Thursday's Thoughts | Album Design

When it comes to a blog post series, I try my hardest to be diligent in my task, but because I am a one woman show it takes a back seat to shooting, editing, bookkeeping, having a life, pulling my hair out, etc.  So I'm excited for another post in the series Thursday's Thoughts.  Ironically, today is not Thursday, but I had a few spare minutes before the next editing block - so why not.

I want to talk a little bit about albums.  As a side note, this blog post is not going to be about wedding albums in general and why you should order one (okay, I might force you to listen to a few sentences about that), but instead the design and story of albums.  So I've mentioned it several times and it's plastered all over my website and wedding collection sheet, but I believe a wedding album is one of the most important purchases you will make on your wedding day.  A wedding album serves as a tangible product to carry around with you and share your wedding day with everyone who cares to see.  But, more importantly, you will have this to show your children (and their children) for generations to come.  For me personally, I remember sitting on the floor leafing through my parents' album.  It wasn't fancy, it wasn't big, and they weren't a lot of images, but to see my Mom and Dad on the happiest day of their life (next to me being born, of course!) was extremely fulfilling and interesting to me.  The best part was that the pages were not jam packed full of photos; there were 1-2 per page making those images all that more poignant.  Of course, my favorite ones were of my parents.  I remember analyzing my Dad's silly looking tux from the early 70s and my Mom's gorgeous long hair, her choice of bouquet, and of course her gown.  It made me wonder if she painstakingly planned her wedding just as I had.  Either way, I was so happy to be able to have a small view of this important day in their lives.  

Now.  You know what's coming next.  I don't judge anyone for only wanting the digital files of their wedding day.  Of course you want them, so did I.  But.  I beg you to PLEASE make an album.  It doesn't matter what type of album and it doesn't even matter if you print the photos out and slide them in an album.  At least generations after you can see your love, your choices, and your day.  When I design an album, I give my couples the option of choosing their own images or allowing me to.  Ninety-eight percent of my couples choose their own images.  But the one thing I want to stress is that less is more.  Less is more in every aspect of life, but when it comes to your wedding album you want to make sure you're not filling the pages with clutter.  It's important to only use the images that truly make up your wedding day story in every form: the people who stood next to you, your parents, what you wore, your ceremony, and of course the bride and groom.  Everything else is fluff and can be printed out and stored in a box for safe keeping.

I just designed a new sample album and want to share what my idea of a perfect wedding album design looks like.  I decided to use Laura and Nick's beautiful wedding from earlier this year in Philadelphia.  Each image is 1 spread.  One spread=2 pages.  This is a 10 spread/20 page album, which I include in my first collection.

To see each spread larger, click on the image.

As you can see, if covers the main parts of their wedding day; the meat and potatoes, if you will.  Of course they have hundreds of additional photos, but these are the ones that tell the story of their day.  It shows what they wore, who stood by them on their day, and how happy they are.  

A wedding album is a family heirloom and should be treated as one.  It's more important than any piece of furniture or jewelry that my be passed down because an album is the legacy of a family and how it was created.

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New Product | USB Folios

Choosing a new product to display our couples' cherished memories in is a task I don't take lightly.  I prefer handmade, high-quality products.  Yes, you can say I'm a slight product snob.  I like things that not only look beautiful, but feel beautiful.  Today, there are a lot of short cuts and easier, cheaper ways to accomplish something, but I prefer the long way around.  The long way always makes the end result that much sweeter.  Because we no longer offer digital files on discs (in case you haven't heard, these are WAY out dated.  I just bought a new Jeep Grand Cherokee and it does NOT have a CD player.  However, it does have a USB port...), we are now exclusively using USBs.  These little guys aren't particularly interesting on their own, so I knew I had to find an amazing-out-of-the-ordinary way to deliver them to our clients.

I have been lusting after Cypress for quite a while, but wasn't sure how to incorporate their beautiful products into my business.  When I came across their USB folio I was sold.  This product comes with a slightly hefty price tag, but it's oh so worth it for the quality.  Each folio is handmade with love and is made of the best material and paper.  The best part, in  my opinion, is the 5x5 matted print that can be included with each folio.  So not only are you getting the most up-to-date digital delivery, but our clients have a tangible, professionally printed photograph to enjoy every time they open their folio.

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Product | Engagement Album/Guest Book

It's no secret that I LOVE shooting engagement sessions.  Not only is it a good reason to spend a couple hours snuggling with your love, but my brides and grooms get comfortable with me and me with them...we are like one big happy family by the end of it all.  And this works out great for the wedding day - you'll hardly even notice the cameras :)  So after all the snuggling, it's important to display your photos with pride.  And what better way than an engagement album/guest book for your wedding.  This multitasks as a keepsake album of this exciting time in your relationship, plus your guests can write little notes of well-wishes.  The best part is that you can pull out the album any time and read over all the fun messages and relive your wedding day all over again!

