for photographers: upgrading to prophoto 5

So I know you all have noticed the new, spruced up design of our blog, but what you don’t see is the awesome behind-the-scenese program that is running it all! The mid-year sprucing was inspired by the fact that we FINALLY upgraded to ProPhoto5 (after seeing the option to back in January, but turning it down for no reason other than we’re cheap ; ) Well friends, let me tell you that now having upgraded I wish I could go back to that day in January and do it sooner because Prophoto 5? It is AMAZING. There are so, so many new features that not only make our images look better but also make our blog as a whole look so much more like “us”. Which is pretty much our number one priority when trying to attract new clients – making sure they are getting as much “us-i-ness” as possible!

For those of you guys who (like us) are feeling like the upgrade isn’t worth the $89 price tag, or that it isn’t going to make that big of a difference, here are our top 5 new fave features of ProPhoto 5 to try and change your mind!

1. Buttons – There is SO much possibility in this one little word! Buttons now let you create customized icons for your blog, as well as awesome hover options.  Our top menu is now made entirely of custom buttons, and so is the lower menu of blog categories. From changing color or graying out, to any combination of text or images, there are a million customization options that help you to make your blog match your website flawlessly!

2. Retina Display Sizing – This is by far the BIGGEST pro to the ProPhoto 5 upgrade (see what I did there?). Before we had this feature we would find ourselves so disappointed in how terrible our images would look on the blog. We would take tack sharp images out of lightroom, stomp them in blogstomp, and then upload them to our blog only to find that the end result after all that work was not nearly as good as the original (especially when looked at on our retina laptop). ProPhoto 5 displays the recommended image size for your posts for both retina and non-retina displays. And the best part is that when you upload the retina display size, it automatically knows to use that size for any retina display, and to halve the pixels for regular screens. Leaving your images looking good EVERYWHERE.

Old Blog Sizing:

ProPhoto 5 Sizing

(notice the huge difference in his eyes and the folds of the bow tie)

3. Social Media Integration -For those of us who use social media as our main form of marketing, this is a total lifesaver. With past versions of ProPhoto you would have to install random widgets in order to get any sort of Pinterest integration, widgets that didn’t always work or necessarily look the most professional. P5 has totally new social media integration options that make integrating your site with Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter SUPER easy (and customizable!)

You can use their Pinterest settings (or make a custom icon like we did!)

 

 

4. Mobile Optimization – This is something even our super adorable website doesn’t do this well yet, so this was a HUGE deal to us! You now have the option to make your blog look exactly the same on mobile, or choose from mobile customizable options. Whichever you choose, the choice is just that. YOURS.

This is a screenshot of our mobile site, which we have chosen to keep the same format as our desktop blog:

 

 

 

5. Favicon – I admit, this feature isn’t exclusive to ProPhoto5. BUT, this is the first time we are actually using it so it totally counts. Right? By going into your advanced settings Prophoto allows you to add a custom icon up in the address bar, to the left of your url. Sometimes, it truly is the little things. And this little thing is just about the cutest I have ever seen!

If you have absolutely any questions about ProPhoto5 features or upgrading feel free to ask! We TOTALLY recommend it to everyone, you will be amazed at what a difference it makes!

Happy Friday!

Sarah