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Vol.2, No. 5, May. 2009 |
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If you are having problems viewing this page or the graphics please Click Here to view it in your browser or to visit our Blog Click Here. To view my Galleries of Geo-referenced photos from around the world Click Here. To view additional galleries Click Here. |
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To remove your name from our mailing list, please click here. Questions or comments? Email us at fhenstridge@henstridgephotography.com or call 951-679-3530 To view as a Web Page Click Here. Please visit our Web Site at http://henstridgephotography.com. © 2009 Fred Henstridge Photography All Photos, Images, Graphics and Text are the copyright of Fred Henstridge Photography. All Rights are Reserved. |
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After searching available hosting sites and printing services I have finally entered into a partnership with Zenfolio and Mpix. This is an advantageous service to my clients as I am now able to dramatically reduce the cost of prints. Not only have I reduced the cost of prints I have also added a full range of specialty items such as T-shirts, coffee mugs, canvas wraps, statuettes, full resolution digital downloads and a slew of other unique photo products.
I the past I have filled most of my print orders up to 13x19 from my studio using an Epson R2400 professional quality photo printer. This printer uses 8 ink cartridges and can produce beautiful color and black and white prints at a moderate cost. With this new partnership I can lower the costs of prints by a considerable amount. As an example the cost of a custom 4x6 print made in my studio is $6.00 (see our Custom Price List) and an 8x10 would cost $15.00. With this new partnership I can reduce the costs for a 4x6 to $1.95 and an 8x10 to $4.95 on Kodak Luster E paper. The major factors in lowering the costs are 1) reducing the time involved to create the custom print and set the cropping in Photoshop or Lightroom, and 2) the use of Mpix as a commercial lab.
Mpix is one of the premier commercial printing services in the United States. I have been using them for my fine art posters and large format prints for over three years and found them to offer the highest quality color and black and white prints. They even offer a very saturated metallic surface print. Through the use of this lab I can offer clients prints up to 24x36 inches. |
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Zenfolio is a Web hosting service where I will upload my client’s photos. The photos will be in password protected galleries where the client can select the photos the want to print and then choose the format, paper type and cropping. All the photos that I upload will be at full resolution so you will not have any problems obtaining a fine print up to 24x36 inches. There will also be galleries of my personal photos that will be available to the public in the form of prints and digital downloads. For the digital downloads you will have to accept the license agreement you be presented with during the checkout process. There are four possible licenses for the digital downloads. 1) a small file for use on your web site of Facebook page, 2) a full resolution file for your personal use, 3) a full resolution file for one time publication to 100,000 similar pages, i.e. a magazine and 4) a full resolution royalty free commercial license for stock photography. Don’t be concerned over the copyright watermark that shows over the gallery image. It will not be present in the licensed download.
Here is how it works. As the photographer I will contract with the client for a shooting session at an agreed upon fee. This fee will be paid at the time of the shooting session. Once I have acquired a series of digital images I will process these images in Adobe Lightroom and post them to the client’s personal password protected gallery. Once this is done I will send the client an E-Mail with a link to the gallery and the password. The client is free to share this link and password with whomever they wish. This is great for those distant friends and relatives. The client then reviews the posted images and selects those they wish to print or create specialty products from. These images will be added to the client’s Shopping Cart, just like any other online shopping service. During this selection process the client will select the print size and paper type. Once the client has completed their selections they will be asked to confirm the crop. As there are various formats and the digital image best fits a 1.5:1 ratio you will need to move the crop frame around to select the portion of the photo you want. You may also zoom in on any portion of the image. Once the crop is confirmed the client will continue the checkout process as they would in any other online store. The process is the same when ordering the specialty products such as calendars, puzzles, key chains, T-shirts, announcement and holiday cards.
There will be times when the client wishes a custom studio print. I will continue to offer this service. This is especially important when you want a pure black and white or fine art print. While Mpix can create a pure black and white print from the color image it is advisable that we create the black and white file from the Camera Raw file where we can adjust the tonality for the best quality black and white print. Once this process is complete we will upload the black and white file to the client’s personal gallery where they can then order a pure black and white print. There will be a processing charge of $30.00 for each black and white conversion. It is also strongly advised that files used for prints larger than 16x20 undergo this custom process to obtain the best sharpness and resolution.
While this is not the solution to all of our client’s photographic needs I believe that this partnership will offer my clients a lower cost for quality prints, faster turnaround time and a greater range of specialty products for your family and friends. Please visit my Zenfolio site by clicking here. There will still be a need for custom processing and printing. I think you will find it exciting and convenient. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this partnership or and of our services. |