Happy Vampires

Playing craps online is fast moving fun and exciting game, with surprisingly good odds for a game of chance and the house edge is far less than in roulette for example.

Many novice players are put off playing craps online, as it appears to be complicated the reality however is craps is actually an easy game play.

So let’s look at how to play craps online and how you can pile up some nice profits by playing the bets with the best odds of success.

Playing craps online rules

When you are rolling the dice you are the “shooter”. Your first toss in a round of Craps is called the Come Out roll.

If you roll a 7 or 11, you win and the round is finished before it has started.

If you roll 2, 3, or 12 that’s a Craps and you lose and just like the example above the game is over.

Any other number becomes the Point. The purpose of the Come Out roll is to set the Point, which can be any of 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10.

The Dealer puts a puck marked “On″ above the Point number place on the table.

Playing craps online Objective of the Game

The basic objective in Craps is for the shooter to win by tossing the Point again before he tosses a 7. That 7 are called Out 7 to differentiate it from the 7 on the Come Out roll.

If the Point is tossed, the shooter and his fellow bettors win and the round is over.

If the shooter tosses Out 7, they lose and the round is over. If the toss is not the Point or the Out 7, the round carries on and the dice continue to roll.

Playing craps online betting and payoffs

When playing craps online, you will see a lot of bets but only one good one and that’s the bet top focus on, as it has the best odds of success of any game of chance.

Pass bets

The simplest bet is a Pass bet.

It is placed on the Pass Line before the Come Out roll.

If the round goes past the Come Out roll, the player is betting on the chance that they roll the Point again before they roll an Out 7. Pass bets win at odds of 1:1.

Pass bets are generally betting with the shooter.

Pass bettors are referred to as betting “right”. They are with the shooter in his attempt to win to the game.

Win: If on the Come Out roll if the dice show 7 or 11. Win on any subsequent roll if you roll the Point.

Lose: If on the Come Out roll if the dice are Craps (2, 3, or 12). Lose on any subsequent roll if it’s an Out 7.

Don’t Pass bets

A bet placed on the Don’t Pass line is the mirror opposite of a Pass bet.

If the round goes past the Come Out roll, the player is betting that the shooter will roll Out 7 before making the Point.

In don’t pass bets the player is betting against the shooter and this is called a “wrong” bet.

Win: If on the Come Out roll if the dice show Craps (2, 3 or 12). Win on any subsequent roll if it’s an Out
7.

Lose: If on the Come Out roll of 7 or 11. Lose on any subsequent roll if it’s the Point.
Come/Don’t Come bets

Come and Don’t Come bets are the same as Pass and Don’t Pass but they are placed while a round is in progress.

They are there for players who join the game and play craps online late and the same rules are relevant.

Win if the next roll is 7 or 11, lose if it’s Craps. Otherwise the roll becomes the Come Point.
Odds bets

An Odds bet is a backup bet on a Pass/Don’t Pass/Come/Don’t Come bet already on the table.

They’re usually limited to two or three times (2x or 3x) the original bet and pay off at true odds:

The payoff and odds reflects the probability of the dice’s roll and there’s no additional house edge involved, which does not happen in these bets - original Pass/Don’t Pass/Come/Don’t Come bets.

Pass Odds / Come Odds payout 2:1 on a roll of 4 or 10, 3:2 on 5′s and 9′s, and 6:5 on 6′s and 8′s.

Don′t Pass Odds / Don′t Come Odds payout 1:2 on a roll of 4 or 10, 2:3 on 5’s and 9’s, 5:6 on 6’s and 8’s.

Other bets

Now for the rest of the table bets that include:

The Place Number bets and Proposition bets.

The odds against you here are woeful and if you play craps online you should not consider them unless you want to lose!

A Place Number bet is where players are betting that a specific number will roll before a 7 does, or vice versa.

These include the Place, Buy, Lay and Lose bets, the Big 6 and Big 8, and the Hard 4, Hard 6, Hard 8 and

Hard 10.

The Proposition bet is where the player bets that the next roll will be a specific number.

These include the 2, 3, 7, 11, and 12 bets, the Any Craps bet, the Field, Hop and Horn bets.

Playing craps online best bets

When playing craps online the bests to place are pass and don’t pass bets.

These are the only bets you need unless you’re feeling lucky and want some fun on one of the other bets - Don’t be tempted unless you’re playing for fun.

By playing the bets below with full odds you will have the house edge as small as it can be against you i.e you have the best odds you can when playing craps online.

