The BetterPhoto Girls Blog

Our Gift To You - MVBP Rewards

MVBP Rewards

BetterPhoto is launching a fantastic new program on January 1st to express our gratitude to our active photography class customers. MVBP Rewards Program is our way of giving thanks to you - our valued customer. MVBP stands for Most Valued BetterPhotographer. We appreciate your loyal patronage at BetterPhoto.com and your continuing commitment to learning the craft of photography.

For every five courses you take, you will receive a 50% discount on your next course! For instance, after your purchase of five full-price courses, you will see in your Member Center a listing of available classes in the Courses tab. You will be provided with a non-transferable promo code on the order form to get your personal 50% off discount. Select one of your favorite classes and enter your promo code when you order to get your discount.

For more info, check out our FAQs:
MVBP Rewards

Happy New Year, everyone! We look forward to seeing you in a photography class soon.

ClassTracks are Back! New and Improved!

Due to popular demand, we've brought back our ClassTracks option, but made it even better! Joining a ClassTracks path allows you to easily sign up for a year of BetterPhoto Online Photography Courses and include these incredible free perks:

© Brenda Tharp

Free Bonus Course and Pro Betterpholio - a $547 value!

Your ClassTrack Counselor - your counselor is here to guide you throughout the year

Support from Fellow Classmates - access to an exclusive BetterPhoto Club to interact with your fellow class student who are also enrolled in ClassTracks

Certificate of Mastery

There's four paths to choose from:
ClassTracks #1 - For the Nature Photographer
ClassTracks #2 - Photoshop for Photographers
ClassTracks #3 - Making Money as a Photographer
ClassTracks #4 - Customize Your Own Track

With this fantastic selection of classes, money back guarantee, and amazing price, you can't go wrong! Check out ClassTracks today - and please feel free to email us if you have any questions.

New and Improved Image Uploader at BetterPhoto!

Our brilliant Tech Team has been working diligently on a new and improved image Uploader for BetterPhoto, and if you haven't used it yet, I'm sure you'll be happy with the results!

The new updates to the Uploader include:

1. Quality. The color handling is drastically improved. The colors are clear and the image has increased sharpness. Yipee!

2. Watermarking. Watermarking will now be available from any operating system and browser rather than just IE PC.

3. Image Sizing. Betterphoto images will be resized based on the long side of the image rather than the short side. This means no gigantic panoramic images that blow your screen formatting all over the place. And it will make squarish images appear slightly larger.

4. Send button modified. This one is minor, but has bugged many of us. The drag and drop uploader had a button called "send" instead of "upload" which was less clear. So now you click "upload" to upload. Genius :)

5. Exif data. Exif data displayed in the course area is now extended to the single image uploader.

More exiting improvements at BetterPhoto - we're always aiming to make all our customers happy!

New Session of Online Photo Classes!

Due to popular demand, we've been able to add a new special session of 8-week online photo classes at BetterPhoto. There are only 19 classes being offered for this special session, so make sure to grab your spot now.

The new session of 8-week classes will start soon - December 5th. The instructors offering these classes are all fantastic professional photographers - Jim Zuckerman, Vik Orenstein, Peter Burian, Jennifer Wu, Robin Nichols, Kerry Drager, and Rob Shepperd.

What a great opportunity to work with a professional photographer, learn something new, and get your photos personally critiqued over this holiday season!

For more info, here's a link to the December 5th session:
8-Week Online Photo Classes

Hope to see you in a BetterPhoto online photo class soon!

Where Did the Girls of BetterPhoto Go?

Ok, you are saying, where the heck did you BetterPhoto Girls go?!? Why no blog communication for days and days? Well, fortunately, I've got a good answer. We've been too darn busy!

We put on our 3rd Annual BetterPhoto Photography Summit in Chicago, and it tuckered us all out. We worked so hard, and happily it all went so smoothly. Karen was in charge of the whole event and had been working on it for many months. It all paid off too, because, as several people told me, it was "seamless".

