Learn Digital Photography - 3 Steps to Learning Photography

The concept of learning to many of us as we grow older is linked to school or college. Learning as we get on with our lives is not something we do naturally. With photography you have to learn or get left behind. If you are going to improve the quality of your images you need to continually learn and maintain learning journey.

Coupled with the desire to learn is passion. You need lots of it be a photographer as with anything in life. There is always an opportunity to create the perfect image but getting you to the place where your feet are standing on the perfect vantage point is the difference. Passion brings you to that point at 5am and allows you to shoot the magnificent sunset or sit through the heat of the day to shoot the elusive endangered animal. 

It's this desire or passion that will motivate you to learn those tips and techniques that you would otherwise not be bothered with. So here are some keys to learning or improving your photography:

1. Feed your passion

How do you make something grow? By feeding it, a very simple but very neglected concept in photography. Let me simplify it even more. If you love birds then spend time where birds are, buy birding magazines, join a bird watching club that has a strong focus on photography. When you rub shoulders with passionate people and spend time focusing on your passion, it grows. I love photo galleries, especially wildlife and nature and after an hour looking through the images, I want to take my camera and shoot. So how does feeding your passion help you learn? It gets you out taking more photos and thereby practising more and meeting people who are motivating and more experienced. So the bottom line is that your learning curve shoots straight up.

2. Evaluate, compare and improve

You will never learn unless you look at your images and evaluate them against a set of criteria. The main teaching method in my latest book is evaluating your images. By doing this you can see just where the quality issues and technical problems lie and rectify them. You need to have a mentor, a book or course to understand what these criteria are. Then, compare yourself to others that are known to be much better than yourself. These people can be from clubs, authors or photographers with online galleries of note. See what they are doing and shoot similar images. Then work at improving. What pointers can you take out of your books and other materials and incorporate into your images? If you aren't improving then you aren't learning. It is essential to constantly and consistently look at yourself and your photography and ask the question, am I evaluating, comparing and improving.

3. Specialise

Oops! Isn't this going against the basic principles of learning photography or anything for that matter? What I mean is that as part of the learning process work at it using bite sized chunks, one step at a time. Confucius says that the journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step. Focus on one issue like learning how to place your subject correctly. When you've mastered that then move on to the next point and so on. All of these little specialisations put together will make the whole learning process easier and fit together quicker. You know the old adage, "jack of all trades, master of none"? Master your hobby by doing it in a lot of small steps.

Photography is a process despite what many might think. You have never really reached the top of your game and there is always something you can do to improve your shots. Dedication and discipline is much easier if you focus on the little things and gradually expand until you are handing the bigger things. Take one step at a time and work hard at each of the disciplines of photography. And, before you know it you'll be taking shots that will leave you dumbfounded at your own talents.

Remember that you are key to your own photography success. Work hard at applying yourself and the rewards will come little by little. Don't be disillusioned if it doesn't all happen at once, we all had to start somewhere. Happy shooting. 

Choosing Your Ideal Wedding Cake

The wedding cake is usually one of the centerpieces of a reception and a highlight of the wedding album, so it pays to be thoughtful when deciding on what you want.

Design

Some brides crave a simple white style, while others may want something playful, colorful or humorous. Start thinking about the style you want - and what you hope to showcase in the wedding photo albums - before visiting the baker.
 
You can use themes and motifs from your ceremony or reception to help influence the design of your wedding cake. This could be as straightforward as having the cake designer match the colors of the bridesmaids' dresses or adding the same types of flowers as in your bouquet. Or it could mean featuring similar flavors to those used in your reception meal or adding images that reflect the choice of venue.
 
Also consider whether you want a square, rectangular or round cake - or something in a particular shape. Do you want tiers or something flat?
 
These days, many brides are choosing to serve up something a little different when it comes time to cut the cake. An assortment of smaller cakes, cupcakes, cookies or even different types of truffles can substitute for one large cake and offer more variety.

Flavors

White cake is classic, but today's brides are increasingly opting for their favorite flavor, whether that is chocolate, carrot or cheesecake. You can also be creative with the frosting and fillings, departing from butter cream to use accents such as jam, whipped cream, cream cheese, custard, strawberries or fudge.

Ordering your cake

Experts suggest ordering a cake a few months before your wedding. When meeting with a baker, bring any applicable pictures, drawings or ideas. Some couples even borrow photos from others' wedding albums to request a similar design.

Bakers will have a portfolio on hand to show you their work. They will also be able to provide you with a tasting of the cake before you place your order. Make sure you ask the baker about logistical issues, such as if they will deliver and set up the cake, as well as if there are any additional charges.

Photo Books For Business And Pleasure

Are there folders after folder son your computer packed with photos from holidays, events and special occasions? And you just don't know how to make the best of these pictures? If you need some help with how to display your many images in the best ways, don't fret, this article will tell you all about the options of photo gifts and business ideas. Firstly you need to sit down and have a good look though all the pictures and think of different themes you can place them in. You could make a "party hard" group of photos, a "family fun" group or a "fab holidays" selection of images. You might actually find this quite enjoyable as you take a trip down memory lane and remember fun times captured on camera.

If you have a career in a creative field such as photography, designing, illustrating or creating graphics photos of your work should be backed up on your computer so that you now can make something out of them. Select photos that represent your work to the fullest to further prosper in your future career choices. These photos are excellent to put together into a portfolio of work to show to prospective employers.

If you need a birthday gift for someone's birthday you could create a group of photos of his or hers life so far - in photos. For a Valentine's Day present collect romantic photos of you and your sweetheart which represent your relationship. For Father's day or Mother's day you need emotional photos of you and your parent which will bring a tear to their eye.

So once you've collected these photos the question is, what do you do with them now? This is where photo books come into the picture. The photo books are simply the best way to print digital photos onto one book; you don't even need to turn them into photo prints first! You simple give the printing company the photos online and they print the digital photos straight into a high quality photo book. It just doesn't get any easier than this to finally make use of all those photos on your computer. It's a fantastic opportunity to create anniversary photo books, birthday photo books and holiday photo books as gifts to friends and family. To boost your career nothing will work better than a sleek high quality photo book portfolio at your next job interview.

Spark Intrigue With Wedding Surprises

This wedding took place at the Rimrock Hotel in Banff. (On a side note, the service, food and hotel staff were AMAZING. I can't say enough great things about them.) When we sat down to design this wedding I wanted to keep the guests guessing and the surprises coming all night. So we took each element, the ceremony, the cocktail hour, the dinner and the party and treated it as its own event, and each event was revealed to the guests as the night progressed. This kept the element of surprise to a maximum and it kept them guessing what would happen next.

The Ceremony

The ceremony was held in one of the longest rooms I have ever stood in. I mean it must have been a good 65 feet or more. It was funny listening to the bridesmaids comment on how long their aisle walk was. The room had full windows behind the couple with a full view of the mountains. I had the hotel remove the curtains and sheers so the view was totally unobstructed. We also didn't use too much décor in this room because with views like that, you really don't need to. We did add some candles and flower arrangements to the aisle. We brought in a faux fireplace, which we filled with candles (battery operated) we also placed close to 200 additional candles on the fireplace, the window sills and some on the frames. These were all real and gave the room a fantastic glow. It was simple, romantic and classically elegant.

The Cocktail Hour

The cocktail hour was held in the room between the ceremony and the dinner area. We had to transport the chairs from the ceremony to the dinner and I didn't want to interrupt the cocktail hour while doing so, we also had brought in winter trees that had glass ornaments on them that were the place cards but we didn't want those unveiled until later. We set up pipe and drape curtains as a fake wall to hide the chair movement and we placed the trees behind the drape as well.

Half an hour before dinner, we took down the draping , revealed the trees and asked everyone to find their place cards and please take their seats for dinner. The place cards were attached to the glass ornaments and strung alphabetically.

We also rented a vintage photo booth to put a spin on the guest book tradition. Guests popped into the booth, took the 4 pictures, then they could drop them off in a vase for the couple or keep them, it didn't matter, they were free so you could take as many as you wanted. It was the highlight of the cocktail hour along with the beautiful ice martini luge which had snowflakes etched into it.

The Dinner

We took the dinner space and utilized the dividing walls of the ballroom. In short, we kept one area closed. The guests were seated and dinner and speeches ensued. There was a great window view of the mountains, and the hotel had lit the trees outside as well. So we brought in our own trees (which I built onsite) to bring the outside in.

We also changed up the head table a little so it was easy for the wedding party and the guests to talk to each other. I am so bored with the long head table...another tradition I feel needs to go away, so we made it an open rectangle.

For the lighting we used a purple gel to compliment the wedding color and create a wonderfully romantic atmosphere. The centerpieces also used branches to continue the outside theme and we lit them with miniature LED lights for a wonderful glow at each table.

It's Party Time

When the speeches were completed and dessert had been served, we had the MC announce that the Bride & Groom would now be leaving. With no explanation to the crowd, the Bride & Groom got up and left the room. This really got the room buzzing. There was no DJ or band set up in the dining area, there wasn't even a dance floor.

