Good Quality Free Sounds System

I for one can't imagine entering into my daily commute without the sound assistance of a good auto Free sounds system. Music in the morning is as necessary for me as oxygen and caffeine. If I live without any of those above my day is already up and running with wrong foot first. Music is a very important part of any given day for someone like me. My wake up call in the morning comes in the form of my favorite radio station and from that point on I have music as my companion for the vast majority of my morning routine. That is of course with the exception of children and husband and some of their more insistent demands for food, money, and last minute homework crisis. I will gladly take my music and tea most mornings and skip the drama.

The point of all this is that I am not alone in my morning preference. If I were there wouldn't be so many variations of the music driven alarm clock. Today you can even have CD player alarm clocks in order to get you up and running to your favorite tunes. Of course this brings me to an important point. A good auto sound system will sound much better than your morning music wake up call. Most alarm clocks will not have the best quality of sound. They are designed for minimal space, minimal intrusion, and to be annoying enough that you will get up (eventually) and turn them off. If the music is good and the quality even better, most of us, can manage to incorporate the music into our dreams and go right back to sleep.

While you do not want your auto sound system to necessarily put you to sleep you do want it to be enjoyable to listen to. You are after all most likely shelling out a good portion of a month's salary in order to pay for it. Some may say this is extravagant but many people spend more time each week in their cars than they do in front of their televisions and are much more inclined to spend a great deal more on big screen or LCD televisions Flash Animations for their homes. I like being surrounded by nice things and music is one of those things. A great auto sound system is one way that I can bring music into my life day in and day out. I am quite certain that there are others out there just like me. Just like the alarm clock radios, there are many wonderful auto sound systems on the market today competing with one another for a slice of the music lover's pie. That would not be the case if there were only a select few of us who enjoyed great music.

The trick is always going to be finding the sound you like at a price that is just as delightful as the sound they provide. A good auto sound system is not an impulse buy. This is something you consider carefully, shop around, and compare prices on before you make the decision to purchase. Also consider things such as free installation and how they will affect the overall price when the time comes. It could very well be that the same sound system will cost a different amount at several different stores, if one of those stores offers free installation (depending on the cost of installation) it may be a much better deal even if the cost of the system is slightly greater than those at the other competing stores.

There are many things to consider when purchasing an autoFree sounds system for your vehicle. The most important of those things is how well you like the system you are purchasing. This is your money after all and you should spend on the systems that sounds best and offers the most features that you desire.

Logo Design Evolution

Evolution is a process of change or development. It is when one version of a product is better than the previous one. This type of change was first catalogued by Darwin over a hundred years ago in the Galapagos Islands. But in the truest sense, evolution occurs in nearly every aspect of our lives, and especially in the business and consumer worlds. It seems that companies find themselves needing to be fast-paced, up-to-date and ever evolving to stay ahead of the competition.

But does a company commit an unpardonable sin by deciding to alter their identity, their mainstay--their Logo Design ?

If you think about the world's most prominent brands, Nike, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and others, it is easy to visualize their respective logos. Those designs have become the visual representation of the company brand, which is what people think about your company and their experiences with it. So, does that mean a logo should never be changed in order to avoid customer alienation and mistrust?

Believe it or not, logo evolution is as common as evolution in any other part of business, but to a lesser degree. Although drastic changes in a Logo Design can cause alienation and mistrust among existing and potential customers, never changing a logo can also have an adverse effect as well. While a logo update from time to time tells customers that the company is staying up-to-date in its offerings and still knows how to connect with its customers, a logo that never changes can make customers feel like the company is out of touch with its clientele.

Of course, changes should be subtle and keep the same basic design elements so the logo can still be easily associated with the company, product or service. Change should not occur too often either, as this can give an impression of a company without clear vision. There is a delicate balance, but in most cases it is appropriate to prudently alter a company logo from time to time.

You'd probably be surprised to find out just how many companies have made changes to their logo without you even knowing. This is logo evolution. It takes place over decades and the changes are subtle. Here are a couple of examples:

Sony

The four letters that make up this company logo have seemingly gone unchanged since the company began. But look at the images below. Aside from the company's first rendition, the logo has changed very little, with most alterations occurring in letter height and boldness.