Odds Bets

The craps odds bet is the best bet there is when playing craps online as there is no house edge. The bet is not listed on the craps layout (wonder why!) but this is the bet to play.

After a passline bet is made, the casino allows you to make an additional bet known as an odds bet.

This bet is placed behind your original passline bet on the table.

When a shooter makes his point, you are paid even money for your passline bet but you are paid the true odds for you odds bet.

If the point is 4 or 10 your win is paid 2 to 1.

If the point is 5 or 9 your win is paid 3 to 2.

If the point is 6 or 8 your win is paid 6 to 5.

Most online casinos also allow you to take double odds on your passline bet.

For example, if you put $40 on the passline, you would be able to place an odds bet of double i.e. $80.
The passline bets house edge is 1.41%.

When you place an additional odds bet, you lower the house edge on your passline bet.

A passline bet with single odds has a house edge of 0.85% and with double odds the edge is further to just 0.61%

Playing craps online Best Bets

When playing craps online there really are only two bets to focus on as we said before that have great odds and they are:

For right bettors are pass and come bets with full odds on both.

For wrong bettors are don’t pass and don’t come with full odds on both.

Craps good odds for a game of chance

When playing craps online for the first time you may be confused by the number of options open to you but as you will have seen above there is really only one good way to bet.

Dice games have fascinated man for centuries, we all love the excitement and fun they provide. With the rise of online casinos and the chance to play craps online, more players than ever are discovering the unique thrill a game of craps provides.

For more FREE info on

The Saloon

Chapter Four

He had checked into the hotel: shaved, took a bath, and put on the cleanest dirty shirt he had. Combed his hair and wiped his boots off with spit and the shirt he was about to put on. He then looked out the window; it was 10:00 AM on the clock above the saloon he was in yesterday. Then tightening his gun belt, he went down stairs of the hotel, out the door, across the street to the saloon, then as Blue walked through the door he walked up to the bar, ordered a whiskey with a beer to wash it down. Two young gunmen were standing along the bar: fiddling with their shot glass. He hadn’t seen them in the saloon the previous day, although he recognized most of the others—regulars.

A young man at his right, blond hair, medium build, about five food eight inches tall, perhaps 22-years old or there about was checking Blue out first his height, his build, and then how his holster was, and his gun handle. Then his partner, a little taller and heaver pointed to a picture on the wall.

“Is that you, old man?” the black haired fella said.

Blue jerked off his leather hat, saying, “Does it look like me?”

“I heard of you, Arizona Blue. Fast as fast can be but not faster than my friend standing by you,” he said with a cocky voice.

They were part of the new breed Blue thought, as he looked at both of them, one on each side of him. The blond next to him and the black dude farther down the bar. They’d shoot you in the back that was the kind they were, thought Blue.

The blond stepped back: “Meet you in the back of town, Mr. Blue. See how good you really are.”

Blue stood there with his whiskey in one hand, the other close by his gun handle the hell with it take this kid out he told himself, but on my wedding day (?) so he questioned himself.

Said Blue with a hesitant voice, one he never had before,

“I’m getting married, flea’s, so it’s your lucky day, go home.”

Momentarily he felt odd, he should take care of these two, right here and now, it was his style. Why let another man have a chance to plan your killing.

The two men walked out of the bar, and then Ben asked,

“A local lady I gather?”

“Yaw, your sweet little Ella,” answered Blue.

“Ella,” replied Ben surprised, “she’s a pretty one all right.” Ben thought he best leave it at that, in case something wrong came out of his mouth, and he might not live to regret it, remembering what the previous day had brought.

Blue looked at the clock in the bar, it was 11:00 AM. He then took his second drink: he drank it down quick, and walked outside.

The blond kid stood in the middle of the street, said,

“I wish somebody would tell me, Mr. Blue, the true story of you, the coward part”.

Nobody had ever dared call him a coward before, and lived to tell about it.

“Where is your buddy,” asked Blue.

No response.

Blue turned to face the bond gunfighter, his hand going slowly down to his gun side. Both were thinking: would it happen here. It was becoming too much for Blue to back away he couldn’t take it.

“Okay, kid, I’ll meet you in that empty lot by the outskirts of town, no need to mess up the street here with blood.”

This was not what he wanted at all though. He wanted to marry that woman that made him laugh. She would be a good sidekick, a good wife he thought.