So what now?

Well, as the wall divider was pulled back, the 13 piece band started up and the couple was already out on the dance floor. Everyone turned to see the ultra lounge we had created and kept hidden until now. It was party time and this was the place to party. The band was set up on the stage, there was an additional bar with tall cocktail tables, a huge dance floor, and across the dance floor was my lounge. We brought in modern, white leather furniture and created a lounge area to relax and chat when the guests weren't dancing. We also had glass top coffee tables and white leather benches to increase the conversation area. This was also lit in the purple hue so it remained in step with the color theme of the wedding.

Simon's Wedding Design Advice

Take your wedding day and break it into mini events. You want your guests to be talking about your wedding for years to come and to compare every other wedding they go to, to yours. You want to keep them guessing and you want them to be surprised. So treat each part of the day as if it were its own event. Weddings can become boring and predictable, I hate those weddings, and I see no reason why you should settle for one of "those" weddings.

Make sure you have a theme that carries throughout the entire day. This can be a color palette or in our case, bringing the outside in as we did by highlighting the outside view, placing winter trees in the cocktail area, and strategically placing trees in the dining area and the lounge. Make sure you have something to tie your mini events together or it can get really messy and the atmosphere and ambiance can get lost...and you don't want that.

I like to keep the guests guessing, don't lay it all out for them. Keep a few tricks up your sleeve to WOW them later in the night. No one likes predictable, I know I hate it. So if you have some details hidden away to be revealed at a later time, it will create a buzz in the room, and have people talking about your wedding for years to come.

Wedding Photo Album Versus Wedding Photo Book

Following many threads on social media and wedding forum web sites, I repeatedly have come across the question of where to go with your photos if you want to make your own wedding photo album. One common advice is to go to blurb, Shutterfly or other photo book makers. Also, it is often noted that many wedding photo album makers, like Queensberry, do only business with photographers. But should you really get a photo book for your wedding photo album? This article is trying to highlight the pros and contras of photo books in comparison to proper wedding photo albums.

Pros

There are several reasons in favor of photo books. For starters, they are easily available. You can chose between a multitude of different providers, they come cheap with prices starting from 10 Dollars and they are delivered very quickly with e.g. blurb delivering most books within 7 to 10 business days after ordering. Proper wedding photo albums on the other hand are much harder to get your hands on. It is true that a lot of firms do only business with photographers and other wholesale customers. Prices are considerably higher and delivery times vary from 2 weeks to 6 months.

Also, if you want to make your own design, photo book companies often provide a design software, which allows you to put together a simple album layout within minutes. Often the software has an integration into the ordering process, so after designing it is a piece of cake to upload your photos and submit your order. Wedding album makes usually don't provide this feature for two reasons: often the companies are too small to develop their own software and in most cases those programs are not sufficient to create the sophisticated layout design required for a real wedding photo album.

Contras

While all the points mentioned so far are more or less in favor of getting a photo book, there are also some pretty good reasons against it. As said earlier, wedding photo albums are more expensive, but their still are good value for money, if you consider what you get. You get a proper heavy cover made of real or faux leather, which has a substantially better feel to it than the hard or soft-paper cover of a photo book.

The photos in your wedding album are developed with a chemical process. Their resolution is perfect and their colors never fade. This might be true for some high-quality photo books, but the majority of them uses laser-jet printing resulting in a notably lower photo quality. The pages in a proper wedding photo album are made of solid paper or carton (true only for flush-mount albums). Again, this leads to a much nicer feeling when flipping through the album, than the floppy thin pages of a photo book.

And finally regarding the design, if you really want to design your own wedding photo album, it is not at all a bad idea to use a professional software for it like DG Foto Art, Photoshop or Gimp. This requires some practice and skill, but only pro software provides you with the sophisticated fading, transparency, shadow and photo touch-up effects you will need to make a state-of-the-art album layout. The simple self-design software of the wedding photo album makers gets you only half the way.

Conclusion

A wedding photo album is one of the most important safekeepers of the memories of your wedding day and you will look at it again and again, possibly for the rest of you live. Therefore, all the money you invest in it is invested very well. Therefore, I would advice you to go for a wedding photo book, only if you don't care too much about all this "wedding day fuzz" or, if your budget simply does not allow for more. Otherwise, get a proper wedding album, because on the long run it is worth it!

Wedding Tradition - Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

You have probably heard the popular wedding tradition saying before, but not every bride to be knows exactly where it originated from or what the meaning behind the saying is. It is a darling saying and is one of the only wedding traditions in today's society which makes some sense. It is a cute tradition - one which is performed to bring good luck to the newlywed couple.

The traditional saying is:

Something old, something new

Something borrowed, something blue

And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

A sixpence is a coin that was minted in Britain from 1551 to 1967. It was made of silver and worth six pennies. This wedding tradition can be traced back to England, and many sources say that it began sometime in the Victorian Era. Each item in this sort poem represents a good luck token for the bride - if she carries them, it is said her marriage will have good fortune.

Something Old: The old item has several different meanings, but one general theme: a link of continuity from the bride's past. Some say this is a desire to remain connected with your family even after you established a family of your own. Other sources say it represents the life you are leaving behind. Another idea is that the tradition of family values and the connection family brings is being passed down to you. It is safe to say that all of these assumptions are correct; the bride is leaving behind her past to start a new beginning, but not to forget where she has been. Things you can use for the something old theme are: jewelry from your mother, grandmother or great-grandmother, an old wedding photo from your family, a love letter from your father to your mother, a picture of your parents in your purse, an old handkerchief, a childhood pillow to hold your rings, a piece of lace sewn into the hem of your gown.

Something New: means optimism and hope for the future. It conveys the message that you and your husband are creating a new union that will endure the test of time. Many brides choose to use their wedding gown, flowers or rings to symbolize the "something new" in this tradition.

Something Borrowed: Again, there are several meanings behind borrowing an item from a friend or relative. Some sources say borrowing something is borrowing happiness from a happily married woman, so that their happiness will carry over to the new bride. Other sources have said it is symbolizes the love and adoration you have for the person from whom you have borrowed the item from. If you borrow an item from your happily married grandmother or mother, you can fulfill both of these meanings. Doing this lets your parents (or grandparents) know that you admire their marriage and the respect they have for each other and that you hope to have an equally happy marriage. The borrowed item also signifies to the bride that she can always count on her friends and family for support. Items that can be used for the something borrowed theme could be: family jewelry, a prayer book from your mother or grandmother, strands of pearls, or your parent's cake cutting set.

Something Blue: The color blue has been connected to weddings for centuries as a symbol of love, modesty, fidelity, good luck, purity and loyalty. Many brides incorporate this color into their clothing, by either wearing a blue stoned jewelry item or wearing a blue garter. However for a modern spin, you could use blue toe nail polish, blue eye shadow, a blue ribbon tied into your flowers, blue underwear, even wear light blue shoes! The possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination.

A Lucky Sixpence: A sixpence in the bride's shoe represents wealth and financial security. For optimum fortune, the sixpence should be worn in the left shoe. This tradition may date back to the Scottish tradition of the groom placing a silver coin in his shoe for good luck. Many companies sell keepsake sixpence pieces for weddings.

Brides have been honoring the something old, new borrowed, blue tradition for centuries. Although these items are supposed to bring good luck to the bride, many brides are following this tradition to honor people close to them on their wedding day.

Wedding Photography - Receipts and Contract Issues

A pretty difficult subject for people to get their head around being a wedding photographer is the simple question of being paid. You see many wedding photographers do it for the love of the art not for the money. This means that they probably don't have an airtight contract or terms and conditions to start with which means they have no way to ensuring they get paid other than withholding photographs from a wedding.

This post is more for photographers than couples; but if you're a couple reading this then read on. It may just answer some questions as to why I or any other wedding photographer does what they do!

Receipts

First off make sure that you give a receipt to everyone that gives you money whether that be cash or cheque. If you're using PayPal you can sort of get around this, but I have started just e-mailing couples to say the payment has gone through anyway

You need receipts to check what has been paid and when and also I presume your accountant will want to look at these come tax time!

I use a cheap and cheerful receipt book from Staples. It even has that really old-fashioned blue 'carbon' paper in it!!

Contracts

Next up and the most important item is the contract. Go seek some legal advice and get one drawn up that covers you top to bottom, head to foot. I'm not saying people will deliberately try to shaft you (well, OK I am - some people are just like that.) but a contract tells the world and you clients that you are a professional and you mean business. It's telling them that whilst you love you work you also want to be treated like a professional not some part-timer doing weddings for pocket-money. (And don't get me started on that just yet.)

Include in your contract areas for the couple to complete names, address, telephone numbers, wedding date, wedding venue etc. Make them fill it in. It is their wedding so it is their responsibility to get it right.

Think about copyright of your photos. Stick a section in their saying what they can and cannot do with any electronic images you give them. Tell them own owns the copyright - you!

If you use your images for marketing put a section in about that as well.

