DGN Photography in Columbus, Ohio – newborn, maternity, baby, child, family, wedding photographer, senior pictures

On Monday, I went to a studio lighting workshop here in town, and we worked on some lighting techniques.  These are some shots with the model they provided, named Jeremy.  (Normally the people I photograph don’t have unbuttoned shirts and boxers peeking out   They decided to have a male model because the women photographers outnumbered the men…

His hair actually stays put in that flippy style, I wonder how much hairspray is in it…

I was linked to this web site today called Professional Child Photographer . com and it really struck a chord with me.  I go around in circles a lot of times with friends and family about why I do things the way that I do them when it comes to working my photography business.

Basically, my goal is to give people everything of the highest quality that I can give them (ok, there are some limits). Anyone can snap a bunch of ‘pics’ … I am practicing all the time with my camera, studying photography in books and online, I go into a situation and analyze what direction and quality the light is, where would be the best placement of things, how to pose people so they look their best, and I work my camera in manual mode so that I get the results that I want.  With good looking photos to start with, I then enhance them in Photoshop and use my artistic eye as well as lots of learning and practice to get the effect I’m going after.

So if you want a good explanation of why custom photography is expensive, please read that article.  It will be very enlightening!

A while ago, I tried out Blurb to make a book. This was when they just had dust jackets, but now they  have image wraps.  Their novel idea is to not charge per page, so they charge one price for 0-40 and another for 41-80 (and more, but I can’t see any of my books having more pages than that).  This book that I made has 61 pages, because I wasn’t paying per page.

I’m not a huge fan of the dust cover, but it does look nice. (Provided no one rips it). If I try another Blurb book, it will definitely be their image wrap.  Underneath the dust cover, the cover is plain black.  I had no idea what to write for the inside of the dust cover, so I just babbled about Maylie there.

Their templates with words are a bit more geared towards and actual book that is about something, not really for a photo album with captions.  And the layout wasn’t the best for what I wanted it for, but that was my own fault, I certainly could’ve designed my own pages.

The pages are definitely thinner than Shutterfly or Winkflash, but it’s an acceptable thickness.  The binding looks like it’s stitched instead of glued, and the cover easily opens all the way, so I don’t foresee it coming apart.

As you can see, the layout is kind of so-so for showing off your pictures.  At least with the amount of text I wanted to write in the book.  (I got the idea to write stories about the child in the book, anecdotes and things they’ve said, as well as milestones…)

The print quality for the photos is ok.  I’d say it’s on par with Shutterfly and Winkflash.  The text in the book is crisp and clear, but I didn’t have any full page spreads that I created, all the text was typed into their editor.  I’d say it’s an OK book.  I didn’t have problems creating it, and it’s put together fine.  I would order from them again (at least now that they have a custom cover instead of the dust cover).

Pricing (10×8 hardcover): (dust jacket) 0-40 pages – $29.95,  (imagewrap) $31.95. 41-80 pages (dust jacket) – $35.95, (imagewrap) $37.95.  I think they give you a good bang for the buck there.   I do like the size of shutterfly’s books better (it’s a little bit bigger and longer), but an 80 page book for less than $40 is pretty good.

Ok, now this has got to be the ugliest photo book ever.  I’m regretting even making it, I thought I’d be able to customize the cover, and then their customizations only had ugly templates.  And after I’d spent the time to design all the pages, I didn’t want to scrap them and go with a different company.  And I had an awesome coupon for Winkflash.

So anyway… don’t get a photo book there, even if you have a good coupon.  I’ll tell you why.

They don’t give a good preview of what the finished page will look like if you use their text and template.  I stupidly thought, “Well, we’ll see what it looks like afterwards, maybe it’ll be OK”.  No… no… it’s not ok.  That right there was the most attractive looking cover I could come up with, and that’s saying a lot. Their templates are hideous, and you don’t have the option to design your own cover.  You can put the title under the picture (in only one font choice, and only one size), and that’s about it.  And I paid a premium for it! I should’ve gone with the plain cover.

The cover is a plasticky material, slightly puffy.  In the binding you can see that the pages are stapled together for the binding.  Which I suppose is better than the glue in the Shutterfly book that’s coming apart, but for the price I’d expect something a bit better than staples.

