Jewelie's Digital Darkroom

The value of a photograph is different to every person you ask. You will also get a different answer for each hat that a single person wears. I, as a photographer, find this amazing and think that it is interesting to ask myself this question.

As a mother…..the value to the photos of my precious men is amazing. I still have photos of them at 1 year old with the bite mark on their arms that they got from a good friend while at daycare. As I look at the image I remember their pudgy arms begging for my attention and I get teary eyed. I also have that 5 year old documented on my walls with the missing teeth and the wonder in their eyes when I was still a super hero instead of an embarrassment.  I truly treasure the somber black and white that hangs in my dining room of my youngest. This is a face that I see but not everyone gets to. You see the depth of his thoughts and the strength of his soul.

Now if you ask the genealogist in me to say what the value of a photograph is you will not hear the sappy memories. You will hear the wish of a historian to see the people that I want to know so much about. I have a couple pictures of the parents generation. I have a wedding picture and a family picture of the great grandparents and that is about it. Please take the plead of a woman trying to build a history of our family for the generation to come and take pictures. Many of them. Have CDs labeled with years taken and if you organize images on your computer please take the time to tag the people in your photographs!

The crafty woman in me sees a challenge of a photograph. How is the best way to display and show this amazing work of art. Whether it is a woven blanket with the image on my couch or a cup on my husbands desk filled with a beaming image of the boys’ faces. I love finding the best way to display the years photos. I recommend a year in review DVD!!!! Check out animoto.com!

What is the value of your photographs????

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Helping a bride pick images can be a big task. You need to decide if you want some say in these images or if all picking will be done by the bride. Some will feel that choosing images is overwhelming and not fun….this can lead to procrastination and an album never being finished. Another thing to think about is if they pick images that do not show off your artist brilliance the album will be a Wow! for them but will not be a reflection of your style.On the other hand, leaving the image selection solely to the bride will give her exactly the album she wants in the end. No matter which direction you take here are some hints to make it easier on you and your bride!

Alright….to make image selection easier think of the wedding as chapters. “Most” brides want the album to tell the story of their wedding in the order it happened.  So while you are organizing the images put groups of images together. Have the number of folders (chapters) match the number of spreads you will be ordering in the album.

• Bride Getting Ready
• Bride with Bridesmaids and parents
• Groom Getting Ready
• Groom with Groomsmen and parents
• Bride and Groom seeing each other for first time (if before the ceremony)
• Ceremony
• Family Portraits
• Whole Wedding Party
• Getting to the Reception
• Reception – now this can be divided into Cake Cutting, First Dance, Toasts and Party if need be
• I also like having a folder of detail shots that would make great backgrounds

Now, if you are having the Bride pick all the images….make sure you give some guidance. Ask what style album they like.

More Classical? Where they want nice large images with very few embellishments and basic black, white and grey backgrounds? Then lead them to choosing 4 or 5 images per chapter. This will help give that clean, uncluttered look they are after.

Are they more Contemporary? This is where they like the fun, energetic style that has more images to a page and colors from the wedding used as backgrounds. This is sometimes called Magazine style albums. There is movement and images at angles, etc. Lead this bride to choosing 6-7 images per chapter.

Maybe they like color but they really do not like the feel of a true Magazine style album. Lead them to the Fusion then. These albums will have straight pictures like the classic design but the added benefit of images in the backgrounds and colors from the wedding added to the album. They should choose 5-6 images per chapter here.

When you explain to them that to keep the timeline of the album each chapter will be represented by a spread they will be able to visualize the album. They will also know that if they pick 20 ceremony images one of the other catagories needs to be smaller or cut in order to make it work. They will also know that there is a possibility that they will need to pay a fee to add pages to the album to get the images they want.

Now….also ask them which images are their favorite and let me know. I always want to feature the Bride and Grooms favorite images. It will make the album special to them.

If you are picking the images for the bride….ask her to pick her 10 favorite images so they are definately in the album. Then you can go thru the above process to fill in the blanks.

For details/background shots. These should be extra images that you tell the bride may or may not appear in the album. This will give the designer images to use without the pressure of finding a way to use them all!

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I really love it when great photography insires me! Julie Watts, photographer at Julie Watts Photo took these beautiful images of Jillaine & Barry. The design would be considered Fusion as we used more classic templates with just a bit of color to brighten and enhance the album. Enjoy!

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It is that time of year.
I wanted to post days that we will not be
doing business for this Holiday Season.

Thanksgiving Break: Nov. 25 – 27

Christmas Break: Dec. 23-25

New Years Break: Dec. 31 and Jan. 1

Have a GREAT HOLIDAY Season!!!

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We’ve been creating a lot of designs lately. One of the new designs blends into backgrounds with images layering on top. It has a soft, romantic feel that will remain beautiful.

This album was designed for Zabloudil Photography of Nebraska. I was inspired by the beautiful soft focus in the photography and gorgeous yellow of the wedding

Click the thumbnail to view Zabloudil’s soft, layered design.

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How does this affect a Wedding Photographer?  Album print companies are very close to their deadlines so…. your bride will want to have the beautiful album to share with their families.  People get engaged and the bride beaming with pride as she shows her wedding album to the newly engaged is the best advertising you can find. I do not have a deadline for designs but am posting the album deadlines here for reference.

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