Nike

Nike's world famous swoosh was designed by Portland State University student Caroline Davidson in 1971. She was paid just $35 for her design (Source: Nike.com), which, even with inflation, is unreal in the graphic design world. The Design Tutorials has undergone very few changes over the years, but there have been definite changes to the logo over the years. Nike also has variations on the logo for its different divisions, like Nike Skate and Nike Soccer.

The evolution of logos only applies to companies that aren't seeking to reinvent themselves. Businesses that feel they aren't building relationships with their target markets may need a logo makeover and reposition themselves.

But when updates and alterations are appropriate, be sure the changes need are understated, gradual and done with the consumer in mind. Companies that update their logos in conjunction with corporate evolution will be building trust and staying fresh in the minds of consumers, as long as the changes are subtle instead of staggering.

Creating your Stock Photography Portfolio

Stock Photo Portfolio Sites

A Stock Photography portfolio site is a site where people are able to buy as well as sell digital photos. To dedicate your time to such a site, you have to be truly interested in digital photography, enough to want to go out and take hundreds of photos everyday. Stock photography sites are useful not only to you, but also to a plethora of others as well. Buyers need stock photos in order to make their web pages, advertisements, art mediums, and anything else that requires visual aid. Those that benefit from buying your photos range from independent companies, personal businesses, and any other business that don’t want or don’t have the resources or funding to hire a professional photographer. Also, stock photography sites are a big help to freelance photographers. This is a way for digital photographers, like you, to make money or earn a living selling the pictures that they take. It depends on the work put into the site, but you can make anywhere from $1 to $500 per month, per site with payouts around 25 cents to dollars per photograph. How much you make really depends on your effort and the time you take shooting photos. To make around $500 dollars per month, however, you’re going to need a good digital stock photo portfolio that will show the quality of your work.

As a freelance photographer, you are going to need to know exactly how to set up a stock portfolio. The first step is to take hundreds, and eventually thousands of pictures. For how many photos you’re going to end up taking you had better love to take photographs. You will have to go through the process of eliminating photos based on lighting and angles and any other nit picky stipulations that make a great picture. You’ll end up taking many photos, with over half of them turning out badly. When you realize that you’re happy with the process of taking your pictures then you can begin to build your freelance portfolio.

How many pictures you need for your portfolio

One of the best ways of accomplishing this feat is to set a goal for you. This way, you won’t be discouraged when you first start out and you don’t just snap your fingers and produce hundreds of photos after only one session. You need to be able to get up everyday and complete a freelance photography session of at least 20 to 40 pictures. However, out of those photos you need to pick out 10 to 20 from the bunch that are of better quality than the others. Eventually, you’ll be able to better identify angles, lighting, and concepts for your freelance photography.

Once you reach a quota of about 100 pictures that you have taken, with no more than 3-5 repeated ones, you should be able to compare some of the more recent photos with the pictures at the beginning and notice some improvement. If you are consistent with your photography sessions, you will become a lot better and have a lot of work and original freelance photos to show for it. Eventually, through hard work and dedication, you’ll have the ability to shoot a hundred photos in one sitting and only throw out a few.

What to take pictures of

What you want to accomplish with your freelance photography is a collection of quality pictures. Like the saying goes, “quality over quantity.” Businesses that are going to be looking at your photography and perhaps purchasing some of them will want to be able to depend on your originality and quality. To ensure that you produce pictures of a good quality, you should shoot subjects that you’re passionate about. If you take pictures of sea otters and you don’t particularly like taking pictures of sea otters, then you will be less likely to make sure that the picture looks good.

However, if you take pictures of things that interest you then you are more likely to take your time and produce quality work. Finding a subject that you’re passionate about and expanding on that topic then you’ll make sure and find your Stock Photography niche. It’s recommended that for your first set of pictures you should choose one or two niches for your collection. This will narrow down the competition because if you take random pictures they’ll be white noise against the other photographers.

You need to be able to narrow down your subject matter in different ways than you are used to. Instead of just thinking about subjects like macro, portrait, geometric, or cityscape you need to be able to think in subjects such as decadent, noble, sensual, blue (colors), or futuristic. This will bring those businesses that are looking for a particular niche right to you.

