeb.com. For unlimited video creation, more options and higher quality downloads, users can upgrade to a Plus ($48/year) or Premium ($192/year) ProShow Web subscription.  

One of my favorite things about slideshows is how powerful they can be. There’s something about setting a series of photographs in motion with just the right music that can really tug at people’s emotions. That’s why it is such a great tool to use in your business! Making a demo reel of your showcase images can only add to the awesomeness you are creating and putting into the world. Here are a few of my tips on how to make an effective demo reel:

1. Cull your favorite photos down. Way down.
   (I have tips on culling here: 5 Tips to Choose Your Best Images) Having too many photos in your slideshow can cause the images to flash by far too quickly for your potential clients to enjoy them. It’s impossible to show every amazing photo you’ve taken so try to think of including a broad range of photos. For example, with weddings, I don’t want to include 80% of my slideshow to be getting ready photos. There’s so much more to the day. I want to include a range of photos to showcase the scope of my work.
2. Pick an organization method.
   I’ve seen a lot of slideshows that move me. Some are chronological slideshows and some lead with their killer images first. Either method you choose, make sure you stick to it. The only slideshows that fail to move me are the ones that tend to be all over the place. For my wedding demo reels, I tend to think of them as being similar to the wedding albums I create. I like them to start out with getting ready, move into first looks, move into ceremonies, move into portraits, move into celebrations. I want my wedding clients to be viewing pictures in the same way they’d be viewing them when I show them their wedding photos.
3. Pick awesome music.
   Now, this can be subjective. Awesome isn’t the same to everyone. Everyone’s business has a different feel and message. Make sure what you pick is in alignment with the branding message you are trying to put out into the world. If you’re a high energy, spirited company, you probably shouldn’t do a demo reel to Pachelbel’s Canon. Likewise, if you’re a super romantic, light and airy, “quiet beauty” type photographer, you probably don’t want to choose electronica music. For my latest demo reel, I chose a cheerful, upbeat song as I feel that sentiment goes hand in hand with my company name “Lovesome” which means displaying warmth and affection. I love to showcase happiness and joy in my photos, so a happy, joyful song suits my message. Photodex has a wide range of songs in their music library that are all free, but you can also pull from great online libraries such as SongFreedom to get your licensed music. Remember, using licensed music is important. As photographers, we want people to respect our copyrights so we need to respect our artist peers in the music industry as well!
4. Share, share, share!
   ProShow is awesome about making it easy to download files of all sizes and formats, which means it’s super easy for you to share your slideshow on all kinds of media. Get it out on your blog, your social media accounts, email to clients, show them in person. The more people that see your beautiful work, the more positive effect it can have on your business.

These are just a few of my suggestions. Do you have any tips you’ve discovered when making your own demo reel? Be sure to share in the comments!