Freebie Friday - Trial Offers

Before I purchase or subscribe to anything, I see if that company offers a trial product. This way, I can test-drive it. You wouldn't buy a car before you drove it? Why invest money in your business without trying it? Here are some free trials that are out there for your photography business or some software trials if you are just clicking it for now:)

Software

Adobe offers trials on their photoshop products, Illustrator, and some others. I personally had taken advantage of the Lightroom trial. And now I have it and love it. $299 is a big investment when you are on a low budget so make sure that it fits your needs. Most people will find that all they need is Elements 7 or 8 (which is a lot less expensive) http://www.adobe.com/downloads/  If you decide to purchase any of the adobe photoshops, I have them set up on an Amazon store on the right column.

Noiseware and Portraiture are Plugins for Photoshop and are used by a lot of professional photographers. Portraiture is a very simple way to correct skin and give that creamy skin tone to your subject. It uses sliders and is a lot less complicated than using Photoshop to fix blemishes and skin tones. Noiseware is great for high ISO photos. You can check out before and after shots on this site and you will be impressed. However, they are both expensive software for us on low budgets, so see if they will fit into your workflow. Personally, I don't have either right now. I may invest in noiseware in the future as I am a natural light photographer and High ISO's are a given. Here is the link to the free trials

Portraiture http://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx
Noiseware http://www.imagenomic.com/nwpg.aspx

Portrait Professional

Very similar but with a lower price tag. This works as a standalone - so that is one minor disadvantage because it will require additional time. Right now the promotional price is $69.99 as opposed to Portraitures $199.99. Also read down to the end, because I included a link to a site I use for coupon codes!!! So if you do like any of these products or in the future any purchase you make, check out that site first:)
http://www.portraitprofessional.com/

Corel has a few free trials on their site as well... They have paint shop pro and also illustrator and some office software, too.
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Content/1152796555406

*** Try them first to see what works for you. Personally I have the Photoshop CS3 which is great for me. I don't need CS4 - on the same respect I had Photoshop Element 5 when I started and I did fine with that at first. Sure Adobe CS4 is the bomb but it is not for everyone... See how it works into your photo flow - are you just someone who like to take pictures and wants to do minor editing - maybe photoshop elements or corel may do. ***

Business Management/Studio Management

There are some great tools for Studios out there. They have client lists, information, pricing information, keep your calendar, and some even have photo carts for your clients.

I personally like Phobrio. You will be able to track clients and prospects, manage scheduling, ordering, invoicing, online proofing, track clients throughout every stage of your workflow, create to do lists, and a whole bunch more all for $15 per month. The online cart leaves a little to be desired, however, the rest is PERFECT for my business. No more excel spreadsheets for me! They have a demo where you go and play around with the software. Click the trail button on the login page and you can play away.

Tave is another great photography business software. Click here for the trial page to register. It is a little more - $25 per month, but to me it has some additional features that personally I don't need right now. However, a larger studio may find that it works better for them.

Email Marketing

Want a email service to keep contacts and do mass mailings like newsletters and promotions?

Vertical Response has a free trial available. You can try it out. The benefit is if you are a small business (or growing) and your newletter only reaches a certain amount of people, you can pay per contact instead of getting locked into a high monthly rate. Click on my affiliate link on the right hand side and sign up for your free trial.

Constant contact is another company that will let you send out professional mailings. Click here to register for their free trial

*** Also before you buy ANYTHING - I always check out RETAIL ME NOT to see if there are any coupon codes for it:)