Thanksgiving is tomorrow and for most of you it's a day off away from the business. Sadly, because your work always puts a camera in your hands, you'll take the day off and forget about capturing your own memories. It's a shoemaker's kids need shoes scenario, and it's your family and friends who wind up barefoot!

Besides capturing memories and telling the story of your Thanksgiving holiday, here's one more terrific aspect of the event - this is your chance to give people a small glimpse of your personal life and create some great blog content. All of you are looking for content material on a regular basis, so why not put together a short slideshow of your family and friends this Thanksgiving and then share it on your blog?

Photodex never slows down in developing new programs to help you create dynamic presentations. If you haven't visited their YouTube channel, it's time to check it out. Get a cup of coffee this morning and kick back and watch a few short videos. Just click on the banner at the top. Or, if you want to be more event specific, click any of the banners below and wander in to a wealth of creative ideas by topic. I picked three of my favorites but there are more. In fact, there are hundreds of demo, technique and videos by your peers, each one demonstrating another aspect of creative storytelling.
 
And if you haven't checked out ProShow 9 yet, Photodex is still running their Skip's reader discount. Just click on the thumbnail to the right to find out more, and remember to use your code: SAVE20WITHSKIP for a 20% discount!

Thanksgiving kicks off the November/December holiday season. This year, don't let the holidays sneak by without capturing your own memories for you, your family, friends and readers! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Photodex/SCU search for the best self-promotional contest is over, and as promised for today, the winner is David Beckham with his video about the Senior Portrait Experience.

David covers all the bases of senior photography, making it a point to build relationships with the girls and the guys. Then he makes it a point to meet their needs whether the portraits are single subject, friends, formal, casual or even sports posters and senior yard banners. To see more of David's work click on any of his images below.

David's grand prize consists of:

• A Lumix GX85K complete with Vario 12-32mm lens from Panasonic
• A Tamron SP 45mm F/1.8 Di VC USD lens(available in Canon, Nikon and Sony mounts)
• A $250 credit towards Bella Art Prints from Marathon Press
• From Photodex a year subscription to ProShow Web Premium
• The industry's FIRST bluetooth light and color meter from Illuminati Instrument Corp.​

In addition, we chose a runner up, Margaret Goodwin, with her video, Pixels to Paint. Margaret will be receiving a one year subscription to ProShow Web Premium.

Congrats to both David and Margaret along with all the artists who entered videos in the search for great self-promotional videos. Technology along with great companies like Photodex have given photographers the best and most creative tools in the 175+ year history of photography!

Intro by Skip Cohen

​So often, in virtually every aspect of business, we develop a formula, a routine to get the job done. Before we know it, we're stuck in that routine and doing the same thing over and again. We do it because it just works, but that old line of "It ain't broke, don't fix it," should be "If it ain't broke you haven't looked hard enough!"

Suzette Allen is back this week with some excellent tips to remind you to change it up! No matter where you're located it's a competitive market and most important of all your images have to look different. It doesn't matter what your photographic specialty is, you want your target audience to look at your galleries or an album and be excited about what they see. You need to make yourself habit-forming!

This week Suzette is bringing a technique familiar to most of you, putting motion into your images. These images are all about changing the perspective of a typical photograph. It's not new to you, but in that formula/routine you developed for shooting so long ago, it's become a forgotten component in your skill set.

"Motion" is such an exciting element to a still image, and as Suzette shares in two videos, slowing that motion down is another great way to change it up.  Combining exciting still images together with short video clips creates a presentation guaranteed to exceed the expectations of your clients.

If you haven't checked out ProShow9 yet, just click on the thumbnail below. Photodex never slows down in developing products to raise the bar on all your presentations. Just click on the banner below to find out more, and remember to use your discount code: SAVE20WITHSKIP for a 20% discount!

by Suzette Allen
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While we are exploring ways we can change up our perspective and make our images more compelling, I definitely must mention MOTION. And that can mean many different ways of adding motion to an image. I think the element of slight blur can add to the storytelling aspect, and even tons of blur can give emotional appeal. I often photograph the landscape from a moving car with a slow shutter on purpose for dynamic blur pictures!

