It’s been a while since we have put out an image request update but lately, a number of image buyers have been downloading and asking us for more images of elderly people, seniors and grandparents doing everyday things. The range of activities that these mature adults could be doing include working out, dating, eating, playing with younger kids, routine medical check-ups or any type of activity that takes place on a normal day. To give you an idea for what types of images we have of elderly people doing everyday things take a look at these elderly people photo lightboxes.  We thank you for your support and uploads.

To download any of the images above please visit Cutcaster.com or the seniors lightbox page which has over 200 high quality images of older people doing everyday things.

How can you use Facebook to sell more of your images and promote yourself effectively? At Cutcaster, we have compiled a few basic steps, which will help you leverage the power of any social network but specifically for Facebook in order to effectively market your photography business:

1. If you do not already have a Facebook account you will want to create one. Make sure to fill out all the fields on your Facebook profiles so that people who visit your profile can learn more about you and the type of photography you do.

2. Sharing your images is critical. “Like” your images at Cutcaster by clicking the like button below your image’s thumbnail on any image details page. The number of times an image is “liked” at Cutcaster via the Facebook button is one factor that gives your images a boost in our search results.

3. Upload watermarked versions of your images to Facebook and make sure to highlight a wide sampling of your artwork and areas of specialties. You must always be aware of the Facebook user agreement which you should examine and why we tell you to use a watermarked version. Once you have them uploaded this is where you will want to link to your Cutcaster portfolio in the description area or specific images in your port. Make sure you use your referral links so you earn more money.

3. Ask some of your clients for permission to post some of your images to their page so other potential clients who are connected to them will see your images.  In this case, anyone connected as a friend of your client on Facebook will see the posted image. This exponentially grows the group of potential customers you will reach.

4. Post updates of what you are doing professionally or shooting to the wall of your Facebook page. If you have an outside website or use a stock photo agency like Cutcaster, then use the wall to promote your other sites. If you’re about to publish some new photographs, then this is a good time to let your Facebook community hear about it!

5. It’s a great idea to create a Facebook fan page which you can use as a promotional tool for your photo or design business. Give people updates on upcoming shows, new images, new techniques you are learning, workshops you are attending or offer special deals to potential customers.

6. You need to be posting fresh new images to your Facebook pages regularly that highlight your improvement and continued education as a photographer, that highlight new areas you are experimenting with or new aspects of your work. These subtle hints will serve as reminders that your photo or design services are available.

7. Like and participate on groups at Facebook which are related to your photography work and interests. Make sure your comments are insightful and thought out i.e. not “it’s good to be here” or “nice shot” spammy. Pose questions if you want to get a response. By providing valuable information on other users pages you will be actively helping their community and growing your own reputation as the go to person for your area of photography.

8. When posting an image to your facebook page or someone elses’ fan page, you are able to change the title name which serves as an anchor link back to your image’s page. Since you are able to manipulate the title by choosing your own, you can pack it full of relevant keywords you are trying to target through search engine optimization.

Have you joined the other Cutcaster fans on Facebook? Our Facebook page highlights useful design and photography tips as well as connects our contributors with our buyers. Login to Facebook and visit http://www.facebook.com/Cutcaster to like our page.

Woman with headset on Phone

Businessman with headset on Phone

Need images or graphics that are perfect for building eLearning simulations or other engaging interactions? All our royalty free images can be used in any e-learning online training course. We are starting a lightbox series of elearning images that will include everything from corporate office buildings and office interior backgrounds you can use to create user scenarios, paper and notes pictures that you can write a message on or call center employees, Phone Person Pictures, Phone Person Photos, Business Women Using Headset,  and doctors / nurses who can be used in course guides, conversational situations and case studies.

The first in this elearning series is Signs and Symbols. This is a specific collection of sign images and symbol illustrations that can be used in online training courses.

Check out our other call center employee pictures, Phone Person Pictures, People on the Phone Photos, Business Women Using Headset, Business Teams, Objects Signs, Health Hospitals and Doctors’ Offices, Elearning Concepts Promotional, Elearning Home Exteriors, Office Interiors, Retail Stores.

Don’t scare away your visitors with awful photos for Halloween. Find the best Halloween photos and vector illustrations at Cutcaster to send shivers down your visitors spines. To view any of the above images visit our Halloween Photo Collection which has hundreds of scary images, spooky illustrations and devilish clipart.

Here’s quick round-up:

Create a funny photo caption and win $50, $20 or $10 in Cutcaster credits if your photo caption is one of our favorites. We launched a new weekly contest in which you submit funny tag-lines for photos we post and each week we pick three winners. See the photo this week and make us laugh!

We are pleased to announce the launch of Stock Photo License, a new educational resource dedicated to helping image users and buyers avoid legal pitfalls and better understand copyright law. We are actively seeking partners and individuals who would like to contribute to the site. Check out the site here or read more about Stock Photo License on our blog.

Have you added a link to your Cutcaster portfolio, or to individual images or lightboxes at Cutcaster?  Please do so if you have not. Links, “Likes” and “Re-Tweets” improve our visibility in search engines and social networks.  In other words, they make a BIG difference in driving buyers to your work and compliment all the work we are doing in the background, so please link and like as much as possible!

