Opportunity to have your work published (UK writer)

Hi all,

I’ve been commissioned to author a Photoshop Effects book which will be published in the UK and the US in April’05. This is a 176 page full colour publication and covers all manner of Photoshop image manipulation effects in tutorial form. I require a variety of digital camera images to use as the “start” images in the tutorials within the book. Judging by the talent on show within these forums, I thought this would be a good place to start my search for suitable images. I really need good, clean, sharp digital images of a high standard. Subjects I nee are Landscape, Townscape/urban, Figures (fashion/semi nude) and Still life shots.

Here’s the bad news: you’ll receive just £25 per image for any that finally appear in the published book, and I’ll need the photographer to sign an agreement which states that I’m free to use the image in a tutorial and apply effects to it, alter it and generally manipulate it. After publication we’ll also need to make a low res version of the image available for readers to download so that they can follow the tutorial step by step. You’ll receive an acknowledgement in the Acknowledgement section of the publication, with a reference to the page your image appears on, however, the publishers have informed me that they cannot place the acknowledgement on the actual page where the image appears. I realise that the payment is paltry, but the budget for images is very tight. An alternative to the payment would be a free copy of the finished book. This will be a very professional publication, and financial matters aside, you will see your work in a publication which will be sold internationally.

Anyone interested, please email me direct at [email protected], or visit my website at http://www.timshelbourne.com Please include a few low-res samples of your work. I’ll be happy to give anyone more info. Please remember that what we need here are digital camera images which have NOT been manipulated.
OK, thanks for your time,
Regards to all,
Tim Shelbourne.

--

Visit my portfolio at: http://www.timshelbourne.com for Fine Art Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and Painter.

Tim Shelbourne wrote:
This will be a very professional publication,

Tim Shelbourne said:

and financial matters aside, you will see your work in a
publication which will be sold internationally.

Click to expand...

Tim,

If it's a very professional publication, then financial matters shouldn't be pushed aside and a more realistic fee should be paid. You should however be inundated with people that would be happy for such as this as they don't have to pay the bills off of it.
Regards,
VG

I suspect you'll be getting a lot of responses. I'm happy to help too, but with too many thousands of images to choose from, it would be useful if you could provide us with a wish list.

If I go through my shots, I'll probably pick out some of my best. You may not want my best, though. Depending on what concept you want to teach, you may need images that are blown out, underexposed, motion blured, high/low contrast, etc. Perhaps if you listed the purpose of the tutorials (e.g. "How to blur the background") we could provide you with a more focused selection.

Good luck Tim in whatever you decide to do.

I'm sorry that some people doubt your intentions. After our short convo today I felt that you sounded like a reasonable chap, and never did the thought of anything underhand even enter my mind.

I think that your honesty of including a fee in your post no matter how much it is, is very upfront, and people can see exactly what they'd could expect to get should any of their pics be chosen. If they don't like it then don't bother replying.

For those of you that think your pictures are 'so' valuable, I suggest you keep them in a safe, and not bother to share them with anyone else.

At the end of the day any fool can take pics, and that's all they are..pics. The majority are not worth the paper they're printed on.

If you wanna deal with real crooks, go play with E-Bay. A place where 1000s of scumbags hang out. A place I'd never use if it were the last shop on earth!

• midi

I don't know anything about ebay, I've never used it - but as to all your other comments, I agree wholeheartedly.

Tim, I hope your book is a great success. I'd be honored to have one of my photos in it.

Bob Quinn

--------------------

midi said:

Good luck Tim in whatever you decide to do.

I'm sorry that some people doubt your intentions. After our short
convo today I felt that you sounded like a reasonable chap, and
never did the thought of anything underhand even enter my mind.

I think that your honesty of including a fee in your post no matter
how much it is, is very upfront, and people can see exactly what
they'd could expect to get should any of their pics be chosen. If
they don't like it then don't bother replying.

For those of you that think your pictures are 'so' valuable, I
suggest you keep them in a safe, and not bother to share them with
anyone else.
At the end of the day any fool can take pics, and that's all they
are..pics. The majority are not worth the paper they're printed on.

If you wanna deal with real crooks, go play with E-Bay. A place
where 1000s of scumbags hang out. A place I'd never use if it were
the last shop on earth!

• midi

Click to expand...

something good enough to send you.. I would love to have a pic published and in a book.

Cheers

Oh and what is your wish list :> )

Gale

Tim:

Jeszik asks a great question: do you want "the very best I can do" or the "how might I rescue this?" shot. I have, for example, some beautiful shots of the Columbia Gorge that don't really pop until you do some selective sharpening and curves adjustments. I assume that you would prefer the "out of the camera" shots.

--
Jim Lewis
http://www.atncentral.com
http://www.jimlewis.info
http://www.pbase.com/pdx_photoman

When ever I pitch a deal or project (especially to people who don´t know me), I expect them to be suspicious, to ask pointed questions ... it´s human nature ( and it´s an intelligent response in IMHO. Certainly expected from professionals ) and so I mentally make room for it.