That is one of the pages I designed. (I did use their template a couple times in the book… and they look the same as the cover for the most part, very uninteresting and IMHO pretty ugly).  If you’re going to design each and every page, it’s not so bad (other than the cover).

However, their java software was VERY painful to use.  If you upload all the pages all at once, you won’t have a problem.  But if you want to upload 4 at a time, design 4 more, upload 4 more… then the software will not update a folder with the new images.  You have to create a new folder for each upload, and go back and select it every time (at least on my Mac, I don’t know if IE on a PC would be different).  If you go back and select a catch-all folder, it won’t see the new images.  It took a lot of futzing around to complete the silly book.

And then there’s the printing.  I created each page to spec, and the text on the pages isn’t crisp, it’s grainy (more noticeable in the small text).  I create printed stuff all the time, and the text isn’t grainy, but it’s grainy in this book.   On the pages with their templates, that text is crisp, but then I’m pretty sure it’s not printed from a jpg either since they don’t give you a good preview of those pages.

I think the printing is better in the Shutterfly book.  The photos are a bit grainy too (you can see a dotted effect from the printing, so the photos are slightly fuzzy when on the monitor they were sharp).  If you’re just casually flipping through someone’s photo book you probably wouldn’t notice that, but I’m looking closely at the pages because I’m reviewing the books.

The pages are slightly shiny (nice) and they feel slightly thicker than Shutterfly’s pages (nice).  But other than that, I give this book a big thumbs down.  There are scads of other photo book companies out there, for a timeless memento, there’s no point in wasting your time with this place.  Poor Maylie has to suffer with a horridly ugly book for all eternity, don’t do that to your kids.

Pricing: 30.95 for up to 20 pages in a 10×8 book, 50c per additional page. $6.99 to ship the first book.  For a plain cover, it’s $18.95 for up to 20 pages, 50c each additional page, $6.99 to ship the first book.

I did my very first photo books through Shutterfly.  I only own one, but I’ve made 2 others for gifts.  The one that I have is the 8.5×11 classic photo book with the “suede-like” hard-cover and cut out window.  I’ve had this book for about 3 years now, and it’s gotten pulled off the shelf occasionally… the binding is starting to come undone (at the front cover, and first pages).

I am hoping that my other photo books fare better for the binding.  Other than that, the outer cover is nice. I’m still a big fan of the custom covers, and it looks like Shutterfly  now offers a couple options for those.  But the cut out cover looks really nice.  It opens up to a black page with the cut out, and then the first printed page, which I used for a title page.

Here’s one of the interior pages.  I used their layouts to save time (I usually get a coupon or sale in my email, then have to try to churn one out before it expires).   Shutterfly is my favorite consumer photo book company for their layouts.  The layouts are simple, look nice, and you’re not totally limited in what you can write for the captions (the text gets smaller the more you write). You can, of course, do more if you create your own layouts (using an imaging program like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, or the Gimp).

For the printing quality, the pages are not as thick as the professional book, but they aren’t too thin either.  If you look close at the pictures, you can easily see the dots from the printing.  The text from Shutterfly’s layouts is nice and crisp, and easy to read.  The skin tones on the people are good, provided the original photo had good color.  The printing on any of the photo books doesn’t look as nice as the printing on photographic paper (although the professional one comes close), but that comes just from the fact that the printing process for books is different.

For pricing, Shutterfly is currently having a 20% off Photo books sale until June 5.  A 20 page 8.5×11 hardcover photobook like mine would cost $29.99 for 20 pages (sides) plus $1 per additional page (regular price) and $8.99 for standard shipping.  This particular book has 29 pages, and it was actually hard to pare it down, I had to put more pictures per page.

It’s been awhile since I created a photo book through them, but their software was a java app that worked in the browser, and worked pretty well.  I don’t think it was too terribly hard to use.

If you’re creating your first photo book, and want to use pre-made templates, and have something that comes out looking nice, I’d go give Shutterfly a shot.

Tomorrow: I’ll review Winkflash’s photo books.

Update (Since people seem to be finding this post on Google):

A day or so after I posted this, I was contacted by Shutterfly (!!!!) with an offer to replace my photobook for free!  And they offered a free 8×8 storybook with custom cover to compensate for the shipping the old one back to them, and to try out their custom covers. So I have to say… their customer service is bar none.  I replaced that photo book, and ordered the 8×8 and I really love their templates.  The 8×8 one that I made looks beautiful.  (I haven’t had time to post an update with pictures).