Ella

Chapter Five

Ella came up from the church hearing there was to be a gunfight. She stopped at the edge of town and stood by an old broken down shack that once housed slaves. Several townsfolk were there already, but she moved a little farther away from them, standing alone for a moment. Behind her were two houses with backyards and fences dividing the three acreage [open area land], where the two men stood twenty-five yards apart.

Blue looked to his right, there was Ella: she was pretty as a sparrow, and all dressed in white. He smiled; she had decided he was the one she wanted to marry and that as long as he married her he could do what he did best.

Never had she known such empty stillness, as she stood there. Her body was like a storm that wanted to break open the clouds.

“I’m ready boy, go for it, “said Blue. The boy went for his gun but before he could clear his holster, Blue shot him in the heart. The boy went back a foot but not down. Blue looked dumbfounded. He knew he hadn’t missed.

The boy was laughing so hard he didn’t even aim the gun now dangling in his hand. He had on a metal vest that started to shine as one of the buttons broke off his shirt. Blue looked closer, squinting his eyes, trying to make heads or tails out of this drama.

Something else was wrong: Blue didn’t see the black guy. He looked over to the fence there were now a dozen or more people watching. The sheriff, Ella, and her dad stood by the shack on the right. All of a sudden Blue caught a glimpse of a gun pointing at him coming out from behind the fence. It’s the other man, thought Blue, but before he could pivot his body to position himself, the fragments from the shotgun hit his chest like a dying buffalo: thus, he rocked back and forth, and then fell to his knees and then flat on his face.

The dark young man jumped out from behind the fence,

“I killed Blue,” he yelled.

Ella, frozen in shock, grabbed the sheriff’s six shooter, and aiming it carelessly at the man, shot him four times, once in the foot, then in the shoulder, and as he fell to his knees, a bullet hit his chest, and his eye. The youth was blood soaked on the ground, next to dead. Her eyes lifted up and over to the blond, he knew if he shot her, the town folks would hang him but if he didn’t, she’d shoot him. Within ten seconds a bullet hit her forehead and she dropped to the ground. Then the fire works started, several guns started shooting at the blond. The gunfighter went down hitting the dirt like a chicken with his head snapping every which way.

Ella’s father, picking her up, with her last words she asked to be put by Blues side and buried next to him. And her father did as she asked, putting her hand into his, and turning him over so she could see him. He had a smile on his face. As she laid there: 10-seconds of life left, she whispered to her father,

“You know daddy, one day out of my life, today, was better than all the rest.” And she died, and was buried by him. Their tombstone read, Mr. and Mrs. Blue: Sidekicks.

Originally written: Originally written in 1990; Rewritten: 4/2002; Revised during the months of November and December of 2005 First time in publication.

See Dennis′ web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com dennissiluk.tripod.com

In ancient times, tattoos had a much deeper meaning to a person than they have today. The tattoos of ancient times depicted the caste or clan of a person. In the case of ancient warriors, bigger tattoos were also used to depict entire war scenes the warrior had been in. Thankfully, tattoo designs today are just that - tattoo designs of something we like or follow.

In more recent times, tattoos were used to show the ownership of a human slave. This was prevalent during the time of African slavery. In fact, tattoos were seen as a mark of slavery during those times. However, with the abolition of slavery, tattoos have become more of a status and fashion symbol as compared to the depiction of anything.

Once a person decides to get a tattoo, the next step is to decide on the tattoo design. There are various and varied tattoo designs available in the market today. Big, small, full bodied, colored and black and white, all kinds of tattoo design are freely available. Basically, the tattoo design completely depends on what part of the body one wishes to have the tattoo on. Keeping in mind the body structure, one should decide on the tattoo design.

Maybe some of the most famous tattoo designs are the full bodied designs we see on the bodies of Chinese and Japanese actors in action flicks. These designs are mainly of dragons, warriors and other more masculine stuff.

Tattoos are today mainly used to proclaim anything by an individual. It can be almost anything, from sexual to political orientation, or in the case of celebrities, a note to their loved ones. Of course, one very famous tattoo nowadays used mainly by women is the butterfly, starting or ending just at the end of their spine. The more risque ones aim lower.

It is a misconception that tattoos are mainly used only at the bicep or forearm. Navels, bellies, chests, all are the playground for the creative tattoo artist today.

One has to put a lot of thought while deciding on a tattoo design. Tattoos are permanent more often than not and removing them can be as much of a pain as getting them. Of course, there are removable tattoos nowadays, but they are frowned upon by hardcore tattoo fan as much as a filter coffee user will frown upon instant coffee.

