Photo of the Week - June 16th, 2008

This cover shot was created by Steve Bedell for a recent Senior Book.

A word about proofing, again.

I know, I know, many of the online forums talk about shoot and burn as the new way to to do business. A hands off approach that is devaluing our industry as a whole. Unfortunately, this way of doing business is destroying the intrinsic value of our craft. As photographers, we don’t just take pictures, Uncle Bob can do that (No offense to those named Bob). We offer a service that transcends just taking pictures, we create a product that instantly has heirloom value. Considering all the options for proofing today, there is bound to be one that fits your budget. If not, it my be time to re-evaluate how you price your services. There is nothing like a low tech, electronic free, computer free way to view pictures than a printed photograph, be it press printed or photographic. Prints are portable, free from viruses, never need upgrades, and can be viewed via any light source.  All humor aside, you are giving your client not only a visual record of their day, but a tangible product that will be the source of family history for generations to come.

Did you know about online order status?

One of the many features LustreColor offers their customers is online order status. Just key in your account number and hit enter.  You will be brought to window showing all of your in-house orders, as well as several weeks of completed orders along with how and when they where shipped to you.  And, like www.Weddingprints.com, you can access your information from any computer with the internet.

Photo of the Week - June 9th, 2008

This twist on a traditional bridal portrait comes to us from Kevin’s Photography of Albuquerque, NM

Be sure to check back each Monday for a new Photo of the Week.

New names for Press Printed Books!!

To make things less confusing, LustreColor has given their Press Printed books a new name.  Sedona is now the new name for the non-flat bound books printed on Press Paper only.  The Nouveau Coffee Table Books are a lay-flat book with a robust page printed onPhotographic or GicléeFine Art & Linen paper .

New Album Templates in Weddingprints.com

Here is some very exciting news for those who use www.Weddingprints.com or those considering it.  The online album builder has been expanded and now includes an increased range of layouts for the Modern Image album and new templates for Capri’s Gallery, Mounted Contemporary, Mounted Metro and EZ Mount albums.

With the high price of fuel, this is a great way to design albums with your clients by phone and still give them one on one attention.

By the numbers!

Most Cameras will name your files with a 3 letter designation plus a series of numbers.  When using multiple cameras, things can get confusing.  Example, if you notice dust spots on your images or the lab calls you with a concern, and you are using 3 of the same Brand/model camera, how do you know what’s what? What about an intermittent malfunction, how do you know?  It’s simple, change the three letters at the front of the file name.  For me, I have named my camera’s DC1, DC2 & DC3.  If I have any questions on a file, I know which camera it came from.  There you have it, by the numbers.

Back UP Equipment!

The season is almost here and we are all gearing up for it.  Gear!  You can never have enough.  In the film days, I would always carry 3 bodies with me.  If one went down, I still had two.  The third was somewhat of a security blanket.  Mamiya would usually turn a repair around in less than a week.  (They truly are the benchmark when it comes to customer service.)   No problem.  Then comes Digital.  Send in a body for repair to either C or N, and you could be looking at 2 weeks or longer.  The power of 3!  I had planned on my wedding kit to include two bodies (I just bought them within the last 4 months), but as Murphy’s Law would prove, two is not enough.  So off to the Camera shop I went to buy a third one.  So keep that in mind before the season starts, There is a price to be paid for sanity.

Passing out cards for WWW.WeddingPrints.com

A great opportunity for creating new business is passing out WWW.Weddingrints.com cards at your events. Not only does it give you the opportunity to sell photographs from the event, but the guests are seeing you in action.  If they like what they see at the event and the photographs online, you could be looking at a future client.  

Nikon Updates

Nikon has recently updated CaptureNX, ViewNX and also a firmware upgrade to the D3.  All of these updates pertain to D3 functionality.  Update, Nikon has removed the D3 update due to image corruption!