I couldn't agree more! I feel the same way by all these people who are making actions and what have you.Each one of these people claim to be photographers as well, but most the time the only photos on their sites are of their own kids and are honestly just your average ,run-of-the-mill photography that you see being done by everyone else.They aren't really selling their products to professional,well educated photographers,but taking advantage at stay at home moms whose husbands have bought them a nice camera and somehow feel that as long as they have that and some expensive actions;that is all that is required to be a photographer."fauxtogs" is what I call them. I get aggravated with these people because I went to college and have studied photography for years and I feel like all these people selling this stuff at stupid prices are seriously making serious photographers and the art of photography into a joke and a profession and art that isn't being respected or taken seriously anymore.They have truly ruined this business.

overpriced and often CRAPPY ebooks!

Don't know if you all remember but there was some big blow up awhile back about Skye Hardwick. people not receiving product they pre-purchased, empty promises and one excuse after another. and she often changes the name of her websites and products but it's the same thing! She does some serious advertising/marketing though. I swear everytime I'm on facebook, her ad shows up in the sidebar!

there are a few purchases i have made that have been worth paying for. I like MCP actions stuff, and while it may seem overpriced, they're more like collections instead of $20 for a single action. I think those were the 1st actions i ever purchased. But I rarely use them now.

Totally Rad is another...I ended up buying radlab during the sale and used the coupon code someone shared here. That was another purchase I feel was worth it. I only wish you could use your own stylets instead of just theirs...maybe in the future. Seriously though, Radlab is now my go-to choice if using actions/styles. Quick, easy, visual, AND non-destructive if you use the smart object option.

Also, anyone notice how all these designers are copying one another? Take vol 25 for instance. She's been creating awesome custom shape overlays for awhile now. Now you've got Posh PD, oh snap, and others jumping on the bandwagon and creating designs so similar to hers. Her stuff isn't cheap but she's got sales all the time and their pretty good quality. BUT, we can all create our own dang overlays. Not hard to do and if anyone's interested in learning how to actually CREATE a custom shape, I can point you to a few youtube videos ;)

And since I've strayed from ebooks to designers heck, it'd be cheaper to purchase digital scrapbooking kits/albums/actions with a photographer's license and get a similar look for a heck of a lot less!

Also Etsy's a good place to look for similar design products or fresh stuff for a fraction of the cost too!

I'll stop with my ranting and raving now lol

I agree things are over priced and to be honest most of the people that will spend the huge amounts of money on these products are still new to the game and believe that the price represents quality without looking at the actual content of the guide. Some of the posing guides make me want to puke thinking that if I took the photo's from just one of my sessions I could put most of those guides to shame.

The entire costing of this 'guide market' is the exact reason why sites like this exist, because people in the know see them as nice to haves but not all that nice to spend on.

For me this has become more of a collectors hobby the way one would collect stamps etc There are a few gems present but there is so much to sift through to find them

Yes, I couldn't agree more.

I'll admit, I did buy her workshop workbook/posing guide/documents bundle when it first came out at 1/2 price "for a limited time"(making it $125 at the time). Now it seems like every other month Skye is offering her workshop workbook/posing guide as a bundle "for a limited time only" at 1/2 price. Get it now before you have to pay separate! Give me a break...

I am curious too, if the "new updated" version is still the same posing guide - just different layout?

I feel bad for all the people who pre-paid for her DVD. It's been what... 2 years now?

I just had a look at this honey suckle newborn guide and I have not taken the time to read it but WHEN is someone going to take the photographer wanting to start out with newborns for the 1st time from start to finsih?????????? It infuriates me to see all the photo's in guides that serve no purpose other than to make people pay to showcase their completed photo's. Where are the behind the scenes, while you work, how to set up raw images.... When is someone going to catch a %$#^%$& wake up as to what a guide should really be..... The only time I have seen this done and done very well is with the little posers video, other than that I think print media on the subject leaves a lot to be desired. The guides I read don't cover nearly enough of what REALLY goes on in a session....

There are only so many ways you can pose a newborn safely so its how you get there that counts and should form the real substance in a guide.

I agree that little posers video was made really well. The others are poop.

Everybody is in for a quick buck , its really sad . What's even more sad is they all copy each other . Im sure some original vendors are on this site under an alias , downloading competitors work and just re arranging actions / other products to make it their own. But yet so quick to yell copyright infringement smh when they all KNOW they do it too .

mtrx411 - the old version was/is basically the same thing, just repackaged and small bits and pieces added...not worth buying/upgrading or whatever she's trying to do.