Therefore, getting a tattoo, and therefore the tattoo design is as permanent as decision as going in for a permanent loan. There are a large amount of tattoo artists who have an online presence. They have their websites, on which people can lounge all they want and decide on the tattoo they want. Some tattoo artists also have real time photos of how the tattoo looks on skin.

So, once you do decide on the tattoo design, it’s entirely your call.

Kip D Goldhammer owns and operates tattoosdesignsreviews.com tattoosdesignsreviews.com tattoosdesignsreviews.com Tattoo Design

She Wants Revenge got its big break in 2005 when its single “Out of Control” was played on KCXX, KROQ and quickly became the number-one song played on the station.
Its follow-up, “These Things,” has shown great popularity at Yahoo! Music and was entered into the Artist of the Month contest there. “Tear You Apart” has received great fanfare for both its music video (directed by Joaquin Phoenix) and catchy, fast-paced beat.
She Wants Revenge was featured on SPIN.com as the band of the day for October 18, 2005.

Its debut self-titled album was mixed by Michael Patterson, who also mixed albums for Beck, The Notorious B.I.G., and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
It reached number 38 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. Warfield credits the bands success to Chicago local music guru Zack Zwart. Zwart began following the band on tour advising his followers to “embrace the sound.” Soon he amassed a huge support network for the band. “Without Zwart’s huge following and support for our music, we would still be playing for drinks.” citation needed

The vocals of lead singer Justin Warfield have been linked to the vocal stylings of Paul Banks (Interpol) and Ian Curtis (Joy Division). In 2006, She Wants Revenge performed at the Coachella 2006 Music and Arts Festival. It also played at the Village Voice Siren Music Festival in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, in July 2006, and it played at Lollapalooza in Chicago later that year.
She Wants Revenge opened several shows during Depeche Mode′s 2006 tour. They are currently on tour with Placebo.

Noor Daoud is the Managing Partner of The “Google-Center″ To find out more about the author visit: google-center.com www.google-center.com

I am interested learn about guitar and how to play guitars when saw my friend performing in the stage and it was in my secondary school. He is so cool and I think that it will attract a lot of girls. As a result, I pay to learn about guitar and how to play guitar like him in the guitar learning centre. It really cost me a lot but after few months I just know the basics, strumming and few important guitar chords.

So how to avoid learn about guitar few months and spend huge amount of money to the guitar learning centre but can start play a song within a week as I do? Although this is not a secret but I guaranteed that u will Start play a song within a week.

Secret 1: Learn How to play guitars from your close friend who had learned about guitar.

Do not laugh, this is real and exactly what I had done in secondary school. I can start play a song and string the guitar for a complete song in one week. Furthermore, it is totally free without paying hundreds or thousands to tutor.

Secret 2

First of all, you will learn all the basic guitar chords and few important chords that almost can use in every song. You can always play around with them and perform in the stage like a pro even though you still learn about guitar and how to play guitars. The basic guitar chords you must learn are Em, C, G, D, Am, E, and A.

Secret 3: Listen to the song by guitarist following to your style and favorite whether it is rock or classical songs.

Almost everyday, I will listen to my favorite guitar’ songs and something will enjoy and listen to the guitarist playing their song in the cafe. Maybe will laugh at me and fell that I am stupid because this won’t help in learn about guitar or how to play guitars. Friend, you are wrong, this help a lot and will boost the speed of the learning process on how to play guitars or learn about guitar.

This also help you to improve the sensitiveness to the guitar song, indirectly influence your subliminal mind, your sense to music, your imagination, creativity and much more. When you start learning and playing that song by your own, it will help a lot. At he same time, you will easily catch up the chords of a song in a short time and playing on your own key after listen to it.

I encourage that after you had learned about guitar and know how to play guitars, you can perform it in front of crowd. Do not worry about making mistake and fear. However this will help you to understand what is your mistake and weakness and have the chances to improve it.

Finally this is the most important steps that every beginner must be taken. You must practice, practice and practice until the guitar become part of your life and know how to play guitars.

Get Your Free 6 Days Mini Rapid Success How to play guitars Course and discover why I am able to handle all the guitar basics and start playing songs in a week and perform like a pro in front of crowds within a month. Get the Free

A song is the invasion of silence by sound. But where do you stop in between Beethoven’s deafness and the roar of the Space Shuttle? And when we select a zone of optimum sound, is it music or still a noise?

