Lush Albums Blog

Keeping it all Together – Lush Albums Binding Process

December 3, 2015 Leave a Comment

We truly believe that Lush Albums created by Finao are one-of-a-kind albums that are worthy of your one-of-a-kind photographs. Every album is thoughtfully crafted with care by a team of artisans. From cover to cover, literally, each album is made with uncompromised quality.

One of the most important features of the album is its binding. Today we wanted to share some valuable information about the Finao binding process and the difference it makes to your images and your album.

Bridging the Gap

Finao uses a “folio” style of construction. Folio construction means that the pages lay flat, eliminating the gap from one page to the next. Old-fashioned coffee table books without a folio style have thinner pages that are stitched or stapled together. Because of the way they are bound together so tightly, the books can’t lay flat. Each image is forced to bend at the inside margin. It’s impossible to have an image cross pages because of the deep gutter where the pages meet.

With Finao’s folio construction, you’re not losing any of your image in the center. This construction technique eliminates the gap between one page and the next. When the book is open, the pages lay beautifully flat. This allows your stunning images to flawlessly cross from one page to the next. There’s no ugly gap in the middle you have to design around. This construction provides a seamless panorama, providing an album worthy of your work.

What’s Inside Matters

Each album is both animal-friendly and environmentally-friendly, crafted with pure-quality, all-natural photo glue. The matte pages are strong and sturdy, made from 100% plant-based cellulose. The album is supported by a thick spine. When the album is open, the spine lays flat, supporting the pages and displaying the images beautifully. It keeps everything together with no sagging or skewing of the pages. This strength and support will preserve the quality of your album for years to come.

There is a difference when it comes to binding, and the quality that Finao provides is without compromise. Each Lush album is designed with quality and care, we know that the binding is so important.

Happy Thanksgiving from Lush Albums

November 26, 2015 Leave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends here in the US!

For many, today is a day of reflection, gratitude and giving. We wanted to say thank you for visiting Lush Albums and for your support to building a more eco-friendly and sustainable album, also for believing in our commitment to Beautiful Together and for supporting families of all kinds.

To show you our thanks, we have a few specials to share from our trusted partners Fundy Design Software & Tamara Lackey Photography for the Holiday weekend.

FUNDY DESIGN SOFTWARE

Fundy Designer’s Black Friday sale will be the biggest this year! Get unbelievable deals on Album Builder, Gallery Designer, Blog Collage and Image Brander from 11/26-11/30 only: fundydesigner.com/store

TAMARA LACKEY PHOTOGRAPHY

Kids Posing Playbook is $30 off with code: BLACKFRIDAYTLP30

Family Posing Playbook is $5 off of current sale with code: BLACKFRIDAYTLP5

How Using Email Effectively Can Help Grow Your Portrait Photography Business

November 19, 2015 1 Comment

We, as photographers, might tell our clients’ stories through pictures, but written and verbal communications are also essential to the work we do. Without top-notch verbal communication skills, we couldn’t put our clients at ease to capture them at their best. Those initial emails with a prospective client or the prompt follow-up email to a repeat customer can build and sustain a thriving business.

Connecticut-based photographer, Anna Sawin, has been helping other photographers compose effective emails since her days as a public relations officer, and she took time with us to explain how email can be used to efficiently grow a photography business.

Who are you and what do you do?

After years of writing speeches and letters for executives in higher education and the pharmaceutical world, I now spend my days photographing families and weddings on the New England shoreline.

But with my background in communications, I had become the unofficial go-to letter writer for my photographer friends and their sticky client situations. Penning these kinds of letters on a regular basis told me there was a need for my first product, the Wedding Photographer’s Inbox Solution. Adding those email templates to my own collection of photographer’s marketing materials, workflows, questionnaires and client correspondence grew into the launch of Pencil & Lens.

After launching products aimed at wedding photographers, the portrait photographers got in touch. They wanted their inbox solution too! It was my great pleasure to release the Portrait Photographer’s Inbox Solution, Volume 1 this fall. It’s a digital download collection of more than 30 email templates for the portrait photographer, from first inquiry to file delivery. I plan to follow up with Volume 2 and 3 in the winter months, dealing with some of the stickier client questions we all face as portrait photographers, from pricing to reshoots to RAW files and more.