Think about the reproduction licenses if you sell electronic images or sell DVD's / CD's of your work for clients to print also. Make it crystal clear that they are not allowed to change, sell or do anything to your images without your written consent. Make sure that they no the penalty for non compliance will be breach of contract and your possible refusal to continue to work on their images. Set their expectations that you are a professional and you respect your work so they should as well.

Talk about price; what is included, what is not included, what travel charges you charge for (HMRC is at 0.45p per mile now by the way), bridge or road tolls etc. I even have a clause stating I will charge a little bit extra for sending images outside the UK.

Next big thing is being paid. What booking fee do you need to confirm the date, when you require full payment (I am 4 weeks before the wedding). Leave time for clearing cheques etc. State again that non-payment is a breach of contract and may result in non-attendance of your wedding.

Also think about having a cancellation term my the contract just to make sure.

Get both parties to sign and date the contract.

Being Paid

I use online payment merchant as my payment preference; I live miles from my nearest bank so getting a cheque in the post means about 60+ minutes of time and 25 miles of travel just to put it into my bank.

Using an online payment service also means I can use their great Merchant Services and set up invoices to send out to clients. I also print a copy of the invoice for my client records; or as in one case this week to post a copy of the invoice to a client who for some reason had not had the electronic invoice via e-mail.

If the couple don't get the invoice always follow it up with a paper copy sent recorded delivery - get a signature as proof of receipt. Follow this up with any Facebook contacts etc that you may have with the client.

I try to avoid telephone calls unless really required - I think it's a bit like trying to be the 'debt collector big man' approach.

Think carefully how you would feel if the clients don't pay on time. How will it affect your relationship with them; how will it affect your relationship with your mortgage company?!

Most photographers are happy to talk about costs / payment with clients but you should do this before the payment deadline not after it.

Not paying isn't nice and sours what should be a great relationship.

Your contract should have something along the lines of:

Payment for any outstanding balance is due no later that four (4) weeks prior to the contracted date and is specified in your contract summary. You MUST allow for sufficient time cheque clearance. Non receipt of the full balance by the due date will be deemed a cancellation of the contract by the wedding clients/s.

No payment means either you don't turn up to photograph the wedding and you take a day off or you do turn up and the clients don't get anything until you have paid the balance.

Cancelled Contracts

It happens so it is best to have something in your contract such as a break off clause to handle this.

Think about the extra administration you may have to do; think about the income you may have lost out on.

Summary

So to sum up; if the couple don't pay up you don't have to turn up. If you do turn up you can still claim the balance of your payment or withhold photographs.

Get a contract professionally written

Make sure you keep records of e-mails, Facebook conversations and telephone calls etc

Make sure you chase up the clients to let them know about non payment

Remember - The client isn't always right. Stick to your guns and get your own legal advice if you think you are in the right.

Wedding Photography Pricing - Money Isn't What Matters

When it comes to wedding photography pricing, you get what you pay for.  Make sure your research for the right professional is complete and thorough so that you have pleasant memories of your special day.

First, look at your wedding photographer's website, and study their portfolio of previous projects.  Decide if that style and quality is suitable for your own event.

Study their rates.  Good professionals will always charge around the market rate for your region.  Many amateurs are also trying their hand at wedding photography, but though their pricing is lower, you're taking a chance on quality.

The best photographers who specialize in covering weddings will charge around a thousand dollars for four hours of work.  If your chosen photographer charges well below this level, ask yourself why.

Also, pricing will differ by country, city and area.  Don't expect to pay the same rate in New York city as you would in rural Montana.  And international pricing for wedding photography is even more varied.

How much can you afford?  While you may want the very best, you might not be able to spend so much on wedding photos.  So work within your budget and try to get the highest value.

If you are set on a particular professional, but find his rates too high, think creatively.  Maybe you can have them cover only the ceremony and not the reception?  Or cut down on which part of the celebrations to record, which will mean lesser hours of work for them.

Essentially, the cost you pay is for specialized equipment, which determines the quality of the photos you will receive.  Top of the line cameras, lighting, tripods and more are expensive. 

And there's also post processing work after the actual photography shoot, which will take some time to get done.  To deliver a finished album or portfolio will involve costs.  All this is usually included in the contract.

Your wedding photography album is a treasure.  Fill it with valuable memories.  Don't obsess over pricing alone.  Good talent and skill is worth paying premium rates for.

Simple Scrapbook Layouts

There are a ton of different scrapbook layout ideas that can make your photos and memories really stand out and look beautiful. It can be hard to start scrapbooking if you don't have a clear idea of what you want the pages to look like, so getting some inspiration before you start is a great idea. Start by choosing the photos and other pieces that you want to display in the scrapbook, and purchase a scrapbook cover. Next, you can decide what types of paper and borders that you want to use. Once you have all of your supplies, you can start making the backgrounds for the pages before you matte and mount the photos. Try some of these simple scrapbook layout ideas for your next scrapbooking project.

Summer Theme Scrapbook Layout

Get a number of different summer and beach themed stickers, colored paper, borders and paper punches to begin crafting your summer theme scrapbook layout. The key to this simple scrapbook layout idea is to weave a consistent theme of bright and fun colors throughout the book. This theme works best for displaying photos from a family vacation, beach trip, summer camp, a summer birthday or any other activity that takes place during the summer. Put at least two photos on each page, and don't go overboard with cutting the edges of the photos. Let the fun stickers and borders create the layout instead of the photos since there are so many decorative options for this type of theme. Alternate putting photos straight on the page with putting photos at angles to create interesting lines in your scrapbook layout.

Wedding Scrapbook Layout

Scrapbooking special moments from a wedding is one way to keep the memories in a safe and beautiful place. A wedding scrapbook is normally made up of mementos from the wedding, like an invitation or a menu from the receptions, along with carefully chosen pictures from the wedding day, the ceremony and the reception. Wedding scrapbooks will mostly consist of white and pastel pages with borders that are dainty, lacey or match the colors that were used in the wedding. Keep the scrapbook layout for the wedding scrapbook simple so that the eye goes to the photos instead of a bunch of stickers or other things on the page. For an extra special touch, write photo captions in cursive or calligraphy to add an element of elegance.

Baby Boy or Girl Layout

Celebrate the birth of a new baby with a cute scrapbook that can hold photos and treasured mementos from the baby's first few days or weeks. A scrapbook for a baby boy or girl will normally include photos, a hospital band, inked footprints or handprints and much more. Whatever special things you cherish about those first few days should be included in the baby scrapbook layout. Shop for stickers, paper and borders that go along with the colors you used for the baby's room, or just simply pink for a girl and blue for a boy. Often times, putting just one photo per page and really decorating the background will make baby scrapbook layouts really special. You can also take special photos of the baby's feet and hands, or display some black and white photos for variety.

Photography - Breaking Into The Business

So you want to be a photographer. Well, you've got a long road ahead of you. Photography is one of the most competitive fields in the world. It doesn't matter where you live or what language you speak. Anyone with a camera can be a photographer, which makes the competition fierce. So if photography is something you have your heart set on doing, then there are a few things you're going to need to know. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it will give you a start.

The first thing you absolutely must do is decide what field of photography you want to get into. There is fashion photography, sports photography, glamour photography, studio photography, outdoor photography, children's photography and the list goes on and on. The market for each of these and many other types is wide open. And with those wide open markets also comes a lot of competition. Deciding on which field you want to get into should not be based on the path of least resistance. There is no such thing. Pursue the path that you have the most passion for.

The next thing you have to do is get all the equipment that you're going to need. This is going to vary depending on what kind of field you want to get into. For example, if you're planning to become a photographer who specializes in stock car racing, then you are going to need a lot of equipment for taking high speed photos. The good news is that you're not going to have to spend a lot of money on lighting since these photos will be taken outdoors. Conversely, if you're planning to photograph fashion models, lighting is going to be critical to your photos and your lighting equipment expense is going to be quite high.

The next thing you're going to need to do is advertise. You'll have to print out business cards, take out ads in magazines and newspapers and more or less get the word out that you exist. If you're hoping to break into the field taking photos for a magazine like Playboy, then you're going to have to first get some private work photographing models in order to submit these photos to the magazine itself. Before you do that though, you're going to have to write to the magazine for permission to send photos. Most publications do not accept unsolicited material.

If you're planning on opening up a studio to take children's photos then you're going to need to lease a building. It doesn't have to be anything large but it should be in a visible part of town with a lot of other businesses. Visibility is half the battle won.

Finally, you're going to have to take lots of photos, especially if you want to build a reputation for yourself. You'll want to put together a portfolio of your work so that you can bring it around with you. Again, this is going to depend on what field you want to get into, whether it be freelancing for a magazine, setting up your own shop, or working for somebody else, which is usually a good way to break in.

The world of photography is wide open. There are many options to each aspiring photographer. So pick a game plan and stick to it. With patience and perseverance, you'll eventually get to where you want to be.

Wedding Favors - Thinking Both Inside and Outside the Box

With so many aspects of a wedding to plan, obsess over and argue about, wedding favors are usually one of the furthest things from a couples minds. In fact, most wedding favors are usually one of the last wedding decisions that are made in the frantic lead-up to the wedding.