A dictatorship does not allow any optimal solutions. Things are at either a minimum or a maximum. It’s either all or nothing. Intercontinental missiles or famine. It’s North Korea.

Optimal choices need an environment of democratic tolerance in which tender and imperfect individual variations can grow to mighty and perfect oaks.

But even then the quick maximalist solutions offered by Capitalism, on the one hand, and their minimalist counterparts offered by Fundamentalism, on the other, keep tugging at our sleeves.

That’s when the optimal becomes the signature of our individual freedoms. The socially-sanctioned chance to resist both the minimum and the maximum becomes the gift of a life time.

Is that happiness? Not quite.

But just as the optimal is the necessary condition of freedom, freedom itself is also the necessary condition of happiness. And our lives′ central mission will always be to add that missing “sufficient condition” so that our days will be not only be well-proportioned but well-lived as well.

I tried it this last holiday season. The shopping malls were definitely neither the “necessary” nor the “sufficient” condition of whatever I was looking for in there.

Is it a sheer linguistic coincidence that you can derive the word “tired” from “tried” by just changing the position of one letter?

I wish you all a very optimal past, present and future.

Ugur Akinci is a writer with 20 years of experience. Visit his web site writer111.com writer111.com for more information.

Out of his deep-seated anger against his father Saturn started doing penance (see Birth of Planets). His objective was to become more powerful than Sun, his father.

In Indian Puranas it was believed that by doing penance one could gain such powers that one could even topple the seat of Indra (Indian equivalent of Zeus).

During penance, one had to remain celibate, control all his emotions and subject the body to extreme suffering. In summer, one had to stand on one leg within a Ring of Fire or in winter stand neckdeep in cold water through the night. All the while chanting specific mantras, which could energize one’s latent powers. Saturn went through this for years and finally success was his. While Sun gave life to all beings, Saturn became the dealer of Death. He had the additional power of bestowing instant wealth and prosperity and also the power of healing (by denying death).

Even after achieving his goal he continued to be a celibate and led the life of a hermit. Chhaya, his mother was alarmed. She literally forced him to marry a girl of her choice believing that the beauty of the bride would ensnare Saturn into domesticity.

No such thing happened. Saturn continued with his daily meditation after going through the marriage rituals with extreme reluctance only to please his mother. He remained a celibate, although technically married. It is not clear why he agreed to marry. While agreeing to his mother’s entreaties he remained totally oblivious to the fact that in the process he was ruining the life of normal and healthy girl. Possibly he did not quite understand the responsibilities of marriage! His wife tried her best to win him over. She would bedeck herself with all kinds of finery and try to attract his attention. But Saturn did not even look at her.

One day she had enough of it and cursed Saturn saying “Since you did not even bother to look at me, I curse you that from today whomsoever you look at will perish.”

All this while, elsewhere other important things were happening. Mother Uma the consort of Shiva created a child from her mind. The baby was most gorgeous looking and Shiva made him the leader of his guards known as the ‘Ganas’. Hence his name became Ganapati or Ganesh.

There is an Indian ceremony when a child receives his first meal of solid food. Family and friends are invited and there are festivities. It is known as Annaprashan.

The time came for Ganesh’s Annaprashan. Uma in a joyful mood invited all the gods and demigods. Everybody was too happy to oblige. Everybody except Saturn. Remembering his wife’s curse he did not turn up. Uma noticed his absence and sent her emissaries to fetch him. It was difficult to avoid her summons and reluctantly Saturn went. He decided that he would not look at the child and only join the festivities and bless him with his eyes closed.

Alas, that was not to be. Uma brought the child to him and wanted to know what he thought of him. Saturn told her that he did not want to see the child because if he did something terrible might happen.

Uma would hear none of it. She asked Saturn to look at the child and assured him that she herself would remain responsible for the consequences. What could Saturn do? He looked at Ganesh and as he did Ganesh’s head dropped off his shoulder.

Uma was hysterical. There was general confusion. Everybody started crying. Only Vishnu kept him cool. He took one of Shiva’s attendants aside and asked him go out and find the first living being lying with its head towards the north. He was to cut the head off and bring it as fast as possible to Vishnu.

The attendant found an elephant lying down with its head northwards. He chopped the head off and brought it to Vishnu and he set it on a Ganesh’s headless body and Ganesh became whole again. Since then he became known as the elephant god.

Such were the powers of Saturn - made even more potent by his wife’s curse.

In Indian astrology it is said that the house which receives Saturn’s aspect (i.e., the house to which Saturn looks) is ruined and nothing good can be expected from it.