Why do you think using email effectively can help grow your portrait photography business?

As a business owner, your success and reputation is influenced by the style, quality and grace of your client communication. None of us became photographers so we could answer an endless stream of emails from clients, relatives of clients and wedding vendors, but…they keep coming. And they all need a prompt, courteous and well-written response. Future clients will judge our words before they’ve met us, and in some cases, before they’ve seen a single image.

And if you only photograph pets and you get an inquiry for wedding photography? Well, if you’ve answered them quickly and courteously, they might just remember you and your exceptional customer service when it comes time for their puppy portraits.

You’ve all had the experience of a client saying “Great job today!” before they’ve seen a single frame, right? Because you wowed them with your professionalism, your on-the-spot problem solving and your ability to make it easy and comfortable for them, right? You might not even have had a memory card in your camera, but they’re ready to write you a positive review because of how you made them feel about you and your business. Writing professional email messages is the same thing. Since so much of our communication with clients happens via the written word, well-written words are one the best tools a portrait photographer can use to promote and grow their business.

Can you give us an example of a snippet or a story where email saved a client relationship?

A classic example of how an email can help save a client relationship might be the “more for less” client. You know the one. Perhaps you offer 15-minute mini-sessions designed for that one awesome holiday card photo, and your language clearly speaks to this kind of session as best for kiddos over 2. But then once mom has booked the appointment, she casually mentions she’ll also be looking for “just a few” newborn shots during this outdoor mini-session in November, oh, and the family dog is coming as well.

An email response to her here will do three things:

Manage her expectations about what you can reasonably accomplish in the current terms of the session;
Advise her on her choices to resolve her ambitious goals (i.e., schedule a separate session for the newborn, book a double mini-session or a full session to accommodate the extra requests) and;
Remind her firmly and graciously that you are the expert. In other words, you aren’t willing to wing it, you know how this will turn out if you let her show up with unrealistic expectations, and you are kindly advising her on what will and will not work.

Can you give an example of a tough situation faced by a portrait photographer that may be answered by having an email template?

Sure—a really common one that comes up with repeat customers is when you’ve raised your prices. Having a graceful way to say it can make things go far more smoothly with your future relationship with this client.

Another scenario would be about dissatisfaction—perhaps the client doesn’t like how he or she looks, or how the children look in the photos. Addressing and validating their concerns with both email correspondence and verbal communication can go a long way towards solving the problem.

Thank you, Anna, for these very insightful and thoughtful points!

If you’re ready to answer all those emails clogging your inbox or you need to reach out to a prospective client, check out Anna’s email templates for download on her Pencil & Lens website.

And feel free to contact us for your album needs, we love to communicate by email as well! 🙂

All About: Beautiful Together

November 12, 2015 Leave a Comment

Every time you create an album with Lush, 10 percent of the proceeds go to Beautiful Together, the charity that Tamara Lackey started to raise money and awareness for orphaned children waiting for families. Ten percent might not seem like much, but part of the Beautiful Together philosophy is that even the smallest things can be the spark that effects change in people’s lives.

The mission for Beautiful Together is to identify and complete specific projects that improve the day-to-day lives for orphaned children living in the United States and Africa.

Over the summer, Tamara and her family visited the Kidane Mehret Orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on behalf of Beautiful Together. While they were there, they managed to finish the planned bathroom renovations, as well as completing an unplanned printed portrait gallery (Tamara’s BEST Gallery Opening Ever!) of all the children in the orphanage, many of whom had never seen a printed photo of themselves. Tamara came home inspired and with many other projects in mind to be completed.

Beautiful Together didn’t wait long to implement new campaigns, and started fundraising immediately for the Safeguarding the Orphanage project, even before Tamara returned to the States. It was fully funded relatively quickly, ensuring a safe playground for these deserving children. Learn more in the video below.

Most recently, they just reached a major goal when the project to light classrooms and provide computers at the orphanage also received full funding. A solid education in a safe environment is the best chance these children, especially the older ones, have for a bright future.

