Yesterday I had a good friend of mine stop by our location to pick up a nice order he had placed for Canvas Gallery Wraps of his children. My friend had ordered 29 16×20 or larger to decorate his house with, and after my many grateful thanks, we talked about the pictures he had captured and some of the problems we had in printing them.  When he initially emailed his files to me, many were low resolution, so we had to track them back to the original files.  Others were GREAT shots of his children, but they were shot too tight to allow for the gallery wraps, so we were forced to apply a colored border for the edges of the prints so we did not wrap the subjects of the prints. (see example below)

My friend told me he was excited to hang these prints down at the beach, the same location many of the prints were taken, and I told him to prepare for his future prints and his Christmas Cards.  My buddy is also nice enough to allow Mastercolor to print his Holiday Card each year, and in each year we run into the resolution problems, and the cropping problems so I told him to PREPARE for them.

After my friend left I found myself singing the annoying song from “HOODWINKED”, “Be Prepared” in my head.  This cartoon was a constant at my house two years ago, and my kids pulled it out this past Memorial Weekend when my they took a break from the sun and the quick rain shower one afternoon.   As you can tell from the song title, the theme of this song is to “be prepared”.  So how does this relate to a Blog on a photography website?  Well most of the prints you see displayed at a family’s home are from their summer vacations, or activities that they did outside when the weather was nice.  Of course there is the random “snow” picture or “leaves from Fall ” but the majority of the prints people save and later use are taken in the summer, so BE PREPARED.

Be prepared to use these images later.  Be prepared means backing them up properly (see my earlier blog), but in a nut shell :

1. save your original files twice a month (minimum) from your camera’s card to your computer.
2. Copy those files to a external hard drive,
3. and for the really cautious, burn your files annually to two sets of DVD’s and keep them in separate locations.

I know this sounds over the top, but explain that to another friend of mine who recently lost his hard drive.  His I.T. person compounded the problem and erased what little data there was, and now he is left with only his hard copies.  Which brings up a very valid point, PRINT YOUR PICTURES, and if you do we hope that you will upload your files to Mastercolor using our ROES software.

Be prepared when shooting your images. With digital photography it is so easy to crop when printing so PLEASE, take two steps back before you capture your image, I promise with today’s cameras you will not lose any of your resolution on your print  when increasing your field of capture this little bit.  Taking two steps back when shooting  will allow you to  create the extra space needed when framing, allow for the area needed for a Giclee Canvas Wrap, allow you to position and crop in your Holiday card, and overall create a more eye pleasing photograph.  Please keep in mind these basic tips are not for professionals, just those wanting to shoot like one.

Be Prepared means, TAKE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU!  If you don’t have a camera to capture the fun memories as they happen, it will be hard to share them later with your friends and family.  Look for our end of the Summer Holiday Card special.  For a limited time you will be able to save 25% on our already low prices on folded cards.  Don’t wait for the seasonal rush, have your cards printed in advance and save on time, frustrations and MONEY!

“Be prepared, be prepared….. unless you gotta sparrrrrreeeeeee”

It is the single most common mistake we see when new photo editors start playing with their images.  Let me start by saying ” I don’t blame them”, whenever you bump up the contrast is makes your image burst of the monitor.  The adjustments to your new file will also “burst” off the page, literally.  One of the biggest short comings in this digital photo world we live in is that your printed matter will never match your monitor perfectly.  As printers we can get very close but nothing will every have the brilliance in illuminated colors like you see in your monitor, and transparencies are the next closest thing.  However, most of us do not have large light boxes on the walls of our home to display our prints.  Let’s get back to the problem at hand:  Adjusting your contrast will really brighten your picture on the screens and give your image that pop and look as to be razor sharp, but what it really has done is made the lighter areas lighter, and the darker areas darker, and the mid tones are forced to go one direction or the other.  The final result with all of this is typically “hot spots” or areas that look pure white, and what has really happened is that when you turned up the contrast you have taken what little digital information there was in the lighter areas and thrown it away, “POOF” they are gone, and once you have saved the file this way, there is no bringing them back, even if you try decreasing the contrast after you have received your unsatisfactory prints. If you have Photo Elements or Photoshop there is a video here showing me editing the same images listed below: http://www.mastercolorcanvas.com/helpfulvideos.html It is really very simple to do this adjustment:

