bc_photo

<p>Dave, are your text caption and titles crisp? If I had to describe the way the text looks to me on the TV, I would say it is "unfocused," maybe "fuzzy."</p>

<p>I should clarify the text I am describing is the DVD Title on the menu page: For example:<br>

"MICHELLE + MARK<br />August 20, 2009"</p>

<p>THANKS everyone! David and Nadine, you are such an asset to the world of photographers! I think one of you has replied on every question I have posted! Much love to you both!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Thanks Nadine! Do you have to do this manually with each slide, or can you do this in one action across multiple slides? And, does this improve the text rendering?</p>

<p>One minor improvement: I just unchecked "ISO Creation - Generate Disc Image on the Fly". This seemed to improve the show a bit, but it is not acceptable.</p>

<p>Does anyone have specific settings recommendations to ensure acceptable DVD playback quality on a Television?</p>

<p>Time and again, I have burned a DVD of my slideshow, and the quality of the Playback of the DVD on the Television is horrific. Nowhere near acceptable.</p>

<p>I have tried the following solutions found on the web, on this forum and various phone calls with Photodex:</p>

<ul>

<li>Change to standard quality instead of high</li>

<li>Tried all sizes and resolution of images</li>

<li>Turned off virus protection and closed all open programs while rendering</li>

<li>Over sharpened my images</li>

</ul>

<p>I have not tried Taiyo Yuden DVDs as suggested by the folks at Photodex, but that would seem unimportant as I am not having a problem with burn success rates.</p>

<p>My problem is the quality of the DVD show. It is god awful:</p>

<ul>

<li>The Images are awful AND</li>

<li>The Text is awful - not crisp by any stretch of the imagination.</li>

</ul>

<p>FYI: my slideshows contain minimal movement and simple transitions. My instinct tells me the problem lies with the rendering process and how the slides are converted.</p>

<p>Many beers for any advice!! HAHA</p>

<p>mpixpro has a great looking printable box product</p>

<p>Thanks everyone. We framed 20"x30" Fuji Crystal Pearl prints to 24"x34". They look great!</p>

<p>THANKS!</p>

<p>Stephanie, how do you hang them? Our lab doesn't have a mounting option...</p>

<p>Hi! What do you suggest for the following? Our bride wants 6 large images of her engagement session to be hung in a wide hallway that the guests will pass through on the way to the reception during the wedding.</p>

<p>What would you do? I am looking at Fuji Archive Prints at 16x20 framed to 24 x36, but I think just a 24x36" Fuji Archive Print mounted on 1/2" black gatorboard may seem more impressive (and they can frame this later).</p>

<p>Ideas?</p>

<p>Hi Heather, we use Leather Craftsmen, and had our first few albums printed in-house. I was never really satisfied with the quality.</p>

<p>So, one day we decided to print with a lab, and send the prints to Leather Craftsmen. The difference was AMAZING.</p>

<p>From what I understand, this is the reason: LC prints on Kodak paper, whereas our local lab prints on Fuji Archive Paper which I have noticed is much more vibrant. It has a bit more sheen and pop than the Kodak paper LC uses.</p>

<p>Make sure you select Spray and Texture with LC.</p>

<p>One more suggestion: go with the micro-fold over the cut spread. The cut spread is really noticeable at 1/16".</p>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

<p>The phone number field is required on our email form. If they don't write down the phone number, the form won't work. This step alone whittles out many flakes.<br>

Also, we use shootq, and every lead must fill out an online questionnaire which asks the lead about their wedding, budget, what they are looking for, their vision, and when they want to book. We have found that the online questionnaire does a great job at weeding out the comparison shoppers.<br>

It also shows that we care, which we do.</p>

<p>Forgot to mention that I design my albums in InDesign as well, and both of these producers have InDesign guidelines that include bleeds, gutter, etc</p>

<p>Leather Craftsmen and KISS Wedding Books</p>

<p>Francie, just change Initial Previews to Minimal. There should be a drastic change on import time, especially if this was set at 1:1.</p>

<p>I load an 8GB (600+ images) in about 20 minutes.<br>

Here is my process.<br>

1) Insert card, and in Lightroom > Import from Disk (or Device)<br>

2) IMPORTANT: Bottom Left of Import Dialogue Window: Make sure Initial Previews is set to Minimal. If this is set to Standard or 1:1, it can significantly increase import times.<br>