Other things to know

Don’t include any signatures, marks, or Logo Design on your picture to confine ownership.

Make sure for modeling pictures, that the model signs off on submitting the photos be sold.

Always have enough space on your digital camera; don’t be caught off guard.

Keep researching and learning from those that are already more experienced in digital photography or, invest in and E book to help get started.

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials

Here are six simple and very important tools you need to know and have to learn before you master photoshop. Starting with the Brush Tool, Pencil Tool, Eraser Tool, Paint Bucket Tool, Gradient Tool, Text Tool each tool has its own part to play in Photoshop Tutorials.

The Brush Tool (B) is suitable for soft edged painting or drawing. Draw strokes by clicking and dragging the mouse over the canvas. You can change the brush size and other settings in the options bar at the top of the window.

The Pencil Tool (B) is suitable for hard-edged drawing or painting and has similar options to the Brush Tool for setting its size, opacity, and more. The Pencil Tool is often used for drawing on, and editing individual pixels in, zoomed-in images.

The Eraser Tool (E) removes pixels from the canvas. You can choose between Pencil, Photoshop Brushes, or Block mode from the Mode drop-down menu in the options bar.

The Paint Bucket Tool (G) fills a selection with a flat color. To use the Paint Bucket Tool, click once in the area that you wish to fill. If the chosen area is not within a selection, the Paint Bucket Tool will fill all similarly-colored pixels within the vicinity of the clicked area.

The Gradient Tool (G) fills a selection with a blend of two or more colors, known as a gradient. You can easily create your own gradient, or use any of the preset gradients available in Photoshop Tutorials. Display the gradient presets and tools by clicking on the small triangle on the right-hand

side of the Gradient Tool. Apply a gradient by setting your desired colors, choosing your gradient style, then clicking and dragging the cursor over the area to be filled.

The Text Tool (T), true to its name, creates text layers. This one's easy to use-just select the Text Tool, click on the canvas, and start typing! You can also click and drag to create a rectangular text area that will force text to wrap within its boundaries.

You can change the font size, color, and other text properties using the options bar along the top of the window. When the Text Tool is active, you can move the cursor outside of the text area. The cursor will change from the "text insert" cursor to the "move" cursor, and you'll be able to move the text layer around.

It's worth noting that when the Text Tool is active, you can't use keyboard shortcuts to access other tools. This may seem like an obvious thing to point out now, but it won't always be so apparent-especially when your text mysteriously starts spurting strange characters because you've been trying to use the shortcut keys!

To finish using the Text Tool, press Ctrl-Enter (Command-Return on a Mac). You can then resume your regular keyboard shortcutting!

Make a Profit with Your Stock Photography

To succeed at selling stock you need three things: Ideas, execution, and distribution. We will save getting distribution channels for another time, but in the following I will outline my step by step approach to coming up with ideas, determining if they are appropriate for my stock efforts, for and insuring that I get the ideas done and off to the distributors.

I have a set of criteria for stock Photography images that helps me to focus on images that have the best chance of earning me money. First, the simpler the image is the better. A quick read beats a complex one almost every time. Plus, now that images are chosen on the internet you have to catch a buyer’s interest with a thumbnail. Secondly, the less expensive the image is to produce the better. A few of my successful stock images: a coffee cup with lipstick on it, a sink full of dirty dishes, and a monitor tossed in a garbage can. If I can shoot an image in an hour with virtually no expenses…that equal’s pure profit. Third, I like timeless images…a rooster at sunrise, a gang of Harley Riders, Stampeding long horn cattle…these are images that will never be dated and will therefore always send me at least some profit.

I also have a couple of tests I can use on a stock image idea. Can you put a headline to it? If you can, then you probably have a winner. Will the image stop someone seeing it? Sometimes I can’t figure out what the heck someone would use an image for…but experience tells me that if the image can grab a viewer’s attention…then art directors will find a way to use it.

One additional thought…if you’ve made it…send it in. Several times I have debated with myself whether or not to send an image in…and when I finally thought, what the heck I’ll send it in…the image more often than not has turned out very successful. In one case the image ended up being used by the agency for the cover of its Catalog…in another case the image was used by an agency for the cover of a CD it was sending out. One image that I debated sending in actually had a $17,000.00 sale the first month I sent it in!