The current three classrooms at the orphanage school are poorly lit; electricity is unreliable and prohibitively expensive for the school. The Education Center computers are inoperable. The money raised will install solar panels to provide energy to light the classrooms and provide updated computers and tablets for the Education Center. You can see how dark the classrooms are in this video:

They also have another project in the works in which Beautiful Together is partnering with Life to Live for Korah. This Feeding Fund will raise money for the supplies necessary to sustain the feeding program for orphaned children in the Korah community. One hundred percent of the donations to this fund go to food and supplies. Tamara was in Korah during her last trip to Ethiopia, and got to see firsthand the incredible work of the feeding program founded by Korah native Cherenet Gullene.

Korah was built around a leper colony, but the community has grown to more than 120,000 people. Most of them live in poverty. The word korah actually means ”cursed,” but the people who live there have an incredible spirit. Feeding the orphaned children of that community is an essential way to put those children on track to grow up with the chance to strengthen their community. Tamara put together another video to share more:

Interested in learning more? Visit the Beautiful Together website to learn more about ongoing projects. You can donate directly to projects on the site, and we appreciate any and all assistance!

Also, know that every time you design a beautiful album from Lush that you are giving just by doing what you love. Contact us to learn more!

Fun Photo Manipulations – A Guest Post from Monica Day

November 10, 2015 1 Comment

We are so honored to have Monica of Monica Day Photography share her fun photo manipulations tutorial on the blog today!

Have you seen these crazy caricature photos around? I posted one on my social media accounts and people went crazy! I decided to share how I did this. This is something fun I like to do every now and then. As with anything, there are TONS of ways to do this. I’ll show you my way which I think is super easy. Have fun!!

The first thing I do is start with a good, well-lit photo. You want the background to be free of distractions as well. I shot both of these photos. One is my husband that I took while he was helping me test light. The other is my passport photo. I took my own passport photo…lol. I have to say it but you should already know…use only photos that you took. Don’t manipulate another photographer’s photo unless they’ve given you permission. Also, if you’re doing this for a friend, tell them to refer to the US Passport site to figure out how to take a decent photo for this.

Here’s what these 2 photos looked like to start with:

Yes…that pic of me is awful…lol.

1. The first thing I do is open the image in Photoshop. Yes…I know you may have figured that out but I am one that likes to be thorough. I go in and remove any major blemishes. Since the final product is going to be really smooth I don’t mind going overboard on the blemish removal. I remove lines, wrinkles, etc. You also want to make sure the background is cleaned up nicely in this step. Notice that I changed the color of my background in one of the images. I do that last.

2. Now I work on my contrast. Look for highlights and shadows in the face. Your goal is to exaggerate these. Use your curves and levels to do this. Create a different layer for darks and a different layer for lights.

3. Now I smooth out the skin. I go overboard here. If you have software that smooths skin then feel free to use it. If you use actions, go for it. If you like using frequency separation then go for it. You can also do a surface blur. That’s my favorite to use in these types of photos. I like to do a surface blur after I’ve done my normal skin smoothing.

4. Here’s where the fun part starts. There’s really no rule to it. Note that if you make a fun expression you can get more dramatic effect. I like to start by enlarging the head and slimming the neck. That gives it a real cartoony caricature look. I also manipulate the eyes and the head shape.

5. Crop your image and save.

We love it! Thank you again, Monica, for sharing with us!

Did you create some fun caricatures with Monica’s tutorial? Share them with us on our Facebook page!

How to Help your Clients Choose the Right Album for Them

November 5, 2015 Leave a Comment

Purchasing a photo album as part of a professional photography session can be overwhelming for many clients. Usually, you, as the photographer, need to help guide your clients into seeing the value of having such an heirloom-worthy keepsake—especially as it exists to tell their personal story at the moment you captured.

Luckily, clients, particularly moms, are becoming more knowledgeable about the importance of getting more than just digital files. There is a meme floating around on various social media sites:

“The most photographed generation will have no pictures in 10 years.”

We think it helps clients to understand the consequences of not having printed images.

