Mastercolor Labs Blog

I think everyone would choose to stay busy in their jobs rather than having eight long weeks to wonder where all of your customers have gone.  Unfortunately in the photofinishing industry we have grown use to it.  However, when life gives you lemons, reach out and talk to your customers.

We recently returned from the Carolina Nature Photographers Association convention in Charlotte N.C. which was held at the HiltonCharlotte University Place.  Let me start by saying if your company ever needs to hold a conference in Charlotte I would highly suggest staying here.  The weekend was packed with lectures, workshops and the trade show.  The CNPA was pleased to announce their largest attendence ever for a convention, just under 500 people.  Standing at a table for 10 hours is never something that anyone looks forward to, but talking to photographers that really are still in it for the fun is a nice change.  We spoke with all levels of photographers, but despite the difference in their knowledge, it was great to see that spark of imagination in their eyes.  On the drive home to Greensboro my father and I each commented how much fun it was to be working in an industry that started as a hobby for each of us.  Our table at the trade show was located beside Dan Beauvais of the Outerbanks.  Dan is not only an accomplished photographer, but he is known all over the east coast for repairing both Nikon and Cannon digital cameras.  While at the show he an his partner must have cleaned over 400 cameras, folks were lining up with bags full of cameras for his $30 show special.  If you camera needs repairs or just a good cleaning I would  consider Dan an excellent source.  Contact Dan: dan@danbeauvais.com

While at the show and while speaking with other customers on the phone we have heard lots of new ideas about different presentaion options for photographs and have decided to expand our mounting options.  In the near future please ask about:

• beveled edge mounts that will come in Gold, Silver, and Black
• Flouting mounts for Gatorfoam Boards and Standout Boards
• Additional Frames from our Printz & GWI lines

If you have suggestions or know of services you would like to see us offer please contact us with your suggestions.

Well Labor Day has come and gone, all the summer clothes are now stored until next Memorial Day and life is starting to feel a little more normal.  I love summer, I really do, but come each Labor Day I am usually exhausted.  Our summer has been filled with lots of fun trips, great times shared with friends and family, and more cook-outs and tomato pie than I care to count. I have never been so excited to attend a back to school night in my life. I guess I would feel differently about saying goodbye to my kids during the active mid day hours if I felt they were actually dreading going to school (the way I did), but when the first carpool door flew open and my kids burst out of my car without even saying a word, it actually made me feel happy.  On this special day  I exchanged the "I love you daddy" my daughter normally leaves me with  for the  kids' laughter as they departed my car running after friends.  Hearing their laughter made me feel even better  because I knew that they were happy with the school we had chosen. At Mastercolor "Back to School" also has another special meaning: "Back to printing lots of pictures".  Don't get me wrong, we love printing your vacation proofs, a canvas gallery wrap from your favorite scenic spot, and seeing all the wonderful places our customers have traveled when we print their photo books using our ROES software, but nothing makes me happier than strolling through the plant and seeing "units" pour out of the machines.  A "Unit" is how we categorize any design that a school photographer can fit on an 8"x10" sheet.  It can be a 8"x10", two 5"x7"s, a sheet of  8 wallets, two 4"x5" & a 5"x7", or any combination they want to create. Class pictures are very important to us, and they should be equally important to the families that are considering buying the images of their children.  In this age of digital photography we always hear they same claim,  " Why should I buy these pictures when I can produce one myself?". The answer is simple: YOU WON'T.  More than likely you will never get around to taking the picture.  You will never capture the image of your child the same way a professional will  (more than likely your child will not behave like they will for a professional).  If you beat the odds and actually take a quality image, more than likely you will never produce the photograph you set out to do (industry studies show 90%+ of images intended to be printed are still sitting on hard drives across the world). Bert VanderVeen and his wife Becky  of VanderVeen Photographers are very good friends of mine, and they do a wonderful job capturing the faces and personalities of all the children at my kids' school. More than anyone I know what extra there is in paying them for their images, and let me tell you it is worth it. The images I have bought through the school are the ones I have on the mantle at home (in front of the images I took myself). I still have the school pictures my parents bought of me, and likely your elementary pictures have been brought out a time or two in your adult life.  There is just something special about your school photos that will always take you back to the memories you had in a certain grade. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to the professional images of your children.  Your kids will only be this age once, and you will not get a second chance.

