Archive for August, 2010

Real Photo Paper for PhotoBooks

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Many of you have asked for a photographic paper option since we introduced our PhotoBooks. Starting August, 31, 2010, you will be able to make that selection as we add our third paper option with our new Photo Lustre Paper.

Our Photo Lustre Paper is true photographic paper utilizing Fuji Crystal Archive Paper. Your page spreads are folded and then bound into one of our four cover options:

  1. Photo Wraparound (still glossy)
  2. Leather Spine (w/ glossy cover image)
  3. Full Leather
  4. Full Leather Cameo (photographic cameo image)

For the introduction of this third paper option, Zookbinders will not be charging extra. However, beginning January 1, 2011, there will a $30 surcharge per order on any order choosing the Photo Lustre option.

If you’d like to get a studio sample of this new paper finish, you can do so through December 31, 2010 and receive a 50% sample discount by entering the code SLS-PLUSTRE-50SMPL.

Feature Photo of the Week: Furla Studios

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Our Feature Photo of The Week is from Furla Studios right here in our home town of Chicago.  This image was created by Bart Galbas. To see more great photography, visit their website at www.furlastudio.com.

Let Your Vendors Do Your Selling

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

We all know that third party endorsements are more credible than singing your own praises. As a photographer, what better way is there to get endorsements than to provide them with a sample album from an event on which you collaborated? They’ll be thrilled to show off a sample of their work, and when they do, each and every one of their clients will see your work as well. This pre-qualifies those prospects by introducing them to your work.

Zookbinders offers a few different ways to make the album design and display process as easy and affordable as possible for you. Our Digi-MatZ® templates are designed as a “plug-in” for Adobe ® Photoshop® to help you create beautiful album designs. Once you’ve created your album design through either Digi-MatZ or your own software, Zookbinders’ ROES system completes the process by making the order process for your sample albums a cinch.

Here are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind when creating your sample book for your vendor:

  1. Be aware of where faces or other focal points of the photo land on full-page spreads and panoramas. While most Zookbinders products lay flat, some do not (i.e. Soft Cover Press Book), causing the crease to possibly hinder the design.
  2. Watch your margins to ensure nothing important is cut off during trimming (a 1/8 inch is trimmed off the top and bottom and a 1 /4 inch is trimmed off each side of a PhotoBook two-page spread).
  3. Create an eye-catching design that will appeal to a wide range of your clients.
  4. Remember who you are designing these books for; your layouts should feature your best, most creative work and that of your vendors rather than what your bride may select for her own book.
  5. Use your name and logo, as well as the vendor’s name and logo, in the book.
  6. Leave business cards or photo cards with your contact information along with your album so brides have an easy way to contact you.

Once your design is done, you can order these vendor books as samples and receive Zookbinders standard sample discount (50% off Zook Books and 25% off PhotoBooks) with no annual limit on the number of samples you order. These vendor samples are an investment in your future. For less than $100, you can have a beautiful album of your work at a vendor’s store selling your photography services each and every day. These images and the referrals from your vendors can add up to thousands of dollars in new business for you. That’s money well spent.

Feature Photo of the Week

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

This week’s Feature Photo of the Week is from Shari Zellers of Clarkston, Georgia and is entitled “Jennifer”. It was taken at the Roswell Mill in Roswell, GA.

Shari said, “I was inspired to shoot her there because I loved the texture of the wood paneling wall and the wicker furniture. I knew sepia was the perfect tone to give it a touch of warmth that I felt from the wood and textures.”

To see more of Shari’s work please visit www.sharizellers.com.

Underwhelm Your Brides

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Over the past few months, we at Zookbinders have spent a lot of time talking to brides to find out how they want their professional photographer to service them. Our findings were quite interesting:

  • They’re overwhelmed by the number of images presented to them.
  • Having to choose 100 or so images for their album from over 1000 images is daunting – they’d like to see the photographer help streamline the process and recommend about 100 for their album.
  • They’re frustrated by how long the process takes to get their album.
  • They feel there are too many choices in albums.
  • Even brides who only bought their images rarely make albums because the process is quite difficult and time consuming.

Of course not every bride feels this way, but our surveys show a substantial majority of brides with these feelings. These issues have a direct result in what we see on our production floor. The average wedding album we create (based on the date stamped on the cover) was photographed nine months earlier! This shows how long the process can take. However, our surveys show that brides would prefer to get their album within weeks rather than months.

So what can you do to help and prosper from this information? We know some brides themselves can slow the process. But, if you are proactive and help the process along, you can be assured a smoother process, quicker delivery of your album(s), a larger order and happier clients. Here are some specific actions you can take:

  • Show fewer images. You are the expert, edit out all that you don’t need and show only the best images.
  • Pre-select. Choose the images you’d recommend for their album. She can still see or get them all but help her move the album process along. (Isn’t it nice when a waiter suggests a bottle of wine so that you don’t have to look at a wine list with hundreds of bottles?)
  • Pre-design. Show your clients what their album could look like. This will speed up the process and enable you to deliver their album in two to three months after their wedding.
  • Streamline your album choices. Just like having too many images, brides can be overwhelmed by having too many album choices- select the best options based on their tastes and budget.
  • Upsell. Once you’ve designed their album and they are thoroughly amazed, remember to give them a few options for adding gift albums to their order. PhotoBooks and Soft Cover Press Books make wonderful and affordable replica options, and what parent wouldn’t be thrilled with their own copy of their child’s wedding album just a couple months after the big day!
  • Educate. Explain the process up front. Show how you make the album design-bind-deliver process quick and easy and how difficult it will be if they just buy the disk.

Brides are overwhelmed with all of the choices in wedding photography and designing their album. Help them out by taking control – they’ll be happier, you’ll finish your clients’ albums quicker and you’ll be the hero for providing such a great service! Bet you never thought underwhelming your clients could be such a good thing.

Mark Zucker, Founder and CEO

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