You write: "I´ll be happy to give anyone more info". I´d be interested to know who the publisher is and what kind of distribution the book is expected to have.

In the meantime best of luck!

--
Ron in Italy

Tim may not want your best shots. That's why I was asking for a wish list. If you had a perfect shot, there's nothing to do! It's more useful to have crappy shots that can be saved ... or so I'd imagine.

give him a whole cd of EL CR@PPOS.....

Boy he wouldn't need any more...
Cheers
Gale

jezsik said:

Tim may not want your best shots. That's why I was asking for a
wish list. If you had a perfect shot, there's nothing to do! It's
more useful to have crappy shots that can be saved ... or so I'd
imagine.

Click to expand...

Hey, I'm interested. I sent you an e-mail

--
---

The camera sees things as they are. Photoshop makes them appear as we'd like them to be.

Dave

.. find some who would pay you to include thier images, that should keep your publisher happy!

Just wondering, is it getting that bad ?! The book is a commercial project after all not like the free help people offer here for retouching as a way to learn and exchange experience. I think professionals who sell thier photos for living have the right to be suspicious of an offer that is way below the market price.

Having said this, I believe in win-win situations, and some consider including thier images in this book to be a fair reward. for those who do, I think it is a reasonable offer.

BTW, from the talents we have seen here, we could very easily make our own "WoW" ebook. any takers ?

Tim Shelbourne said:

Hi all,
I’ve been commissioned to author a Photoshop Effects book which
will be published in the UK and the US in April’05. This is a 176
page full colour publication and covers all manner of Photoshop
image manipulation effects in tutorial form. I require a variety of
digital camera images to use as the “start” images in the tutorials
within the book. Judging by the talent on show within these forums,
I thought this would be a good place to start my search for
suitable images. I really need good, clean, sharp digital images of
a high standard. Subjects I nee are Landscape, Townscape/urban,
Figures (fashion/semi nude) and Still life shots.
Here’s the bad news: you’ll receive just £25 per image for any that
finally appear in the published book, and I’ll need the
photographer to sign an agreement which states that I’m free to use
the image in a tutorial and apply effects to it, alter it and
generally manipulate it. After publication we’ll also need to make
a low res version of the image available for readers to download so
that they can follow the tutorial step by step. You’ll receive an
acknowledgement in the Acknowledgement section of the publication,
with a reference to the page your image appears on, however, the
publishers have informed me that they cannot place the
acknowledgement on the actual page where the image appears. I
realise that the payment is paltry, but the budget for images is
very tight. An alternative to the payment would be a free copy of
the finished book. This will be a very professional publication,
and financial matters aside, you will see your work in a
publication which will be sold internationally.
Anyone interested, please email me direct at [email protected],
or visit my website at http://www.timshelbourne.com Please include a few
low-res samples of your work. I’ll be happy to give anyone more
info. Please remember that what we need here are digital camera
images which have NOT been manipulated.
OK, thanks for your time,
Regards to all,
Tim Shelbourne.

--
Visit my portfolio at: http://www.timshelbourne.com for Fine Art
Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and Painter.

Click to expand...

It's a commercial offer!!!

Aby

firas said:

Tim Shelbourne said:

Hi all,
I’ve been commissioned to author a Photoshop Effects book which
will be published in the UK and the US in April’05. This is a 176
page full colour publication and covers all manner of Photoshop
image manipulation effects in tutorial form. I require a variety of
digital camera images to use as the “start” images in the tutorials
within the book. Judging by the talent on show within these forums,
I thought this would be a good place to start my search for
suitable images. I really need good, clean, sharp digital images of
a high standard. Subjects I nee are Landscape, Townscape/urban,
Figures (fashion/semi nude) and Still life shots.
Here’s the bad news: you’ll receive just £25 per image for any that
finally appear in the published book, and I’ll need the
photographer to sign an agreement which states that I’m free to use
the image in a tutorial and apply effects to it, alter it and
generally manipulate it. After publication we’ll also need to make
a low res version of the image available for readers to download so
that they can follow the tutorial step by step. You’ll receive an
acknowledgement in the Acknowledgement section of the publication,
with a reference to the page your image appears on, however, the
publishers have informed me that they cannot place the
acknowledgement on the actual page where the image appears. I
realise that the payment is paltry, but the budget for images is
very tight. An alternative to the payment would be a free copy of
the finished book. This will be a very professional publication,
and financial matters aside, you will see your work in a
publication which will be sold internationally.
Anyone interested, please email me direct at [email protected],
or visit my website at http://www.timshelbourne.com Please include a few
low-res samples of your work. I’ll be happy to give anyone more
info. Please remember that what we need here are digital camera
images which have NOT been manipulated.
OK, thanks for your time,
Regards to all,
Tim Shelbourne.