Want a chance to win the latest iPad or $500 in Cutcaster credits? (That buys you as many as 500 images on Cutcaster.)  Take two minutes to complete our Photo buyer survey and we will enter you in our drawing for prizes at the end of the month. Check out the details on our Design and Photography blog or go directly to the survey by clicking here. If you are a seller, we want to improve and provide the best service to you as is humanly possibly but we need your help. Please lend us two minutes of your to complete our anonymous Photo Contributor Survey.

Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace for inspiration and links to top-notch resources. We have dug through countless websites and blogs to find the best of the best, and we want to share it with you.  Give us support and important feedback by hitting “Like” on our Facebook posts or retweet posts that you like by us. If you follow us on Twitter so we can follow you back.

http://www.facebook.com/Cutcaster

http://www.twitter.com/Cutcaster

http://www.myspace.com/Cutcaster

Now your asking yourself where can you find images or illustrations that will maximize your website or blog’s visual appeal? Ever wonder where the bloggers get images that won’t break the bank? With a huge selection of affordable, high-quality images, Cutcaster is extremely popular with professional and casual bloggers who need great-looking, low-cost photos to engage their readers. You want the peace of mind of knowing that the images you use are free of intellectual property or copyright entanglements, and Cutcaster can give you these safe images quickly and economically. Images start at less than a dollar and you don’t even need to register to buy images from us.

As an added bonus, bloggers who want to join Cutcaster can enroll in our Referral Program, which is free to join and earns bloggers extra cash for referring photo buyers and photographers to Cutcaster. With just a few good referrals, the images and referral links will earn you enough money every month to pay for all your image needs. See how the referral program works here.

Want to download a great graphic or image for your Twitter page, Myspace profile background, StumbleUpon site, website, personal or business blog or WordPress blog that won’t cost you an arm and a leg but will add a level of uniqueness or professionalism to your online presence. Just visit Cutcaster, do a keyword search for the image you are interested in downloading and check out the variety of images you can choose from for under a couple of dollars. Search and find affordable images and graphics for every major holiday or everyday event that just needs an image to tell a story. Get awesome graphics for birthdays, holiday celebrations, expressions, daily fun, personal friendships, love themes, religion and spirituality, encouragement, family, etc. Any of the photos and graphics you will find at Cutcaster will go great on your Twitter, Myspace, Friendster, hi5, Xanga, Piczo, Orkut, Tagged, TagWorld, or your personal blog. Download and add some creative flare to your online presence. Enjoy!

To download any graphics or images from Cutcaster, you do not need to register for an account and simply need to search for an image, add it to your cart and then checkout with any major credit card. In addition Cutcaster offers site credits that can be used to download images and illustrations from the site at discounts.

“Where can I find images or clip-art I can use on my blog?”

We hear that question a lot on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace, so we wanted to add some helpful information and tips about it to our design and photography blog.

Most bloggers or authors begin their photo search on Google Image Search by typing in a few keywords to locate images they want to use on their blog. While you will find some creative images, most image searchers find the quality to be not great and in some cases the photos can be copyrighted. Some risk-takers will use them nonetheless, thinking they can get away with using poor quality or copyrighted content.

In addition, there are a number of photo sites and photo search engines that will help you find royalty-free images that include Flickr, Wikipedia and a few others. The quality might not always be great but the sources can be useful when looking for something specific.

Another good place to search for images for your blog are royalty free sites that charge you a few bucks for the rights to use that image for as long as you want like Cutcaster. You pay a dollar or two and can use the image legally in perpetuity which is a fancy word meaning forever.

You are probably asking yourself why you would pay a couple of dollars or microstock prices to use an image for my blog. “There are free photo resources out there, why should I pay?” But take a look at the quality and diversity of Cutcaster’s image library and then you will understand why the images there will help get your point across.

For blogs, the inexpensive images can be used for a few bucks if you download the small to medium sizes. That size will be the perfect size that you will need for your blog post. Bloggers that include images as a part of their blog post engage with their viewers better, get more comments on their blogs and get better search engine rankings if you use the embedded image metadata, which comes with every file you download from Cutcaster, to describe your images. This helps search engines find your posts via text within the post and the text you use to describe your images. It is a double win. Your readers get a visually appealing blog to enjoy and the search engines have another way to describe and find your blog because you have included metadata to describe your photos.

If spending a few dollars is not what you want to do, then Cutcaster does offers free images and free illustrations for bloggers and any other photo buyers. You will find suitable photos there. You can download 10 free images a day or 300 images a month with a free subscription.

For further information on using images on your blog and what the differences are between free and royalty free images are visit Stock Photo License.

This is the first in a series of three articles on how to find good, cheap photos for your blog or website.

It’s Monday and everyone is dragging a bit. To kick-start the week off right, Acris Design posted a great selection of Photo-shopped art that will make your eyeballs love you and your mouth water with excitement. If you need a little inspiration to kick off the week check out these 35 Photos to jump-start your creativity.

Can your metadata be re-written by this app?

David Riecks over at Controlled Vocabulary, sent out an email talking about a “MetaEditor,” or an application to “edit IPTC metadata info on your iPad.”  Not a good thought.

He notes, that the details of the application’s review from Cyril Godefroy’s blog are a bit sketchy, because it’s not clear whether this is IPTC only, or XMP.

Can anyone with and iPad check this out or verify it so we can check?  We’d love to help get to the bottom of this.

Download the above tablet with digital pen illustration at Cutcaster.