The same album company we use for our leather wedding albums also makes high-quality linen books.  So you are getting the same hand-made goodness and amazing printing on Fuji Crystal Archival paper.  These books lay flat and do not have a seam in the middle (meaning they can be printed across the entire spread).  I just updated my sample album and am loving the beautiful colors and cover engraving.

When designing the album, plenty of white space is available for your guests to write on.

There are 13 beautiful colors to choose from so you can truly create a unique book.

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New Product | The Album

Besides the new website and blog, there is something else new too.  And I'm beyond excited to share with you guys!  Previously I was offering two album choices for my wedding collections, but now I've narrowed it down to one album, one company.  Simple, right?  Now the only nail biter is which color?    

Finding a high-quality album company was my #1 goal for 2012.  I am somewhat obsessed with products that will last a long time.  Yes, I buy my bathroom fixtures from Restoration Hardware, not because I particularly like paying $60 for a toilet paper holder, but I know it's classic styling and solid brass/chrome construction will last forever.  Okay so that might be weird, but it's important to me.  How many of you looked at your parent's wedding album when you were younger or even now?  The value is absolutely priceless.  I remember feeling the smooth white leather cover and being amazed at my parent's wedding photos.  I looked at that album more times than I can even remember.  But it never lost it's luster to me.  That's exactly why I chose to offer a beautiful, timeless album.  It's important to me because it's important to my clients.         

The Album



For me, an album is non-negotiable.  You MUST have a wedding album.  And not just any wedding album, but a beautiful, high-quality, leather bound, flush mount, it-deserves-to-be-on-display at all times wedding album.  The pages are thick and there is absolutely NO gutter, meaning they are completely seamless in the middle.  This makes for much more attractive spreads.   

Perfect example of the seamless spread.

In addition to a high-quality made album, the printing is of the utmost importance.  I was extremely pleased with the vibrant colors and clarity.

Oh the leather!  It's that creamy, yummy, smooth, you should wear it like a purse kinda leather.  That was another very important element to my album choice.  And this album has that and so much more!

Plus you get your choice of colors! 

The album comes in several different sizes and page amounts, which make it perfect for a newborn, family, or engagement session as well!

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New Product | DVD Presentation Book

I am so so so excited to be offering Asukabook's DVD Presentation Book.  I found out about this company during our trip to New Orleans for the ImagingUSA Convention.  Recently I have been looking for more to offer my clients and when I saw this product I had that "aha" moment!

Today's consumer wants the disc of images from their session.  I get it.  When I was married a million years ago (okay, 5) this was a new concept and I had. to. have. it.  I didn't know why, I just knew that I wanted access to all my wedding photos all the time.  And the same goes for today's weddings and family/children/newborn sessions.  However.  I also believe that you should have a tangible product in your hand after the wedding or session.  Not just a digital product.  Many would argue that they make prints from the disc and that is a tangible product, but are they making the right prints?  As in NOT from Walmart/Target/any other not-so-great printing service.  Okay I'm getting off track, BUT please please please make prints from a local lab or Kodak's Professional Printing or Mpix.  Those are the only two I can really vouche for, but their paper and printing process will make your beautiful images even more beautiful and last much longer than any other form of printing.  Okay, so back on track.  The presentation book meets this need by not only giving you the disc of high res. images, but a 10 sided book of your favorite photos.  And this is why I love it!  Plus it's totally customizable with your name/date/anything you want on the cover.  And the best part?  When DVDs and CDs are loooong gone, books will always be around.  Below are a few examples from Asukabook's website, these are not my images :)

Here are the colors you can choose from:  Cream, black, pink, light green (even though it looks blue it's not trust me I saw it and loved the soft green color!)

The book is removable in case you want to take it with you, but leave the DVD at home.

I'm going to start offering the DVD presentation book ASAP.  Please contact me if you would like more information or if you're interested in adding it on to an existing wedding or session!

