A Guest Post by SusanG from Camelot Photography Forum.

We talk about things like Workflow and Task Management. Yet, how much time do we dedicate to looking, really looking, into our own work? The end product itself!

I spent eight months last year photographing one linear mile. It wasn’t a planned series, but evolved into a long-term project. I recently reviewed the whole collection to select forty images as representative. In re-assessing the series, I took a long hard look to determine if the photography was an evolution of a signature approach, or a rut. That was not easy. It almost teetered into a self-involved downward spiral of “Why is everything rubbish?”

I kicked my ass out of that one ASAP as the end result of whinge-influenced decisions often is not a forward motion but a knee jerk response. Which can result in decisions that don’t further the goal. What does further the goal is to analyse objectively why an image (or images) failed or didn’t succeed as well as expected. Define the problem then look for solutions.

Also take the time to see what has been accomplished. If you know in your heart and mind that you have achieved a goodly portion of your photographic goals, take a moment to bask in that. There is more to be gained from honest congratulations then beating your self up. But keep that “Why Is Everything Rubbish” on hand for brief self-indulgences, and then use it in a positive manner.

My appraisal identified what lens and camera purchases I will be making next. I see that I still have issues resolving what I think I’m seeing to what I’m actually seeing in terms of composition. Which tells me I need to evaluate more completely the scene before I think I’m ready to click the shutter.

Perhaps that isn’t earth shattering, or a Road-To-Damascus moment. It is an important process and it has helped me to plan the next steps to where I want photography to take me.

Practical Things – Recap!

1. Look at what makes the bulk of your subject and composition. Think about making a specific purchase (lens, filters, even camera upgrade) to take those types of images.
2. Look for what’s missing! Could you have repositioned the camera to take a better or more complete perspective? Do you need to spend more time looking for different views to photograph a scene or subject?Be brutally honest with yourself when considering the above. You’ll stand a better chance of purchasing the equipment you need, and have a better idea on how to use it.
3. Look for what’s right in your photography! No matter how small you may think it, everything you feel you got right is one more step towards becoming the photographer you want to be!

These are only a part of an ongoing process. Once you know where your photography is, you have taken an intelligent and objective look at your work. There’s bound to be items I missed or are unique to your own photography. That is what makes your work unique. That is what defines part of your signature style.

SusanG is the Creator of Camelot Photography Forum, a MySpace™ Photography Site where anyone can find their new level.

I’m Benjamin and am a hitchhiking photographer. In my travels I quickly realized a need to make my own postcards for my friends and family.

I wanted unique and personal postcards at a cheap price. Here is the result of that quest. This is a post for those whom aren’t familiar with Photoshop and editing their photographs. You should be able to make postcards that are one-of-a-kind and appealing at less than the cost of buying a postcard.

Read on and when you are finished, please share this post with others, whom would benefit from it. Also, check out my journey hitchhiking around the USA, sharing stories of the Goodness of People at my blog, Create Our World.

Here we Go!!!

What You Need:

1. A digital camera.
2. Access to a Computer and the Internet.
3. About 15 to 30 minutes.
4. A Free Picnik Account.
5. About 30 cents for the card and 44 cents for the stamp.
6. A Zip Drive.

Make Your Own Postcard (here is a photograph I took of my friend, Nai, in Austin, Texas)

1. Take a Photograph and Upload it to a computer

I love to photograph people. I love to remember places by the people I am with, so my postcards are of friends, either new or old. What do you want to remember about the place or what do you want to share? Be personal and be yourself. And take that shot and upload it to your own laptop or upload it at a computer lab.

2. Edit your Photograph. (Optional.)

If you are a Photoshop expert, you can skip this page and just do what you do. Or if you don’t care about jazzing your photograph up a bit, then skip it as well. But with a few clicks, you can really improve how your image looks and trick your granny into thinking you are a professional photographer.

Open up your photo editor. I use iPhoto for my Mac. I have also used Picasa by Google, which is a free download and is easy to use. You can also do this in Picnik, which I am going to explain in the next step.

Here are two easy steps you can take to making the photograph look more vibrant. One increase the contrast of the photograph. Usually there is a little pointer that you can just drag. Contrast makes the darks darker and the lights lighter. The second step is to increase or decrease the color saturation. You can make the colors a little richer to improve the photograph or sometimes by lessening the colors, it will catch the eye more. Fool around with these two settings until you have a photograph that you are happy with.