--
Visit my portfolio at: http://www.timshelbourne.com for Fine Art
Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and Painter.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing as Jim and Jeszik, what sort of tutorials or lessons will the photos be used for?

Color correction? If so, I'd assume you want some with messed up white balance, otherwise a nice pic.

Clutter removal? If so, I have pics with telephone poles and wires.

Photos that lend themselves to painterly effects? For that, I would assume landscape shots are needed.

These are examples of what went through my mind when you said you needed photos. I culled out a few shots last night, but I'm not sure they're what you need. Can you give us with a little more insight as to what you need, or are the requrements still being hashed out?

Thanks,
Bob Quinn

-------------------

Jim Lewis said:

Tim:

Jeszik asks a great question: do you want "the very best I can do"
or the "how might I rescue this?" shot. I have, for example, some
beautiful shots of the Columbia Gorge that don't really pop until
you do some selective sharpening and curves adjustments. I assume
that you would prefer the "out of the camera" shots.

--
Jim Lewis
http://www.atncentral.com
http://www.jimlewis.info
http://www.pbase.com/pdx_photoman

Click to expand...

Thanks to all who have responded to this, I've replied personally. Perhaps in view of the points raised I should expand on the project description a little.

Basically I've been commissioned to write this particular book "Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook" by ILEX in the UK, the book will also be published in the US by O'Rielly. As many will know, both of these publishers have a very good pedigree and are much respected.

A detailed list of specific images needed is rather tricky as this very point rests with my own judgement, and really just consists of me finding images which I feel would lend themselves to a particular effect. It's really difficult to be any more specific.

Essentially, the book is a collection of "recipes" for creating particular effects in Photoshop, and the Table Of Contents has now been settled upon. This isn't going to be a book about how to "fix" or correct images with flaws, but, for instance, more to do with such things as: (Actual page spread titles)
Adding Rainbows to Images.
Screen Print Effects
Pencil Sketch
Woodcut
Creating Sunsets
Day into Night

So, essentially we're talking about a book of some 60 step by step walkthroughs which demonstrate ways to add a certain effect to a particular image. So what I need here, as I said are good images which lend themselves to some manipulation. The above list is just a very small cross-section of the subjects and effects covered, others include Oil Painting Effect, Watercolour, Pencil Sketch, Antique Pen and Ink, Adding Neon Glow, etc, etc.

Basically, and this might seem a bit "airy fairy" to some, I don't know what I want until I see it.... that's just the way I work! But essentially as I said in the first place, I have needs for landscape/urban/still life/ figure/portrait.

Lastly, thanks to all who have responded, and let me reassure everyone that this is not a rip off. Surprisingly, as I said before, having been a struggling artist myself for many years I really do have first hand experience of how hard it is to be noticed or gain any kind of recognition. I personally did all I could to have my work published in whatever form and for the most paltry of fees. If I was allowed to offer a higher fee for any images used, believe me I would, but my hands are tied. If the terms and conditions/fee are not to your liking then please simply do not respond, comments which are completely negative and ones which reflect on my professionalism are pointless and I personally find them offensive. Again, thanks for the responses so far, I have received many offers of images which are of a very high standard.

I have read the forum rules, and don't believe that this is a commercial offer. I'd like to think that it's an offer to give someone the opportunity to be published, the fee is simply a token payment (at 25 quid it could hardly be anything else!)
Perhaps if the powers that be at DPReview disagree they will remove my posts.
Thanks to all again
Tim Shelbourne.

--

Visit my portfolio at: http://www.timshelbourne.com for Fine Art Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and Painter.

Tim Shelbourne said:

Adding Rainbows to Images.
Screen Print Effects
Pencil Sketch
Woodcut
Creating Sunsets
Day into Night

Click to expand...

Now this is more useful. To use an analogy, if you were an autobody shop (working on cars), you wouldn't be the place to go to get a dented door or bumper fixed, but the place to go have a spoiler or sunroof installed. Right?

In this case, you really do want well-composed, well-exposed, good shots. I'll send you a link to mine. Perhaps you can use 'em!

Aby said:

It's a commercial offer!!!

Click to expand...

Realy? I don't think so. Ok Tim has talked about money. But no serious photographer would give away any picture for that money and those who do would have done it for free... at least this is what I think about it.

btw: I belive that many of those emails Tim get are simply links back to some online galleries we have seen here before. Maybe it's time to get my own gallery up and running?

Aby said:

firas said:

BTW, from the talents we have seen here, we could very easily make
our own "WoW" ebook. any takers ?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Firas just wrote what I think for my own and the request for pictures shows us that we have realy good pictures lying around and it is a honour if someone wants to pay money for them

having said that I can also see why not everyone is sharing my thoughts. Because if every company whould ask for "free" pictures then many professionals would be out of work

so long
pi