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Yvette Roman, Wedding & Portrait Photographer joins host Scott Sheppard for some insight and perspective on the impact of VPS LLC’s recent patent suit against Pictage on her photography business and what this action means to professional photographers selling their work online. Yvette, a longtime Pictage client, received a notice from Pictage raising their fees effectively immediately. Yvette uses Pictage’s services for online proofing and remote print sales and fulfillment. Yvette explains the benefits of working with Pictage, including the ability to store and access her archives off-site providing her instant access to her high-resolution images.
VPS LLC., in their suit, also went after some individual photography studios. Rather than panic, Yvette did extensive research to find out the details of the patent and shares her findings. She explains that Pictage’s services involve an online conversion and replacement of high-resolution and low-resolution images handled on their server which was the root of VPS’s patent and their suit costing Pictage millions in unpaid royalty fees which they passed onto their clients. The suit has since settled and Pictage’s new fee structure is in place.
Yvette also researched some other lab options including services offered by DigiLabs and RedCart which are not effected by VPS’ patented technologies. She advises other photographers to look into these services carefully, and encourages them to ask whether their business model is affected by VPS royalties or patents.
Yvette also explains some details about her work. She primarily shoots on film and then scans her original work for digital finishing, in a hybrid workflow. She feels her traditional approach has helped her carve out a niche in her local wedding market and shares some anecdotes to consider.
Find out more about Yvette’s work at: http://www.yrphoto.com
The McNamara Report on Inside Digital Photo with Michael J. McNamara
This week’s topic: Sony’s latest HD Mega-Camcorder: Is it a DSLR replacement?
At CES 2009 Sony introduced a new HD camcorder that’s bound to catch the attention of still photographers. On the one hand, the HandyCam HDR-XR520V (@1500 street) does all the 
things you’d expect from a decent Sony HD camcorder, like capture hours and hours of high quality 1080i HD video to its 240GB hard drive, plus reveal detail in low light with the help of its new sensor and bright 15X optical-stabilized lens. On the other hand, it crosses the line into high res still photography by capturing 6MP still photos (Sony claims 12MP still capture, but that’s after interpolation) to a Memory Stick Pro DUO. Plus, it has a built-in GPS receiver for geotagging location information to both still photos and movies. Learn more about this camcorder and why it might bring more than a smile to serious photographers in this segment of the McNamara Report.
Listen in on the McNamara Report segment or get more photo insights and analysis on a variety of topics from Mike McNamara at: http://www.mcnamarareport.com.
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Jared Henderson, Owner/Founder, NetRivet joins host Scott Sheppard to discuss details on how to upgrade your photo site and blog using "
Designed to work as a "plug-in" as well as a theme, Jared explains how his theme enables over 700 customizable features making it easy to update and edit without ever touching a line of code. One of the key features is an integrated Flash photo gallery player for the header that adds dynamic images instantly. Jared’s template truly takes the guesswork out of creating a great site. Prophoto has implemented not only great design, but also incorporated many best practices - including SEO - making it an ideal turnkey solution. 
Jared also discusses some tips about how your site and / or blog can help photographers build their brand not just showcase their work. Standard flash-based portfolio sites are a good starting point, but much of any professional’s business depends on personal relationships and building a relationship with your clients. Transforming your portfolio site into an interactive blog is a great way to share your ideas and even find new clients leveraging a Wordpress blog’s inherent social networking and viral content tools. 
