It’s now called Camgirl Business Guide or camgirl biz guide for short. For the time being the url location is http://camgirlbizguide.blogspot.com also the email address to contact me (camgirlbiz @ymail.com) has changed as well.

gmail/youtube has giving me some problems which is why some of the videos are no longer available.

Follow me on twitter @camgirlbizguide

Even if you have a cheap poor quality webcam or a lower quality webcam of the popular webcam brands you  can set up your lighting so that you look flawless each time you click broadcast now.  Idealy you want enough light so that your the main focal point of your video stream.  Don’t assume you can use your daylight and think it’s enough for broadcasting. Natural light moves constantly and it will change the quality of your video stream, and it will end up being poor and in result have your chatters complaining there is something wrong wtih your camera when it’s actually your lighting, and if your chatters are complaining about what is going with your camera or lights they won’t be focused on buying time with you in private chat.  You also want to make sure your light is evenly distributed so that way you do not have a light burst of light sitting in one place.

You want to have a minimum of 400 watts of light, if you can go higher then that is better. I use 500 watts of lights from proffesional studio lights it didn’t cost me that much for them I spent around $200 for the cheaper proffesional light set up. There is basically 3 lighting options out there you can use depending on your budget. You can use regular spot light bulbs that are 100 watts each, and place four lighs around you. You can find these lights at any local lighting store. Try getting halogen bulbs because they are camera friendly.

 You could also find lamps out there that have movable lamp heads so that way you can have lights at different angels but still keep them in balance.  Remember you want them to see you not complain there is something wrong with your camera.

It’s harder to find florescent bulbs that produce enough light, and if you do end up getting fluorescent bulbs make sure they are all the same white light and the highest wattage  they produce. which is more expensive then halogen lights.  This option is probably the cost effective, but for it to effective for making money you need to make sure you have the highest wattage available that is compatible with the lamps and also make sure you have the right amout of lamps around you.

Worker lights they come in 250 watts and 500 watts, but you will need about 2 or 3 of them to have an effective light set up. They are pretty much sold all over the place, but if you really can’t find one a home reno place will have them. They already come with a halogen bulb be extremely careful when handling them if you touch them without wearing gloves or a cloth you can risk having the bulb explode when you turn it on. They come in different sizes the stand ones are probably best to use for your broadcasting.

Proffesional lights are your best investment for video chatting. You can pretty much get them in photography stores and online photography store websites. They come in a vereity of price ranges so you can buy proffesional lighting equipment on a nice modest budget.  I find this the most effective to use thenregular lighting beause of how smooth quality appear on the camera.  If you spend some time making sure you have the best lighting set up you can afford you will notice how much you can make in a few hours of broadcasting live.

I have also added a links to lighting tip websites of how to set up your lighting system so that way you have the best lighting. Setting up your lights properly is basically a simple system that pretty much everyone who broadcast live video follows for a higher quality of video stream. The theree point lighting system is the most common method to use for setting up lights for filming video or broadcasting video.  Once you get this techinque you can set up lighting for virtually anything you can find a perfect diagram for the three point lighting system here.

Warning:  These lights get very hot so make sure to adequately use caution when using lights indoors and close to anything that could be flammable. If lights get very hot, please use your better judgment and shut them off.

The website www.testmycam.com is all good to make sure your computer and web cam is ready to use for broadcasting on your web cam site and to test out lighting and your microphone or you can log into your model log-in page for your web cam site and test it in there before you go live in your adult video chat room.  Another method of testing if your web cam is connected to your computer is by opening an instant messenger platform Skype, MSN, Yahoo whatever you have on your computer. You would go into the web cam settings or audio/video settings you do not need to chat with anyone to test your web cam unless you want to.

You always want to make sure you have a good video card installed in your computer. You should have determine this when your purchase your computer. If you do not have one you can get them installed easily.  Now if you’re using a video camera and you want to turn it into a video web cam there is a lot more options involved. If your not really interested in learning some technical stuff then getting a webcam is your best bet for now.

Connecting with a RCA cables is probably the simplest way to turn your video camera into a video webcam. Every video camera comes with RCA cables, because they are used to connect to so many things your VCR, Television, and even your computer. If your camera does not come with RCA cables then you want to look around to see if you can buy one that is compatible to your video camera.  The manufacture website usually has them, or look on eBay for it.  If you’re wondering what the RCA cables are they are the cables that are red, yellow and white. Picture on the left .

