Christmas is almost here!  Have you had a session in the past six months that you would like to use for your own personalized Holiday Cards? Take a look at the most recent templates for 2010.  Fonts, colors, and sayings are all adjustable!  Two sided flat cards on linen, pearl or watercolor paper are currently on sale if you purchase more than two boxes.  Cards come 25 per box and include envelopes.  Folded cards and the always fun “tri-folds and accordians” are also available.

Don’t have a past session to use?  Book now before December 4th to receive your cards in time for the holidays.

Interested in a “mini-session”? Well, good because I am too!  I have never tried mini-sessions before but I am up for it if you are.  Mini-sessions will be scheduled up to December 3rd.  Times are limited.  Call me if you are interested.

Mini Sessions will include a quick 30 minute session with one backdrop.  Group and individual portraits will be taken.  The fee is $225 and includes the session, two boxes of flat cards, 1 8×10, and 2 5x7s.  You will have approximately 10 proofed images to choose from.

]]> http://melissashelby.com/2010/11/christmas-cards-holiday-portrait-sessions-2010/feed/ 0 http://melissashelby.com/2010/02/solomon-sid-anchorage-portrait-photographer/ http://melissashelby.com/2010/02/solomon-sid-anchorage-portrait-photographer/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:06:36 +0000 Mel http://melissashelby.com/?p=1171

My anniversary was quickly approaching at the beginning of February and I had to come up with a surprise for Dave– pronto! I had just received some leather wallet samples with photographs bonded to the leather. These were surprisingly elegant and I thought a nice leather tri-fold wallet might make a nice gift. (Okay, I know what you are thinking. The perfect gift for Dave would be a new set of floats or some geeky techie stuff, but I really have limited resources!) Of course, that meant I needed a new photo of the boys- fast! On the last night that Dave was in Fairbanks, I hijacked the kids for a quick session right before bed! I knew I wanted a black and white image to print on the black leather and I knew their faces needed to be close together. The boys complied with about 15 minutes of some sort of cooperation and I ended up with a whole set of images that I just love!

I had so many cute photos that I decided to create a sample of the new accordion books that I’ve started offering, as well. These are really cute but much tinier than I expected! I’ve decided, because of their miniscule size, to include them as gifts for client’s that purchase a certain amount, rather than trying to sell them. They include about 8 to 10 images and they work great as refrigerator magnets or as little accordions to prop on your desk. They come in a group of three, which means they are perfect for sharing with the grandparents!

Below are some photographs of the design and of the actual books themselves.

New samples for 2010 are slowly but surely starting to roll in and I just received my first sample album of the year! It is beautiful! I tried a new album vendor so I’m always hesitant to see what kind of funky colors the prints end up looking like (you have no idea how many shades of magenta you never want to see!) Anyway, I had nothing to fear with this one! This album is beautiful! Yippee! The color was exactly what I was expecting and the craftmanship looks really well done.

This sample is the Fine Art Album. This style comes standard with Package III or can be an upgrade to the Coffee Table album included in Package II. The cover has three cameo photographs and is a duo-tone leather combination. The pages are thicker and sturdier than the basic coffee table album and for this sample I chose a linen texture. I love it! The album comes with it’s own black storage box and slipcover to keep everything protected and in perfect condition.

Below are a few photos and I also included some shots of it next to a coffee table album to give you a feel for the differences.  These pages are perfect for designing full page spreads across the center line without significant image loss.  The transition is smooth and almost indistinguishable!

A couple of new portrait books came in and I just had to share! They include a newborn studio session, an outdoor family portrait session and a Christmas session of my boys for their grandparent’s yearly gift.

I love portrait books! They contain so, so, many images from your entire session that I feel they are one of the best ways to capture all the great moments from a photoshoot.

No, they are not cheap!  But imagine all the custom work that goes into designing and tailoring each book to your specific family and photo session.  All books contain a minimum of 20 pages.  They typically include about 25 images.  Calculate the price of purchasing 25 edited images individually and you can begin to see the real value.

Each image is fully edited and additional processing goes into matching the colors and tones of mutlitple images on a page.  The design can be basic white with crisp and clean transitions or a more modern feel with current design elements.

My parents now have four books.  When I spoke with them on Christmas day they told me they pulled out all their old books and were comparing and contrasting the changes in the kids to the new book they just recieved.  It made me laugh because I couldn’t imagine that I had actually remembered to give them books for the past four years straight!

Portrait books come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  My favorite is actually the 8×8 which is small enough to carry in your purse but big enough to have a panoramic print or two traversing the 8×16 inch full spread!  All of the books that I print now for our Grandparents are of the 8×8 inch variety.  It seems to be the universal favorite for layout and portability without losing the size of the image!

As a new product for 2010, I am also including mini-books.  They are approximately 3.5×5 or 5×5 inches and look similar to accordian cards but with an attached hard cover on both the front and back.  Because of their small size, the products only contain about 10 images and come in quantities of three.  More details on the mini-books with sample photos coming soon!

While in Alabama I’ve been researching every type of Album company I can find. I’ve finally settled on three great great vendors that I am very excited about. I just received my first small album with panoramic spreads and I’m thrilled about the opportunities for this style. It is a beautiful excellently crafted piece that is great for an engagment album or parent album. The pages are thick and sturdy just like a flush mount wedding album but the press printed style allows the album to be offered at a more exciting price. Sizes, however, are limited up to 8 inches square. The paper can be linen, pearl, or semi-gloss and the full page spreads are gorgeous. I am seriously digging this book!