Yeah, so I pretty much figured out I have NO extra time to keep up two blogs.... Imagine that! Hahaha! Sooooo, If you follow me here come follow my photography blog, danielle anderson photography I will be combining it all there! Thanks for following me!
Danielle
Friday, June 3, 2011
Thursday, November 4, 2010
the art of making prints.....
When friends and family come to our house, they always comment on my walls. Why? They are FULL of photos. I love putting the pictures of people and things dearest to me all around me, and I love to change them up too! I like to have up-to-date photos but also keep around a few oldies but goodies:) The biggest step in getting those photos up is the printing process! They have soooo many options out there now for printing your favorites, my personal fave being Costco. You can order online and pick them up at the warehouse or have them mailed to your doorstep, easy huh? Why costco? Take a peek at their prices for one(even though you DO have to have a membership) and so far I haven't found any other place that beats the print quality on every day photos, not even ProEx.
You might be thinking, duh!! Of course you have to print your photos! :-) Yes, but a lot of people don't consider some of the steps that could give you a better print. I am gonna list a few things:
1. Taking into consideration that every place is going to have different printers and different calibrations for they way their printers work as far a color and cropping.
2. Taking into consideration that they DO crop the photo for bigger sizes and enlargements.
3. Taking into consideration the different papers and finishes some places offer(at no extra charge!).
4. Free software that can make your photo a bit better before printing (like if it's too dark and needs some brightening).
Now I'll list a few things that could help you out in these area's without spending too much time. For the 1st one, just know almost all printing places will have printer profiles so that you can match your computers monitor coloring to their specific printer profiles, if your not computer savvy, it can be tricky to understand. All that to say, they also have there printers set up to compensate the best it can for any "off" coloring in your photo. Maybe you've gotten a photo back once, looked at it and said something like, 'the coloring is weird', or ' I don't remember that color standing out so much', or ' I didn't think their skin would look so yellow!'. :-)It just might be that your color settings are very different from the printers, or that your in camera photo setting was just wrong. I wouldn't worry about this one too much, but if you seem to have a lot of trouble with weird color at your printers, ask a technician what you could be doing wrong; or try somewhere different to see if you like their prints better!
Cropping larger photos is one of those things you just can't get away from. Now, I'm just talking to average people(like me) who order snapshots to be printed, professional photo software can re size a photo so that their would be no cropping. But moving on, one thing I've learned to do with snapshots that I want in a 5X7, 8X10or bigger is NOT to do any cropping until I go to print the photo. That way I can crop some that I may have cropped out when viewing it on my camera or computer. By waiting, now I will only lose what I didn't want anyway. Of course it won't crop a huge chunk of the picture so if you looking to only have a little section, crop thoughtfully and do the last bit when you go to print.
I always love a matte finish on my photos. It just feels and looks more professional to me. If you have that one photo you took that was just prefect and now you want to frame it because its soooo awesome and YOU took it(!) a matte finish paper is the best. I have found that some places do NOT offer this type of paper(boo!) and although I LOVE Target for EVERYTHING!!! there one hour photo is...... well, not my fave:-)
Lastly, I know of quite a few free software programs for simple photo editing. Picasa is probably the most commonly used and it also helps sort and organize your pictures! The simple editing options are great if you have an off color shot and want to add some shadow or light, and it also has a black and white effect. A ton of you probably already know of Picasa or use it already.:-) I know too that some camera's come with a program that does some quick edits. Anyway, I hope this was helpful to someone:-) I felt like writing about this subject because in this digital age, I feel like a lot of people tell me they just don't print out there photos like they used to. It can be so easy!
Eventually I will touch on camera settings and how to get the most out of them. For now, thanks for reading! Also, I would LOVE to hear where you have found fun photo sites online or where you like printing your snapshots! As for me, I took out my film SLR yesterday and loaded a roll of black and white only to realize I needed batteries:-) Sooooo, I think I will get those today and use up the roll taking photos of all the things I love. Then I will take it in to get developed, and receive my prints in return, and it will bring me back:)Back to the years I took about 5-6 rolls per week and only got 1 or 2 prints that really turned out to my liking:) Yay for learning! And Yay for digital!:-)
{nel}
You might be thinking, duh!! Of course you have to print your photos! :-) Yes, but a lot of people don't consider some of the steps that could give you a better print. I am gonna list a few things:
1. Taking into consideration that every place is going to have different printers and different calibrations for they way their printers work as far a color and cropping.
2. Taking into consideration that they DO crop the photo for bigger sizes and enlargements.
3. Taking into consideration the different papers and finishes some places offer(at no extra charge!).
4. Free software that can make your photo a bit better before printing (like if it's too dark and needs some brightening).
Now I'll list a few things that could help you out in these area's without spending too much time. For the 1st one, just know almost all printing places will have printer profiles so that you can match your computers monitor coloring to their specific printer profiles, if your not computer savvy, it can be tricky to understand. All that to say, they also have there printers set up to compensate the best it can for any "off" coloring in your photo. Maybe you've gotten a photo back once, looked at it and said something like, 'the coloring is weird', or ' I don't remember that color standing out so much', or ' I didn't think their skin would look so yellow!'. :-)It just might be that your color settings are very different from the printers, or that your in camera photo setting was just wrong. I wouldn't worry about this one too much, but if you seem to have a lot of trouble with weird color at your printers, ask a technician what you could be doing wrong; or try somewhere different to see if you like their prints better!
