Hey Girl, Nice Shot

Holiday Cards & Gifts for the DIY Photographer

Not to be outdone by those who take the outsourcing approach, for many photographers the option of offering custom high quality press-printed cards and other photo gifts is a way to draw families in for those holiday sessions.  I think my second holiday season I went WAY overboard and bought every holiday template that was available from any vendor - seriously, I think I had something like 100 holiday card choices. It was overwhelming for me, and for my clients.

The third year I purchased a much smaller number of templates and only offered them after a minimum purchase to avoid putting so much work in to the holiday cards and not making enough money on the session as a whole.  It was a MUCH better option.

Last year I purchased even fewer holiday card templates and I only offered a custom design service to my very best clients.  I outsourced everyone else and it was an AWESOME combination for me.  I always do my own cards too.  And my company cards.

Believe me, I totally understand how photo card template shopping can be like eye porn for photographers.  So many templates, so little time.  So here are a few of my favorites this year!

 

---

Design Aglow

---

I am such a big fan of pretty much anything Design Aglow puts out.  I just love the style!!!  Especially after meeting the lovely Lena Hyde at Learnfest, I continue my love affair with all things DA.  I especially love the rich colors of Design Aglow products and I think they look especially yummy printed on the art watercolor paper from WHCC.

This year you can stand out from the crowd by offering round holiday cards that double as an ornament!  And the template collection also includes square versions for those looking for a more traditional card but loving the style.  I think these would also be great as the studio card that goes out to your customers...I can imagine starting that as a tradition.

You know what would also be fun for these?  To have them made into coasters!!! Right?  I know My Own Labels offers photo coasters.

This collection of holiday cards throws tradition aside and makes holiday cards fun!  I love that you can use them as they are, or customize them for your clients!

Looking for something more traditional?  And something to work with that vintage faded photo feel that is SOOOO hot right now?  Check out his collection - it totally took my breath away and better yet, the designs are for the outside AND inside of a folded card for a totally polished look!!

 

---

Jaime Schultz Designs

---

The very first photo card template I ever bought was from Jaime Schultz Designs.  At one point I owned everything ever designed by her.  Her offerings have expanded so much over the last few years and now there is a beautiful online storefront to go with it.

One of the things I really like about her card collections is that there is so much variety in each collection AND that they usually include at least one 5x5 trifold option or a accordian fold option (I LOVE 5x5 Trifold cards).

 

---

Swiss Miss Design Haus

---

Swiss Miss has super cute designs and for those looking to save some money, you can buy individual card templates.

One of the things I really like is that she offers wide format cards (where the card opens on the short side).  I think it is a fun and different way to layout your cards.   I actually used the card design above last year for my holiday cards and love them.

 

 

Tiny Prints & Minted: Outsourcing Holiday Photo Cards for Photographers

I've never been a big fan of making my own holiday cards for my clients.  I know the arguments: it is great marketing, you get to have your name on the back, blah.  To be honest, I feel like it is too much time for too little money.  Having to have the the templates, having clients choose and change their minds, all of it. Yeah, can you tell I'm in a funk?

Well, last year what I did is encouraged my clients to use either Tiny Prints or Minted for their cards.  If they had not purchased a package with digital files then I would upload their selected files for them, otherwise, they could do the whole process themselves.  And you know what, it was VERY freeing!

So again this year, I will be suggesting to clients that they consider using Tiny Prints or Minted for their holiday cards.  That's not to say I don't do ANY custom work - but they do pay a hefty premium for that service.

---

Tiny Prints

---

I've always been impressed with the cards I have recieved from TinyPrints in the past.  The paper is a good stock which makes a world of difference.  I think their print quality is good.  And they really have a fantastic online system for allowing customers to design their own cards, customize it, and then for clients that need the photos uploaded, I am happy to upload it (after a minimum print order has been placed, of course).  They have trifold cards, which I love, and their folded cards have lots of different layout options for the interior (great for clients that can't decide on just one or two pictures for their holiday card).

Recently when I checked back in with TinyPrints I noticed they had some new products including these AWESOME looking photo notebooks.  What a great gift item for your VIP clients, or an upsell for a package.  Better yet, add one or two of these to your highest price package as a "holiday special" to encourage clients to increase their purchases.  They are priced right around $12 but are cheaper if you purchase them in volume.