I’m currently trying out MyPublisher (now that they have a Mac version), and another Blurb book.  Just in creating the books, I like Blurb’s prices (especially for the 100+ pages this is turning out to be) but their templates are ugly.  MyPublisher has very basic templates (not the beautiful backgrounds that Shutterfly has), but they have enough variety that I can put some horiz and some vert on a page, and their captioning was ok too.  I didn’t like their cover options.  I did like the 50% off coupon I had though, so my 99 page book that would’ve been $105, came to $60 with shipping.  The Blurb one will probably be about the same.  They would’ve been over $100 with Shutterfly, even with their 25% discounts for pre-buying books in quantities of 4.

So I’m still debating about whether I want to have beautiful books that I dont need to design each and every page (I -can-, I just don’t have the time to) but pay quite a bit more and go with Shutterfly, or have cheaper but not as pretty books with the other places.  From what I’ve seen with all the photo book vendors, that’s my choice, and that, is my big review of photo books.

I’m going to take the next few days to do a series of photo book reviews.  There are so many companies out there that will print photo books, it’s hard to know what one to go with.  Fortunately for you, I’ve made some good ones as well as some mistakes.  I will start with my professional quality coffee table book, just because I’m so in love with it.   Then the next few days I’ll review Shutterfly, Photoworks, Winkflash, and Blurb.  There are a few other popular brands out there, but I don’t have books from them.

If you don’t create photo books, you really should start.  (Or buy a special one from me ).  What is really nice about them is they take up SO much less space than the old photo albums with prints, and you have something hard copy that you can get out and show photos to people.  Plus, you can have text so you can explain the significance of the photos, and remember who the people in the photos are.   That’s why I make them for my kids, otherwise they’ll get to college or have their own kids and won’t have anything but stacks of CDs of their childhood photos.  I have a big bin of old slides from my mom, and I can tell you they don’t get brought out, ever. (I keep meaning to scan them in, but I’ve been “meaning to” for 8 or 10 years now).

So there it is.  You can choose between leather, faux leather, fabric, book jacket, or custom printed cover.  This is the custom printed cover.   I’m a big fan of the idea of custom printed covers… book jackets get torn or lost (at least they do at my house).

Compared to my other photo books, this custom printed cover is REALLY NICE.  The colors are true to the original photo, you can’t see any dots from their printer, the text is nice and sharp.  It’s got a matte sort of finish to it, and if it got a smudge, you could wipe it off.

Here are the inside pages.  The pages themselves are nice and thick.  This book has hinged pages, so it lays flat when open.  The colors are true to the original photos, and you have to look REALLY hard and hold it up to the light to even begin to see the grain from the printer.

There’s a close up!

And a close up of the cover.  The little bit of blur is from the camera angle (I’m a better portrait photographer than a product photographer!)

Isn’t it beautiful?  They’re going to have it on a table at their reception for guests to sign.  I wish they had these when I got married (7 years ago).   My wedding album is 5″ thick, and weighs a ton! (it is beautiful though).

Tomorrow: I’ll review Shutterfly’s photo book.  Stay tuned!

I have to admit, I get really tickled to get updates from clients.  They really make my day to get emails like this one:

Hi Dianna,
I just wanted to let you know I have given out so many of your business cards even to people I don’t know! I actually think my sister and cousin are going to use your for their kids pictures at some point.  Anyway I finally hung up all of Molly’s pictures and I wanted you to see what I did with them. They are above open steps to our downstairs.  It was difficult to hang (for Doug)ha but well worth it.  I love them! It’s like my little Molly shrine.  Some people may think I am obsessed with her pictures….I just say I am proud!! ha    By the way I love your blog I read it everyday before I go to work! Your pictures are amazing!
Lori

No, not crazy or obsessive, I need to get more on the ball and get more pictures of my own kids up on my walls.  I have this great picture that I had specially printed, framed myself even… and it’s still leaning up against a wall.  I have a goal to make a photo book for each of my kids for every year.  Maylie is 5 and has 2 books, Greg is 3 and has 2 books.  So I still need to make 3 more for Maylie and 1 more for Greg, and in 2 months Vivi will be a year and she’ll be due for her first year book.