1. Open your original file in Photoshop
2. Go to “Image” on your tool bar and scroll to “Adjustments”
3. Select “Levels” and the histogram of your color balance will appear

Once your “Levels” control panel is open it is simple to make the adjustment that will give your image that extra snap, but yet maintain the “hot” or heavily lit areas of the photograph.  Notice your Histogram looks like a “wave”.  Start by simply moving the triangle under the right side of the histogram to the left so that it is just inside the “wave”, next do the same with the left side triangle, moving it to the right so it is just inside the wave.  The left side of the histogram represents the dark tones of the image and the right side the lighter tones.  After you have done the extremes, move the triangle in the middle to adjust the mid tones.  You can play with moving each and then clicking the “preview” square in the bottom right corner.

The histogram above is not a perfect model, the perfect histogram will resemble  more of a “bell curve”, but the sample above does show that even in a really dark picture you can bring back the detail in most areas that were dark, but yet not “blowing” out the white areas.

If you use this method of correction, I know you will be happier with the results!

Well every Fall it’s the same task at hand, ” What to do with the kids on their Fall Break”?  Normally we are a beach loving family, but two years ago my kids urged us to go to Tweetsie Railroad, and as a kid trapped in an adults body…. I was quick to want to go after a 35 year hiatus.  We loved it! I think it was even better than it was when I was seven years old,  but as quickly as my kids brought back the youthfulness of my childhood… they snatched it right back this year; “We’re to old to go to Tweetsie.”  My heart broke. This year we decided to do a little hiking and cycling, so we headed to Blowing Rock North Carolina  to climb Grandfather Mountain and enjoy the near by “Virginia Creeper Trail.”  The weather could not have been more perfect on our drive up on Saturday from Greensboro.  Two and a half hours of watching the leaves turn from the dark greens of summer to the colors of a burning fire.  The changes in each mile and each altitude incline were obvious. But just as my kids yanked away my dreams of another round of Tweetsie, the guard at the Grandfather Mountain park brought our emotional high to a abrupt halt: ” “There is zero visibility on the bridge, and it it’s raining.”  The only thing that was falling faster than our excitement was the temperature after we ignored her warning.  After the half mile hike (all vertical), we arrived at the top.  She was correct on the visibility, but there was no rain, only the remaining blast of snow flurries that were steady before our arrival. However my daughter put it best when she said,  ”It’s cold, but it’s beautiful.” I knew if she could appreciate nature in these conditions, she would love where we were headed the following morning. After an early dinner at Pssghettis, (www.pssghettis.com), we decided to turn it in early to get our rest so we could tackle the Virginia Creeper. “From it’s beginning as a Native American foot trail to it’s current use as a multiple use recreational trail, the Virginia Creeper Trail has seen many changes in 100+ years of existence. In the early 1900’s, the trail was used as a rail line to haul lumber and passengers from Abingdon, VA to Elkland, NC (Now Todd, NC). A one-way trip of over 35 miles that will find you passing over 100 trestles and bridges. The Virginia Creeper Trail provides 35 mile passage through southwest Virginia’s mountains well suited for hiking, horseback riding and bicycling, as well as a convenient path to many great fishing locations. The Creeper Trail received its name for the methodical way the train moved up the gradual incline to the top of the mountain.  We reserved our Bicycles weeks in advance from  THE BIKE STATION (www.thebike-station.com), and we are certainly suggest you do the same during the “changing of the leaves.”

The Virginia Creeper is not for the avid mountain biker, unless they choose to do it backwards (like some crazy fools do).  Not me, I was happy with my peddle twice and glide a mile or two before coming to the next snack break, and we took plenty.  We were not the only ones taking breaks.  The hardest part about the trail is avoiding all the other families taking their Holiday card photo, or the beautiful Fly Fishing scene that will become a canvas gallery wrap for their office.  The subject matter along the trails were endless: trees, leaves, streams, smiles, miles, birds, dogs, see-saws, churches, babies, families, beavers, deers and lots of bridges. It was the prettiest 30 miles of my life, and I got to share it with every member of my immediate family, I suggest you do the same…….and if you do, please take lots of photos and send them to Mastercolorlabs.com.