As many of you know, this year marks Photoshop’s 20th anniversary. Arguably no single tool has had as much impact on digital imaging as Photoshop. Besides reaching this milestone, Photoshop has also released its latest version, CS5, which went live today. To learn more check out Scott Kelby from Photoshop User TV for a preview.
For several months you have been asking when we’d re-introduce a non-gloss page finish for our popular PhotoBook and PhotoBook Plus product lines. We appreciate your patience and want to update you on our progress.
Printing quality digital press books is not as simple as just running paper through a press. There are a variety of paper characteristics that may make a paper stock good for one use but not for our books. What we are looking for when making a high quality book is paper that can do the following:
• Has the proper weight to give our books their distinctive heavy pages
• Holds ink well and will not scratch or discolor without being coated or laminated
• Will fold cleanly and not “crack” in the center
• Accepts our glues and holds together over time
• Lays flat in varying temperatures and humidity levels so that whether we’re shipping an album to South Florida, Arizona or Alaska, it will continue to look beautiful
Since December we’ve tested literally dozens of different papers. Some papers didn’t accept the glues we use to hold the pages together. Several papers wouldn’t properly accept the press inks and would easily scratch or discolor at the crease. Some would curl over time. We have recently found a paper we believe will work. It has a gorgeous, non-gloss finish and so far has been meeting all of our quality specifications. We still have further testing to do along with working out delivery arrangements through the paper mill. If all goes well, this new, non-gloss paper option should be available by June and offer a book that we know will hold up in the long run. We thank you again for your patience and look forward to sharing this new paper with you.
On the New York Times web site, Stephanie Clifford recently published a very interesting article about the current state of stock and editorial photography in the digital age. It is a very good and revealing article about the changes and challenges facing the photography industry. If you substitute wedding photographer for stock photographer or photojournalist, you’ll also get an accurate view of what is going on the wedding photography industry.
It is still possible to make a living in the wedding photography industry. The digital age has brought us many new tools to help educate our clients, promote our services and create images. It has also made it easier for nearly anyone to break into the industry and undercut the traditional professional photographer. All is not lost and we at Zookbinders are your partners, here to help you grow and expand your business and survive in this industry.
Did you know that April 25 is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day? I bet you didn’t. I remember making our own pinhold cameras in high school and it’s been a long time since I’ve played with this fun little camera.
If you look it up in Wikapedia: A pinhole camera is a very simple camera with no lens and a single very small aperture. Simply explained, it is a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box. Cameras using small apertures and the human eye in bright light both act like a pinhole camera.
Lensbaby is sponsoring an open call for photographers to submit their best pinhole images. Photographers can submit two images for consideration. The contest began March 23 and electronic submissions will be accepted until 6pm, PST, April 9, 2010. Online voting will begin on April 9th and end on April 16th. The winning images will be announced April 23rd. Check out their web site for details and happy shooting.
Want to build your own digital pinhole camera? Check out this site.
I read an interesting, yet somewhat disturbing article, on Brides.com. Now it is an older article but I cannot honestly think that things have gotten much better. The article talks about wedding scams and businesses that go out of business after a brides book them. The following paragraph cites Better Business Bureau stats that show that of all wedding industry businesses, complaints against photographers were the highest.
“While no government agency specifically tracks wedding-industry scams, Sheila Adkins, director of public affairs at the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Washington, D.C., says that wedding-dress shops accounted for 1,016 of the 758,923 complaints filed nationwide in 2005. Of the other wedding-related industries the BBB tracks, photographers had the most strikes against them (1,301 complaints) and were followed closely by florists and limousine companies. Of course, this only reflects the people who were motivated enough to file complaints. After interviewing more than 1,000 couples and analyzing BBB statistics, Alan and Denise Fields, authors of Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing a Fantastic Wedding on a Realistic Budget, estimate that as much as 10 percent of wedding costs is eaten by industry fraud. And yet, “most vendors are genuine businesspeople who want to build up their companies legitimately,” says Robbi Ernst III, founder and president of June Wedding, Inc., in San Francisco, an association for event professionals.”
Now I know there are some disreputable professional photographers out there but there are also a lot of non-professional photographers that are giving our industry a bad name by calling themselves professionals and not conducting themselves in that manner. As I tell all brides, do your research, get referrals and look beyond price. As for we professionals, we owe it to ourselves and our industry to conduct ourselves in a proper manner and politely point out those who do not. We also need our photo industry associations and wedding industry publications and associations to stress the need for working with a solid professional and not settle for less.
Since 1995, our founders Mark and Leslie Zucker have applied their rigorous personal standards for excellence to everything Zookbinders. The professional photographers we have been so fortunate to work with (and their satisfied clients) benefit from our cutting-edge products, time-saving services and above all, customer care. We'll do whatever it takes to preserve precious memories and help you tell personal stories well.
Spend less time in front of the computer and make more money doing what you do best. ZOHO Design has been creating award-winning album designs since 2002. In fact, they were the first to offer one-of-a-kind album design, and are the exclusive Zookbinders album design partner. With ZOHO Design layouts and hand crafted albums from Zookbinders you have the winning team on your side. Together we can help you work smarter – not harder – and truly stand out from the crowd.
Bigger Books at Less-than-Premium-Prices! The contemporary book of choice features lay-flat pages in larger sizes: up to 12x12 square, 9x12 vertical and 12x9 horizontal. more >
Increase your sales and delight your clients with new Framed Album Panoramas—the perfect complement to any album or PhotoBook. Available in a variety of square and rectangular sizes as well as three finishes. more >