Sunset with Expression and Emotion

Evia located north of Attica; it’s the second largest Greek island after Crete. The best known place in North Evia is Edipsos. The curative thermal springs have been known for thousands of years; from the old Greeks to the Romans and more recently to Sir Winston Churchill, Onassis and many other well known personalities.

Shooting Sunset Photos

Sunsets are a beautiful natural spectacle. The ever changing light conditions under the declining sun offer great photographic opportunities and challenges.

Everybody can take sunset pictures, it’s not all that difficult: just point your digital camera and shoot … the automatic settings will do the rest. If you want however take a more stunning sunset, the one that knocks even an ice-bear out of his socks, then you may consider some of the following aspects and try them out.

Light and Colors

In order to take a smashing picture, you need dust and or clouds. The red and orange colors result from micro-particles in the air. Dust can come from anywhere, pollution helps to break light, smoke, fog and so on. A second element for great effects are Clouds.

Clouds add structure, interesting light effects and in as much as I am concerned, I prefer the cloudy sky to the straight gradients resulting from a cloudless and dust-free atmosphere.

The Horizon

Look at your scenery and decide what’s more important to you: the sky of the foreground. The more beautiful your sky the more of it you want to ban on your photo. In general it’s of good advise to follow the rule of thirds.

The first image above features two horizons: one in the foreground and one in the back-ground. The foreground horizon is placed about on the lower third line, while the back-ground horizon is at the boring 50% level. The sun is on the first third line from the left.

The second photo focuses clearly on the sky. The horizon is just below the one third line from the bottom.

Applying the rule of thirds will help to focus on the essential aspects of the sunset and adds tension to the image. Of course there are always exceptions and you may find yourself in a situation where the totally balanced and centered approach will reflect tranquility and desired harmony; as usual, it will depend on the story you want to tell.

The Composition

The sunset is spectacular and usually it becomes more spectacular if it’s seen in an interesting context. The foreground is what often gives the special touch” a few palm trees, a jetty, a bridge, people or most any object which adds a scale to your picture.

For the purpose of this post I add a photo from Kavouri beach in Vouliagmeni, where the focus is on the busy foreground.

Your creativity is the limit.

It seems to be a commonly accepted rule, that foregrounds are represented as dark silhouettes, herefore your flash should be set to “off”. In some cases however it may be interesting to capture some reflections from a foreground, such as the ones you can see on the cars parked at Kavouri Beach or the small reflections from the town in the foreground of the first image from Agios above. Context matters and adds expression.

The Frame

This is part of your composition. Experiment with the frame; make it wider or narrower depending on the story you want to tell. It’s better to frame when you take the picture than to cut the image in Photoshop or any other image editor. If you use zoom, make sure to remain within the range of your optical zoom and don’t use the digital zoom to preserve a maximum of quality, data and image size.

In Agios I thought there was an interesting frame focusing on the sea, separating the island of Evia from the main land (Attica).

The image is full of harmony, smooth gradients and tints around the golden reflection of the sunset in the sea. The sky is of no importance here; it’s all a matter of light and tints in for my taste, very nice proportions.

The Exposure

This is probably the most important and also most difficult issue, namely with digital cameras. In automatic settings, digital cameras most often use matrix metering which is reflected by an average exposure and results in under-exposed photos. The issue is due to the huge extremes between highlights and shadows.

For best results, it’s recommended to use a a metering device and meter the two extremes as well as the environmental light and average in function of the priority set by your composition and the story you want to tell.

The best advise is: just experiment! There is never just one right exposure as different exposures will produce great results, however the effects are different. Again, it’s a matter of what you wish to express with your picture.

Professionals use bracketing and so may you. Most digital cameras have a bracketing function; when you shoot,the cam will take 3 pictures: one as per automatic or manually set metering, one with one F-stop higher and one with a F-stop lower. Say you take the picture at 1/60 s at f/8, the cam will take a shot at these settings, then one at 1/60s at f/5.6 and one at 1/60 s at f/11. You will then be able to select the most expressive shot.

The trouble is in the highlights. Digital cameras’ sensors are very sensitive to light. The danger consists thus in overexposure of highlights which boils down to a reduced dynamic range in the light areas of your picture (lack of gradients, texture and structure).Your digital camera may have a iHighlight function,which may remedy or different presets for the white balance.