​Adding Blur can be done in camera and also in post. This image was a still shot taken from a video and was tack-sharp because I used a fast shutter speed (broke the video-shutter rule). I added motion with Photoshop to simulate the blurring of her hands. I think it is quite effective!

​Motion can add a lot of energy to an image as well, when panning, so the subject is sharp and the background is blurred. This effect is great, but takes practice to literally pan at the same speed as the subject so it is sharp, while using a slow shutter speed which blurs the background. (This one was taken by my husband Jonny at the Toyota Grand Prix in Long Beach this year!)

​The most obvious [and becoming more popular] way to add motion is VIDEO, though. I see more and more need for shooting video and the technology keeps getting easier as well! Here is a simple but effective clip in slow motion that gets your attention because we never get to see life in slow motion! Great moments, relived over and over in Slow-MO!

​While learning to shoot and edit video is a true journey, Photodex makes it amazingly easy to get going on it right away by shooting short clips and combining with stills to make great HYBRID videos in minutes! Pro Show Web is the fastest way to make a dynamic show with video and virtually no learning curve! This beautiful love story was created with Pro Show Web this summer in a big hurry for a deadline and Photodex saved the day (and literally made it possible!)

by Kathy

​Love learning new photography skills and techniques? We do too! That’s why we’re listing out our top 10 favorite photography blogs (including the ProShow Blog…of course!) for easier scouting.
Need a tutorial, video, directions, in depth articles, or even quick and easy articles…these blogs have it all. Browse through these 10 blogs and see what sparks your creativity.

1. ProShow Blog: Find tons of tutorial videos on how to use ProShow features, get freebie FX sets, find photography tips and projects, and much more. Plus, get photography, business, and marketing tips directly from photographers and watch plenty of fun slideshows from our ProShow fans.
2. 500px: 500px is full of helpful articles by professional photographers on a range of topics for everyone and plenty of general photography tutorials to improve your skills or learn something new. You can also browse through a collection of photos for inspiration from a worldwide community.
3. Digital Photography School: Take your photography to the next level with DPS. “We offer daily tips, resources and free tutorials that will help you get the most out of your camera and create stunning photos.”
4. Lightroom Killer Tips: Even though photography isn’t the main focus…it is still a great resource to learn more about using Lightroom and Photoshop to edit your photos in post processing. These tools make it easy and the blog is full of tips and tricks to make it even easier. Check it out!
5. PetaPixel: Get everything you need to know about photography in one place. Petapixel has a variety of posts from education to informational posts in what’s going on in the photography and tech industry.
6. Skip Cohen University: Raise the bar on your photography with SCU. It’s loaded with tons advice from recognized professional photographers, businesses, marketing, and amazing content by Skip Cohen. Need help marketing your business, want to see what other photographers do in their business, need content for your blog or advice on your website…SCU has the answers.
7. Photofocus: A one-stop-shop with helpful articles for photography + video, Lightroom, Photoshop, business, and much more. This is a site for anyone…from aspiring beginners to professionals who are looking to brush up on their skills.
8. Light Stalking: In addition to spreading the word about photographers and their work they also share tons of photography technique posts, tips and advice, guides, and more.
9. Expert Photography: “Expert Photography is a tutorial blog packed full of useful information, aimed towards amateur photographers looking for the knowledge they need to improve their skills and become pro.”
10. Click it Up a Notch: A fun source that shares more than just photography tips. You can also find tech + camera information, articles about different styles of photography, lighting, editing, manual mode, and a couple of other helpful categories. Easily scroll through to find what you need.

Don’t forget to make a ProShow slideshow of your work. Share with us your favorite style, the progression of your improvement, a theme, or anything else you want.