To be honest, most couples probably wonder what the need for a wedding favor is? I mean, would anyone even notice if one was not given out? Because I'm not a member of the wedding favor lobby I will tell you the honest truth: most people probably wouldn't. Unless they are chocolate or cookies-which will be promptly eaten and enjoyed- most wedding favors are either thrown away or stuffed into random draws where they will sit untouched for years.
Alright, sorry, maybe I was a bit too harsh. I'm not trying to say that you shouldn't give out small favors at your upcoming wedding; I'm just saying to be smart about. Don't feel like you have to spend a lot of money on them. The truth is, for most people (except close family and friends) even the most expensive of wedding favors find their way into the trash within the first week. The key is to find something that is cute, small, and something that you know you would want to keep if you were attending the wedding.

Hand's down the best bet when it comes to providing wedding favors is some type of food. We're not talking jambalaya here, we are talking about some cookies, fudge, or, even better, chocolates. Many couples love this idea because food can either be purchased cheaply or made at home. Most wedding guests will probably end up eating the chocolates at some point during the reception. Plus, who doesn't like chocolate?

If you really want to go the whole "keepsake" route with your wedding gifts then some type of photo book or frame might work. You can usually get a good bulk rate on small photo books, and if you supply drinks and some sort of food, you can usually get your friends to help put together these photo books for no charge. Framed pictures might be a bit more expensive, but at the same time, if it's a good picture and a cute frame, chances are many of the wedding guests will put it up and not stow them away.

In the end, a couple should just go from the heart when it comes to finding the perfect favor. Of course, anyone can give guidance, but the final decision always rests with the bride and groom. Or, maybe, just the bride, if we are being honest.

Shhh, A Little Known Way to Use PowerPoint 2007 to Design Photo Books

Using PowerPoint 2007 photobook templates to design your digital scrapbooks!

Making a photo book may seem like a costly option when creating a photo album. The software investment may cause you to delay this process because of the cost involved. Guess what, you can use PowerPoint templates to design beautiful photo books easily and quickly!

PowerPoint 2007 Templates

PowerPoint 2007 has several photo book templates available for use. To see your templates in PowerPoint 2007, open PowerPoint. Select the office button and select new. Type photo album in the search window and press the enter key. You will see several free photo albums to select for your project. They will range from classic to contemporary photo album options. Click the one that best fits your needs and click download.

Once the photo template downloads, press the page up and page down button to see the variety of slide layouts that accompany your photo album. You will see slides that have one pictures to slides holding up to 5 pictures.

To change the default pictures included in the album, right click on the photo and select change picture. Browse your computer and locate the picture you want to use. Once you have made your changes to your album, save it so you can print it later.

When you are ready to print your album, preview the slides prior to printing. Make any revisions prior to the final print. This is also when you will decide if your pages will be single or double sided. This will affect how thick your book will be.

Create Your Photo Books Online

World class quality: Photo books are made out of best quality printing paper with premium and durable bindings. Different options are also available to select the choicest paper for your photo book and get remarkable results.

Designer Graphics: If you are a designer then create some of your unique designs and portray your photos on them. Otherwise the International artists help you to select from the range of designs from every occasion and get the best from these books.

Stunning printing: When you see the effects of your photos in different backgrounds then it will make your eyes go wide-open. The printing effects are absolutely stunning.

Fast delivery: Most books are shipped out in 1-2 days of the request. International shipping options enables gifting and delivery in most parts of the world. The fast delivery lessens waiting time and fulfills the desires within the shortest time period.

Choice of hard-covers: Online photo books can be printed with choicest selections. Users can choose amongst different paper quality as per their requirement and budget. Different quality paper includes premium, classic and normal. They are available at different price-range and value of each is also mentioned along with. It depends on the person to choose the one which is most appropriate and within the budget as well.

Beautiful formats: Hard-covers are available in denim as well as printed styles. Printed hard covers are available in hard books and in different designs to choose from. Hard cover books are available in different designs and various designs.

Fast delivery: It takes only a few days, sometimes a day or two for international shipping of your creativity. You can gift these photo-books to near and dear ones, far away as well.

It enables people to upload photos and arrange them on their own, with different backgrounds and frames. Until now, people used to arrange their photos in an album to view them. But now they can enjoy them with creativity and add-on.

Photo-books are a completely new experience for people where they can amalgamate creativity with style to come out with class-apart gifts.

Ten Ideas For Photo Books

Photo books are the newest way to preserve your memories forever. Here are ten great themes around which to build your books.

1. The Kids. First days, first steps, first day of school, even up to the first date. Photo books are a great way to put all of the major "firsts" milestones in one place. Make a book for each of your children, and they will have something they will keep forever.

2. Vacations. Whether it is just one particularly great trip or all the great trips you took in a year, putting them together in a beautiful book will keep the memories fresh and the fun alive until the next big adventure.

3. Weddings. Making your own photo book of someone's wedding is a great project, and a one of a kind gift that is sure to be appreciated. Hint: pick a theme, be it amusing or poignant and craft the book around that theme. This will help you book stick out among the mountains of gifts.

4. Family Story Books. Every family has a story. Whether you choose to document a year in the life, or to gather photos from the generations that came before, your family photo book has an important story to tell, and you are just the one to tell it. It will be a wonderful gift to for all the generations to follow.

5. Sports Books. Got a sports-crazy family? Put all their team and action photos from the year in one great book that they can proudly show off to all their friends. Team photos and action shots could all be included, and the books will be a trophy no matter how the season ended up.

6. Birthdays. Cakes and candles and all those presents. Who doesn't want to remember their birthday? Put all your family celebrations into one annual photo book, or make a separate book for each occasion. Either way, the fun of the birthdays will last the whole year long.

7. Scrapbooks. Taking photos of the items you might ordinarily put in a scrapbook is an elegant way to make sure that these items are preserved forever. Your pages can be attractively arranged and photographed, and this way, you don't have to worry about damaging your precious keepsakes.

8. Pets. We know that you have the most amazing cat in the whole wide world, your bird is the smartest, and your doggie is the best. Why not show them all off to the world, and keep their memories alive forever by putting all that goodness into book form? You could make a book for each pet or create one book that represents the whole zoo.

9. Cookbooks. There are so many ideas for cookbooks, that its hard to know where to start. One idea: contact your entire family and gather all of their favorite recipes together and put them all in one book. It's a great way to preserve old family favorites, and to see the new dishes that keep your favorite people fueled and fed.

10. Graduations. Capture these rites of passage whether from daycare, grade school, or college. Or hey, why not put all of them together in one book?

How to Select the Best Photos for Your Wedding Albums

Your photographer has sent you all your wedding photos. It's great to see the big day all over again, and the photos look amazing, but there are so many to choose from! How you going to choose the best ones for your album?

Companies that specialise in making professional wedding photobook albums are always being asked the same question. It's a common dilemma, so here are their top tips for choosing your album pics:

繚 The best albums tell a story. They are not a minute by minute account of every smile and every pose - they show the highlights of your day, the parts you'll most want to remember.

繚 Vary your choice. Photographers can get a little snap happy. You'll inevitably end up with a lot of similar photos, so avoid replicas and try to select the best few from each of part of the day: getting ready, travelling to and arriving at the venue, the ceremony itself, post-ceremony celebration, drinks reception, dinner, dancing, speeches, cake cutting, and so on.

繚 Give your photos room to breathe. The more photos you try to cram in then the smaller they will have to be, and the design will look messy too. Professional companies use 'lay-flat' pages which allow your photos to be displayed right across the spread, so the fewer photos you have the bigger they can be, and the more impact they'll make when the album is opened.

繚 Think about colours and contrasts. Crisp blue sky, plush green grass, snow covered buildings, and even guests in brightly coloured dresses can make photos leap off the page. This works especially well when contrasted with black and white photos, and darker indoor photos.

繚 Cover to cover. Choose photos for the front and back covers.Something simple always works well for the front, as do colourful flowers and backdrops. (White bridal dresses look great with a colourful bouquet!) Go for black and white if you want something a little more classic. For the back cover choose something that finishes the story of your day - perhaps a photo of you leaving the wedding or your guests waving goodbye.

繚 Don't worry about the orientation. Any reputable album company offering a professional design service won't mind if your photos have been taken in portrait or landscape - they'll ensure the photos flow and the design looks great either way.

繚 Smile for the camera. Once you've got your final selection then check them over to make sure everyone is looking happy and engaged with the event. You want your guests to look like they're enjoying themselves, not having a sneaky nose-pick in the corner of the room!

繚 Quality not quantity. Definitely true for wedding albums - enlarge your photos on the screen to check they don't blur and pixelate. If they do then they won't look so great when printed. Also check for any marks on the photos, people out of focus, and so on.

So that's how to choose the best photos for your wedding album. Putting a little time in now can reap big rewards, and you'll end up with a fantastic album full of memories that you'll treasure forever.