3. Upload your photograph to Picnik

Picnik is an online photograph editor. Picnik is free for the basic edits and it has a lot of options to use. Sign up for a free account and follow the instructions to upload your photograph.

4. Create Your Postcard

Here we are going to jazz our photograph up a bit more, add borders, and add our message. (Picnik has lots of options, so feel free to add any options that you want)

A. Open up the CREATE tab along the top of the border.

B. Click on the LOMO Filter under EFFECTS. (This simulates how a LOMO camera would take a photograph, which is toy camera.)

This increases the saturation of the photograph, adds a vignette (a dark shadow around the border), and blurs the outside of the photograph. Mess around with the settings until your photograph looks as you want.

C. Add the Border in Frames.

Every good postcard has a border. Choose a color for the border that goes well with the photograph. Go with black, if you can’t decide. Then, make it look like a postcard, by increasing thickness of the OUTER COLOR and leave the INNER COLOR alone. In my photograph of Nai, I decide on a Dark Orange and Black (University of Texas colors). Finally, increase the CORNER RADIUS too to give it an interesting look.

D. Go back to EFFECTS and chose the 1960’s effect.

I love the look of old film photographs. This adds a slight reddish tint to the photograph and also curves the outside edges. Tweak these settings again, till you like the look of your postcard.

E. Add Your Personalized Message in the TEXT tab.

Here is where you add your message. Anything you like works. “I love Mom!” or “Wish you were here!” are good. I am a huge fan of the “Greetings from…” postcard series that was popular a long time ago. There is a host of different fonts to chose from, so chose one or more that fit your style. For my photograph, I chose PANHEAD for “Austin, TX”, which is a western-looking font and then a bold font, IMPACT for the “Greetings from…” I keep my color theme similar as with the border colors.

F. SAVE your photograph & SHARE it.

Now you can save it to your computer or Zip Drive, share it on Facebook or email it.

5. Print Your Postcard

Save your postcard on something that is portable. I bought a Zip Drive for 15$ and I upload my postcards to this and head to a local store with a photograph kiosk. Walmart, CVS, Rite-Aid are very common options. However, more and more stores have a place that you can print your digital photographs on location.

Upload your postcards to the kiosk and chose the quantity, before hitting PRINT!

NOTE: Make sure your postcard fits and the border will not be cut off. Sometimes, I will lose my border by how the machine cuts the photograph, so you may have to make little edits at the machine.
Print off your new postcards!

6. Write on the back and Send it!

Write on the back like any postcard and send it off with a stamp in the top right corner. Your Mom and Granny will love you and tell all their friends!

Finished! Enjoy making your postcards and share this post with your friends. I will be blogging from all over the USA on my hitchhiking journey. I usually write about the people I meet and about the goodness of people, but I also share budget travel advice on my website, Create Our World.

I’m thinking about doing these link posts a little differently, and I’m hoping that the change will benefit all three parties involved (this blog, the linked blogs, and the readers). Over at FeelingNegative.com, we’ve been posting noteworthy links one at a time with additional commentary rather than just a list of links. The posts really don’t take much time to put together, but they’re so much more interesting than a big list as shown below.

So I’ll probably give it a try here on Epic Edits for a week or two and see how it works out. What do you guys think? Good idea? Or would you prefer I keep it as a list post like this?

• Why ISO Is the New Megapixel
  Gizmodo
• Dynamic Range of Various Cameras
  High Dynamic Range Imaging
• Want More Photography Knowledge? Try These Free MIT Courses
  Your Photo Tips
• Warning, Graphic Content: Images From The Earthquake in Haiti
  Zoriah.net
• How to Plan, Show and Promote a Photography Exhibit
  digital Photography School
• War Photography, Meet Fashion Photography
  Zoriah.net
• Photoshop Alternatives: Gimp and Photoshop Elements
  The Discerning Photographer
• 20 Years of Adobe Photoshop & What A Celebration
  JMG-Galleries
• Killer Techniques for Shooting in Natural Light
  Phototuts+
• Backing up your photos
  Photocritic