Madhushri completed her early schooling at the Shri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry. Having grown up in an environment of literature, music and spirituality she proceeded to complete her Masters in Comparative Literature from the Jadavpur University after completing graduation studies in the same course of the University. In addition, Madhushri also hold a Masters degree in Music from the Rabindra Bharati University.

Given her deep interests in mythology, literature and spirituality, the move to Vedic Astrology was a natural extension. Being an intuitive reader of Natal Chart, she brings a successful blend of astrology and spiritual skill-sets into all her readings and counseling’s. A natural flair for expressing complex and difficult matters makes her a prolific creator of most of the content on CyberAstro website since 2001. Madhushri has a large following for the accuracy of her daily, weekly and monthly zodiac predictions.

Digital photography printing has opened new avenues for amateur and professional photographers alike. For most photographers, the backup of digital photography printing offers unprecedented freedom to get the best shots. No more worrying about wasting that precious piece of film running out, in addition to not knowing for sure that anything worthwhile is on it!

However, when it comes to getting the printing done, there are a few things one should keep in mind to prevent wasting too much of quality photo paper, and the costly printing ink. In this article, we’ll review a few basic terms related to digital photography and offer a few tips on getting the best prints.

Resolution

Resolution refers to the ‘image-sharpness′ of a document, and is usually measured in dots (or pixels) per inch (DPI). It also refers to the image-sharpness that printers and monitors are capable of reproducing. Depending on your particular needs, documents can be scanned at various resolutions. The higher the resolution of a document, greater the image-sharpness, and larger the file size will be.

With digital photography printing in mind, the first thing you need to ensure is that you download the pictures at their full resolution. If in the end, you have 72dpi (dots per inch) pictures, your print quality will be useless. A 72dpi resolution is good for viewing on your computer screen, but an image with 200 to 300dpi will give a good quality 8⻪ inch print.

Pixel

Pixel is short for ‘Picture Element.’ It is the smallest part of a digital image, and each image is comprised of thousands or millions of pixels. This basic unit, from which a video or computer picture is made, is essentially a dot with a given colour and brightness value. The more pixels an image has, the higher the resolution of that image will be. One Megapixel is equal to one million pixels.

JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) is a standards committee that designed this image compression format. The compression format they designed is known as a ‘lossy’ compression, as it deletes information from an image that it considers unnecessary. JPEG files can range from small amounts of lossless compression to large amounts of lossy compression. This is a common standard on the World Wide Web, but the data loss generated in its compression makes it undesirable for printing purposes.

When dealing with digital photography printing, you will mostly work with the JPEG file format. Remember that every time you open and save a JPEG file, you lose some of the image information. Therefore, it is advisable to do all the changes in one sitting, and then save them only once.

Resolution Guide to Quality Prints
The higher number of megapixels a camera has, the more detail an image will retain when enlarged and/or printed.

1 to 2 Megapixels

Cameras with this resolution range are sufficient for sending photos electronically via email, but are not ideal for printing photos. Most camera phones, PC camcorders, and PC cameras have a resolution in the 1 to 2 megapixel range.

3 to 4 Megapixels

Cameras with this resolution range are good for printing and retouching the standard 4×6 inch images.

5 to 6 Megapixels

Cameras with this resolution range produce professional results when enlarging photos up to an 8×10 inch format.

7 Megapixels

Cameras with a resolution range of at least 7 megapixels promise superior quality and detail when printing or enlarging photos beyond the 11×14 inch format.

By simply looking at the file size, you will quickly learn to be an expert judge on quality. A picture of 100kb (kilobytes) or less is most probably too low-resolution for good quality digital printing. Once you get to a minimum size of 400kb, you are working with a more useful resolution for an 8×10 inch print.

Printing Paper

If you′re proud of your photographic effort, or if you want those family shots to be available for the next generation, you will definitely want your prints to be done on decent paper. Needless to say, in the end, your prints will be only as good as the paper you use.

There are many new coated papers available on the market specifically for this purpose, and you should consider what is recommended for the printer you are using.

Archival paper, popular in the world of inkjet printing, is the longest-lasting paper and it is acid-free. These printing papers don’t come cheap, so plan carefully. Print only after final cropping, or on completion of other changes, such as after the addition of a border with your imaging software.

Regular colour inkjet and laser printers are good for text and charts, but not always best for digital photography printing. PictBridge-enabled printers allow you to print your digital photographs directly from the camera. Portable printers, such as the HP Photosmart 320 series, allow you to take a picture and print 4×6 inch sized pictures anywhere on the move.