Sunset pictures as well as night photos are interesting subjects for HDR photography: shoot multiple shots from your tripod at different settings and mash them up in Photoshop with the HDR feature. The trick may help as the extreme light zones and the extreme darks may your camera cause to think for you (and that you definitely don’t want …) and select either priority. The camera’s choice will most often result in a loss of dynamic range throughout the spectrum, namely if you are shooting with a lower end point and shoot cam.

Digital Photography Ycademy

This month’s Ycademy calls will deal with digital photography and on improving our quality as photographers and photo editors

Also we are working on Digital Photography with the purpose of building a high quality Stock Photo and Media Portfolio which will serve the needs of many a website developer as well as graphic designers in the need of new, fresh, unique and exclusive media content.

Our daily calls start at 8 pm London time (GMT +1) and they take place at our easy to use online live conferencing center.

For more info and joining Ycademy, contact Bianca Gubalke  directly from here:

Name *

Email *

If you want to submit this form, do not enter anything in this field

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Where is the Truth and what’s the Story

Editing a Photo has basically two aspects:

1. Technical editing which consists in applying calibration and recovering a maximum of data from the image.
2. Tell your story by enhancing the expression.

This post will deal only with the first aspect using a Photo ©2010 Laetitia Paris.

The Photo

Tree ©2010 Laetitia Paris Original

Tree ©2010 Laetitia Paris Original

What comes out of the camera is fundamentally good however the bright sky representing about 40% of the frame has it’s negative influence on the metering. The sky looks over exposed. The question is whether the camera sensor has captured color data which can be exploited.

Focusing on the sky

Tree ©2010 Laetitia Paris Recovered Sky

Tree ©2010 Laetitia Paris Recovered Sky

The difference may appear small here in this down-sized image, however on the full size image it is substantial. The increase of blue tones in the sky impacts on the perception of the greens.

Painting the sky

Of course Lightroom allows to intervene on selected areas; you can paint and tint your sky as you like (or use the Dark Skies Plug-in).

Tree ©2010 Laetitia Paris Painted in Sky

Tree ©2010 Laetitia Paris Painted in Sky

Working with Saturation

Tree ©2010 Laetitia Paris – desaturated

Tree ©2010 Laetitia Paris - desaturated

Lord of  The Rings

Lord of the Rings

Lord of the Rings

Firenza

Firenza

Firenza

Autumn Glow

Autumn Glow

Autumn Glow

The above exaggerated examples show how the mood and expression changes depending on how we deal with the photo in the post editing process. The important question remains: what’s the story you want to tell and how can the photo best express the essence of the story, mood or atmosphere.

We will talk about the expression at the Monday call.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Today’s Call: We edit a Photo

To make things more transparent we will edit a photo step by step during tonight’s call. In fact we will all edit the same photo. Zo has sent in a Picture, the kind you just shoot out of your window towards the neighbor’s house, which is perfect for the purpose. As you will see the photo bears all the strong and weak points a ‘normal’ photo can have.

The Photo

Photo by Zo

Photo by Zo

We will spend one hour editing this picture using Lightroom. As the case may be we will find the time to do some post editing for various purposes.

Zo Image Color

Zo Color Image

Zo Old Timer

Zo Old Timer

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Smart Editing Digital Photos

At our recent calls we have been trying to crystallize a smart way to quickly edit digital photos. This post will resume the 3 steps we are following.

1. Camera Calibration

The camera calibration serves to correct systematic deviations inherent to the type and model of the camera. If you camera returns images which are too yellow or green, this can be corrected; the same applies to other lens corrections, like sharpness or distortions as the case may be. The corrections are saved as a Calibration Preset in Lightroom.

All photos you import from your camera can be automatically filtered with this calibration preset.

Astir Beach Snorklers

Astir Beach Snorkelers on September 2, 2010

2. Photo Editing 1

This steps purpose is to recover a maximum of available data from your image. The image is brought down to a balanced close to ‘what you saw’ state whereas we try to recover data namely in the over exposed areas as well as in the shadow areas.