3) That's it.</p>

 

<p>I agree with Paul. Zero inquiries. Zero bookings. Put it this way, have you ever clicked on an ad?</p>

<p>alien skin exposure is awesome for matching film types</p>

<p>Leather Craftsmen 8500 series. These are really nice. http://www.leathercraftsmen.com/8500signatureedition.html</p>

<p>animoto or slideshowpro or both excellent</p>

<p>Has anyone advertised here? What are your thoughts?</p>

<p>Maximum 4 vendors, they won't tell me who they are unless I sign the contract.</p>

<p>I would imagine 2-3 weddings a month in the beginning, maybe a bit less. Let' see: 1 in the first month, 2 in the second and so on...</p>

<p>Hello all!</p>

<p>A friend of mine is the Event Manager at a brand new luxury hotel in Hollywood, CA. Our relationship is somewhat close as we both serve together on a non-profit Board of Directors.</p>

<p>The hotel is very famous, and will be a huge and pricey venue for weddings. $15K is the starting price for a bride to book the venue.</p>

<p>He will refer me to prospective brides, but here is the caveat: I must place an ad in their lookbook, the professionally printed and designed book that goes out to all of their prospective brides. These ads are very expensive: $2800 for 6 months for a full-page, and $900 for 6-months for 1/4 page.</p>

<p>Here is what I know:</p>

<p>- I will not be referred if I do not place the ad, because it is unfair to the other vendors. In other words, even though we are close, I will not even be personally referred.</p>

<p>- 100% of the ad money goes to the book production company.</p>

<p>Has anyone had any experience with this? I am conflicted. It feels like a no-win scam, but at the same time, I want to be referred at this venue.</p>

<p>Please note that I receive most of my new business via venues in which I am a preferred photographer throughout Los Angeles. And, I have never once had to pay for the referral. I have always been referred based on my work and reputation - as it should be.</p>

<p>I am very curious as to what your experiences are, and what your opinions are...</p>

<p>I recently had a client whose parents were paying for the photography. They were very uneasy with paying everything before the wedding because they had been burned by a photographer on their other daughter's wedding. It seems this other photographer never delivered the images.<br>

My client simply wanted to pay the balance when I delivered all of the images. I told them that was fine. I will deliver to you all of the images with Personal Printing rights, max repo size: 4x6.<br>

The parents were elderly, and from what I could tell - very genuine, so I trusted them.<br>

I guess my point is, trust your gut. It is always right.<br>

A few weeks ago, we had another couple ask us the same thing. They were 1/2 hour late to our meeting, didn't say they were sorry. They ordered dinner, and didn't even offer to pay for a their half. I trusted my gut, and told them NO WAY. 100% payment in full before the wedding.</p>

<p>I am not a home owner - State Farm renter's insurance covers me for theft and acts of god. In LA, I have been fine with $1M liability policy - it costs $300 a year.</p>

<p>But Bernardo is right, I don't see any reason why you need to get it until required. Then buy it, then cancel when the event is over. Your agent will hate you, but it is perfectly legal to do so, and alot cheaper over the year.</p>

<p>Zenfolio.</p><p><br></p><p>From the folks at MPIX. I have tried them all, this one has the most features for what I am trying to accomplish</p><p>PROS:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>Upload low resolution photos. Replace with high resolution and retouched when the client orders with delayed printing</li><li>COUPONS: and they are so easy to use</li><li>Use their lab (MPIX) or fufill your own print orders.</li><li>Awesome crop tool for clients</li></ul><p><br></p><p>CONS:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>Cannot add logo or customize with CSS - which doesn't bother me. I use a stripped-down gallery and turn off their logos. I also point my own url there (clients.callawaygable.com)</li></ul><p>Good luck!<br></p>

<p>Does this bother anyone else?</p>

<p>It looks like there are water / dust spots on the image from the lens? e.g., 200px to the exact left of where veil is attached to bride's head, and 300px above and slightly right to groom's crown.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your responses! I really appreciate it! Have an excellent weekend (hopefully you are all working :) )</p>