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”

Recently, I have started telling myself that I’m not old; thinking if I say it enough I will begin to believe it. So far, it hasn’t worked. Suddenly, for me, old age is not something over the hill anymore, it’s just around the corner and I’m wanting to head in the other direction. I don’t want to become my mother. I don’t want to have blue hair. I don’t want to drive slow and need to sit in a car seat to see over the steering wheel. Yet, things keep happening to me that make me feel as though it’s time to move to Florida and start swilling Metimucil. Just the other day, I was looking at all these cute clothes and realized that none of them would look cute on me. Not anymore, anyway. They are designed for women who don’t have wrinkly knees and whose stomach is actually smaller than their hips. That made me feel old. Then last night, my dear friend Katy and I were at a restaurant drinking a glass of wine lamenting that—yes, indeed, we were there for the early bird special. But such a deal—salad, entrée, dessert and a glass of wine for $20! Even with the cost savings, it was hard to forget the fact that we were eating dinner about the time we used to pick our kids up after school. I could feel my roots showing before we ordered dessert. Then, there’s the picture from last weekend’s football game. My sweet Sarah bought a new digital camera: one of those fabulous little Canon Powershots.
“Mom, let’s take a profile picture together.”
“OK,” I said, “I’m ready.”
Shutter snapped. Then a quick look at the back of the camera. Hilarious laughter ensued. “Mom. What are you doing in the picture?”

“I thought you wanted a profile picture,” I said.
“Mom. I meant a profile picture. You know for Facebook.”
Enough said. I am no longer young and cool enough to realize the current cultural definition of a profile picture.
I’m changing my screen name to “Whistler’s Mother.”

R Clark

By far the most popular and growing style of prints that we make. Gallery Wrap Giclee prints are perfect for every subject that you can capture with your digital camera, or create through photoshop.   When Mastercolor first started printing on Canvas it was mostly for Bridal portraits and landscapes.  Our customer base now ask for all subject to be printed as a Gallery Wrap, family vacations, graduations, maternity, abstract art…it all looks great as a Gallery Wrapped Giclee print. I think one of the main reasons people have found this so popular is the amount you save on framing.  If you take the cost of the frame for a standard photographic print, add it to the cost of the print and BAM!  you are now in the Ball Park of what your cast is for a Gallery Wrapped print.   Ever tried one?