Refreshing Your Wedding Photo Album

Whether you've been married for five years or twenty there's a good chance that you have a wedding photo album that could be in need of a little lift. No matter how well you look after them, photo albums do have a tendency to become slightly damaged. Old paper prints can fade over time while well leafed wedding albums can lead to crumpled or creased photographs as well as damage to the album itself. Thankfully, there are several great methods to update your existing wedding album.

A replacement wedding album is the obvious solution. Modern albums are more rigid and resilient to damage and they offer similar mounting options too. Simply apply the mounting material and then stick each photograph into the album. More modern wedding albums and photo albums can even be customised so that the front cover includes a caption and even a photograph of your choice. This means you can include your main wedding photo along with names and the date when you got married.

Photo books make a good looking and even less troublesome alternative. With no need to mount your own photographs, you can have tens of photographs printed directly onto satin 160gsm art paper with no frames or borders around the images that you choose. Every page can be customised and you get to choose the layout. Again, the front cover of the photo book can normally be customised and some services offer excellent quality, hand bound photo books with corner protectors and other functional and aesthetic additions.

Create a photo montage from a selection of your favourite wedding photos. This montage can then be added to any of a range of personalised photo items and personalised photo gifts; while it may not completely replace the traditional photo album or wedding album it can create a highly unique and great looking personalised gift that can be given for anniversaries or kept for your own sake.

Old wedding photo albums can become jaded but it's unlikely that the older ones will be accompanied by digital photographs. Fortunately, some personalised gift services are able to scan a high quality version of your images so that they can still be added to a new photo album or photo book, or converted into a photo montage and added to any other personalised photo item.

The Perfect Wedding Gifts

There is no limit to the wonderful array of choices available to choose the best wedding gifts. But to be able to give the perfect wedding gift that would be loved and cherished by the couple becomes tricky at times. It is not only important to choose bridal gifts that are beautiful but that may also contribute to the uniqueness of the new beginning that is going to take place in the wedding. Be it deciding the most suited gifts for the newly married couple, parents of the bride and groom or choosing a cherished insignia for the bridesmaid, the usher, the flower girl, the page boy and other important members of family at the wedding, unique wedding gift ideas can help you go a long way! Even better, special wedding gifts for the groom, bride and other family members are included in unique gift ideas. It is hence important that the bridal gifts for all be chosen bearing in mind that they must fulfill their purpose in generating equal acceptance and joy in their hearts.

Unique gift selection and ideas help people choose from differing kinds of available presents. Gifts for wedding occasion must not only strike a chord to the situation and the sentiment of marriage bliss but the best ones create lasting imprint on the receivers. If you are thinking of some unique and heart warming gifts for wedding occasion, you can go with a wide range of kitchen ware, cook books, bright drink ware, warmers, romantic dinners and cruise tickets, customized bubble head miniatures of the bride and groom, wine tasting cards, wine bottles and holders, home in decor pieces, cutlery sets, bedroom items and insignias representing love and union.

According to the uniqueness and tastes of the couple, popular wedding gifts like photo frames, toiletry sets, bathroom kits, perfumes, flower bouquets, cushions and pillow cases bearing the names of the couple and wedding time capsule gift sets can also be chosen to be best suited. Engraved and personalised bridal gifts that are unique and gorgeous looking are available at many wedding gift specialization sites. Not just this, cartoon wedding flutes, diamond edged heart shaped compact mirrors, personalised and labeled luxury champagnes, mermaid dresses, accessories, wedding tankard and diverse token gifts are also popularly available wedding gifts. The ideal token gifts spread happiness and pleasure to the bridesmaid, flower girl, page boy, usher or the parents of the bride and groom and other wedding guests who receive them. It is not just about the bride and groom and so keeping them in mind, the best gift choices for young and older couples can be decided.

Charming princess flip flops, hair accessories, bags, princess tokens, money box and beauty kits are wonderful bridesmaid and flower girl wedding gifts. Parents of the bride and groom are very significant and so you could gift them photo frames, champagne box sets, luxury wine sets and cutlery sets with customized signatures to show your love and affection. Best man cufflinks, signature beer mugs, pewter tankard, miniature trophies and baubles are also great gifting ideas for the best man. The right wedding gift resources bring you sweet treasures to cherish down the years. It if for the immense pleasure they spread and the sense of participation the wedding gifts provide, that they become indispensable in a wedding. Keep in mind that the wedding gifts you choose are of great value to each and every family member who receives them.

Wedding Photography on DVD

More wedding photographers today are providing full resolution and custom retouched JPEGs on DVD with full copyright release. But is getting your precious wedding images on DVDs such a great idea?

Some people, including a few professional photographers, believe DVDs may only hold data for up to 8 to 10 years at best. This is probably pretty accurate for most standard consumer grade DVDs. However, for archiving important files, gold archival DVDs are available which may keep precious photographs and other files archived over 100 years. You may find suppliers of gold archival DVDs by simply searching with this phrase in all the popular search engines. As of time of this writing, gold archival DVDs cost around $2.50 each. It is also good to know that there are blu-ray discs for high definition wedding videos which may expect to hold the video for over 200 years as well. To those photographers who are not so sure whether Gold Archival DVDs will keep wedding photos for so many decades, I remind them, gold is inert and does not oxidize. At minimum, it is reasonable to expect and believe 24 karat gold enveloped in a scratch resistant coating must be more archival than the conventional photo paper and chemical process which puts a wedding image on top of a sheet of paper! Yet, there are some photographers who want brides to believe the chemical process of putting an image on top of a sheet of conventional photo paper is more archival than 24 karat gold and which has been enveloped in a scratch resistant coating!

Brides who retain a professional wedding photographer who will provide her wedding images on DVDs might want to make sure the photographer uses gold archival DVDs. Some pro photographers, including myself, will provide on gold archival DVDs at a slightly higher cost. Brides who prefer not to pay the higher cost for gold archival DVDs know they will just be using the standard DVDs as a medium through which to acquire their wedding images for archiving on electronic storage media in its various forms. The DVD is simply a temporary portable means of sharing those images with others to copy and print.

DVD technology is therefore not a problem. But the concept of providing professional wedding photography with full resolution, custom retouched and full copyright released JPEGs on DVDs is the basis of a non-traditional business model for the wedding photographer. How does this new and growing "DVD wedding photographer" business model compare to the traditional "album package wedding photographer" model?

First thing you will notice which distinguishes these two photographers is the DVD wedding photographer does not contractually obligate the customer to a wedding album at time of signing the wedding contract. The DVD photographer prefers to allow the customer to first view their wedding photographs. Once the client has viewed her photographs, selected her favorite horizontal, vertical and various sizes, it can be more easily determined the wedding album the bride will actually need which best fits her particular needs and taste. Album package photographers on the other hand must obligate the bride to some pre-designed album package before the bride has seen any photography at all. While this makes business sense and must be required by the album package photographer, it is purely in the self-interest of the photographer and shows no concern for the best interest of the bride.

The second most distinguishing difference is that from the DVD wedding photographer the bride simply receives the valuable DVD of full resolution, custom retouched and full copyright released images. This benefit is not even on the table with album package photographers. And what a list of practical benefits the wedding DVD provides to the bride!

1. Cropping, retouching, photo tilting, blowing-up and other creative photo manipulation and control as she desires for her photographs and album(s).

2. If her photographer retires, moves out of state, passes away, goes out of business, suffers a business catastrophe or whatever, the bride has her wedding images! She has them!

3. If the bride's wedding album gets lost, damaged or stolen, she can always easily have another new album created since she has her wedding DVD.

4. She does not have to pay the photographer a middle man fee to have prints made. She may send her photos from her DVD to her favorite online or local photo lab for printing at direct lab prices. Of course, we all know that album package photographers sure can have a middle man fee tacked on print and album prices!

5. Most, though not all, album package photographers require the bride and groom to place their album order within 30 to 60 days after the wedding date. This can often be an inconvenience for the new couple just starting and who have arrangements to make to get their new life together organized. Some photographers will rush the bride and groom through this process and that really isn't the best way to make sure the bride receives a wedding album she is going to love. The DVD photographer does not require the purchase of a wedding album. If the bride wants to order one from her DVD photographer, she may do so at her convenience, on her schedule when she is ready. She may order an album if she chooses from any one of the dozens of online album services. It is her decision to do what she believes is best.

6. Depending on the wedding contract, with the DVD wedding photographer, the bride does not have to pay for an album which she may lose if she has to cancel her original wedding date. The only nonrefundable fee to the DVD wedding photographer is the booking retainer for the date. Any and all other money paid on the contract to a DVD photographer is refundable in the event the wedding date is canceled or rescheduled.

There are other differences inherent between DVD wedding photographers and album package wedding photographers but those differences vary in how both types of photographers choose to treat those issues in both their policies and contracts. That is beyond the scope of this article for me to address.