Incidentally, for smaller 4Ҷ inch prints, dye-sublimation printers give outstanding quality prints, and they are generally waterproof. However, the materials for such printing do not come cheap!
If you cannot get satisfactory results with your own digital photography printing, especially if you’re printing larger than 8⻪ inch sized images, you could try one of the brick-and-mortar, or even online photo labs that make use of dedicated photo printers with excellent results.

Photo labs can easily handle digital files directly from your memory card. Take your digital camera, a homemade CD, or your camera’s memory card along for professional quality digital photography printing.

John Sollars is the managing director of Solar Electronics, which are both ink and pc peripheral suppliers based in Shropshire, UK. To access a comprehensive online shop of original and re-manufactured hp and canon inks please visit mega-office.co.uk mega-office.co.uk

To be a successful portrait photographer, it takes more than raw talent and new equipment. You have to analyze the competition, establish your market and offer a unique in-demand product. The competition is probably now all coming out of the dark ages and dabbling with digital technology. It must be remembered that advanced digital technology lets photographers offer a really unique photograph. These photographs are perfectly geared toward an intended market whilst allowing the photographer to maintain his control over his work.

Once the digital challenge has been accepted anything is possible for your growing portrait business. But once accepted you will have to stay on top of the curve to stay on top professionally and to do that you will need to analyze the changes in the industry.

There is no doubt that going digital changes the way that you do business. Digital technology will allow you to create images that you never dreamed of. Digital imaging makes in-house retouching possible therefore giving photographers more creative freedom than traditional film photography.

To move over to using digital technology will require an investment but going digital will allow for improving your images and your production process. In the long run the cost of not investing will be more substantial.

There are so many advantages for moving over to digital photography. One indisputable advantage is that the digital image offers instant gratification. Photographers can see their images straight away, which allow total control over their work at every stage. From capture to the final image.

With digital imaging photographers no longer capture the portrait session in twelve or twenty-four exposures and then send them to a processing lab. They can now perfect the images to the fullest extent of their imagination. They can control cropping, make color corrections, correct common problems like low light situations, bad angles, blemishes and any other perceived imperfections.

Once the decision has been made to take the plunge into the world of digital photography you need to educate yourself. You will find that there are many resources available to you. When you are first starting out you will find there are national organizations, publications and seminars, all of which can be invaluable.

The next thing to consider in this new venture is what equipment will be needed. It is always helpful when starting out to ask to see other digital photographers equipment. That way you can compare the results achieved with different equipment.

Three of the most important factors in selecting camera equipment are features, specifications and pricing. You will find that the most commonly bought cameras have common characteristics. They offer features that make capturing images easier, accept your existing lenses to minimize the initial investment and yield sharp, high quality images.

If the decision has been made to begin using digital technology then a plan must be put in place to make this transition as smoothly as possible. Time must be split between education and work. That way nothing will get ignored and your business will continue to run smoothly and without hitches.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to photography-guides.com/ Photography

Arithmetic in grammar school and algebra in high school never appealed to me. But when I discovered later on in life that I could save hundreds of dollars every year, I soon became fascinated by mathematics.

Once a year we have to get serious about taxes. Most stock photographers have the same comment. “Taxes…Oh! I leave that subject to my tax accountant.”

It turns out the tax accountant is usually Uncle Harry down the street, or someone picked out from the local Yellow Pages. In other words non-experts, who are costing the photographer mucho dollars.

Before you close the doors and slam the windows and refuse to let me talk to you, let me make two points: 1) you are missing an opportunity to save anywhere from $100 to $1,000 a year (or more) on your taxes if you are a salaried person and attempting to get your stock photography side business off the ground, and 2) what I’m going to say has nothing to do with evading taxes — that’s illegal. You will avoid taxes — that’s your legal right.

THE IRS RULES ENCOURAGE YOU

The IRS encourages you to avoid taxes. Sound odd? It’s correct.
The reason the IRS doesn’t want you to pay so much in taxes is that our free enterprise system recognizes that it takes courage to start up a business, thus, the IRS wants to en-courage you. They know that if you succeed, you could very well help stimulate the economy by hiring more workers, who in turn will pay more taxes.

Perhaps you thought “write-offs” were only for the big boys, and that it costs big dollars to ask questions about tax advantages. Not so. The IRS provides you with all the information I′m about to reveal to you, in their free and informative, “Taxpayer’s Business Kit.” (Phone them at 1 800 829-1040).

