| Photo Tips
Okay, so you picked your favorite card
from our site. Now you need to take your photos. Here are some tips by us
to help you get the best results...
First things first... your camera
Digital
Camera
A digital camera works best because you can transfer the photos
directly to your computer or to a cd at your favorite photo lab.
Before you start snapping away check the settings on your camera. Make
sure they are set for the highest resolution possible. An easy way to
tell is when you go through the resolution options the
amount of photos your memory card can hold will change. You want to
select the option that allows the least amount of photos to get the
largest jpg files possible.
Film Camera
You can of course us a
film camera as well. With a film camera you will have to do a little more
work to get us your photo. You can take the photo to your photo lab and
have them put it on a cd or flash drive. You can scan the photo yourself.
Or you can mail it to us to scan for you. We will return your photo with
your completed order.
Cell Phone Camera
They are improving the
quality every time a new cell phone comes out! A year ago I would say
100% stay away from cell phone cameras but today some are taking good
quality photos. Your phone will determine the quality. Some newer phones
the quality is as good as a digital camera. While some phones the
quality is just not good. We understand that they are convienent and
sometimes it is all you have on hand... and you happen to get
the perfect photo when you didn't even plan on taking a photo. If
your phone is older or doesn't have a very good camera on it I would try
to stay away from them.
Taking the pictures... a few things to keep in
mind
If you have already selected your card - pay attention
to the sample photo. If it has a vertical photo and you provide us with a
horizontal photo we will have to crop your photo or change the
layout.
Get up close! If you take
a photo and your child is far from the camera we will of course crop it
for you but cropping reduces the quality of the photo. The more we crop
the more it is reduced. So the closer you get, the better.
Get on their level! Get down on the floor or in the leaves with your
child. You will have a much better photo if you are not taking it from 3
feet above their head.
Take lots and lots of photos! With
digital cameras you can always delete what you don't like.
Watch the lighting! If the light or the sun is behind your child you
will get a siloette of your child. We can try to fix this for you but the
result is usually a grainy photo. When you are taking if you have the
light behind you (the camera) the lighting will be much better.
Outside/Natural light works best. Plus because the camera isn't using
the flash it will snap the photo faster. If you are inside use a
flash unless you know how to take a photo without the flash.
Try some candid photos instead of having your child pose. You may get
a more natural smile this way.
Watch the background! This is
a big one. We see lots and lots of photos taken with clutter in the
background. Try to watch what is behind your child so it doesn't distract
from their beautiful face.
Try not to include other people
in the photo. We can usually crop them out but if the other person is
right up against or touching your child we will do our best but we might
not be able to get the other person all the way out.
Please be sure to send us the orignal uncropped
photo. There are several reasons for this...
If you crop the
photo it will reduce the quality. If we then re-crop it, it will reduce
the quality again.
For most of our cards the photo needs to be a
specific size/shape. If you crop it we may not be able to achieve
this.
We crop 99.9% of the photos we receive. Please do not crop your
photo thinking that we will not do it for you.
Okay, now you can
get your camera and start
snapping! |