Most of the corrections are standard corrections by type of image (low-light, bright-light, sun-set and so on). These corrections can be saved as personal presets in Lightroom and you may then apply them to the corresponding type of calibrated image imported.

The corrections under this step do not yet tell the story or max-out the expression of the picture. They prepare the picture for best post-editing.

3. Tell the Story – Enhance the Expression

A good photo tells a story. If you shoot a landscape just before a thunderstorm, you may emphasize the the dramatic clouds with your editing tools for example. It’s about making the photo more expressive. When you shot the photo, you took it because nature was telling you a story; you ban that story in a photo and you try to express what triggered in you the emotion when looking at nature. If your picture can trigger that kind of emotion in a third person, then you have probably a good picture.

Seagull

Seagull at Astir Beach

Don’t forget: the picture works only with visuals while in nature you are also experiencing sounds, temperature, humidity, smells and so on. Your visual image must therefore compensate for the absence of these additional sensations. Visual enhancements help to trigger a maximum degree of emotion or impression without exaggerating the effects. If you overdo effects, your image loses in credibility and you shift from photography to “art”, or “illustration” or what ever people often call  their messed up production.

Also: keep in mind that editing for printing requires good density and saturation levels. The use online at 72 dpi means automatically a loss of 50% to 75% of points per inch; therefore, if you start out with a “thin” picture, it will only get thinner and flatter when publishing for the web.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Astir Beach is the Best Beach in Greece

From my previous posts you guessed it: Astir Beach is my number one beach. And every day the dedicated staff and management confirm this statement… since 1960.

Basketball World Championship Live at Astir Beach

No reason to stay at home to watch the basketball World Championship at a vulgar boob tube; Astir’s mega screen with exceptional luminosity and resolution is simply the best.
SIpping your Mojito, connecting with the world through the Wi-Fi net, watching the Greek team winning and all this while doing maintenance on your sun tan … Is that what crises means in Greece?
All photos live by iPhone.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Some clouds over Astir Beach in Vouliagmeni and great light create ideal photo conditions for the iPhone 4.

Posted from Vari, Attica, Greece.

Astir Beach iPhone 4 Photos is a post from: iPhone 4 Photos All content Copyright © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis. All rights reserved. Contact mail: iPhone (at) yorgo.net

Calibrate and recover a Maximum of Data

The purpose of this exercise is not to reach a final result but to prepare the image for editing and post-editing. When calibrating, we try to correct systematic shortcomings of our camera. When we edit, we try to drive a maximum of data out of our image, namely because the camera delivers jpeg files which compress away quite some data of which some can be recovered.

Once we have the best possible set of data, we can apply filters and presets with a foreseeable result.

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler

The Original

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler original

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler original

Edited Version

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler edited

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler edited

BW Version

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler edited bw

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler edited bw

Post-edited Version

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler post-edited

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler post-edited

Enjoy!

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke

A somewhat more difficult sample in the sense that this image is not ideal for calibrating because of the color range and because it’s zoomed (114 mm in 35 mm equivalent). The image is therefore not at maximum sharpness or detail.

However, it’s a nice bird, worthwhile to spend some time on :-).

The Original

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke as shot

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke as shot

Edited Version

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited

Edited Version 2

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited 2

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited 2

Edited Version 3

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited 3

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited 3

Post-edited Version

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke post-edited

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke post-edited

No comment, let the yellow bird tweet!

More later.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Image Editing made Transparent

Tomorrow, our call we will focused on Image Editing. For this exercise we need one photograph in original format as shot.

Preparation for the call

I order to be able to advise call participants individually, I would like to ask you to select your image (can be most anything, landscape, monument, animal, flower, portrait) from your collection and attach it to an email and send it to my email at yorgo(at)yorgo.net. Please make sure you send a photo as shot without any editing, cropping or clipping or filtering. Don’t even add Lightroom camera calibration filters.

Please send a shot which has been taken without zooming. In the worst case just set your cam on automatic and take a shot out of your next window without zooming and send that one.

The earlier you send your picture, the bigger the chance that we will have time to edit it and to help you with presets or filters which may serve your camera calibration and ’standard filtering’ for quickly develop and edit your pictures.