But if you’re like most of us, you’ll take one look at that two pounds of information and put it away in a drawer for “later.”

A costly mistake. Here’s what you′ll discover when you sift out the information as it applies to you. The government will give you five years to stop calling your operation a hobby and start calling it a business. Within those five years,* you should show a profit ($1 is a profit), at least two of those years. That means you could go two years without even selling a picture or showing a profit and still reap the tax benefits (more later). This applies to someone who has a salaried position and is starting a stock photo business on the side. If you are self-employed, with your stock business as your only enterprise, you don’t have to make a profit in any of those years, to qualify as a full-fledged business.

You don’t have to “get a license” (unless your local city or township requires it). You only have to show intent to be a business, rather than a hobby.

Intent translates into “putting up a shingle.” In other words, get a blog or a website, get some stationery printed, and open a separate bank (business) account. At income tax time, fill out Schedule C, a form that lets the IRS know whether you made a profit or a loss on your photo illustration operation.

Now here’s where your savings come in.

Much of your business-related expenses (photo, travel, home office, computer, software, scanner, vehicle, darkroom if you have one) are no longer your personal expenses, they are business expenses, because you need them to be able to produce your product: stock photos. Therefore these costs become “deductions″ — in other words, expenses to your business. Even though you don’t make a profit, you are still entitled to this write-off right up to the amount of revenue you brought in.

“And how ‘bout that $1,000 savings?” you ask.

It depends how much in taxes was taken out of your day-job paycheck. Say your annual salary is $40,000 (the national median). Withholding taxes were taken out on this amount. Now let’s say that in your first year of your stock photography operation, you bought a new lens, a scanner, paper, office supplies, fixed up your home-office plus took a trip to Vermont for some Autumn pictures for your stock file. Your total expenses for the year were $4035.

Say you sold two dozen pictures for $4,036 your first year. You have a dollar profit and in effect, a $4,035 loss on your business your first year. [This will be no surprise to the IRS, nor to the SBA (Small Business Administration), who both figure it takes anywhere from three to five years to start making a real profit on any business.]

Since taxes were taken out on your $40,000 salary, not $36,000 (remember, you had a $4,000 loss…), the government owes you a rebate. This will amount from $100 to $1,000 — or more, depending on your deductions, exemptions, and of course, your tax bracket.

Start keeping a daily log to record your stock photography operation expenses. Save your receipts.

A KEY PLAYER

Who is your accountant? Now that you are operating in the area of “intellectual properties,” you will need someone who is up to speed in this area, not Uncle Harry or a friend at work who is “good at figures.”

Just as you would turn to a specialist in medicine or a specialist in law, it’s best to seek out an accountant who is knowledgeable in intellectual properties.

Here’s how to find one. Seek out the successful creative people in your city or community: the artist, song writer, movie producer, the painter, the musician, and ask them, ‘Who do you use as a tax advisor?’ The same name will probably come up. This is the person who you should be working with.

This tax advisor will be aware of tax revisions and changes in the IRS code as it applies to you, the creative person.

To try to get your present accountant to cooperate with you and study the tax law in this area of intellectual properties, would be tantamount to opening your check book to him or her to educate them. Say adios to your present accountant and go with a person already schooled in the area of intellectual properties. His/her fee may be higher, but he/she will be a specialist in saving you many dollars in the future as you get your stock photography business on firm footing with a smooth cash flow. Now is the time to begin thinking about next year’s taxes.

With your first $1,000 of tax savings, buy yourself a new camera, and write it off next year as a business expense.

Our tax laws were wisely designed to encourage the small businessperson get started by allowing tax breaks for him or her.

If you don’t make a profit your first couple of years, you’re in good company. If anyone should be an expert on this subject, it should be the chief of the accounting department at MONEY magazine. The magazine was founded in 1972 — and did not record a profit until 1981. MONEY must know something that SBA consultants and accounting teachers don’t: Sometimes it is profitable not to make a profit.

You have shown your creativity by becoming a stock photographer. Show the same creativity in your approach to taxes, and you will join the many successful photo illustrators who do.

* Tax laws change from time to time. Not greatly, but they change, go back to old rules, a new administration comes along and adjusts the tax laws, etc. Your tax advisor will inform you when these changes come about.

Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of “Sell & ReSell Your Photos” and “sellphotos.com,” has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: “8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer,” visit sellphotos.com sellphotos.com