 

---

Minted

---

Minted in another company that I suggested last year to my customers.  Again, I liked the quality of their paper stock.  One of the things that is great about Minted is that if you sign up with them as a photographer you can setup your own storefront...then when your clients order cards from that co-branded storefront, the back of the card will have your studio name giving you that marketing edge that we look for in our holiday cards.  For example, my storefront is http://bubblegumtree.minted.com.  I don't have a ton of stuff on there but as we get closer to the holiday season I'll go through and see what items I like and add them in.

One of the styles I really liked from Minted are their Yearline cards.  The inside of the card is designed to hold four photos in like a timeline fashion but the text is totally customizable so you could use it to make a little newsletter, or an update on each member of your family by using names instead of dates.

Another Minted product that I love are their Mini-books.  They have grommets that hold them together, and you can choose to have either a combination of text and photos for more of a storybook, or more photos is you wanted to really make it a holiday photo book.  They are so unique!

And for when you want to include a special thank you to a customer, or suggest a photo gift item, their photo stationary cards make a great choice!

So there you have it.  I like these two services because I feel they have high quality paper and printing, a large variety of designs and styles, and they do electronic proofs so the clients can approve the cards. I don't have to make cards or deal with revisions.  And it is easy for me to upload the photos for my clients when they don't order digital files (you can even charge a service fee for this OR make it a free add-on for your larger packages).

 

 

My Choice: Waterproof Point and Shoot Camera

Not that long ago I was writing about my consideration of purchasing a waterproof point and shoot camera.  I wanted something small that would be easy for me to tuck into my purse when I didn't want to carry my Canon 5D Mark II.  And because we spend so much time in and around the pool or beach, I knew that I wanted a waterpoof camera so I could have some fun with the kids and not worry about the camera.  I ended up going with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2.  The fun bright orange color helped sway my choice (although it comes in other colors).  Also, my husband surprised me by buying it for me.

Here's a quick pic of my daughter on a recent trip we made to Alabama. It was super sunny and I did force the flash for a little fill on her.  The color is great right out of the camera.

This picture I took with the camera on sunset mode.  I love the warmth of the sunny portion.

Today I took my kids to the pool at our gym.  While we have a pool in our backyard it hardly compares to the one at our gym that features a two story water slide.

Here you can see the side by side comparison of the straight out of the camera (on the left) and the one that I did REALLY quick basic adjustments on just to give it a color boost and sharpening. 

 

Summer Day at the Pool from Jessica Grieves on Vimeo.

But the real fun comes with the underwater photos and video.  Above is a video I made using a few clips I took today in the pool with the kids and some photos I took.  All were taken with the Panasonic Lumix.

By the way, I made the video combining my video clips and photos using one of Animoto's new premium styles: Water, which is included in my pro account.

Point and Shoot the Waterproof Way

So I've been seriously considering for a while purchasing a point and shoot camera.  Yes, pick your mouth up off the ground, I said it, a point and shoot camera.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my 5D Mark ii but it is heavy and large and I find myself bumping into the kids with it when I carry it at the zoo, or stressing out about it when I take to the beach.  What I'd really like is a waterproof point and shoot.  I think it would be so fun for taking pictures of the kids jumping in the pool, or out in the water at the beach and small enough to just carry around on my wrist or in my purse!

For a while I had my eye on a Canon that was waterproof but two other cameras caught my eye this week in a review by B&H photo.

 
The Pentax Optio W90 caught my eye because of the fun retro/modern look of it.  I am partial to the green and black model.  It has a rubber grip around it which makes it look tougher.  Some of the cool features?

• little spot lights on the front can be used to light ultra-macro photos
• built in image stabilizing
• waterproof up to 20 feet! 
• macro shooting up to .4 inches from subject
• lots of capture modes including kids, sports, and food!

At $272 it seems reasonably priced for all that it does!

 
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 is another camera that stood out to me.  Let's start with the color options - I mean, I love the orange (and they have other colors too).  Some of it's cool features:

• Waterproof up to 33 feet!
• Beach and Snow shooting modes
• LED light for low light videos
• Photo modes like sunset, pet, food, and fireworks

A little more expensive at $319 it does have a larger image size and it looked like more video options (both cameras can do HD video). 

