Photography scams make me SCREAM! It’s a new year, and many new ways for thieves to try to pry money from you are out in full force. Monty Python has a tune for this type of thing. Sing it with me to the tune of the Spam song… Scam, Scam, Scam, Scam SCAM! Let be vigilant and share any scams you have run across.

Beginner photographers beware

As a professional photographer I have been sniffing out many of these scams and can spot them far away. But if you are new to photography and think there’s a break heading your way that is way too easy, it most assuredly is. Here’s an example from a beginners Facebook group I try to help out.

“I’m just wondering if an inquiry I got last night might have been a scam.

I got a text message (I very rarely get texts for inquiries but my number is listed) about a man wanting me to photograph a surprise party for his wife. My reply to him was my estimate and he said that it sounded alright, and then said that if I told him my address he would send me a cashier’s check with the full amount.

I told him that for personal safety I don’t give out my personal address, and he said that it was the only way he could do it without his wife becoming suspicious. Further, I said I could take a deposit through Venmo, Paypal, or send him an invoice to be paid with card, and I even offered to meet him in a public location to receive the check. He then ghosted and never responded again. Could it have been some sort of scam attempt? Just wanting to know for the future.”

The answer to the question? Yep, it’s a scam attempt.

Claim to fame

Companies or individuals claiming to make you famous or get you instant work in exchange for an upfront fee should be discarded without further look. ‘No experience necessary’ is also a big clue! Please be extremely careful where a photo shoot also includes an offer of representation or promotion beyond the shoot.

‘We saw your portfolio and want you to photograph our fashion shoot. We’ll pay you $XXXX and you pay the model/makeup people etc…” These can look as if they are coming from a fashion magazine. Then you receive a bogus check. After you pay any others you’ll discover the check is no good. And guess who is out the money? That would be you.

Look carefully at the return email address there are often tell-tales of scammers. Misspelling of the purported business address, from some unknown or if it is emailed to ‘Undisclosed recipients.’

Like your mama told you, if it sounds too good to be true, bet that it is and trash the BS.

Fake jobs

A scam that pops up on a regular basis among photographers is the ‘I want you to photograph my, (wedding/family portrait, sports team, party… etc). I will pay you via credit card (or check) but I want to send you extra because the venue/wedding planner, hair dresser, make-up artist or caterer et. al don’t have credit card machines.” You will be asked to forward that portion of the money to them. By the time the dust clears, if you sent on any money, it’s gone! So is the money sent to you because it was a bogus check or stolen credit card.

Many times, you will receive a description of the shoot such as this. “Photograph a volleyball team of 12 girls (13-16 in age) that wants 15 images per player. Can you do 2 head shots, 2 group shots, 6 full body and a few actions shots?” They will say their budget is $900. This would be sent to a self-described newbie with no action shot/sports history, just a beginner. This photographer would want to know if that was a fair price. One, it’s not a fair price. Two, it’s an unrealistic scenario. Three this photographer did not have experience in this genre. Why would they ask an inexperienced photographer to do a paid job even if it was on the cheap for the service?

Heads-up for viruses and friend requests

When you click the link it attaches to your Facebook and may lock you out permanently and then tags and spreads to your friends news feeds. Facebook allows this virus to proliferate. My Facebook news feed is full of them.

Here’s an example:

Selena Zhang
“I want to know why you are on my page. Do we have common interests or friends? Maybe you can add me as a friend and we can get to know each other better. Wish you all the best.”

DO NOT AS FRIEND. That gives them a way in and one step closer to scamming you and your friends list. A similar version of this is complimenting you on the image, or your photography in general while noting they can’t seem to friend you

Another is the link that appears in your Facebook feed or in your messenger. “I can’t believe he is gone I’m gonna miss him so much…” with added crying emojis ostensibly from a friend. Your friends account will have been taken over. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK.

Guest post on your website

I learned of this one while researching photographer scams for this article. I must admit I was very close to falling for this one myself! Sure I’d like to earn $50 bucks for someone else providing content for my website. Read on to how this one works. This may be the sneakiest scam attempt of all because they reach out like they are going to do you a service. They want to write a free guest post, or even pay you for ‘placement’ on your blog! If you show interest they try to get the login to your website. Why? So they can write the blog post for you. All part of the service right? At that point you will find your login has changed and they ransom your site.

A side note, as you become frustrated with all the communication spam and you click the ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘unsub’ link in their emails, you are sent to a phishing site. Just trash them and move on. Think of the time spent trashing these emails as part of the price of doing business in today’s world.