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Last Minute Gift Ideas

Just in case you're looking for a few last minute gift ideas for that budding photographer in your life, I comprised a short list of must have items.  Of course the list could be much more expansive, but if your loved one is trying to take great shots with a point and shoot and he/she is growing frustrated (that was me many many years ago!) and wants to take the next step - this is the perfect collection:

It all starts here.  In order to make great images, you MUST have a camera that you can manually control the aperture and shutter speed.  The Canon Rebel T1i is the perfect camera to learn on since you have the option of auto and manual modes, but it's not a huge investment if you realize that manually controlling a camera isn't as easy as we make it look and you'd rather just shoot in auto.  Plus, it's still small enough that you can hide it in your purse and not look like the paparazzi.  My first camera was a Canon Rebel and I loved it.  I did, however, outgrow it much faster than I imagined and moved on to this as my backup and this as the second love of my life, Aaron being #1 of course :)

Not sure what aperture, shutter speed or ISO is??  Perfect.  Then that makes the next gift a great idea!  When I invested in my first camera I read the manual front to back, back to front and practiced on everything!  Poor Aaron, my family, my mom's horses, dogs, nieces, nephews, flowers, trees, houses, buildings, books, things in my house, bugs, etc. The list really could go on.  But after a while I grew a little bored and wanted more info on things like lighting, shooting in full manual (I did take a class that accelerated this need, I must admit), general posing of people, etc.  So I started reading.  Everything.  And I came upon these books.  Scott Kelby is a professional photographer and a wiz at Photoshop.  His books are easy to read and he uses photos as examples (unlike your camera's manual, but I still recommend you study this too!).

So after you read your manual, shoot everything with your camera and kit lens (lens that comes with your camera body), and read more about photography, you'll realize that you need a better lens.  In comes the Canon EF 50mm F/1.4.  This lens is without a doubt the best bang for your buck.  I bought this lens a few years ago when I saved up my hard earned money.  Little did I know, that this lens would carry me through the beginning of my photography career and be worth every pretty penny I invested in it.  Here's why: not only is it a wonderful portrait length lens and a great walk around lens (this blog post is a good example of this - please ignore the horrible layout, this is really going back!), but it works wonders in low light conditions.  The f/1.4 part means the aperture can be stopped down to 1.4, which means wide open, which means a lot of light coming in, which means good things when shooting in a house, museum, church, etc.  Also, when shooting at 1.4 it allows for the blurry background that everyone loves.  It's tricky though because with all the good comes the bad.  It's a little more difficult to focus at such a wide aperture and if you're not careful you can produce not quite in focus photos.  But that comes the fun part with LOTS of practicing.  And when you do get it right you can produce some of the most amazing images.  Here is an example of a session I shot entirely with this lens.  I have since shelved this lens for this lens (Canon EF 50mm F/1.2 L) - the third love of my life, but I will still take it with me for personal use and as a backup for my new 50mm.

So after all the hundreds of photos you take you'll need software to process it.  Adobe Photoshop Elements is the perfect solution because it's way cheaper than it's big brother, pretty easy to use, and there's so much you can do with it!!  

If you get more in depth with your editing and need cataloging capabilities, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a great option.  I love Lightroom and use it for everything, but it is geared toward the professional photographer.   

  

So there you have it.  A few great items for the aspiring shutter-bug in your life.  Or maybe this list is for you!  Either way, everything here is a great tool for learning and expanding knowledge.  All the items listed can be purchased through B&H Photo, which is a super company for all your photo needs!! 

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{It's Right Around the Corner...}

Christmas that is! Hard to believe I know..it seems like every year it comes sooner and sooner. So why not check one to do off your ever growing to do list this season and start thinking about your Christmas cards. These gorgeous cards are 4"x8" flat, come in either glossy or matte and are available in 20, 50, or even 100 count! Christmas cards don't just have to show off your children, you can also show off your entire family, engagement, wedding, pets, anniversary..the list goes on! In fact, I'm so excited to offer these Christmas and holiday cards this year, I am offering 15% off my regular session price with the purchase of a set. Not to mention you still receive a disk with all your high res. fully edited images, copyright release, and a fresh set of memories! Below is just a sampling, after your session I'll give you a book of 15 options to take home and choose from. If you're interested, contact me today!

{names have been changed to protect the innocent!}

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{Goings On}

Hi! It's been quite a while since I've posted and there is no excuse. Well, maybe a little excuse...moving! I didn't realize before how life changing a new house can be. This is actually our second (fixer upper) house in the past 3 years and it's taking a back seat to our very busy lives.

So onto other interesting changes. I now have a SmugMug account and I couldn't be more excited about this! SmugMug is a great site where I can upload photos and my clients can order the prints of their choice. All the galleries are private and are only accessible to those who have the password. Also, another great feature is that I can create Christmas cards, birth announcements, birthday invitations, thank you cards - whatever your heart desires! Below are a couple examples:






This is a folded card so the pink part would be the front (sorry it's upside down!) and the picture side would be the inside.




I love these cards! If you're interested in booking a session or finding out more about my print prices, please feel free to reach me at jenniferrotz@gmail.com.

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