Finding Ideas for Stock Photography Images

Ideas are all around us. I find my ideas in magazines, newspapers, the internet…in life around me…even on the radio. I was driving in heavy traffic one day when the traffic reporter used the term bottleneck…and it popped into my head to create an overhead view of several roads merging into one lane…a bottleneck. That image has earned me thousands of dollars now. It is a conceptual image that can be used to illustrate themes about communication, the internet, bandwidth and so forth.

The essential component for coming up with ideas…is intention. If I set the intention to come up with ideas then I can almost always use any situation or stimulus as raw material to come up with stock ideas.

Your creativity is a muscle, so use it. I find that the more I practice at coming up with ideas the easier it gets. Several times I have interrupted my “practice” of coming up with stock ideas to pursue other projects. Each time I have found that it takes a while for me to get back up to speed. I have to admit that sometimes I feel like I have run out of ideas…but if I set that intention…in an hour, a day…sometimes two and I am back on track.

Keep a master list…forever.

When I get an idea I write it down. I have lists all over the place. I also keep a master list. Whether the ideas are good or bad…I write them down. Some ideas seem great as they pop into my head…but later seem pretty lame…and then yet even later they seem great again. So I keep a master list…and when I create one of those ideas I mark it…but still leave it on the list. The list can serve to prompt additional ideas and variations of ideas…it is an invaluable creative tool for success in selling your stock images.

Execute!

Ideas are great…but with out execution and distribution ideas aren’t worth much…and you certainly won’t sell stock images! So how do I execute? I sit down and mentally go through the process of creating the image. This is a crucial step and done diligently it provides me with a list of the materials and steps that I will need to take. I write these steps and materials down. Then I take each step that I will need to do and put it down on my calendar … from finding models and locations to what work I will need to do in Photoshop Tutorials. If I miss a deadline I simply give that particular task a new deadline. And I keep at it until it all gets done.

I also have a policy that if I am not on a shoot I spend my morning either creating images (I use Photoshop for creating almost all of my conceptual stock images), or for getting images out to my various agencies. I save all my administrative duties for the afternoons. Since implementing that policy my productivity has soared. The “administrative “ duties never end…so if I try and get them out of the way first there never seems to be time to do the really important work…making images and getting them into the distribution channels.

Finding Amazing Adobe Cs Photoshop Tutorials

The Adobe Photoshop is simply amazing. If the adjective describing the digital imaging manipulation software is very upbeat and exciting, could you imagine how you could appropriately describe the latest versions of the computer program, dubbed as the Adobe Photoshop Tutorials.

CS in Adobe Photoshop CS stands for 'Creative Suite', which is the umbrella brand to which Adobe Systems Inc now wishes to identify its Photoshop products. Because Adobe Photoshop CS is the most modern version of the Photoshop, expect that there are more in-stored for you in the software.

Nowadays, many companies all around the world require job applicants to be at least knowledgeable of basic computer applications, including the sophisticated and complicated Adobe Photoshop CS. Many adept computer users nowadays, unfortunately, are not familiar with the software.

There are reasons why average people would not opt to learn how to use the software. One, it has always been assumed that Adobe Photoshop is only for photographers. Second, not all people could easily afford to buy the software. And lastly, people do not realize the advantage and use Adobe Photoshop can do to them.

But because industries are starting to make people realize how it is advisable that they learn the use of the program, many computer users are swooning to take crash courses to learn the functions of the software. If you are among those who are not yet knowledgeable about the use of the Adobe Photoshop CS, then, move up and start seeking tutorials.

Seeking and choosing Adobe Photoshop CS tutorials

For starters, there are approachable computer centers in communities that offer crash courses about many computer programs, including the Adobe Photoshop CS. If you have time and resources, it would not hurt enrolling in such sessions.

Usually, classroom set-up tutorials last for about a couple of sessions. During the classes, you would be taught the basic applications and functions of the software. The mode of instruction is demonstrative and interactive, so if you have queries, you could easily raise your hand.

There are also one-on-one Photoshop Tutorials for such services. Others find this set up more accommodating and comfortable. The instructor could really focus on you. Usually, such set-ups are a bit more expensive.