The reluctance of so many album package photographers today to accept the DVD photographer business model reminds me of the same reluctance to switch to digital photography from film. So many album package photographers were film photographers originally. It took many of them years before making the switch to the digital camera. Now that most of them have switched to digital photography, they still have this age-long industry mentality of placing their profits largely on the photographic prints and albums they sell. In this case, they want to keep the "digital negatives" and full copyright ownership and charge an arm and a leg for photographs and albums. But this old pricing philosophy does not take into account the inherent differences between digital photography and film photography as the benefits of each relates to the consumer and even to the professional photographer.

There are a lot of reasons why album package photographers still hold to the old business model. I'm not sure but I think it is mostly due to photo labs and album companies which are constantly providing programs and incentives to keep photographers thinking in terms of placing their profit on photographs and albums. Otherwise, there would be a dramatic decrease in business for photo labs and professional album companies. So photo labs and album companies have a lot of reasons to keep photographers thinking in terms of placing large profits on prints and albums.

But when it comes to digital photography, there are a growing number of photographers who feel that we can provide better and more efficient services and products to our customers through a different business approach. Instead of pricing photographic prints and albums at high enough prices to collect our necessary profits, we instead price our wedding photography skills and full resolution and custom retouched JPEGs at prices to collect our necessary profits. Unlike film negatives which were useful only for printing photos from, our JPEGs are immediately viewable and enjoyable "as is" right out of our cameras. Since wedding photography customers may use JPEGs in a wide variety of ways to include digital magazine style wedding albums and very sophisticated slide shows set to music, our "digital negatives" are in fact a more marketable or desirable photographic product than what photographs and wedding albums use to be. With all of today's digital devices including large 50" plus plasma monitors, being able to view one's wedding day images as a sophisticated slide show set to music IS very often more enjoyable to modern brides than flipping through photos in a small book.

When it comes to pricing our photo quality images, there are a few basic approaches. First, the larger the JPEG, the greater the price per JPEG. Secondly, some photographers sell their photo quality JPEGs in quantity discounts. The more photo quality JPEGs a bride purchases, the lower the price per JPEG. Also some photographers do not provide a full copyright release and they definitely will not transfer copyright ownership under any circumstances. But some do and at a hefty profit and then only after a certain minimum number of JPEGs have also been purchased. The idea behind this pricing approach: We as professional digital photographers are selling our actual work; we are selling what the vast majority of electronic media savvy customers really want to have - the digital negatives. Finally, we are still getting paid and handsomely for doing this!

Now, IF and when the customer wants to buy photographs and albums, she may do so anytime after her wedding day. She may still order photos and albums from her photographer or from any of the many labs and album companies online. The choice is hers.

This article is not by any means intended to persuade album package photographers to switch to the DVD wedding photographer business model. (I don't want the extra competition). I've simply hoped to explain why many of us have adopted this approach. I know this approach to operating a digital wedding photography business is NOT for everyone. Especially those photographers who feel they may lose money on the additional sales of photographs and albums if they give up full resolution images and copyright. That is a very good point in theory. And sometimes it is a practical fact. I've operated my business both ways over the years. For me, I personally feel the advantages to my customers and for my reputation far outweighs the loss of some extra income. Instead, I prefer to make more money serving more customers than trying to get larger sells from a single customer.

In conclusion, there are many benefits to both the digital photographer and to the bride when the photographer simply offers the full resolution and copyright released wedding images on DVDs to the bride.

Arranging a Boudoir Photo Shoot

Boudoir photography has become a popular trend with brides who want to offer their 'husbands-to-be' a wedding day present which will they never forget. Generally associated with a woman's bedroom, boudoir is a term which has been coined to describe a genre of glamor photography where nudity is implied by showing women in a state of undress or wearing alluring lingerie.

Of course, photographing women in a state of partial undress is hardly a new phenomenon, but the boudoir trend has brought an air of respectability to what used to be considered a rather daring and controversial area of glamour portrait photography.

Boudoir Photographers
No longer the preserve of the specialist, boudoir and glamor pin-up photography is widely available through many wedding photographers who have seen the trend as an opportunity to expand their businesses. Some have been so successful that they now dedicate most of their business to this form of portraiture.

When choosing a professional photographer it's a good idea to do as much research as you can beforehand. The internet should be your first port of call and this is where you'll get the most information with most providers of this serving having examples of their work on-line. Some will offer a wide selection of styles while others will be dedicated to a specific sub-genre such as Hollywood style glamor or pin-up photography.

Photo Shoot Location
No matter where you live there will be a boudoir photographer in your area. Many will have their own studio and there are some boudoir specialists who will arrange a shoot at a boutique hotel. This is particularly useful for those who don't want to travel and also has the advantage that many boutique hotel rooms offer a perfect backdrop which is difficult to create in a traditional photographic studio.

Photo Shoot Time Limits
Most budget photographers will have a strict time limit on photo-shoots, typically one or two hours, while higher-end photographers will be more flexible. Some will allow 3 or 4 hours and others will just say it will take as long as it takes. Obviously cost is a major factor and, generally, the more you are willing to pay then the more time you will be allowed. For some women time will not be so much of an issue but those who are a little nervous, or are unsure of the look they want to achieve, should opt for the most time they can afford.

Costs
Again, with most things in life, you'll often get what you pay for. Budget photographers will typically offer the best price but results and overall experience could be disappointing? It's not unknown either for some to pressure their clients into spending more on the day of the shoot. Often you will be better off paying a little more for a better experience overall, although this isn't an automatic guarantee of quality and you should still do your research.

What to Take with You
Many photographers will have a collection of outfits you can try, although it's advisable to take a couple of favourite lingerie pieces with you. Of course, you may be brave enough to not wear anything, though you are best taking something - just in case you get cold feet on the day?

Take some favorite make-up items with you but many photographers will have some form of hair and make-up service arranged. As always, the cost of the package will determine how good the make-over is but you'll probably be surprised at the standard offered?

At the End of the Boudoir Shoot
At the end of the photo shoot there will be a number of alternative shots to look through. Depending upon the format of photography used you may be offered a set of prints there and then or you may be given a password to a private on-line gallery which you can browse at your leisure later.

Typically, once you have selected the poses you want to keep they will be professionally printed and presented in either an album or in a frame. You'll also have the option of keeping the rest of your shots in the secure gallery with the ability to order further prints as when you wish.

Photo Retouching
Most people are familiar with the terms 'air-brushing' and 're-touching' and have a fair idea of what is involved. Most boudoir photographers will offer some level of basic image editing as standard. However, photo re-touching and air brushing is an art in itself, so, again, you may want to pay extra for a really professional finish?

Posing for a professional boudoir shoot can be a great experience and the results can be truly stunning. By researching the various styles on offer and finding the best photographer for you, you will have a great day and the result will be a set of images that will show you at your most attractive and certainly put a smile on your new husbands face.

The Right Photo Book Company for Photography

Your interest in photography has been growing over time and you can't help but explore many different things to hone your craft. Your family and friends may have also been excited with your progress, so it's only fitting that you get to share your work with them. Perhaps you may also be a budding photography hobbyist who can't seem to put his camera down and your hard drive is almost out of memory from all the pictures you've taken. Creating a presentation of your photos to let others see them may be easy but there's still nothing like the feel of printed photographs. Having your photos printed on paper has a certain charm, perhaps the same as leafing through a traditional book, and nothing can beat having a tangible piece of art.

With that said, here's an easy way to turn pictures into a memorable book. Take note that we are dealing with digital photographs here. If you want to create a book for your previously printed pictures, this will work well, too, but you need to have them scanned first. Now, here's a lowdown on how to create a memorable book out of your pictures.

First thing to put on your list is finding the right photo book company to work with. There are several photo book companies that promise to deliver quality outputs so it boils down to choosing the one that suits your needs. Make sure that the company you will choose to work with has good reputation and delivers well. Your photographs are your personal works of art, so you would want nothing but utmost care for them. Choose a company that takes care of not only you as a client but your pictures as well.

In creating your book, choose what style and size would suit the collection of photographs you have. Choose the photo book company which offers a wide array of products for you to choose from.

Service is key, so make sure that the company you would work with delivers well and on time, with quality output. Before purchasing any products, ensure that you read through testimonials, product review and also ask some opinions by participating in forums or blog networks.

In order to have a excellent journey in photography as hobbies or passion, we need to be extra careful in choosing the right company for printing of photography or photo books

Professional Photo Books - Classy and Elegant

Are planning to make a portfolio photo album with your precious photographs? Whether you are want to impress prospective clients or potential employers, classy and elegant professional photo albums could help you seal the deal. If wedding photography is your forte, create an album with your best wedding pictures to show your clients. A sports photographer interested in applying for a job in a top newspaper can put together his/her best action pictures to create portfolio photo books. Here are a few tips to help you make and design your photography photo albums.

Select a Theme
Before you start making your picture album, decide on a theme. You can base your photo book on themes such as emotions, portraits, natural scenery, street photography, Christmas, and other concepts. If you are a commercial photographer, then choose a theme for your classic photo albums that complements your area of interest.