Protect yourself

Watch for the email address. Check for undisclosed recipients with you as an add-on addressee. No good. Check the sender email address. If it is not from the company or there is an alphabet soup of characters, toss it. Make sure to see the address by hovering over the email to see the actual address, not just what the sender wants you to see.

Think it might be legit? Call the phone numbers and try to speak with a person. Not sure of the phone number? Look up the name of the business and dial in directly. If they refuse and only want to deal via email, toss it.

If you believe you are a target of a fraud, stop engaging. Report the case to the Federal Trade Commission by calling their hotline 877-382-4357 (877-FTC-HELP) or file an online complaint. You can also visit the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center.

Share

If you have run across a scam that I haven’t covered here, please share it in the comments below. Let’s watch out for each other! Be safe out there!

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob

Hailing from various parts of the globe, these outstanding photographers, representing 13 countries across 5 continents, emerged victorious from a pool of thousands of entries.

Every month, All About Photo provides a platform for dedicated artists to display their work in the printed edition of “AAP Magazine.” In the 37th edition, our focus was on travel photography, spanning locations near and far, from the ends of the earth to places known only to a select few.

The vast world awaits exploration, and each winning photographer offers a glimpse into the rich diversity of our planet. From an Indonesian horseman to one in Peru, from an Ecuadorian tribe to an Alaskan expedition, our virtual journey takes us to every corner of the Earth. In the 37th edition of AAP Magazine, you can discover the beauty of countries such as Mongolia, India, Malaysia, Russia, Kenya, Antigua, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Peru, Solomon Islands, Angola, Morocco, Iceland, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ecuador, and the United States.

The top honors for AAP Magazine 37 Travels go to Mahendra Bakle (India) for the series “Riders of the Volcano,” followed by Callie Eh (Malaysia) securing the Second Place with the series “Simplicity of Life,” and Julie-Anne Davies (Canada) as the Third Place Winner with the series “Women of Ladakh.”

Additionally, the Merit Award’s Gallery features the exceptional work of Alessandro Malaguti (Italy), Mauro De Bettio (Italy), France Leclerc (Canada), Terry Wild (United States), Hoang Long Ly (Vietnam), Daniel Haeker (Germany), Ivan Ferrer (Israel), Nicolas Castermans (France), Pavlos Evangelidis (Greece), Jacopo Maria Della Valle (Italy), Eric van den Brulle (United States), David Saxe (United States), Prescott Lassman (United States), Carrie Jones (Australia), Chiara Felmini (Italy), Pawel Pilch (Poland/United States), Héctor Ruiz Golobart (Spain), Michel Daumergue (France), Carole Glauber (Israel/United States), Susanne Grether (Germany), Demetrio Jereissati (Brazil), and Aga Szydlik (United States).

Watch video: Urban abstracts

Urban environments can be a frenetic mass of contrasts, vibrant or mundane, lively or eerie, beautiful or drab. For a photographer, it’s easy enough to capture how places like this look, but it’s more of a challenge to convey how they feel.

To get a sense of a place without the distractions of detail, we can turn to abstract techniques. Intentional blur, multiple exposures, unusual camera angles and digital mash-ups can all help us emphasize the emotion of the place, and create wall-worthy art that feels more in touch with the work of impressionist painters than it does with what you might call ‘normal photography’.

In this project we’ll look at a range of techniques you can try out on the streets. Camera skills are often about eliminating shake, keeping scenes in focus and preventing wonky horizons, but here we’ll throw all that out the window. Instead, we’ll celebrate the blur and the softness. When you think about it, streets and buildings are these rather simple geometric shapes and lines, dotted with people and lights. As such, they’re ripe for an abstract treatment, as we can reduce the elements down to blurry strokes of color, impressions of people and flowing shapes, while still retaining the spirit of the scene.

You don’t need any special equipment or lenses for this – in fact, even the cheapest lens will produce results just as good as premium optics. What’s more, you can try this in all conditions – sunny, overcast, rainy, even at night. So embrace the abstract, grab your camera and hit the streets… 

1. Intentional camera movements

Look for bold colours and vertical lines of shop windows or lamp posts, then try an up/down camera movement over a 1/15 sec exposure to create streaks of blur. A side to side, or a camera swivel can produce interesting results.

2. Try a zoom burst

A zoom burst is like a intentional camera movement, but with a twist. During a long exposure (start with 1/10 sec) we used a zoom lens and quickly zoom in or out. The edges of the frame will be transformed into streaks of blur. A tripod is handy for stability. 

3. Double flips

Enable the double exposure mode in your camera’s menu, set the blending to Add and set the number of frames to two. Shoot a skyline, above the centre of the frame, then flip the camera upside down and shoot another skyline.