Sample:

Recco Italy Image

Recco Italy Photo

Recco Italy Photo © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

Recco Italy Image

Recco Italy Photo © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

Recco Italy Image Black and White

Recco Italy Image Black and White © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

Recco Italy Image Post-edited

Recco Italy Image © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

Image 1: as shot and delivered by the camera.

Image 2: basic editing – rotate the picture as the horizon was not horizontal and the verticals bend to the left side; a global vitamin pack gets the pic up to speed. As this is a heavily zoomed image, the sharpness and details cannot be recovered as should. That’s why we would like to get a image without zoom.

Image 3: Black and white version of version 2.

Image 4: Some post-editing to remove crane and construction works. This post editing job can be done much better: in this case I just blew in 3 strokes with the content aware healing brush from Photoshop CS5 – this takes exactly 3 seconds!

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Registration for Ycademy Seminar Participants

Today as planned we will start populating the Photo Media stock platform. The pre-launch is reserved for Ycademy August Seminar Participants. Those concerned will receive a personal invitation by mail from Bianca later today.

Vouliagmeni from the Marina

Vouliagmeni from the Marina

Beta Tests

During the next few days we will beta test the site extensively with the help of all venture partners. Today we focus on the sign-up procedure as well as on the identity verification. Also we will test upload capability as well as the resizing engine.

During the testing, the site will not yet be officially accessible from the home page link; please use the link contained in your invitation email.

Today’s task: Register with the site from the “Become a Seller” link on top right of the site and submit 10 Pictures for evaluation.

Administration

Bianca Gubalke and Zo Nicholas are the site admins whereas Bianca is focused on the Commercial end while Zo looks after Technical issues and Maintenance.

Tonight’s Call

Join tonight’s Ycademy call where we will analyze the site’s behavior and give support where needed. Also we will set up your Venture Partner’s accounts based on your registration.

I am looking forward to a great venture!

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Today we start publishing the Photo Media Stock User Manual for Photographers. The Manual will lay down the rules and standards for photographers who wish to aubmit their application to the platform.

Ermoupoli Syros Greece. Photo © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

1. Account Information

Your personal information must be full and accurate. Make sure your First and Last name are printed correctly, as well as your Street Address, City and Zip. Fill in all required fields. At the end of the application process you will be asked to provide a state issued ID which must include a photo of you. (Pass, ID, Drivers License). This proof of identity must be in .jpg format. If you don’t have a scanner, take a shot with your digital camera and show us how good your Macro shots are.

If and when your personal information changes, please contact support to modify or adapt your file with us.

You will find the full size user manual on the platform at Photo Media Stock as well as on static pages on this website.

Copyright © 2010 Photo Media Stock Photo Media Stock Manual is a post from: Photo Media Stock

Testing HDR Imaging with Lightroom 3

High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDR) is a ” set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods” (Wikipedia).

The below exercise is a simple test, using only two images with different exposures.

Image 1 – Balux Glyfada

Balux Glyfada 1

Balux Glyfada 1

The image has been taken inside a room exposing it to feature the colors of the interior. As you can see, the consequence of properly exposing the interior leads to over exposed areas, namely on the table and then all over the background where we basically see only white.

Image 2

Balux Glyfada 2

Balux Glyfada 2

The interior is underexposed, however the background or the exterior area shows colors and details as the metering is set to render a clear image in the background.

The HDR Image created in Lightroom 3

Glyfada Balux HDR

Glyfada Balux HDR

After the merger we end up with a nice compromise which can be adjusted in post editing. Lightroom did a good job on the background as wel as on the table where we get now some of the blueish shine as a reflection from the external tones.

HDR Image post-edited

Balux Glyfada edited

Balux Glyfada edited

For the purpose of this test I have just darkened the tonal range of the highlights a bit to see a real contrast to the previous image.

Conclusion

HDR imaging has become an easy task with Lightroom 3, even for beginners. The difference between the first and the last photo is simply smashing. The ability to edit HDR in Lightroom with just a few mouse-clicks will help many amateurs to get a more professional look to pictures featuring interiors.

Of course it’s also a great feature for night photography or anywhere where improved dynamic range cannot be reached with just one shot.