Do you have a waterproof point and shoot camera?   Tell us what you like/don't like about it?

iPad Option: Presentation Tool

Last night my husband had a great surprise for me....my very one iPad.  I had been drooling over since he got it a couple of weeks ago and like a cell phone it really isn't the kind of thing you can share.  I mean, I want my apps, he wants his. 

 

One of the thoughts I had was that it would be cool to load up my presentation materials into the iPad and use it instead of a laptop to do presentations.  After all, it is smaller than even my Macbook Air, and I presume it has a better battery life.

Today I took the iPad Keynote app for a test drive. I imported the draft version of my beginner's photography class that I'm updating for my Photographer's Kick Start and connected it to the TV with a VGA Adapter, and switched the TV input.  Ta-da!  My presentation in big screen goodness and my iPad becomes the controller.

One note...you cannot just use the TV as a big screen for the iPad.  It doesn't work for editing or creating content.  Just playing back.  But still super handy.  My online research has indicated that currently there are a limited number of ways you can output from the iPad to your VGA device (monitor, TV, projector)

• Videos
• Photos - Slideshow playback only
• YouTube
• Keynote
• Safari - Video content on webpages

The Barnwood Rug via Savvy Photographer

If you have been on the Savvy Photographer website recently, or visited their booth at Imaging USA, you may have noticed the insanely cool barnwood floor rug they are offering for sale.  

 

Barnwood rug?

Yep, that's what I thought too.  It looks like a real floor in the photos so I asked if she would take some detail shots of the edge because I was just having trouble envisioning how this could possibly have been a rug!!

And happily she posted some new picture with some of the details about the edge...

 

She described it as something more like a giant mousepad.  NOW I can see.  It looks like such a cool product and a great way to have a mobile flooring system for when you need it without the expense of actually putting in barnwood floors.  Learn more or order your barnwood floor rug: Barnwood Floor Rug (via Savvy Photographer).

The iPad - a New Tool for Professional Photographers?

As I sit in a Starbucks working on my Macbook Air, waiting for a call from my mechanic on my iPhone, it should come as no surprise that I'm already drooling over the new Apple tablet, the iPad.  Yes, unfortunate naming...they could really have thought harder about that one but all in all, it looks like a great internet appliance that would fit in perfectly with my increasingly Apple heavy technology.

 

In case you are living under a rock, yesterday Apple announced their new iPad - a tablet device based on the iPhone operating system. In a lot of ways it is like a giant iTouch (the iphone without the phone part).  It appears to be about the same size as the larger kindle but with a yummy color display.

As I watched the live feed from engadget yesterday, I was thinking about how fun this little item would be.  Here are a few ways...

• Showing client slideshows and videos on a device they can hold in their hand!!!  Since the iPad will run any of the iPhone apps, it seems that the Animoto iPhone app would work on it which means I could show any of my Animoto videos on it.  I love how they look on the iPhone and seeing them bigger but still in a hand held device would be really appealing.
• Reviewing client images!  Load up their gallery on there and be able to meet them anywhere...Starbucks, their home, a park, and show them their gallery without requiring any additional equipment.  And sliding through a gallery is way more fun than using a mouse, right?
• Help with ordering-Since the device is wifi enabled you would be able to connect to your online gallery system and help them place their order.  I know I have a few clients that just can't seem to place their order themselves but I like to get all my orders in the same way to make sure the go through the workflow.  With this it would be even easier to meet them for a quick ordering session.
• It is small enough to fit into your bag to carry with you to shoots so you can browse while you wait for your client, and also have access to review online information such as your policies or package pricing.  Also, I imagine it won't be long before there is an application that allows you to create contracts that can be signed using a stylus on the iPad directly (a paperless contract!!!).  There are already applications that allow you to sign for credit card transactions on an iPhone and this seems like it would be very close to that. How great would that be for contracts, model releases, policy acceptance?
• With Keynote, the Apple presentation software, you could just prop that baby up and show a presentation.  I am thinking about trying Keynote out for my talk at the Workshop on the Waterfront and possibly re-writing my class for moms using Keynote so I could see it being handy to have a portable version other than on my laptop that could be handy for more one-on-one teaching.
• And on the non-client side, being able to browse email, read blog posts, and catch up on facebook without using my laptop seems like a bonus.  Using the touch screen instead of a traditional keyboard seems like a great solution to someone like me that likes to scan online content while I watch TV at night.  
• With a camera connector kit option it seems possible that you could review pictures with clients in almost real time to make sure you got THE SHOT that they are looking for.  If that is your thing.  Not mine...I like to go home and live with my pictures a bit and edit them before showing a client.  But I could see this being a great feature for commercial photographers.
• There are mini-projectors out now that work with the iPhone so surely those types of things will come out for use with the iPad too! And with optional components it can be connected to your TV or projector for presentations on the go!
• And that is before the applications designed just for the iPad start showing up!  I can't wait to see what those look like!!