4. Multiple exposures

This is another multiple exposure trick, but this time we set the number of frames to higher to nine, then simply shoot a building or object lots of times while slightly varying the position, framing or zoom. The images will overlay to form a striking abstract. 

5. Pick out the details

When taken out of the context of their surroundings, little details, interesting shapes and blocks of colour can be used to striking effect. Start to look for these details and you’ll find them all around. Use a tight crop and frame with lines, textures and shapes in mind.

6. Turn upside down

Look up from the street and you’ll seen the buildings form a jagged edge against the sky. On a clear day the sky will be much brighter than the buildings below. Use negative exposure compensation to expose for the sky and the street will go very dark. 

7. Blend exposures

As well as in-camera multiple exposures, we can also craft our own in Photoshop by copying one image on top of another, then changing the Layer Blend Mode to Screen. We can also experiment with the 26 other layer blending modes, and come up with all sorts of creative combinations.

8. Experiment with tilt

City scenes are often dominated by straight vertical lines and strong geometric shapes. But diagonal lines can be aesthetically pleasing, so why not get creative with tilt? Grab the Crop tool and rotate the crop to set the horizon off-kilter. You can do this at the time of shooting too.

9. Try black and white

Creative techniques like multiple exposures can look very busy, so why not convert them to black and white. The absence of colour emphasises patterns, shapes and textures in the scene. Use the black and white profiles in Camera Raw/Lightroom for a simple, punchy look.

If you’re serious about scenery, take a look at the best cameras for landscape photography along with the best lenses for landscapes.

By Ted Thornhill, Mailonline Travel Editor

Published: 11:14 EST, 22 January 2024 | Updated: 11:16 EST, 22 January 2024

From a beautiful image of the Tuscan countryside to a heart-breaking aerial shot of elephants wandering across a rubbish dump, and from a flamboyant owl to ‘dancing’ trees, these winning and commended images in the 2023 international Travel Photographer of the Year awards (TPOTY) show the highs and lows of life on this planet.

Amateur and professional photographers from more than 150 countries submitted more than 20,000 images in TPOTY 2023.

The winning and commended entries, the judges say, ‘form a truly outstanding collection of contemporary travel photography’.

For the second year in a row, a Slovenian photographer has taken the overall honours. The Travel Photographer of the Year 2023, AndreJa Ravnak, follows in the footsteps of her fellow countryman Matjaz Krivic, who took the title in 2022.

AndreJa Ravnak commented: ‘Becoming Travel Photographer of the Year is a huge recognition. From my personal experience, I know it’s not easy to judge photography. Images are not measurable, so being a judge is a complex task and responsibility. I would like to thank the panel of judges for recognising my work.’

Scroll down to see MailOnline Travel’s pick of the bunch, with an image from winner AndreJa at the very bottom. Which one is your favourite?

AMBLER —Kristin Maag, professional photographer, is the upcoming exhibitor at Art in the Storefront, Ambler. An opening reception is planned for Friday, January 26 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the storefront, 41 E. Butler Ave. The community is invited and refreshments will be served.

The reception was originally planned for January 19 but postponed due to snow.

Maag resides in Schwenksville, where she maintains her photography studio. “I have always been drawn to photography,” Maag said. “It is an honor for me to capture some of the happiest moments for families, friends and area landmarks and sites.”

Her endeavors include photography of people, intimate family scenes and special occasions, weddings, pets and their people and more. Maag’s artwork is custom framed, suitable for all situations, including business spaces, waiting room areas, lobbies and real estate photography. Her prints focus is centered on Pennsylvania scenes, including the counties of Montco, Bucks, Lancaster, Dauphin, Williamsport and beyond. Her work also extends to beach scenes from Maryland to Maine and landscape and farms in upstate New York.

Maag’s interest in photography began nearly three decades ago on her dad’s Polaroid camera. After a lengthy career in finance and philanthropic services, Maag decided to venture out to share her vision with others. Hence, Maagnifque Photography, LLC was established. “I am passionate about translating exceptional moments into tangible pieces of art, commissioned and otherwise.”=

Visit maagnifiquephotography.com for more details about her photography and client services. You can email her at kmaagphotos@gmail.com or call 267-342-4448.

Art in the Storefront is an ongoing community activity initiated about 25 years ago. It supports area artists in free exhibition space offered bi-monthly. The storefront is lit all evening courtesy of Denney Electric Supply. Juried artwork is featured. Contacts are: Mark Elliott, No Bare Walls Framing Studio, 215-654-9106 or Karen Kieser, Immersion Studio, 215-704-7015.