This and more we will demonstrate live and exercise with the participants at this week’s Ycademy calls as an add on to the Ycademy Seminar which took place during the past week-end.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Clacton Airshow 2010 Images

The Clacton Airshow 2010 attracts again loads of spectators and hobby as well as professional photographers. Taking a picture is one thing, getting it to the top of Google is yet another story.

Zo Nicholas has beaten them all with the publication of her images, using a Semiomantics XO Publishing Framework.

Clacton Airshow 2010 Images on Google Top 10

The topic is still hot and there are a lot of changes on the Google Top 10 on Clacton Airshow 2010 Images.

Clacton Airshow 2010 Image

Here the first hot screen-shot I took last night:

Clacton Airshow 2010 Images on Google Top 10

Zo comes in right after the BBC and ahead of YORGOO on Google rank 2. Note at the bottom Ycademy.com on rank 10!

YORGOO Publishing Network on Google Top 10

Zo Nicholas site is hooked to the YORGOO Publishing Network and she contributes to various publications. The effect is evident: the publishing power of the network assures rapid deployment and high visibility of content.

As you saw above, 3 top 10 entries in just a few hours. However the deployment was not over at this stage.

When I looked at the issue early this morning, the face had changed:

Clacton Airshow Images on Google Top 10

A second wave shows still 3 top 10 positions with Garden Route Publishing on the number 2 spot (Garden Route Publishing has just been upgraded to the brand new Semiomantics XO Media Framework which will be released later this year).

Surprise, surprise, there comes a good old YORGOO Blaster in as well on rank 2! and finally Ycademy, this time on rank 9.

Just an hour later, this is what I get right now:

Zo Nicholas on rank 5 and YORGOO Publishing on rank 10; and I am sure it will change again during the day as the deployment is not finished yet. Also I would expect this post to become visible soon, as well as another post I loaded the Destinations Expo :-).

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

How to reach Google Top 10 with your iPhone

I have tried for a while: blogging from the iPhone using just the normal WordPress application and then expecting results. here is the problem: when you use the iPhone appi to post to WordPress, your editing tools are limited. If you are used to Semiomantics standards when editing, the WP Application is definitely  insufficient… or was I wrong?

Astir Beach Black and White

Semiomantics Converter Site

The new Semiomantics XO Media script can act as a converter.

Here is my test set-up:

in stead of posting directly to my main site, I post to a new Semiomantics XO Media site, which is configured to convert the post into a Semiomantics standard format. That converted post is then fed into the main blog.

Result: It works brilliantly!

Integrated Semiomantics Converter

Of course the next challenge was then to build the converter directly into the destination site. Test site is my Yorgo Nestoridis site.

Result: absolutely smashing.

The first test post was this after-noon’s McDonald’s joins Garden Route Directory. Target key-words: “McDonald’s (or McDonalds) Garden Route” and we hit the top of Google right away!

McDonalds Garden Route

Half an hour later, when the post has propagated half way through the YORGOO Publishing network, the result changed …

McDonalds Garden Route on Google Top 10

It changed, but not really that much and by tomorrow it will change again. Worth while noting: the original post has been published first at Yorgo Nestoridis (.com).

With this successful conversion Semiomantics reaches a new milestone in ‘mobile publishing’.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Amazing. Before leaving for Astir Beach, I posted a Seagull Stock Photo sample to my blog.

10 minutes later when relaxing on my beach bed, I consulted Google and here is the result:

Stock Photo Seagull

We hit Google Top 10 with the post and two more sites from our network!
See below.

Semiomantics the best SEO Framework

The recent optimization namely for media, makes Semiomantics XO Media the best publishing platform for media in as much as automated search engine optimization is concerned; at least that’s what our tests and experience show.
Exceptional is also the technique used to embed media in the RSS feeds, assuring equally high performance on third party sites as well as through our entire network.
I expect to see more Google Top 10 entries later today.
This example illustrates the excellent opportunity we offer to all Ycademy Seminar participants who get the unique chance to expose their work on PhotoMediaStock.com.

This category will deal with Yorgo’s WordPress Theme and Script Developments, namely also with News and Information from Semiomantics.

Your Photos take you to Google Top 10

Proper image tagging and publishing is beneficial for photographers and publishers. This applies for printed publications as well as for online publishing.

