I am a photographer so of course I have a LOT of photos of my family. That is not to say I have a lot of photos of my family hanging in my home for all to see. So I was thinking I would remedy this with a few holiday gifts this season. Take a look at the gifts below that you could give to your loved ones this year.
Prints. Prints. Prints. I am a huge fan of Pinterest and love photo collages! Maybe take photos from this past years family photo session and cluster them in your living room. You can create one large canvas, two to three prints framed together or even cluster a bunch of smaller frames. Have a commonality like “all black and white images” or “all red frames.” This will not only draw attention to the photos but create some beautiful wall art in the process.
Personalize It Go to a craft stores to get some ideas. I like to take photos of my friends kids throughout the year and give them ornaments with photos of their own kids or for my parents, photos of their grandchild. You can also make mouse pads, mugs and calendars at most online printers. My girlfriend made me a photo mug a few years back of my now husband and me and I was so touched by her thoughtfulness. It is now a mug I cherish.
Create a Photo Book Did you travel to Italy on your honeymoon a few years back and still have no photos to show for it? Take some time to assemble a book online and personalize it to your partner. I am a huge fan of photo books, because otherwise your photos are just A.) Sitting on an SD card. B.) Floating around on social media or C.) Taking up space on your external hard drive. Show them off in a beautiful album.
Where to Print There are so many printers out there so really you will have to find one that works for you. In the past I have had really great luck with Costco but I also had my monitor calibrated to their printer. I also started getting photo books through My Publisher and although their quality was better than my experiences with Snapfish or Shutterfly I was overall unimpressed by their lack of customer service. If you want superior quality with archival inks and materials I highly recommend MPix Pro. If you are not a professional you could try MPix, as it is the Old Navy to the Banana Republic.
Holiday Deadline Try to get your online print orders in during the first two weeks of December or better yet before that. Every company has a different cut off date for their products and often albums, prints and canvases will all have different cut off dates. So if you need something in time for the holiday, try to plan ahead as much as possible.
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(202) 681-9848
http://www.shotinthedarkphoto.com/
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