I chose not to photograph newborns...I've done ONE, which was my own kid and decided it is so not for me. I do read all the "guides" and watch the videos and I agree Stealth, the little powers video was very well done compared to everything else that's been coming out. I'd love for someone to do a start to finish video. Prep work, setup, behind the scenes stuff, the actual shoot, and even the editing part. There's so much more we all can learn from following someone around as opposed to reading half-assed books that really don't tell you anything you don't already know.

photoshopqueen, I didn't even think about lurking vendors swiping others work. totally makes sense that it would be happening.

Well in theory with actions I would assume using any combination of settings within a program (PS) that is in itself a stand alone paid for thing can't be copy written surely? So yes there are those lazy *^%$* that will take a working combination, tweak it ever so slightly and call it their own, really sad to be honest but you will always get unethical people on this planet

As a newborn photographer, I'm in total agreement. The only guide that I've seen that begins to come close to an actual step-by-step is the little posers. The rest is all garbage. If I wanted to see a showcase of their work, I'd check out their website. Beginners really need a good guide for photographing newborns because it can easily be dangerous. People see these adorable images and want to recreate them, but they have no idea what it takes to set them up and the length of time it truly takes to photograph those precious bundles.
Honestly, I think that video guides are the only way to go for newborn photography. Mainly because there are so many people out there that just 'don't get it' from looking at a few behind the scene shots.

And I'm so over the cookie cutter designers. I have a few select designers that I love [both for templates and actions] and the rest I could care less about. I used to try and collect everything I came across, or buy it up if no one else had it...but I learned quickly that most of it was utter crap. Honestly, you don't need hundreds of templates for your clients. Having a handful of QUALITY templates to showcase is all you need. And I like using the same 'style' because it helps to streamline your business.

there is an entire cottage industry of photographers feeding off of other photographers. Education is so desperately needed by newer photographers that some photographers are literally replacing their shooting income by charging stupid-ridiculous prices on PDFs that aren't professionally edited, low on content and high on pretty photos and/or design, and generally cost up to 10 times more than a more in-depth book on Amazon or other bookstore. Granted there are a few nuggets out there, but honestly, they are still way overpriced. There are excellent guidebooks that are published and available on Amazon for $30 or $40, but somehow they are neglected and not seen as "fresh enough"... and yet, I've yet to read a PDF guidebook that is worth $200... seriously. That's painfully greedy... and it's not just the book mentioned above, there are a lot of others that do the same thing.

Ok, for the very begginers like me, guys, feel free to recommand some of the title and authors that really woth bother....What do you say?
I really would love to see(understand) the difference, from your point of view. It would mean a lot, thank you!

I agree that actual books (available in bookstores or on amazon etc as e-books) trump the written-at-home and sold-by-that-author-only "guides". Probably because to publish an actual book, it needs to be worthwhile of publishing according to a publisher! I think if Sky Hardwick (for example) submitted her books to tachun or amhurst media they would tell her that it would have to be far larger, contain more information, etc. Right now it's basically "How Sky Hardwick does some stuff". Hardly comparable to quality books available for a fraction of the cost due to the fact they are published. I agree the little posers video is better than a lot of guides I've seen. However, the "workbook" is 12 pages TWELVE. . (not sure why it says 20 on her website). The video is well lit and well done full of good information. But again it's 44 minutes long and is $200.00. Compared to professionally produced videos it is extremely expensive. So I suppose she's priced it that high since she's maybe afraid she won't sell a ton and wants to maximize each sale. In a way it makes sense, and in a way its frustrating to us as consumers used to buying $40 dvd's from walmart. Maybe there is a happy medium - obviously walmart can undercut almost anyone with it's mass production and obtaining of products from third world countries. Obviously she would not want to price in line with Walmart as she produced it herself etc. Perhaps it comes down to opinion and how much value we are willing to place on what these people are selling.
I think if I produced a similar video I would probably charge around $95. However I would not produce a 12 page guidebook! That is my opinion.

Anyways - for beginners I'd recommend the following. And I fully encourage purchasing items that you use regularly. There are many products out there that are very well made.

Actions: Find a handful you really like. I also recommend buying a book on photoshop for photographers and learning how to obtain the results you want by hand. It'll help you understand how actions work in the first place and tweak them, and also how to edit in photoshop without actions. Actions in my opinion should be time savers - not time wasters in regular workflow. It is fun to play for hours too, but not when you are trying to edit a stack of shoots efficiently!

I love:

Totally Rad actions. Check their website, they show how each one works and have put an obvious amount of hard work into their products. Worth it.
MCP fusion and bag of tricks. I haven't really delved into a lot of their other stuff but really like the one click colour and one click black and white. I tweak it a bit and its fast and looks fantastic. The bag of tricks has a lot of useful stuff too.