Today when looking up my name on Google, I found on position 13 Charterworld.com which published two of my pictures about the destruction of the super-yacht Madiblue D.

From the same publishing house, other publications have picked up the images, namely the Best European Magazine for Motor Boats and Yachting. And then the following websites:

http://www.synfo.com/news/allnews.asp?news=&id=15421#

http://www.charterworld.com/news/yacht-madiblue-on-fire-in-greece

http://www.thecrewreport.com/superyacht_crew_news.asp?id=16846

madiblue-5

Copyright Notice underneath the photo.

madiblue-2

Copyright Notices underneath the Photos

madiblue-4

Copyright Notice …

madiblue-3

Copyright Notices …

madiblue

Copyright Notice.

If you magnify the images you see underneath each photo the copyright notice, which Google is happy to pick up. The Copyright Notices are embedded as Caption. In fact if you inspect the element of the last sample, you will find that the publisher uses the whole caption in the title or name of the image. This is of course a good promo for the photographer and helps the publisher to get higher visibility just due to the image.

Image tagging

The above is a nice example of efficient image handling by a professional publisher.

Photo and Media Publishing

There are different ways of publishing photos, the most common being as illustration to a text for your own purpose. Then there is publication of media for the purpose to serve other publishers with media to illustrate their texts.

The second case requires different publishing; the main objective is that interested parties can find your picture easily when searching on Google for example. There are also agencies and stock platforms which have high visibility and which have the connections to the end-user.

The above example shows, that interesting materials can be a source of income, provided the materials can be found by interested people. It is therefore of paramount importance to handle our pictures with the utmost care and then to publish them in the most efficient way.

If your site is not a high impact site with high authority as the above, it is often difficult to gain visibility quickly. Also, the Google image search is one of the most polluted search engines in as much as too many top search returns are completely irrelevant.

The Semiomantics Media Publishing Solution

In view of the above, we have been thinking for years about solutions for people who wish high visibility with media. Semiomantics Publishing Frameworks based on WordPress provide users the necessary platform to gain high visibility with media without the need to spend money on Google Ads and without giving away a high percentage to the owners of Stock Platforms. Semiomantics is specialized and second to none when it comes to reach Google Top 10 positions with media content.

Google Top 10 with Semiomantics

Semiomantics Frameworks have their origin in Search Engine Optimized WordPress based scripts. Immediately after the release of the first frameworks under the name of “The Magic Search Traffic Formula” we became aware of the almost shocking performance of the scripts: posts reached easily Google Top 10 Positions. We then moved on to other publishing elements, such as tags and images and later to other media. Since the necessary optimizations needed special tuning of the scripts as well as the creation of a ’semantically evolving dictionary’ for each site we created the Semiomantics SEO Module which runs behind the most professional Semiomantics based publications.

With success, as you can see from my Madiblue D experience.

Media Publishing with Semiomantics

At present we are working on a new framework and formula to satisfy the needs of mobile publishers. When sending a picture or a video from a smart-phone to a website, there is little that can be done to optimize the tagging beyond the data automatically attached to the picture. It is therefore important, to automatically translate some of the data and convert it to optimized tags on the receiving site. An interesting challenge for Semiomantics.

For example: some smart-phones automatically use Geo Tags; these can be translated and projected to a map and then additional keywords can be extracted therefrom. Other features concern traveling and trip information which is available on cameras and smart-phones. Notes, descriptions and such like help as well.

At present we are testing the new Semiomantics Formula for Mobile Publishers using the iPhone 4 and our site at iPhone 4 Photos. The first results are promising. The advantage of the iPhone are the numerous applications which can be used for advanced image editing and tagging; in the extreme case, we may need to write our own application to suit the exact needs when used with Semiomantics Frameworks.

Another test ground is the Leica Mapping. With the release of the Leica V-Lux-20 Leica provided their customers with a portal for automated mapping and smart-tagging of photos, based on the data automatically attached to each picture by the V-Lux-20. Other camera providers have similar projects. While the idea is brilliant, the projects lack punch and optimization to make them an interesting playground for us.

Remain free image portals, such as Flickr or Picasa. The downside of those are their terms and licensing policies; on the other hand you can use them to reach Google Top 10 positions by using the full tagging potential when publishing on the platforms. This applies for manual loading, not to mobile uploading.