If the personal and interactive sessions are not convenient for you, there are other means. For one, there are many self-help books published and distributed through the bookstores that would tutor you on how to use the Adobe Photoshop CS on procedural narrative formats.

If the printed books are not convenient, there are online and downloadable versions. Such e-books, as they are called nowadays, can be accessed online within minutes.

If you would need the instruction mode to be more on the demonstrative side, there are downloadable videos that would instruct you on how to use Adobe Photoshop CS more effectively. Such videos would show you how to start the program, how to navigate and how the buttons and keys would work.

In choosing the tutorial sessions or instructions to enroll in or purchase, take note that there are classifications for beginners and for advanced users. Logically, simple uses and functions are tackled on the introductory category for beginners.

For those who could manage to use the earlier Photoshop versions, but are not very comfortable with the CS types, there are Design Tutorials specifically for advanced learners.

Creating Stock Photography of Money with Photoshop

I’ve photographed a ton of money over the last thirty years. I have photographed money coming out of faucets, being thrown in the air, squeezing through an hourglass, covering a planet, as jigsaw puzzles and serving as a flying carpet. I have Photos hoped money trees and coins exploding out of piggy banks. I have made pictures of money being stretched, filling shopping carts and being raked into piles. I have pictures of money on trees, pictures of piles of money and pictures of stacks of money. I have pictures of money from around the world including, English pounds, Italian Lira, Japanese yen, German marks and, of course, Euros. Heck, I have even created an animated stock footage clip of “raining money”!

The first stock photo I ever created using Photoshop was a picture of money…flying through the sky on egret wings. As a matter of fact, seventeen years after I created that Stock Photography it was used on the cover of Time magazine! It took me two days and ton of work to create the flying dollars. I was using Photoshop 1.0 on a Mac II computer. Just rotating a 30megabyte file took 40 minutes! I could do that image now in an hour at most. Back then I had to have a color separator scan the files and that cost $80.00 per file.

I had photographed Snowy Egrets in the wetlands of Marin for brochure advertising a new housing development. I photographed a hundred dollar bill and had that, and a stormy sky, scanned as well. Back then I had no clue about clipping paths, if Photoshop even had clipping paths back then. There was only one level of undo and no layers at all. Selecting the dollar was done with the lasso tool and cleaning up the selection seemed to take forever.

A number of people told me that professional work could not be done with Photoshop Brushes, and even more told me I was getting into it too soon. But here we are 18 years later; the image is still selling, and, as I pointed out, even ended up on the cover of Time!

When it comes to money be sure and check what the legalities are in your country. Here in the U.S. the following regulations apply:

Authority: 18 UNITED STATES CODE; 504: Treasury Directive Number 15-56 FR 48539 (September 15,1993) 411.1 Color illustrations authorized.

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 25 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, authority is hereby given for the printing, publishing or importation, or the making or importation of the necessary plates or items for such printing or publication, of color illustrations of U.S. currency provided that:

• The illustration must be of a size less than three-fourths or more than one and one-half, in linear dimension, of each part of any matter so illustrated;
• The illustration must be one sided; and
• All negatives, plates, digitized storage medium, graphic files, magnetic medium, optical storage devices, and any other thing used in the making of the illustration that contain an image of the illustration or any part thereof shall be destroyed and or deleted or erased after their final use in accordance with this section.

Having said that, I never have paid attention to the rules…I have just shot what I wanted (hope I don’t write my next article from a cell). Maybe these are rules that the people who reproduce the images have to worry about more.

When shooting dollars it is a good idea to phone ahead to the bank to make sure that have enough clean new bills. More than once I have shown up at a major bank only to find that they didn’t have enough fresh bills for my Stock photography needs. Now I always phone ahead. Banks have certain days on which there new bills are delivered.

It can take more money that one might think to capture great concept pictures of dollars. To shoot a shopping cart full of money I first filled the cart with crumpled paper, and then spread a thin layer of one-dollar bills over and around the “filling”. It took every one of my 2,500 one-dollar bills! Even then there will still some small gaps that I had to fill with Photoshop.

Someday I am sure all of my stock photos of money will either stop selling or fall to a trickle. That will be when the U.S. finally decides to come out with paper currency as colorful as the currencies of the rest of the world. Oh well….