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John Harrington, Photographer, Author, & Editor of Photo Business News joins host Scott Sheppard for an informative discussion about creating and maintaining your online reputation within forum communities, social networks, and blogging for business. John begins the discussion with some tips about monitoring feedback on sites such as Yelp.com and TheKnot.com to see what your clients are saying about you, as comments on these widely used forums could negatively impact your business. On the flip side, be sure to encourage your clients to leave positive comments and referrals on these sites to increase your exposure. Setting up Google Alerts can be a quick, free, and effective way to get a view and links to online content discussing your name and your company.

John reminds us that often if your clients are happy they will tell 3 other people, if your clients are unhappy it’s likely they will tell 10+ people and these easy to access, free, online forums and sites are a quick way for them to get the word out about yourwork. John discusses his journey through social networks and how his blog became a resource for many photographers. Blogging and social networking can be a critical success factor, but once you start a blog and build an audience it becomes a regular component of your workload or it can begin to work against you. Determine who your audience will be, your peers, your clients, etc. and maintain relevant content.

John also warns us that you should consider your overall social network presence when joining sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, MySpace, and others. Is it wise to separate your personal friends from professional contacts and their links, comments, and how even possibly images can impact how the world sees you professionally? A quick Google search on your name, can bring up some interesting results.

For more information about John’s work visit: http://www.johnharrington.com/ or his blog at: http://www.photobusinessnews.com, http://www.assignmentconstruct.com/.

The McNamara Report on Inside Digital Photo with Michael J. McNamara
This week’s topic: The art of home printing falls to the Artisan?

Lots of reports out in the last few months suggesting that home printing is on the decline. But is it really, or are certain survey groups playing the numbers game? The fact is that the percentage of prints made at home has declined over the last few years—not really the number of prints made, which is up on all fronts including in brick and mortar stores and online processing sites. That was predictable as stores ramped up their digital printing capabilities and the broadband internet allowed click up to pick up services. Early experiences with home printing turned photographers off, just like early experiences with low res digital cameras. Lots of wasted paper and ink too.

The latest wave of intelligent printers could change all of that. The state of the economy might even drive more people to print at home when the realize the quality, longevity, and price of prints is better than from the store. Store prints made on silver halide print machines are cheap in quantity, but don’t have the color brilliance and display longevity of prints made by most new Epson and HP models which last up to four times longer. Canon lags behind on this one. Smart processors in units such as the new Epson Artisan 800 can fix image directly from memory cards and output nearly perfect prints on the first try, or fix up old and faded prints.

The new photo printers are filled with easy to use image enhancing features that can produce brilliant prints to your home digital darkroom. By giving you control over the final output, the resulting prints can definately look better than anything available through a service lab and the customizations and ability to print on various media make these a viable option for any photographer.

Read more insights and analysis from Mike McNamara on: http://www.mcnamarareport.com

Inside Digital Photo - Special Report
Photokina 2008

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Join Scott Sheppard and Mike McNamara as they review this year’s highlights announced at Photokina 2008 held in Cologne, Germany September 23-28, 2000. Many of the product that were introduced were previewed in the U.S. prior to the event and Scott and Mike share their personal experiences with them and discuss some products that should stay on your radar screen as the fall show season unfolds.

• Adobe CS4 - many features added to this version provide enhanced productivity which at first seem tuned for graphic/print design but will offer great benefits for professional photographers once they become more familiar with the new tools.
• Casio - announced the Casio HIGH SPEED EXILIM Pro EX-F1 and the EX-FH20 Camera superzoom with 9.1 megapixels, and high speed burst shooting up to 40 fps at 7 megapixels and high definition movie recording at up to 1,000 fps. At a price point around $600.
• Canon - launched the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which could easily become the camera of the year but they also showed their new top range compact digital, the PowerShot G10. Both cameras offer the key functionality and performance near their professional cameras but are marketed to the prosumer/entry-level DSLR users.
• Leica - introduced the Leica S2, with its premium collection of lenses that include everything from ultra wide to super telephoto. The S2 features a smaller metal body that is easier to carry, and a special new sensor with 30 x 45 mm and 37.5 megapixels designed for professionals.
• Sigma - delivered upgrades to their camera bodies with Sigma SD15 powered by the 14 megapixel Foveon X3 direct-image-sensor which captures all primary RGB colors. They also announced the Sigma DP2, also 14 megapixel high definition digital camera, which packs the full spec of a DSLR into the body of a compact camera.
• Pentax - took the lead in the entry-level category with their lightweight, easy to maneuver, PENTAX K-m digital SLR camera and lenses. The lenses include two DA L-series interchangeable zoom lenses: the smc PENTAX-DA L 18-55mmF3.5-5.6AL and the smc PENTAX-DA L 50-200mmF4-5.6ED. The system is perfect for first-time DSLR users.
• Ricoh -adds another "cult" point-and-shoot with the GX200 featuring 24 mm wide-angle optical 3x zoom and an effective 12 mega-pixel CCD. Not readily available in the U.S. these cameras add another option to those wishing for their unique status and capabilities.
• Epson - introduced the Epson Perfection V300 entry level scanner, at a price of $99 which includes 4800 x 9600 dpi optical resolution and a built in transparency unit to scan 35mm film.

Scott & Mike also shared their insights to new products announced by Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, and Kodak with their predictions on the impact of these new technologies and their effect on the "megapixel" and "camera wars" which are sure to drive performance to new heights in the next 6 months.

Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage on these products or visit Mike’s site "The McNamara Report" at http://www.mcnamarareport.com.