Cropping larger photos is one of those things you just can't get away from. Now, I'm just talking to average people(like me) who order snapshots to be printed, professional photo software can re size a photo so that their would be no cropping. But moving on, one thing I've learned to do with snapshots that I want in a 5X7, 8X10or bigger is NOT to do any cropping until I go to print the photo. That way I can crop some that I may have cropped out when viewing it on my camera or computer. By waiting, now I will only lose what I didn't want anyway. Of course it won't crop a huge chunk of the picture so if you looking to only have a little section, crop thoughtfully and do the last bit when you go to print.
I always love a matte finish on my photos. It just feels and looks more professional to me. If you have that one photo you took that was just prefect and now you want to frame it because its soooo awesome and YOU took it(!) a matte finish paper is the best. I have found that some places do NOT offer this type of paper(boo!) and although I LOVE Target for EVERYTHING!!! there one hour photo is...... well, not my fave:-)
Lastly, I know of quite a few free software programs for simple photo editing. Picasa is probably the most commonly used and it also helps sort and organize your pictures! The simple editing options are great if you have an off color shot and want to add some shadow or light, and it also has a black and white effect. A ton of you probably already know of Picasa or use it already.:-) I know too that some camera's come with a program that does some quick edits. Anyway, I hope this was helpful to someone:-) I felt like writing about this subject because in this digital age, I feel like a lot of people tell me they just don't print out there photos like they used to. It can be so easy!
Eventually I will touch on camera settings and how to get the most out of them. For now, thanks for reading! Also, I would LOVE to hear where you have found fun photo sites online or where you like printing your snapshots! As for me, I took out my film SLR yesterday and loaded a roll of black and white only to realize I needed batteries:-) Sooooo, I think I will get those today and use up the roll taking photos of all the things I love. Then I will take it in to get developed, and receive my prints in return, and it will bring me back:)Back to the years I took about 5-6 rolls per week and only got 1 or 2 prints that really turned out to my liking:) Yay for learning! And Yay for digital!:-)
{nel}
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
first of many
This is my first post on my new blog, I've been thinking about this for awhile now and my photography business has slowed down enough for me to finally sit down and write:-) I had the idea for this blog because so many people comment on our family photos and how nice they always are, and I feel like anyone can achieve beautiful family photos!! So, I'm going to make this an everything blog of sorts, with room for others to contribute if I get creative enough with my ideas.
I am always thinking of capturing our memories with our kids, you know what I'm talking about if you have them, but this is also for the people that are single or if it's just you and your significant other:-) I sometimes wish that Tay(my hubby) and I had more pictures of the two of us while we were dating and all the fun things we did, or more photos of our first year as a married couple. Obviously we can't turn back time, so now I try to make the most of capturing our kids and us too! I also know that not every single second can or should be documented, there is a balance like everything in this world, so figuring out where to draw the line between total fun and total annoyance is key. Being a photographer I don't always notice that line but I try.
I will touch on things like, using the settings on your point and shoot camera to their true potential, while still being very user friendly. Getting the most out of the light around you. How to use a myriad of online photo websites that you can make prints from or order your family x-mas cards. How to back up and store your digital files, I may get someones elses take on this, I need a little help in this area myself:-) Just to name a few things that have popped into my brain. You will have to bare with me at first, I have not written in awhile so I'm VERY sorry if it seems I go in circles, also, you should know I'm a horrible speller.
I hope that some of you will find the info I will post helpful, and I will always be open for ideas on different subjects. I am really excited about this and hope you'll follow my blog, if only to give me feed back on my poor writing skills, gosh I'm rusty. Also, along the way their may be some fun giveaways, you just never know when I will be feeling generous! Hope to hear your comments!
{nel}
I am always thinking of capturing our memories with our kids, you know what I'm talking about if you have them, but this is also for the people that are single or if it's just you and your significant other:-) I sometimes wish that Tay(my hubby) and I had more pictures of the two of us while we were dating and all the fun things we did, or more photos of our first year as a married couple. Obviously we can't turn back time, so now I try to make the most of capturing our kids and us too! I also know that not every single second can or should be documented, there is a balance like everything in this world, so figuring out where to draw the line between total fun and total annoyance is key. Being a photographer I don't always notice that line but I try.
I will touch on things like, using the settings on your point and shoot camera to their true potential, while still being very user friendly. Getting the most out of the light around you. How to use a myriad of online photo websites that you can make prints from or order your family x-mas cards. How to back up and store your digital files, I may get someones elses take on this, I need a little help in this area myself:-) Just to name a few things that have popped into my brain. You will have to bare with me at first, I have not written in awhile so I'm VERY sorry if it seems I go in circles, also, you should know I'm a horrible speller.
I hope that some of you will find the info I will post helpful, and I will always be open for ideas on different subjects. I am really excited about this and hope you'll follow my blog, if only to give me feed back on my poor writing skills, gosh I'm rusty. Also, along the way their may be some fun giveaways, you just never know when I will be feeling generous! Hope to hear your comments!
{nel}
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