The Jalbum community is full of talent, hobby enthusiasts, aspiring artists, professionals and world class photographers.  Eric von Lockhart is a world famous photographer who's celebrity photos include: Beyoncé, Mary J Blidge, Alicia Keys and Christina Milian. He has been featured on Hollywood Access, CNN and MTV and recieved numerous awards. We are very happy to have him in the Jalbum community sharing his stunning work, check his album out:

 Photo album by: Eric von Lockhart

If you are a photographer who has amassed a large collection of good quality images, you may want to send a portfolio submission to a stock photography agency. It is the agent's job to market your images for you, which frees up more time for you to photograph. Here are a few things to keep in mind when approaching an agent:

1. Stock agencies get hundreds of submissions every month . . . if your images are as good or better than what they already have, then send in your pics. If they are not as good as what is already available, wait another year until your collection has expanded and your images become more dynamic.
2. Only a few photographers make a decent living from stock photography sales alone. Most photographers work in other aspects of the photography business, and supplement their income by selling their extra photos.
3. If you do get signed on with an agent, it may take up to a year before you see your first sale. Your few images will be amidst a sea of millions of other marketable photographs.

Before you get too discouraged however . . .

"What types of photographs do stock photography agencies want?"
PEOPLE! With very few exceptions, the agencies want to have all types of people represented in their collection. The people can be in many different locations, or even plain white backgrounds. You don't even need to show their faces at all times, as illustrated in the above example taken in a Korean temple. All that needs to be represented is either movement, emotion, or metaphor.

If you are a nature photographer you may have a difficult time getting an agent. The market is flooded with innumerable excellent nature and location photographs. However if you plan your shoots to include people, there is a solid demand for "active outdoor" type images, as long as your models are healthy and happy looking.

Finally, it is extremely important to keep your photos and releases organized. Make sure you back-up all your images regularly, and keep a separate copy of each photo off-site. Have fun, and good luck!

Thanks to professional photographer Mark Hemmings (www.markhemmings.com) for writing this photo tip.

Alan927 has updated the Jalbum Skin Viewer. Skins that require Flash now have a black "F" icon next to them and Javascript skins have a red "J" (both with alt and title text in case you mouseover). If you're looking for a skin specifically made in Flash, HTML or Javascript, it's easier than ever to find! Check it out.

Portrait albums from the featured albums:

 Photo album by: momentum

 Photo album by: fredricks

Photo album by: hansslegers

A lot of professional web sites use Jalbum to display their photo albums, it's easy to customize the album to fit with the rest of the site. Here's a German travel agency called Colibri Hotels who arranges adventure trips to exotic places like Antarctica. Have a look at these pictures from this spectacular place on earth.

We're stunned by the amount of talented photographers in the Jalbum community. Have a look at our featured album section or most favored albums and see for yourself! There is a never ending range of themes, presentations and techniques. Here are three albums taken with the High Dynamic Range technique:

 Photo album by: ridder - "These are my first HDR photo's :)"

 Photo album by: Rosita

 Photo album by: stikkan

The lack of a photo studio may be keeping you from trying your hand at fashion photography. Many fashion photographers begin by photographing outdoors, which can produce great results with the right background. There seems to always be young men or women who would gladly trade modeling for portfolio photos; you get a free model, and they get free photography. In the beginning, this is a good arrangement for both parties. Most model hopefuls don't have the cash to pay a photographer full price for a portfolio, and most amateur fashion photographers don't have the cash to pay a model full price to practice on. So why not start out helping each other?

Some important points to keep in mind when photographing models outdoors; look for interesting backgrounds, choose overcast days (in most cases), purchase and learn to use a reflector, and keep in mind that you are not the boss . . . the success of the photo shoot relies on the connection between the photographer and model, thus it is in everybody's best interest to keep a groove going.

If you are having trouble finding models, go to your local hair salons, and tell the stylists what you are doing and offering. They will often have regular clients who will be up for a photo shoot, especially if you offer the photos to the stylist as well (for his or her own portfolio). There are also many websites on-line that have geographic listings of models who are just starting out. You may see the terms TFP or TFCD, which means "Trade for Prints" or "Trade for a Photo CD", respectively. If the models list these terms as an option, you might be able to arrange a shoot where no money changes hands.

There will come a time, however, when both the models and the photographers will give up the trading, and will only work for cash. This is necessary, as to do otherwise can devalue the market, which none of us want. When you feel like you have reached a skill level where your images can be published, start charging for your work. The models will also be doing the same, as they get more experience and proficiency in front of the camera.

Thanks to professional photographer Mark Hemmings (www.markhemmings.com) for writing this photo tip.

Last week David and Carl were in London and had the chance to meet up with MarkE, who's a long time dedicated Jalbum supporter. Mark has helped thousands of Jalbum users over the years, so it was a true pleasure to swing some beers with him and share some Jalbum experiences. See you in Stockholm next time, Mark! :)

Yesterday Ira, aka globalviews, who's a very frequent Jalbum publisher, was in Stockholm for the day and came by to have lunch with us. Ira is Captain on some nice ships and uses Jalbum to share his global travels with family and friends back in Chicago. Thanks for stopping by Ira, hope to see you next time you're here!

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If anyone of you are passing by Stockholm, don't hesitate to contact us! :)

Can't decide what skin to use for your album? The skin section is filled with creative ways of presenting your photos built by the Jalbum community. Now, we have tried to make it easy for you to search and find the perfect skin by presenting skins in different lists. However, we haven't had a convenient way to flip between previews of skins - until now! Alan927 has made a cool Jalbum Skin Viewer tool to make things easier for us to explore skins. Try it out, you can even open several skins in the same window to compare. Thanks Alan! :)

We're seeing more and more blogs writing about Jalbum, which is wonderful. Thanks to all of you who are spreading the word about Jalbum, it means a lot to us. Here are two recent articles from a couple of nice sites:

The article is called: Jalbum ups the Ante. Thanks for the write up Liz! 

The article is called: Jalbum - free photo album software and hosting. Thanks for the write up Aseem! 

If you find any other articles on the web about Jalbum, I'd love to hear about it. Please tell me about it by posting on my board or sending a message. Thanks!