Choose the Right Snaps
To a photographer all the pictures he/she has shot may seem perfect, but select only ones that showcase your skill as a photographer. If you feel you may not be able to judge your best works, then get the help of a friend who can give you a frank opinion about your photographs.

Organize Your Pictures
A well organized photo book speaks loudly and clearly about your photographing ability. If you have based your work on emotions, then you can arrange the pictures to show the mood development. You can also organize your photographs in a chronological order.

Make them Interesting
If you don't capture the interest of the readers with your first few pictures, then there's very less chance of people looking through your work completely. So, add borders and designs, special effects, or quotes to make them more attractive. You can personalize your photography photo albums by adding comments on how or where you shot those pictures. It would surely make interesting reading!

Show Your Portfolio to Others
Once you have completed your snap book, show it to family and friends and ask for their comments. The more you show it to others, the more you will be able to judge the quality of your work.

Hope you have a good idea about making and designing your portfolio photo books. There are numerous online photo printing stores that can help you make your own photo albums. So make a fantastic photograph book and bedazzle your clients with your amazing work!

Garden Wedding Favors - Rustic Wedding Favors - Favors for Outdoor Weddings

Garden weddings have always been a great way to celebrate this momentous occasion. The fresh air and flowers all around makes this a wonderful way to celebrate a wedding. Many of the garden wedding favors are a way of showing a love for nature and all it has to offer. From salt shakers to coasters, photo albums to lanterns the selections cover almost every area of wedding favors.

When we look at the flower sections of wedding favors, we will find a wide variety of choices. Calla Lilys are popular and they come as guest soap or gel candles and candle holders, place cards with Calla Lilys are also available. Roses are another popular item; they can be found also as candles, long stemmed Rose soap and favor boxes with Rose accents. Another popular wedding flower is the Gerber Daisy, which we can find as candle holders, bath confetti and guest soap.

For a fall wedding there are an abundance of wedding favors. You may want to have a maple leaf coaster set, or fall leaf votive candles and perhaps a fall leaf motif photo album.

Fruit is also a very popular choice for garden wedding favors. You could use red apple or pear candles. There is also the option of vegetables like pea salt and pepper shakers or pea in a pod candles.

So from candles to bath salts garden party favors are ideal for the earthy bride or for a garden wedding shower and wedding. The choice of favors allows variety and a diverse range of tastes. From a fall wedding to a spring or summer wedding the wedding favors are available. You can have Calla Lily pens for signing the guest books or rustic garden tool place cards. And if you have some avid gardeners for guests or as a bride there are also plant able garden favors, which will give the opportunity to share your love gardening and flowers.

5 Unique Wedding Guest Book Ideas For a Unique Wedding

Why is a guest book so important for weddings? Why is it important for the wedding couple?

Guest books are important for the couple because it is the record of the guests and their wonderful comments for the bride and groom. It is considered a treasured memento of the couple's wedding that they can go back to year after year as they celebrate their anniversary. Many couples do this reminiscing thing while celebrating their wedding anniversaries to bring back the memories of the celebration- a get-together of families and friends who have given their thoughts and blessings to the couple for a new-found life together.

If you are planning for your wedding, it is an important task to look for unique wedding guest books that you can choose from to make your wedding celebration unique and complete. This task should be personal and you are obliged to pick yours according to your preferences as a couple and as a complement to your wedding.

1. Themed Wedding Guest book

Themed weddings usually call for tie-ups of other elements such as invitations, attire and many others. If you don't have a particular theme for your wedding, the usual thing to do is to tie your wedding guest book to the color scheme or motif.

A classic and elegant wedding calls for an elegantly designed one with either white or ecru pages, and a motif hardbound cover. You may also want to personalize your guestbook by ordering it from an online stationery store or wedding accessories shop. Finding these personalized guestbooks are easy as the click of your mouse.

2. Photo Wedding Guest Book

There are two types of photo wedding guestbook that you can use during your wedding. The traditional way of taking Polaroid photos during your wedding is one way to have instant photos of family, friends and guests. Take some snapshots of you and your partner with each of your guests [an individual or group or family]. However, in this day and age, the digital camera is a handier piece of gadget that most people are fond of using. However, printing the photo could only be done after the wedding if this is the case; so make sure that your guests sign on specific pages especially for them.

The other type of photo wedding guest book is where the book itself has photos of you and your partner. Normally, photography studios offer this service as an inclusion to their normal photography services. This is apart from the wedding album itself, but this guest book contains photos of the wedding couple during the pre-nuptial photo shoot. The guest book is usually a magazine-type and hardbound, and each page has photos of the couple which appear to be part of the design. This is passed on to the guests during the wedding reception where they can write their well-wishes and congratulatory notes.

3. Wedding Guest Book Plate/Platter

A ceramic plate or platter is a fun and very unique way of having your guests sign and wish you on your wedding day. A large plate/platter is better for weddings of more than 50 guests and you can keep this as a home decor [usually a focal point of a particular room]. Don't forget to provide a fine-point marker to your guests to ensure that their messages will stay permanently on the ceramic surface. You can order these guest book plates/platters online and some stores may also include special markers as well.

4. Monogrammed Wedding Guest Book

This is another personalization method that you can apply to your wedding guest book. You can order a custom-made wedding guest book which bears the monogrammed initials of the bride and groom. This is a simple addition to your personalized or themed wedding guest book that doesn't cost too much but adds a unique touch to it all in all.

5. Quilted Wedding Guest Book

Quilts by tradition are a great way to involve family and friends to create an entire piece [i.e. blanket or tapestry as the most common] out of patches of fabric that are sewn together. Taking this tradition to create a wedding guest book is a unique and interesting way of involving your family, friends and guests to piece together their wishes and good lucks.

Provide your fabrics of choice to each of your guests and make sure to provide also some fabric markers. You can ask you groomsmen and bridesmaids to hand out the fabric pieces and markers to your guests. You can also task them to collect the completed pieces and keep them in a box so you can take all of their wishes with you after the reception. The task of sewing the fabrics together can be done by you and your partner or you can ask family members to help out. You can frame the quilt once it's sewn and display it on the wall of your home.

These are just a few of the many ideas that you can apply when you are planning for a unique and interesting wedding guest book. Use your imagination and picture how you would like your wedding guest book will look like. If you are stuck with ideas, you can browse the internet for more info, samples and ideas from wedded couples as well.

Photo Collage Display

A photo collage is a good way to display a group of photos. For instance, if you have a bunch of fun photos from your wedding that you would like to show off but don't want to have them in with the formal wedding photos. Or a common collage idea is to have your children's school pictures in a group like you would have all of their photos from each year. No matter what the idea a photo collage is a fun way to show off your family and friends.

When having a family reunion it often a good idea to have a photo collages of different times of family fun. You could have pictures of the adults as children in on group and have a photo family tree collage. However you decide to your collage, you should expect lots of comments because everyone will love it.

Photo collages also make great and memoriablgifts. The thought that goes into putting a collage together really shows how much you care about the gift recipient. Another good way to have a collage is in a photo album or scrap book. You can arrange the pictures however you would like and add stickers or fun stamps to the page.

Collages also make great art projects for kids in and out of school. This especially true for teenagers, they love taking photos of and with their friends. So a collage frame might make a good gift for the teenager in your life and something that they can have that will be a collection of memories.

Vintage-Inspired Wedding Favors

One of the most popular styles for weddings these days is the vintage. This doesn't look like fading anytime soon. The vintage look has also been popular to many brides because it adds a feminine and romantic touch that most women love. If your are planning a vintage-inspired wedding, there are some great ideas for your wedding favors to choose from.

There are various elements that create a vintage look, one of which are peals. Whilst, giving each guest a string of pearls is not a good idea. Rather, you can just use the pearl as an inspiration to create a vintage-styled wedding favor. You might want to consider the color of pearls to your wedding favors. They come in different shades from pink, cream, to champagne and ivory. If you would like to use small favor boxes, there are available boxes made from a pearl finish card, with an elegant luster like pearls.

Pearl-like finish can also be applied to many other wedding favor ideas such as candles, soaps, coated almonds or candies, and foil wrapped chocolates. Ribbons, cards, labels, and tags in pearl finishes are also available in many different choices. These are perfect accessories that complete an elegant look of a favor box.

You can also make some vintage-inspired colored favor boxes to package your little sweet treats for the guests. Use a wide paper ribbon in ivory color and wrap the box. You can further embellish the top of the box with an ivory colored paper flower and some greenery using your green colored wired that can be curled around a pencil. For a pearl finish, you can glue two or three pieces of pearl on the top of your decoration.

You might also consider laces to make your wedding favors look vintage. Scented sachets are great idea for such theme and are more beautiful if made or trimmed in lace. Scented sachets are very easy to make and you can make a simple template yourself. You can use a silk or satin cloth or an allover lace with a net bag at the bottom to secure the filling inside the sachet.

There are various specialty stores, craft stores, and even antique stores where you can find cheap vintage-inspired items that you can use as wedding favors, including photo frames with scroll designs, crystals, and enamel. You may also consider compact mirrors, which also have a vintage appeal. These are perfect for your female friends and loved ones at your wedding. For your male guests, key chains in a similar style make perfect favors for them.