Actions I'm disappointed in? Florabella. Maybe they just aren't my style but they don't look nice when I use them and I don't feel like spending 45 minutes tweaking them to get a result I would have gotten faster without using the action in the first place. .

Books/Guides: (keep in mind I'm a children's photographer
Children's Portrait Photography Handbook Techniques for Digital Photographers by Bill Hurter. This 129 pg book has good info about basics like aperture, shutter speed & iso, information about lenses, lighting, composition, posing, etc. It's a good resource.
The photographer-made Mom Tog's Unmanual. This guide has good information, is good for quick reference, and good for newbies as a basic learning guide. It is however overpriced (in my opinion), 33 pages for $95. Compare to above book that has FAR MORE INFORMATION, is professional published and is available for $25-$45.

The photographer-made guides may seem trendy and appealing, perhaps even seem that they must contain amazing secrets being so expensive, but they do not.

The Art of Children's Portrait Photography by Tamara Lackey
Here is a fantastic example of a photographer that DID get an actual book published. Download it and you will see the VAST DIFFERENCE. 130 pages of good information from a talented woman.

POWER MARKETING, SELLING, AND PRICING by Mitche Graf. Fantastic marketing selling and pricing advice.

Those are some of my fav's

You are all so right, I have all the above mentioned, thank you a lot for these friendly advises and opinion!
My door is wide opened for all your advises!

I second Tamara Lackey's book. Professionally done, priced appropriately, published and vetted by editors and proven results with tons of information.

parkerp, I have EVERYTHING you listed...and paid for it all LOL Totally Rad & MCP Fusion/Bag of Tricks are my go-to stuff.

Anoter good book is Understanding Exposure. Lots of photog forums have "study groups" so you can work through it with other people. It CAN be overwhelming. Tamara Lackey's book is great as well so is Mitche Graf!

When I was craving for education when I started out, the three books you mentioned were what I devoured, along with UE. Momtog's Unmanual is a good quick reference, but again totally overpriced, compared to what you get from a $30-40 paper book by the other three authors you mention.

Has anyone purchased Tamara Lackey's Inside Contemporary Children's Photography dvd?

Is it worth the $199 price tag?

Oh, another decently priced video learning series is Photovision. Not everything on a dvd pertains to me, but for $49 per year, a variety of photographers, and professionally created...totally worth it! Even if I only take ONE thing away from each dvd.

Man, I agree so completely. I mean, those photographers are genius for getting in where the money is at, regardless of how well composed it is. The little posers video is nice, but I think she only demonstrates one actual pose from start to finish, besides the wrap. But the baby is even asleep, and she's talking of how it is great for babies who are awake. I learned some interesting tips, but it's a pretty expensive video. I guess we all need to learn how to make bank off of unsuspecting newbie photographers.

I am actually disappointed by all the photographers jumping on this bandwagon. What's that saying... "Those that can't teach..."

In my opinion it seems like the majority of these photographers don't know how to market themselves as photographers. It's like they network with a bunch of other photographers so they can reap the glory of the ooohs and awes, swaping pats on the back for their great pictures & sessions.

Having other fauxtographer fans is not going to help them gain local business and customers... so what do they do? They make a $200.00 guidebook to sell or start doing mentoring sessions for $900.00+ to all the photographer fans they have worked so hard to get.

I read one of the photographer guidebook being sold by one of "our" favorite vendors about SEO and marketing and it was a freakin' joke. I began to understand why so many photographers are all doing the same things wrong as far as SEO and marketing.

I guess if you slap a $200 price tag on anything and plenty of fauxtographers believe you know what you are talking about.

with regard to the copyright issue of an action or preset how do you copyright a setting thats bs its like me saying because i shoot at iso 100 f2 @ 1/250 i own the copyright to that setting.

From investigating I have done via US Copyright website you can't copyright actions.You can't copyright colors or "steps" on how you achieved a certain look. The only thing in actions that can be under copyright are the names and titles that they give the actions.That is it.However PSD files are considered "art" and can be.

I'm totally serious when I say this: those that are saying "there's no guide for this and that" or "all the guides are missing THIS" GET ON IT! If there's a need in the industry, someone could be making money off of it and it might as well be you! Put something together, sell it for a decent price (or a completely unreasonable one ), and profit. I mean, consider the BP4U guides. I haven't been impressed with either the guide itself or the photography shown in them, but she's making money off them isn't she?? I always joke that the real money in photography is creating some doodad or guide and then convincing photographers that they need it, but why not? :)

I actually might take my own advice on that & start working on a horse & rodeo guide. :-o