Connecting with a  S-Video cable is another easy way to connect your video camera to your computer. If your computer comes with an S-video port and your camera has an S-video cable you can connect your camera. I personally haven’t tried this myself I usually go with connecting with RCA cables. Your camera might not come with the S-video cable but they usually have them for sale on the manufacture website.  Picture on the right

There is many ways to connect using the RCA cables one of them being directly into the back of your desktop computer usually if they have the video capture card built in, or you can buy one and install it yourself. Osprey makes capture cards which are easy to find anywhere you might find others around. You plug in your RCA yellow cable into the capture card and it will recognize your video camera is plugged in. Another method if your not able to get a capture card installed or if your using a laptop you can buy an external one they are called usb video capture devices; Dazzle, Roxio and Diamond Multimedia make one. The video capture cards that go into your computer are also called tv-turners, but since they have made so many external video capture cards it might be easier to get an external one then an internal one.

Connecting with a fire wire cable is also pretty easy to connect with. You want to check out if your camera can connects with a fire wire cable some video camera do not have a fire wire option. Once you find that out you can use a fire wire cable to connect to your computer. Easily just make your computer supports it to connect using a fire wire.

Connecting with USB cable some video cameras come with a USB cable for the Sony HC-62 video camera the usb cable is the same cable that connects to blackberries So you might be in luck to try if it works for your blackberry and your video camera.  Apparently it’s an universal cable so you could save a bundle if you have one for more than one device. You can also connect your video camera to your computer using the usb cable as well if your usb cable is too short to reach your computer. You can also get USB extension cables usually these days usb cables are version 2.0 also keep in mind some video camera do not turn into a video webcam using the usb cable. I found out that the Sony Hc62 does not

A typical studio is a physical location you go to on a set working shift. You usually find them by answer help wanted ads in papers and online on websites like adultstaffing.com or sexyjobs.com you would meet with the members probably see other models working and they would give you a tour of the place, but those studios are rare to find in North America.

Now a studio is someone who does not have a location for you to work and does everything by phone and online email or instant messenger. You sign the contracts email or snail mail them in and your working for a studio which means the studio is responsible for paying you from the pie of the site which breaks down into paying affiliates, paying the site. Some websites pay studios the same % split an individual model would get.  So if a webcam is paying models and studios 35% just image what you would get if you signed up under a studio representative account.

I did get approved with the webcam site webcams.com to have a studio account I do not have a location for girls to come in use the facilities and work their shifts, my involvement of being a studio would be remote meaning I would help girls set up their studios if they lived in my area and I would giving them advice of how to make money and be successful and I would gaining a small fee for it.  Since creating this website I am not actually making money from it right now its a free information resource.

I am aware that there are some girls out there who are not able to work from home being a cam model for various reasons but it is very rare to find a studio that will have computers, camera and internet connection available for you to use without having them take a huge piece of the profits.

I believe now in the last 10 years or so there is about over 1000s girls online who are considered camgirls and I am one of them. In 2003 I was introduced to a webcam never really knew anything about it never had one in the home and never seen a webcam site on the net .I have seen porn sure but nothing live and in real time expect for using msn messenger back then msn was just chat with no cam feature as it is today.

They say the very first web camgirl site out there was the Jennicam. Jenni made her site back in 1996 ! until about 2003.  Her webcam archives are all over the net so which is something to consider when you become a camgirl your image is pretty much immortal. It is reported that Jenni cam went off to work in a web design firm and as far as we know she has no plans of bringing back jennicam, but her image lives forever as long as someone has a photo from her cams. I never got to experience viewing the Jennicam by time I got full experienced with being a webcam model the site was taken down.

From the documentary camgirls are feminist/professor Theressa M. Senft decided to start a webcam site to see how being a camgirl could make such an impact. Her segment in the documentary is very insightful. Thressa has also wrote a book called Camgirls: Celebrity and a community in the age of social networks. Something I will have to purchase and definitely write a review about.

You do not need to spend alot of money on a webcam if your buying the right webcam, spending about $25 to $200 on a webcam can be a good investment since. You do make that money within a month of being online as a webcam model, some camgirls are even able to make that money back within a few hours of work.

