Canvas Collage

I just purchased this template and wanted to test it out so I pulled some recent images from a family session. It was a bit more time consuming to create than I thought it would be, but I think it turned out super cute.

Featured on Design Aglow!

I absolutely LOVE the products offered by Design Aglow! I have purchased a few of their products and they are not only lovely, but easy to use. Album design is certain not one of my skills but they offer a few album design options that run as actions in Photoshop and I was pleasantly surprised how easy they made it!



They featured one of my sample flush mount albums and a self-mount mini album in today's blog post. Check it out as well as their cool products!

Canvases

Oh how I love my canvas company! They seriously rock the socks of canvases. No disrespect to local retailers who do them (frankly I think Sams Club 1 hour photo services are great...for photo prints only), but there is no comparison to these beauties when it comes to gallery wrapped canvases! Plus their customer service is second to none.

There were some issues with this image due to the composition and needing to wrap part of the image around the frame, but the CS was so helpful in providing me several options very quickly of some cloning and crop options their graphic design team came up with!

My awesome husband took this image from a wedding this summer. The couple's package included a canvas and I was so excited they chose such a fun image for this special product! I can't wait for them to get it...it's in the mail!

It's here...and it's lovely

Blogger and I are going to have it out! It ate another 3 paragraph entry and I am so behind, I just don't have the time to retype it. So, here's another post with modified narration (oh good, some of you are thinking).

New album company...sample order arrived yesterday. Plain white corrugated box, nothing fancy, but the company promotes "green packaging".

More "green" packaging...but a little nicer than the outer box.

They offer a ton of cover fabrics, even two tone and image inserts. The red is really nice, bright and fun but not obnoxious. I didn't want to order black ;-)

They offer rounded or square spines.

Rounded cover corner and just a very slightly rounded edge of the pages, they almost look square.

Nice texture on the leather.

Inside the cover.

Pages are thick and sturdy and you can sort of see the slightly rounded edges.

For best results, they recommend the first page start on the right and not be a spread.

A spread to show the gutter when the image doesn't cross the middle of the book.

A sample spread to show the small gutter.

Final single sided page.

How they mark their studio samples.

I also purchased one of their self-mount albums which has folded pages and a square spine. More images to come.

Updates

Just wanted to let any readers out there know that I have not forgotten my little blog. I am back to teaching for the fall term and once my son hits the sack, I edit...all....night...long.

Erin and Nick, David and Bethany, Karen and Nick....I plugging through your images (in the order in which they were received..Do I sound like an automated phone service?).

One of my new album companies has a holiday deadline for new clients. Since I haven't ordered with them yet (but want and need to get a sample to look at the quality of the prints, build, materials, etc.), I needed to design something small...quickly before their cut-off of Sept. 20th. Since I am not an album designer or graphic artist (I outsource my album design to a company who are experts), this is not as simple of a task as it should be. But....I got it done as quickly as I could and placed the order. I am not going to lie....I CANNOT WAIT to receive it! I am going to be so impatient waiting for what I am guessing will be at least 4-6 weeks, if not more.

Even though this post will get burried, I also wanted to say a special thank you to all of my wonderful 2009 wedding clients. I am honored to work with you all and can't wait to document your special day. Along those lines, I am closing the books for 2009 in order to give my clients the best possible service and a reasable turn-around time on their images while still being good mother, wife and teacher. If you would like some recommendations for other photographers, please drop me a line and I would be happy to share the love!

I am also almost completely full for fall portrait sessions. I do not currently have any time-slots long enough to accomodate non-local sessions, but I have a few spots for local sessions left on my calendar so if you are interested, please let me know as soon as possible.

Posts without pictures are not fun, so here are a couple of spreads from my sample album. (I have no idea why they are so sad-ly small or in a strange format...but no time to try and fix it now.)

Birth Announcements

I was trying to be patient and wait before posting these announcements so that the parents of these adorable children could get these out to their friends and families before I posted them. The last names were removed before I posted these so the formatting might be slightly off. I was so excited when I received my own copy in the email to see the final product in person.