The negatives that stood out to me...

• I am surprised it didn't come with a camera but with my iPhone and my laptop both sporting them (in addition to when I carry my big mama camera around) that isn't really that important to me!
• No support for flash on website.  While I kinda understand not supporting flash on an iPhone, it seems that on something bigger like the iPad that is designed to be an internet device that they wouldn't build in support for flash. 
• No multitasking. Which means I can't be checking on my Facebook status via the Facebook app and reading tweets via my Twitter app at the same time. Just like on my iPhone when one opens the other closes.
• Right now the iPhone version of google docs is read only.  I wonder if with more screen real estate they would make it read/edit.  That would be sweet!

The pricing is a little confusing.  The base 16 GB model with wifi but no 3G is $499.  But is is $130 more for the 3G version (which will connect to ATTs wireless network) which seems like a big jump.  I'm actually wondering how much I would use 3G (don't forget you'd need to add monthly service).  I also wonder if there is any kind of service discount if you are already an ATT customer (which I am with my iPhone).  Or if I can tether it to my iPhone in those cases where I'm working somewhere without wifi.

In the end, I think the form factor is handy.  I do worry about my Macbook Air screen getting bent or something spilling on the keys.  I could definitely see room in my world for all three (the Macbook Air, iPad, and iPhone).  But I'm a little more gadget obsessed than most people.

What about you?  Are you drooling over this new device?  Do you have other thoughts as to how it could be useful with your business?

How I use my Shootsac

I officially love my Shootsac.  I bought mine a few months ago with the yellow and white polka dot pattern cover. 

I store my spare lenses in the inside pockets.  I keep the center pocket empty so I can fit my Canon 5D Mark II body in there with no lens on it.  In the outside pockets I usually keep my cell phone, some little toys like a pez dispenser and wooden block that I can use during a shoot.  Today I figured out that I can also stick my hand puppets in there instead of having them hanging out of my pockets.

I do a LOT of running and squatting during sessions and the nice thing about the ShootSac is that it totally stays put on my hip.

Canon 5D Mirror Problem

In the Fall the mirror in my Canon 5D detached in the middle of a newborn session.  I only had a digital rebel backup which was actually hard for me to use because I've gotten so use to my full frame happy place with the 5D.  So I rented a 5D until my camera was fixed and was happy when my camera came back to me with no charge on the repair since it was way outside of warranty.

Then I heard of another friend's camera doing the same then.  Then another.

Turns out to be a pretty common problem.

So Canon released a Service Notice noting that this is a "rare" problem but that camera that experience this issue will be repaired free of change.  So if it happens to you, at least you'll know that you won't be charged for the repair.  Now that the 5D is my backup camera and I've already had the repair I have high hopes that I will get to stay in my happy place. 

more lens tests

I took the kids out to the botanical gardens to see their clean-up status after Hurricane Ike and to try out my new camera/lens.  All in all, I was happy with both!

Sebastian at f/1.8 using the 5D Mark II and 50mm 1.2L

Abby at f/1.8.  Here you can see that back focus problem that is bantered about online whenever anyone talks about this lens.  Apparently if you center point focus when you are close to the subject it does back focus and I saw this on a lot of my test shots.  I'll definitely need to practice with this lens to compensate for the difference between this and my 50mm 1.4.  But the color and bokeh are fantastic.  I was really impressed by those!!

A few other test shots...