Making your own vintage-styled wedding favors can be more focused on the presentation and packaging rather than the favor itself. Vintage colors are usually in pale shades of pinks, blues, and greens. Consider laces, pearls, crystals, or a few metallic details which is very popular nowadays, such as gold, copper, bronze and silver.

The aforementioned supporting ideas to make a vintage look to your wedding favors can also be applied to your wedding decorations, wedding programs, wedding napkins, guest book, wedding cake, bridal ensembles, and etc.

Turn Your Old Photo Paper Prints into Modern Digital Format Albums

Although digital cameras have been around for a few years and are becoming more and more popular many of us still have a large number of older film camera paper prints, slides and negatives. Most people keep their paper prints and negatives at their homes and only use digital formats for new photos they shoot with their new digital cameras. In this article we will discuss converting your old paper prints into digital format.

Photos are usually kept at home in one of three formats:

Paper prints: the most common format, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7. Over time paper prints tend to lose their quality. Depending on how well they are kept the paper might turn yellow and bend and the colors might fade.

Negatives: also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which the prints where made. Although negatives can get damaged over time they are more likely to maintain their high quality. Negatives are hardly used unless new paper prints are needed.

Slides: very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen.

There are many advantages to digital photography. Having your photo album in digital format allows you to easily print paper copies either at home or using a printing service, to view your photos on your computer, to share photos with friends and family and maybe most importantly to practically archive your photos for eternity. So if digital format is that good why not convert all those old photos from traditional paper and negatives to digital? Here is how:

There are different considerations when converting from paper to digital. Professional photographers spend a lot of time and money on this process. For most amateurs and consumers very simple methods can be used which are both cheap and easy. Scanning paper prints and negatives requires different equipment and considerations. For most home users scanning the negatives is not necessary.

Scanning paper photos prints

Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100). You can also choose to mail them (or hand them) to a professional scanning service that will scan them for you and mail you back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans (such services include http://www.digmypics.com, http://www.digitalpickle.com, http://www.britepix.com and many more)

There are pros and cons to scanning at home or using a professional service. If you have a small number of photos scanning at home is easier. If you have plenty of photos using a service might be easier but you can end up spending more money. In addition mailing your one and only hardcopy of your photos is a risk since they might get lost.

If you are going to scan at home consider the following:

Resolution: the resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.

Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans - for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you're going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you're going to use).

Photo feeding: if you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos.

Scanning negatives and slides

Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints. In most cases it is easier and maybe cheaper to use a professional scanning service (such services include http://www.slidescanning.com, http://www.myspecialphotos.com, http://www.pixmonix.com and many more). If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/slides scanner. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used.

The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you're going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.

The good news is that in most cases scanning negatives is not needed at all. For most amateurs and consumers scanning home photo paper prints is more than enough and scanning the source negatives is a not needed. It is recommended of course to keep the negatives in a safe place. You can use the digital scans for future prints or just for viewing on your computer screen and sharing with your friends and family.

In conclusion scanning your photo paper prints is easy. You can do it yourself at home or you can use a professional scanning service. You can convert all your memories into digital format with a small investment and make sure that you can enjoy those photos and also keep them in their original quality for eternity.

What a First Time Wedding Photographer Needs to Know

The news that you are photographing your first wedding often leads to emotions ranging from excitement to apprehension, and in some cases, fear. Assuming you have experience with your equipment and have developed the necessary skills to take great photographs, the wedding event has a greater likelihood of being a successful one if you follow some key steps.

This article provides an overview of important steps to follow before, during, and after the event. As with any important job, the keys are preparation, focus, and follow-through.

Before the Wedding
Proper preparation before the event is the best way for a photographer to have a successful outcome. I spent several weeks before my first wedding visiting other photographer's web sites. I read books on wedding photography, and I researched photography blogs and forums. It is amazing how much information is available for little or no charge. These tips and other photographs can inspire you and get you thinking about what you want to accomplish and how you are going to make it happen.

It is important that you have a standard written agreement that is signed by the bride- and groom-to-be and the photographer. There is no excuse for not having this document in place. It should describe the deliverables and the fees associated with the service and products. It should also include a model release so you can use the photos for promotional purposes. It is highly recommended that you contact an attorney and draft a standard agreement that protects you.

At the time of signing the agreement, there are two other opportunities to enhance the process. First, get to know the bride and groom. Spend some time chatting so you will know their story and they will know you. When the wedding day comes, they should feel comfortable with you so their true personalities will shine. If possible include a no cost or low cost engagement shoot so everyone can gain even more of a comfort level. It is a good opportunity to give them some posing tips that they can use on their wedding day.

It is also imperative to know the schedule. When you are meeting with the bride and groom, go over the agenda for the time you are expected to be at the wedding. Get to know their expectations. Let them know when you expect them to devote time to photographs with you in charge. This is a good time to talk about a wedding coordinator. If they will designate a friend or family member that will help the you identify important family members during the wedding day, it can be a tremendous help.

Another important component of preparation is checking your equipment. Check it thoroughly at least four or five days before a shoot. A check prior to my first wedding revealed a faulty auto-focus mechanism on one of my camera bodies, and I had to borrow a second camera for the shoot, but I was ready.

A proper equipment check also requires making sure you have backups of everything. You need two camera bodies and two flash units at a minimum. If you do not have them, you can rent them. On my first senior photo shoot, the wind blew my tripod and camera to the concrete surface. You never know when something will drop or just fail.

Check your batteries and memory card supplies, and bring more than you think you will need. It is not uncommon to take 2,000 to 3,000 images at a wedding. If you are using flash, you will burn through batteries very fast at that rate. For memory cards, it is better to have several smaller cards than just one or two big ones. If a card fails, you minimize your loss by using multiple cards.

Visit the venue(s) prior to the wedding day in order to scope out lighting and shot locations. Do you need to gel your flash for proper white balance? I often find that if I take a few test shots with and without flash, and perform a custom white balance check with my camera, that there are competing colors from the various light sources. For indoor venues, I often have to gel the flash to match the color of the venue's lighting. This will save you much time and aggravation later in the process.

To prepare yourself physically for a tiring day, have a light meal before you go. It is a good idea to bring granola, energy or candy bars or other portable snacks. Bring water too just in case.

If you are prone to headaches, have a pain reliever with your in your pocket or bag.

Part of blending into the event is dressing appropriately. Talk to the bride and groom about their expectations before the event. In all cases, wear comfortable shoes.

The Ceremony
When you arrive, begin by taking outdoor venue shots. Here in southeast Michigan, you never know if the weather will turn on you later, and the same is true in many locations. Get some key building and landscape elements without people, just to have them.

Calibrate your camera's white balance as soon as you walk indoors; do it for all of your cameras. Also, turn camera sounds off; you don't want your camera to make noise during the ceremony.

Bring a fast lens; the faster the better. Indoor lighting at churches and reception halls is notoriously poor and dim. Be prepared with a fast lens (f 2.8 minimum - f1.8 preferred). If you don't have one, rent it.

If you are in a place of worship, have a clear understanding of where you can go and what locations are off-limits. Also, flash is usually not permitted in places of worship, but you can ask.

Consider bringing an assistant. Let them carry equipment, help set up shots, hold off-camera flash, and more. If you are working a 6-8 hour event, be prepared for the physical impact it will have on you. Having an assistant will ease the burden on you and should result in better photographs.

If you have a break from the bride and groom, start shooting the very young and very old early. They can get tired fast, and some may leave early.

If you have a camera bag, lock it down or have your assistant carry it. If you are on your own, consider using a cable lock for your camera bag and hide it out of sight. It serves as a deterrent from theft. You may feel comfortable with the bride and groom, but you never know about their friends and family or the staff at the venue.

Never reformat memory cards at the event. Backup when you can, but do not reformat. Check everything on your computer and complete backups before reformatting.

Take shots of the bride and groom as soon after the ceremony (or before) as possible. After people start drinking and celebrating, it will get harder to assemble people and have them look their best.

Most of the time, the photographer's role should be to blend in and be discreet. Disappear in the background and try to capture people when they are relaxed, happy, emotional, etc.

If the wedding and reception are indoors, make sure to take shots of the bride and groom outside. Try to get away during the reception and get some outside shots - even if it is nighttime.

Be insured. If someone trips over your equipment are you covered?

Take a group shot of everyone. This is a great way to have everyone in attendance in one photo. It makes for a great enlargement and an opportunity for sales to others in attendance at the wedding.

After the Event
After the event is over, I believe it is important to process the images as fast as possible. There is something to be said capturing taking the energy of the day and carrying forward. Posting images quickly to a web site will make everyone happy.

Keep in contact with the bride and groom and schedule a time to meet with them to go over the images and discuss ordering details. It is as important to provide a high level of customer service after the event and before it. If you establish a relationship with the couple, they will think of you for family portraits and portraits of their children in years to come.

Finally, take notes about what went right and what went wrong. This may help you do an even better job next time around.