To help build your album-selling toolkit, we have 3 tips to help you find the right album for your clients.

Color Swatches

We can’t stress how important it is to have a set of color swatches on-hand for the line (or lines) of albums you will be selling. Having a printed card from the manufacturer is vital, because just printing colors off of a website may result in inaccuracies that can disappoint your client when the actual finished album comes in a shade off.

Bonus point for having a swatch set that includes actual fabric type samples. Having a tactile object for your clients to touch and handle is invaluable. You can find the full Lush Albums swatch card here.

Sample Albums

Going beyond just the swatch by having an actual sample album on hand may make the difference between a sale or not. While we highly recommend in-person sales sessions, sample albums are portable enough that you can bring them on your actual shoots. That way, when you are off spending time with part of the family, Mom can be browsing through the books to see what they look like.

Sample albums with your images are the most effective, but if you are just starting out or cost is a consideration, having a pre-designed sample album on hand still has tremendous value. Lush Albums offer pre-designed sample albums with images by Tamara Lackey for 33% off, as well as a 25% discount on ones you design yourself.

Predesign Album Pages

The hardest part for a client to translate a session into an album is when they are faced with a few hundred (or thousand) images on a computer screen. We recommend using a tool like the Fundy Album Designer to predesign album pages to show during your ordering session or before delivering full client galleries if you choose not to do an in-person (or Skype) ordering session.

Seeing the possibilities, with the understanding that they can make changes where they see fit, can solidify the desire to have this in their homes to display.

With these tools, you are equipping your clients to make the most informed decisions about whether an album would be right for them, and you can show them just how beneficial that physical reminder of their memories can truly be.

Feel free to reach out at anytime, we are happy to help you create the best way to showcase your work in Lush Albums.

Discussing Online Proofing Galleries for Photographers

October 29, 2015 1 Comment

When it comes to designing an album for your clients, one of the best ways to put it together is by giving your clients some power to decide which proofs they want. Online Proofing Galleries are great tools you can use for this task, because you and your clients can easily work together without even needing to be in the same room. We caught up with blogger, photographer, educator, and speaker Scott Wyden Kivowitz to get his take on using online proofing systems. Scott is also the “Community and Blog Wrangler” for Imagely, which creates WordPress products such the NextGEN Gallery plugin and the Photocrati Theme.

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Online Proofing Gallery for Photographers”?

The first thing that comes to mind is a simple way for photographers to gather “picks” from their clients. Simple is the most important word in that statement, because there are many proofing solutions, but not all are easy or pretty for the photographer or the client.

Do you feel that online proofing is now standard and expected for photographers to offer?

I’m still an advocate for online galleries to be used in conjunction with in-person sales methodologies whenever possible. For example, wedding photographers can easily offer both in-person and online proofing options. However, with commercial and landscape photography, in-person sales sessions are far less common. No matter the genre of photography, clients expect something online. So I guess you can say it’s a standard.

What options are available?

There are two platforms that pop into my head right away. The first is for WordPress users and it’s the NextGEN Pro plugin which is made by the company I work for: Imagely. With it, photographers can offer password protected (or not) proofing galleries for clients to pick from. The photographer then receives a very easy list of the images to be found in their photo catalog software, like Lightroom.

For photographers not using WordPress, I recommend checking out ShootProof. It also offers an easy solution for proofing galleries. ShootProof is among the most popular non-WordPress solutions for proofing, and it’s easy to see why.

How are clients best served by photographers using these programs?

The best part of proofing solutions for clients is that they can do it on their own time, from the comfort of their couch or bed. They don’t have to rush into a meeting somewhere, or drive far away.They can choose what they want the photographer to do and potentially send any custom requests or notes. That’s an amazing thing.

How does having online proofing help design better albums? (Assuming you think it does!:))

Many photographers will go ahead and create an album proof for clients before the client even looks at the photographs. That’s a great tactic to sell more albums. When adding a gallery for clients to pick from, the photographer then has an opportunity to improve the album proof that was created, because the client might prefer a different photo over what was already chosen for them.

Where do you think the future of proofing for photographers is headed?