Yesterday I had a good friend of mine stop by our location to pick up a nice order he had placed for Canvas Gallery Wraps of his children. My friend had ordered 29 16x20 or larger to decorate his house with, and after my many grateful thanks, we talked about the pictures he had captured and some of the problems we had in printing them.  When he initially emailed his files to me, many were low resolution, so we had to track them back to the original files.  Others were GREAT shots of his children, but they were shot too tight to allow for the gallery wraps, so we were forced to apply a colored border for the edges of the prints so we did not wrap the subjects of the prints. (see example below)[gallery link="file" columns="2"]

My friend told me he was excited to hang these prints down at the beach, the same location many of the prints were taken, and I told him to prepare for his future prints and his Christmas Cards.  My buddy is also nice enough to allow Mastercolor to print his Holiday Card each year, and in each year we run into the resolution problems, and the cropping problems so I told him to PREPARE for them.

After my friend left I found myself singing the annoying song from "HOODWINKED", "Be Prepared" in my head.  This cartoon was a constant at my house two years ago, and my kids pulled it out this past Memorial Weekend when my they took a break from the sun and the quick rain shower one afternoon.   As you can tell from the song title, the theme of this song is to "be prepared".  So how does this relate to a Blog on a photography website?  Well most of the prints you see displayed at a family's home are from their summer vacations, or activities that they did outside when the weather was nice.  Of course there is the random "snow" picture or "leaves from Fall " but the majority of the prints people save and later use are taken in the summer, so BE PREPARED.

Be prepared to use these images later.  Be prepared means backing them up properly (see my earlier blog), but in a nut shell :

1. save your original files twice a month (minimum) from your camera's card to your computer.
2. Copy those files to a external hard drive,
3. and for the really cautious, burn your files annually to two sets of DVD's and keep them in separate locations.

I know this sounds over the top, but explain that to another friend of mine who recently lost his hard drive.  His I.T. person compounded the problem and erased what little data there was, and now he is left with only his hard copies.  Which brings up a very valid point, PRINT YOUR PICTURES, and if you do we hope that you will upload your files to Mastercolor using our ROES software.

Be prepared when shooting your images. With digital photography it is so easy to crop when printing so PLEASE, take two steps back before you capture your image, I promise with today's cameras you will not lose any of your resolution on your print  when increasing your field of capture this little bit.  Taking two steps back when shooting  will allow you to  create the extra space needed when framing, allow for the area needed for a Giclee Canvas Wrap, allow you to position and crop in your Holiday card, and overall create a more eye pleasing photograph.  Please keep in mind these basic tips are not for professionals, just those wanting to shoot like one.

Be Prepared means, TAKE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU!  If you don't have a camera to capture the fun memories as they happen, it will be hard to share them later with your friends and family.  Look for our end of the Summer Holiday Card special.  For a limited time you will be able to save 25% on our already low prices on folded cards.  Don't wait for the seasonal rush, have your cards printed in advance and save on time, frustrations and MONEY!

"Be prepared, be prepared..... unless you gotta sparrrrrreeeeeee"

I think the thing I like the most about Spring is CHANGE.  "Change" is all around us.  I would be lying if I said business was "as usual" during the cold of January and February, but the fact is time seems to be standing still during these cold winter months.  However, one of the positives that comes with the lack of orders flowing through our plant is we can plan for change, determine  what changes are needed, and implement changes in the services we extend to our customers.  To prepare for the future at Mastercolor we decided we needed a new printer that could print more 8x10s per hour to meet our commercial needs, but also a printer that could add something to our line that we have been lacking.  Starting May 1st we will be offering affordable panoramic prints sizes 8"x24" to 12"x36".  We recently attended the Carolina Nature Photographers Association convention and one of the main request we received was for us to offer volume pricing on panoramic prints, so please check back with us in May, or join our Email list to receive future notifications about our specials. Change is not limited to the business decisions happening in the office.  Step outside, notice the changes all around you.  I walked out of our office yesterday and looked at a beautiful dogwood in the front lawn of Mastercolor.  All winter this dogwood  looked as if it was not going to make it, but yesterday confirmed my hopes, the buds are on the limbs, and the blooms are right around the corner.  What have you taken a picture of  recently or in years past that let you know that Spring is/was finally here?  If you have a favorite shot please enter your image in our photo contest and possibly win a 16"x24" Canvas Gallery Wrap and a $50 credit.  The winner is selected by the public and you can vote on three different images daily, so tell your friends to select your print and become our second contest winner.  Good Luck! Employees of Mastercolor are not eligible to win the "Spring" contest, but if I was I would submit  the picture I took from my car on my way home yesterday.  I was was driving past Page High School here in Greensboro and I looked with pride at what the Page Alumni and Friends Association had accomplished.  I looked at a hill that was once maintained by Alma Pinnix on a daily basis, but years of neglect had taken it's toll and the ivy had completely taken her over. After hours of hard labor, the hill once again shines with beauty, the beauty that would make Mrs. Pinnix proud.  "The Hill" as we have called it for the past 12 months means a lot to me, and the beauty that popped out this spring was special to me because my son , PHS class of 2021, planted most of the new  daffodils on the bank and they will be there the spring of senior year.