It did make me a little sad that I didn't take the time to do these for my own son.

Front:

Back:


Front:


Back:

Front:
Back:

Fun and Simple Albums

I just received this album the other day for a portrait client. It is a simple, slip-in type album, but it is so cute I want to keep it for myself. I was a little nervous ordering the color pink since you never know on web images what the color calibration is like. Would it be salmon, pepto-bismol, fuchsia....???

It is really the perfect pink, especially for portraits of little girls.

Here's few pictures of it since blog posts without pictures aren't very much fun.

p.s. And the satin lined box was just the icing on the cake!

A close up to see the texture.

The inside.


Nice thick pages and a rounded spine for extra durability.

Ugly pictures...hidden beauty!

These might be the ugliest pictures I have ever taken. I should have at least cleaned off my countertop...but I just made a salad and unpacked some groceries (and it's 2am and I should be in bed, or at least grading tests for my students). I couldn't wait any longer, I had to open up the UPS boxthat came today and start sticking velcro on my flashes (which kills me by the way...I like to keep my gear looking exactly like it did when it came out of the box).

Why? Because THEY came today and I had to try them. No more unreliable, line of sight for me. Off camera flash, here I come! I can't wait to play with them outside of my kitchen.

Mini Me

Ever since I left "corporate america", I have never really liked business cards for some reason. Many photographers spend a lot of time and money on branding, logos and fancy marketing materials, but it just hasn't felt like the right move for my photography business...yet, at least.

For some reason, as this wedding season is about to begin for me, I didn't want to repeat a common occurence during past events I have photographed.

Guest: "I was wondering if I could have your business card"

Me {with a shy grin}: "Sorry, I don't have any, but my website and contact info is...."

So this was my compromise, a little something different, but accomplishes the same goal if somoene wants my information without having to find a pen and jot it down on the back of a napkin.

The outside of the box.


A few of the pictures on the front of the cards. You can have each card with a different image.
How fun is that?


The back of the mini-cards. It does have my phone number, but call me paranoid, I didn't feel like posting it on my blog so I blurred it out.


Maybe someday I'll splurge on some letter press business cards, but for now, these are perfect for me!

New Toy....I mean, tool!

I have wanted to try using more off camera flash for a while now. I am able to use the master/slave function on my Canon Speedlight flashes, but they are limited as the two flashes need to be able to "see" each other and that doesn't always work for the types of shots I am going for.

I have had pocket wizards sitting in my B&H shopping cart for almost a year now, but manually setting flashes is not something I am proficient at. Everyone tells me it is not that hard, but I just have been hesitant. Then I heard about Radio Poppers, which would allow me to use ETTL functions on my gear but the units don't require "line of sight" to communicate with each other. They were originally supposed to be out in February, so I decided to hold off on the Pocket Wizards, but like most new products, production was delayed and I was getting antsy. They still have a few more weeks to go, but I was able to place a pre-order and I am soooo excited to play with them.

I am NOT...

a graphic designer! I love those Home Depot (or is it Lowes) commercials of homeowners proclaiming "I am not a painter. I am not an electrician. Etc." They play over and over in my head when I convince my husband to go the "cheaper" route and do home projects that we are not qualified to do on our own.

Okay, back to the post. I found some very simple, clean, classic templates that are easy to use and threw in a few pictures from my last portrait session to see how they worked.

Gallery Wrapped Canvases!

I have been meaning to post this for a while but never got around to do it. Want a cool alternative to display your photographic art without having to worry about framing? Check out these cool gallery wrapped canvases. If I could just get a picture of my family with ME in it, I would buy some for myself! I have seen some similar products in local retailers, but this one is from a company that specializes in this kind of product and boy, does it show! There is no comparison.

The color is incredible! But a black and white image would look really cool too!


The image wraps all the way around the edge so it looks finished from all sides.


And the back is finished off and ready to hang...simple as that!

If any previous clients are interested in a gallery wrap, let me know and I can send you some additional information.