I see the proofing process getting easier and easier. I also see many photographers leaving third-party services in favor of self-hosted solutions. That’s for multiple reasons like full ownership and branding and less associated fees for the photography business to pay for.

If you want to learn more about Scott, check him out on his website at https://scottwyden.com. For more info about Imagely go to www.imagely.com.

Want more information about Lush, and how we can help you create beautiful portrait albums for your clients? Visit us on our website here!

The Family Posing Playbook for Photographers by Tamara Lackey

October 22, 2015 Leave a Comment

Not everyone was born to be in front of the camera. In fact, we are willing to bet a majority of your clients are a bit uncomfortable when the lens is trained on them, especially if it’s their first time sitting for a family session.

As the photographer, it’s up to you to put your clients at ease so that instead of slightly uncomfortable frozen faces, you get shots with bright eyes, big smiles, and people who are relaxing in their natural habitats. Directing your clients well and helping them into the right poses will result in wonderful portraits pretty much every single time.

You’re dealing with all sorts of different personalities at the same time when it comes to photographing families. Maybe you’ve got one rambunctious kid, one shy kid, a too-serious mom, and a nervous dad—all in one session. That can be a recipe for disaster or a perfect opportunity for some fun and lighthearted moments, but it all depends on you—the photographer—and your level of comfort with any situation that may arise.

Tamara Lackey and our team at Tamara Lackey Studios recently published the Family Posing Playbook for Photographers that you can purchase for download and use as a learning tool to increase your skill and confidence when you are out shooting family sessions. This playbook also includes a separate and condensed Quick Reference Guide that you can take with you when you’re on location.

Photo by Stacey Stricklin, shot at the San Francisco Portrait Photographer’s Workshop

In the guide, we provide detailed posing instructions from experiences that Tamara has encountered in real life. She articulates what wasn’t working and what she did about it.

An excerpt from her introduction to the guide gets more in-depth:

When I first wrote The Posing Playbook … for Kids Who Don’t Do Posing, I tried to incorporate all of the main things to consider when posing children. There are often a few factors to consider: location, lighting, styling, interaction, mood, expression and, of course posing. The most prominent issue with that last factor, posing, being rather interesting as most kids don’t really do posing.

Guess what: families don’t really do posing, either. But even as people aren’t often professional models, they are often amenable to being moved this way and that. So, how do you adjust them to showcase them as flatteringly as possible and keep their expression fresh so you can showcase them as attractively and as naturally as possible—while also keeping the shot well-framed, well-lit and showing off what matters the most: who they genuinely are at heart, and how they belong to each other?

This book, like my original one for just kids, is all about creating a reference book of past “wins”—challenges I’d faced and how I was able to resolve them to produce attractive and natural-looking poses using a variety of techniques, which I share in detail, along with before and afters, metadata, what lighting I used, and any interpersonal techniques I utilized to shift the mood or refresh expressions. I also share any interactions I may employ in certain situations—and any other helpful technical information that could come into play in that scenario or any others like them. This comes complete with bullet points to quickly reference the main considerations of each pose.

The other common feedback I received over time from The Posing Playbook … for Kids Who Don’t Do Posing was that people tended to read it as a regular book first, starting at the beginning and reading clear to the finish, then they would reference it afterwards as an on-the-go by mobile app, gaining inspiration for poses and references suggestions of things that could help. I realized that since I did the same thing, referenced poses while in the midst of a shoot, that it’d be helpful to collect all the posing suggestions as a separate mini reference guide for this new book, complete with helpful bullet points but not the detailed text, which could always be referenced later in more detail in the main Family Posing Playbook.

The guide also includes:

Befores and afters
Metadata
Lighting configurations
Interpersonal techniques
Metering
Interactions

We hope you bring the Family Posing Playbook, or at least the new Quick Reference Guide, with you on your next shoot so that you can feel confident you will have a successful session, then be able to turn those images into a beautiful family album.

And, just like your Lush Albums purchases, 10 percent of the proceeds of the posing playbook go to Beautiful Together, a nonprofit Tamara created that works to help improve the quality of life for children waiting for families.

Download the Family Posing Playbook today, and be on your way to creating more beautiful albums