Speaking of photo books, Christina & Brian, the couple whose engagement photos I shot a couple weeks ago, purchased a coffee table book, which I designed and had printed (much better quality overall than the cheap with coupon Shutterfly (and other brands) books I do for my kids… although I’m now reevaluating that because the color is all off and wonky in the consumer-grade books, but the color is GORGEOUS on the pro-grade book.  And for something for posterity that they’ll keep forever… it is probably worth it to spend the extra money for a really nice book. OK I’m rambling here).  Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow, do a comparison of photo books.

So if you’re curious, here is the layout of Christina & Brian’s engagement coffee table book.  They’re going to have it at their reception for people to sign (that’s what the white space on the pages is for).  The final book is beautiful. They’re going to love it (she’s picking it up tomorrow). My new web site will have pricing and such for the new products (coffee table books, gallery wrap canvases, custom photo bags, etc), but like that picture that’s leaning up against a wall still… it’s a work in progress!  (Of course I can send pricing, just email me to ask if you are interested.)

Vivi’s favorite thing to do is to take everything that’s on a shelf or in a box and throw it all over the floor, so my personal projects end up taking a backseat to picking up the potholders from the floor for the umteen zillionth time in a single day. That’s the joy of having a mobile baby…

On Memorial day, we had a family cookout thing to celebrate my husband’s birthday (which was actually today, May 29).  And on that day I took a bunch of pictures… at some point, I was very intrigued by the light coming through the bay window and hitting Vivi on one side of her face.

So I took a series that I call “side view baby in high chair” or maybe “baby smearing watermelon juice”.  Well this first one, I was playing with a shallow depth-of-field (that which makes the background go blurry).  I don’t remember what she was intrigued by…

And then, fun watermelon juice!  She was a watermelon fiend.  I have to chop the watermelon (and everything else) in bite size little bits, because she can bite huge hunks of things off with her 8 teeth, but has no molars to chew it once it’s in her mouth.  Here’s an interesting tidbit: she doesn’t like blueberries.  She’ll start to eat one, then spit the whole thing out.  We find that strange because the other 2 kids can eat a whole pint in one sitting between the two of them.

Oh and in honor of Daddy’s birthday, Vivi learned a lot of things today (she’s 10 months old).  She climbed up 3 stairs on her own (I have NOT been encouraging her to learn to climb stairs), she learned the sign for ‘milk’ (she also knows ‘all done’… I taught Maylie and Greg to do baby sign language when they were this age and older, it’s fun!).  She’s standing on her feet and one of these days is going to start walking, eep!!

I almost forgot to post something today, whoops!  I talked to my cousin Nathan today, who lives down in Virginia Beach.  They’re getting married next month and didn’t have a photographer lined up (low budget), so I offered to shoot their wedding, so now they do! They’re getting married on June 23 (a Monday).  should be fun!

I am looking forward to doing the 2 weddings in June, to actually have some full weddings in my portfolio.  I have a few shots that i took at various weddings over the years that I really like (they were all done with the bitty point  & shoot camera)

I was more interested in taking pictures of my kids, of course.  Here they are playing with the guest book.

Watching the bride get ready…

mmm cakes at every table…

And then the wedding on the beach… the flower girls playing in the sand…

There’s Nathan at the end at his sister’s wedding.  Now it’s his turn!

And then Adam and Lisa’s wedding… (that one was 3 years ago…)

Today I had a headshot session with a young boy who’s an aspiring actor… he is trying out to be on Hannah Montana.  He explained it to me but I don’t watch the show, I’m more impressed that Miley Cyrus is Billy Ray’s daughter… “don’t tell my heart, my achey breaky heart…”  Apparently his try outs are going fairly well, and all the acting professionals really like him.

His mom wasn’t sure what kind of headshot they wanted, so we did the school picturesque headshot:

And the bit more creative headshot:

But, that’s kind of boring.  They should be asking for the plethora of funny faces this guy can make.  He’s a trip.  I was trying to get a natural, non-posed looking smile, so told him to “make a mad face. make the happiest actor in the world face. make a tired face.  make a silly face.”  And boy, can he make faces.  Check these out, they’re hysterical.

He made some monkey faces too that were even funnier, but I didn’t capture them, since I was aiming for the laughs that come when he’s laughing at his own antics (course, I was laughing too).  I told him to remember the poor photographer when he’s rich and famous.