Google has a useful account on YouTube called GoogleWebmasterHelp that publishes short video answers to search engine optimization (SEO) questions submitted to them. If you have a website promoting your photography, then thinking about SEO can help you drive more visitors to your photography.

Here are a couple videos that are relevant to photographers:

How can a photographer’s image-focused site gain PageRank?

Takeaway points: include text relevant to the image(s) inside the img tag and around the image to help the search engine understand what the page is about. For example, you could include a description of the photo in the name or title tag of the image.

Secondly, allow visitors to comment on the image. This often leads to users describing some aspect of the image for you (i.e. “I love the light falling on the barn door”), which helps search engines understand what’s happening on the page.
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With Photokina 2010 just around the corner, rumors regarding soon-to-be-announced DSLR cameras from Canon and Nikon are swirling around the blogosphere, and certain facts about the cameras seem to be getting clearer.

Canon 60D

A source tells me that Canon will be showing off a few new cameras at private events on August 30th and 31st. This fits nicely with the rumor that Canon will be unveiling the 60D at a press event on August 26th. My guess is that the 60D will be announced at a press event by the end of this month, and that the Canon 1Ds Mark IV will be unveiled late September.

The 60D is rumored to be a 18 megapixel camera with a tilt-screen and heavy emphasis on video recording.

The source also stated that we will be seeing a S90 replacement and possibly a G11 replacement as well.

Nikon D3100

According to Nikon Rumors, this camera is already listed in the Best Buy inventory system, with the SKU 1222817 and the title “Nikon D3100 DSLR w/ 18-55mm v”. They also report that the camera will be announced August 19th, exactly one week before Canon’s event.

The D3100 is rumored to be a 14 megapixel camera with continuous autofocus during video recording and 3fps for still frames.

Other Gear

Aside from the tilt-screen rumor, there doesn’t seem to be too much that’s groundbreaking about these upcoming announcements. However, Canon Rumors received a tip saying that the upcoming PowerShot will be “revolutionary”.

That seems a lot more interesting to us. We’ll update you if we hear more about this, but we’ll probably know everything within the next few weeks.

Ever wonder how top photographers deal with their files? Chase Jarvis just put out an awesome blog post and behind-the-scenes video describing his entire workflow from capture to backup. You’ll probably be surprised at how much backing-up his studio does for all its data, and how much storage space they deal with. He points out at the end that all his strategies are scalable, so you don’t need to have infinitely deep pockets to achieve roughly the same amount of redundancy (albiet on a much smaller scale). I guarantee you’ll find this video interesting!

If you’re interested in seeing specific details, head over to the blog post for more images and text.

Nikon has a couple neat interactive tools that make it easy to explore and compare lenses. Their lens simulator lets you see what resulting photographs might look like with any lens and camera combination, while their new lens positioning map displays the NIKKOR lineup on a grid with aperture and focal length as the two axes.

Once you’ve found lenses or combinations you like, you can save them for future reference.

(via Digital Journal of Photography)

Here’s an oldie but goodie that I’m guessing many of you haven’t seen before. It’s an episode from Deke McClelland’s video podcast dekepod in which McClelland shares 101 simple Photoshop tips at a blazing fast pace. What’s interesting is that it’s probably not as difficult to follow along as you might think, even though it averages to a tip every three seconds. This might be one of the closest things to learning like Neo does in the Matrix.

(via Photojojo)

We found and shared a pretty useful tip a while ago that involved organizing loose cables with binder clips. I switched to a new desk recently, and found myself with the messy cable problem:

The cables had to be pulled somewhat far into the desk to prevent them from slipping into the crack between the desk and the wall. I tried using binder clips, but my desk is too thick for them to be attached.

Look around for another solution, I decided to try using some old tennis balls. I have quite a few lying around the house from the glory days of high school tennis. Here’s what I used:

The small screwdriver set and scissors are simply used to cut holes into opposites sides of each tennis ball. There’s probably other (and easier) ways of doing this, but a box cutter didn’t work for me.

Puncture the tennis ball using progressively larger screwdrivers until the hole is large enough to shove the scissor blade into. Then cut or tear a hole using the scissors.

Create a coin sized hole in both sides of the tennis ball, with the slits lined up. This allows an opening to be created in the tennis ball when it’s squeezed:

Thread each cable through a tennis ball, and voila! They can be neatly stored at the edge of the table without falling into the crack:

When you need to use a cable, you can simply pull it through the tennis ball while leaving it pressed against the wall. This helps you avoid having tennis balls scattered all over your desk:

Yay for organization and efficiency! Do you have any personal tips for organizing your cables?

Recent surveys found that many image users in the United States and UK are ignorant when it comes to knowing when it’s okay to use an image, and how images may be used. 22% of those surveyed admitted that they used photographs found on photo sharing websites for commercial purposes. In response to these findings, Getty has launched stockphotorights, a website that answers many of the common questions people have about image use and copyright. They also have a blog documenting cases of image misuse, and a section filled with case studies.