So your in the store about to buy a webcam, and your pretty much overwelmed with all the boxes in front of you that have a webcam in them. You pretty much want to get a webcam where has simple words to understand on the box.

Buying a webcam isn’t an easy task since your not sure what your getting until you bring it home and plug it in. Remember to keep your receipts some stores have a return policies on webcams or you might be able to sell it to someone who just need s awebcam for basic webcam needs. I created a video clip comparing the logitech quickcam pro9000 to the microsoft lifecam cinema HD.

Logitech quickcam pro9000

• Easy to unpack from the package. (Everything in the package can be recycled if your a green person)
• The webcam is nice to look at. Can be a good thing if your camming for about 3 to 6 hours a day.
• Easy to install. Logitech has designed easy to install software that is vey easy to follow if you lose the CD your able to download the webcam drivers quickly from the website. Logitech website is also easy to follow as well for logitech product support.

I found the logitech quickcam pro9000 one of the sexiest looking webcams logitech has. “Can I say sexy for a webcam hehehe”  I found that the logitech pro9000 actually shows a true colour when your using it which is nice you look like your on a HDTV.  Plus when your broadcasting live the chatters will enjoy that, since this is a business that the main equipment is the webcam.

More on logitech webcams

Microsoft Lifecam Cineman HD

• Microsft lifecam cineman is maninly compatible with windows, the minute I plugged in the cam it connected to the windows update website and downloaded the drivers you might not need the CD if you have a windows XP or higher.  Which is a definite sign it most likely will not work with Mac.
• The cam was able to connect quickly to the software but I found that is runs a lot of power it also started to give me an error message to change settings to have a lower picture view.  When I was testing it out on www.testmycam.com
• The microsoft cam only allows you to use the microsoft microphone which I found to be a very poor quality the volume didn’t come in using it’s microphone. Plus I wasn’t able to use the microsoft cam in Windows Movie Maker.

I didn’t get to really use the microsoft lifecam cinema as I hoped becasue it did get on my nerves very quickly. If there is a camgirl out there using this webcam for shows and would like to add to this review I would like to hear from you.

Question: I work online as webcam girl part-time maybe a couple nights a week for an extra $100 to $300 dollars just to put in my savings account. I work as an waitress at nights. Do you think if I stop working as a waitress and make webcam my full-time job and if I really promote myself could I make a living and if you don’t mind me asking what is an average paycheck like for 2 weeks
-AppleCandy22 imlive host

Answer:
Well from when I first got started being a webcam girl. I was working in a studio, where I had to pick my shifts of when I would be available to work in 24 hour period. The studio considered being a full-time model would be working more then 5 days a week 3 hours each shift. but in the normal job world they would consider being full-time worker would be working 40 hours a week from 7 to 3, 8 to 4 or 9 to 5 maybe 5 days week. but what they are really concerned about is commitment and sticking with a routine and being reliable of being there for the client or customer or compaign. So of course this can be a full-time or part-time job if you are able to comit to a regular schedule and stick with it for a period of time I would say about 3 to 6 months that way you will be able to get a good idea of what your paychecks would be and possibily compare them with your existing job.

Question:

What hours do you think are the busiest for camming? I usually work a few hours during the day, and haven’t fared all that bad. But is it really busy after 11pm? I don’t even think I could stay up past 1am EST -I don’t know just depends on if the moo-la is there. I suppose I just have to try it sometime. I can always sleep the next day after getting the kids off to school.

Answer

With working on any other cam site out there you have to stick to a schedule, you have to remember its the whole world on the internet now, when your going to sleep someone around the world is waking up, and when your waking up someone else around the world is going to sleep  and since the majority of the viewers are men, there is always going to be a man some where around the world who wants to have some fun.

Webcamming is a great way to make money especially in this economy, but you can’t put your eggs all in one basket, as cliche it might sound if your working as a cam girl and your only performing with one site and that site goes down for website maintence or other reasons your pretty much SOL (Shit of Luck).   So it’s a good idea to keep your options going.  Of course don’t pile on too many sites you forget what your log in is for them but just enough so you have a constant flow of income coming in, and that if there is an issue you ready to go and log on at anytime on your list of sites.