The Flickr tag based search works quite well, provided people search on Google for the keyword and add “flickr”. Example Syros Flickr returns 8087 uploads, whereas on the first page which displays the top 24 returns, 12 are iPhone 4 Photos from my production  (or better, 9 of the top 10 are from iPhone4Photos.com).

flickr-syros

PS: On Google under Syros Flickr the above tag page is not only Top 10, but number 1, meaning that the way you publish may also help Flickr to gain Google Top 10 Positions :-).

Learn and Earn with Ycademy

All about Media Publishing at this month’s Ycademy Seminar. Get more info from HERE

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Ycademy Online Seminar August 2010

The schedule of the the Ycademy August Seminar is rather big and will take a lot of preparation. As we are building a new site for the purpose of commercializing Stock Media, we would appreciate to know as soon as possible the names of the Seminar Participants in order to be able to create the privileged accounts before the event.

Agios Dimitrios, Syros, Greece

Photo Stock Media Website

The new website, Photo Stock Media is built on an extended server cluster on which we host this site as well as Hiod. You may have noticed a somewhat bumpy ride these days, the reason being the additional server capacity which needs to be added. I cannot guarantee, that the troubles are over, but we are doing our best to build the site and to make it available as soon as possible.

The load of the Photo Stock Media Seminar imposes some pre-seminar calls to get acquainted with the software and its behavior. We will invite Seminar participants as soon as we have the registrations to open test accounts on the new site.

Semiomantics XO for Photos

I am pleased with the behavior and look of the Semiomantics XO customization at iPhone 4 Photos. This is a niche site focusing on photos taken with the iPhone 4. Similar niches can be created for other purposes using Semiomantics XO. The interest is in the fact that the pictures are hardly ever commented and yet find their way to Google Top 10, be it from iPhone4Photos or through the Publishing Network. The site under it’s main keyword ranks just within the top 40 amongst 425 000 000 search returns.

This site helps us to improve the semantics used in connection with media, especially with photos and video. Also we are testing linking the Photo Media Stock site from and to Semiomantics scripts.

Seminar Registration

If you experience problems with your registration for the August seminar, please contact Bianca; she will find a way to accommodate you. As the HIOD site is hosted on the same server where we are building all the goodies for the seminar, temporary down-times are possible. Nevertheless we will need the test team to start exploring the site before the end of this week.

Enjoy this call free week … but keep following up the news on the blog.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Photos from Syros with Google top 10 rankings

Our earlier posts about Syros Boats and Syros Architecture made it immediately to Google top 10 positions and so did our slide-shows, loaded to YouTube. This is remarkable since the Syros is a tourist destination and Google is just invaded by all the international and national directories.

Semiomantics frameworks publish images more efficiently;y than anything I have come across and the development continues to make Semiomantics users get the best SEO when it comes to publish any form of media.

syros_-images

Syros Images on Google Top 10

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

New Elegant Web Design Evo2 Page

Time permitting the development of Evo2 continues. Yesterday’s Photos serve as the base for yet another smashing Evo2 Page:

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Semiomantics Evo2 Mixed Media Content Page

The page holds mixed media: images and video.

Enjoy and look forward to the final release by end of June.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Semiomantics XO Flash Header Accordion

Based on the recent May Seminar, Semiomantics has created a special header for Semiomantics XO featuring a bold accordion which comes in two styles.

Flash Accordion for Semiomantics XO style 1

accordion1

Semiomantics Flash Header Accordion

The Accordion holds 6 images which can be linked to any URL. The tabs are dimmed except when activated by hovering or clicking; then the image opens and lightens up. A previousely displaied image would at this point dim down to dark gray.

All colors and effects can be configured.The bold style typical for yorgo design can of course be changed to your likes.

Flash Accordion for Semiomantics XO style 2

The second version offers a decorative preview depending of course on the images loaded:

accordion2

Flash Accordion for Semiomantics XO style 2

When hovering the previews close and the very bold titles remain visible while the selected image opens:

accordion3

Flash Accordion for Semiomantics XO style 2a

The accordion holds images or videos (swf).

A live example is running on the Evolution site.

The XO Accordion header will be available shortly.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.