I loved visiting with the BetterPhoto Instructors in addition to the fun and friendly BP Members who were there. There are a few instructors who I am particularly fond of... I know I shouldn't say that I have favorites... so let's just keep this between you and me. Ok? You know who I love love love? Bruce Smith. He's hilarious, charming, sweet, humble, and has a delightful English accent. I also adore Kerry Drager and Ibarionex Perello. Fellows of great character and people I just trust. Isn't nice being around people like that? I also got to know Robin Nichols, who brought his delightful wife along from Australia. Thoughtful and easy to talk to. Brenda Tharp and Lewis Kemper also come to mind. They were both so fun and such great speakers at the event, I have to include them too. Jon Canfield carried my luggage. Ok, now I'm done.

But do you know what the best part of the event was for me? It was actually hanging out one night in our room with all of the BP staff. We were so tired and hungry, waiting for a Chinese food delivery, but we just sat and talked and laughed, and even played a 20 questions game. It was just so nice to be able to connect with everyone in person again. Since we are an online company, we've hired people from all over the US. It's all fine and good until you realize you haven't seen your co-worker in person for over six months. So, it was just a delight to connect with everyone again and have so much fun doing it!

BetterPhoto.com Partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters

Sisters © Karen Orr All rights reserved

Have you heard? BetterPhoto is building a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters. With their adult mentors (their Big Brothers and Big Sisters), ten Seattle teenagers will have the opportunity to enroll in a special beginning photography course at BetterPhoto.com. BP will also supply the teens with their own online photo gallery for their photos! As they set out for adventures with their mentors, they will have a blast learning and practicing their photography.

Would you like to share in the fun by donating your outgrown but perfectly usable digital cameras to these young people? We'd love to have your support!

Please send your donated camera (along with any available accessories) to the BetterPhoto office in Redmond:

BetterPhoto.com
attn: BetterPhotoMentor Program
16544 NE 79th Street
Redmond, WA 98052

If you have any questions, feel free to email maureen@betterphoto.com

And for more information check out this page at BetterPhoto.com

We are really looking forward to sharing our love for photography with these young photography enthusiasts.

Online Photography Course Review

Popular Photography (PopPhoto.com) has posted several in depth blog articles about the BetterPhoto online photography class they are taking with one of our instructors, Jim Zuckerman.

It's quite interesting to read a comprehensive photo course review from the student's point of view. Kathleen Davis (Assistant Editor and novice shooter) is learning a lot and having a great time in the class. She even shares some of Jim's critiques of her homework assignments. I feel like I'm learning as well, right along with her, as I look at her photos and read the critiques.

Click on the links below to read Kathleen's blog series called "Four Weeks to Become a Better Photographer":

• How the BetterPhoto Course Works
  
• BetterPhoto.com - Lesson 1
  
• BetterPhoto.com - Lesson 2
  

My New BetterPholio Deluxe Site

I recently set up my own photographer website, designed and hosted by our very own BetterPhoto.com. All this time I've been so busy with the other tasks of my job, I've never set aside enough time to set up my own site. Shameful, yes, I know.

My Deluxe Site was so easy to set up, the design choices are professional and elegant, and it really makes my images look good. After my domain name was registered, it only took me about 15 minutes to get it set up.

www.BetterPhotoDenise.com

Next week we will be announcing the newest version of the Deluxe BetterPholios, with some fantastic improved features. If anyone has been thinking about a getting their own Deluxe Web site or renewing their site, this will be a two-day only event. Check out the home page for this special sale next week, when we launch the new version! www.BetterPhoto.com

BetterPhoto Member Sighting

Today I went to get my hair cut by my favorite hair stylist, Peggy (owner of Sorella Salon and Spa www.sorellasalonandspa.com) and she was excited to share some news with me. For her daughter's wedding, they hired a second photographer to walk around and take extra photos of the event. It turned out that this photographer recently graduated from a BetterPhoto online class! What's more, the photographer was very excited about the learning experience at BetterPhoto. Peggy loved working with this friendly photographer and plans on using her services for future family events.

How delightful it was to hear about the success of another happy BetterPhoto student! Go BetterPhoto Alumni, Go!