Graduation Market-Software created Close-Up from 2nd shot by Dan Hays
About three years ago Gary Limmroth approached CCS
about creating a virtual third graduation shot from
a real second shot. This virtual third shot was
to be a close-up of the second shot. This virtual third
graduation shot was designed to stand in for a real
third shot when a shortage of photographers or equipment
prevented a third shot from being taken.
Gary has used this feature for several years, but
no one else has taken us up on this virtual third shot.
Gary indicates that the sales have been similar to
those achieved from actual third graduation shots.
Hence, if you have a graduation ceremony in which
you don’t have sufficient photographers or equipment
here is an option that can help. If you simply cannot
obtain permission for a third shot or don’t have
room to capture a third shot, consider using this CORE
software tool to provide better service and increase
revenue.
Here is how this CORE feature works.
For each view/shot you would like to create a new
image from, edit the view and click “enable cropping” when
aligning frames. (Click screenshots to enlatge.)
When you align the frames a red crop box will appear
on that view. Then you can move the box with your mouse
to select the area you would like for the virtual third
shot. CORE will then readjust the red crop box on all
images after you crop the first one.
After you complete all of your IDing and post the
event online you will see an additional image per person
on the retail website.
What you see is what you get!
Product Rendering! by Denise Mangiante
Product
Rendering is now on the Sports Website! We are
excited to announce that product rendering is
now available for some featured products on the
CORE and Quicpost sports website. After the customer
adds their renderable product to their cart they
are prompted with the screen below to crop and
type in their captions. The products that currently
render include: Memory mates, memory mate plaques,
magazine covers, calendars and appreciation prints,
MORE TO COME!
If you would like to see this
feature in action you can go to myleaguephotos
and type in productrender as the password. If
you have any questions about this feature, please
contact customer support.
Marketing Proms, New England Style
by Brian Speers
It’s been said that when life gives you lemons,
make lemonade. Unfortunately the lemons in this story
are proms and their revenue decline over the past two
years. But, the lemonade comes in the creativity and
marketing skills of CCS customer Tom Davis of Forestdale,
MA.
This year Tom decided to take a different tack on
a high school prom that he had been shooting since
2002. In 2007 he experienced a 38% dip in the retail
revenues of this school’s prom and fearing it
would fall even more in 2008, he decided to take some
serious action.
There were three issues that made Tom formulate an
alternate plan: the drop in sales, the number of students
not getting photographed at the event, and the high
number of students not having any money for photographs
at the event. What Tom did was simple. He pre-marketed
to the purchasers of the photographs—parents—instead
of to the subjects of the photographs—the students!
Here’s what Tom did. The first item in his plan
was to acquire the names and mailing addresses of the
members of the Junior class since this was the Junior
Prom. The school agreed to this as long as the principal
could pre-approve the contents of the mailing. The
mailing consisted of a letter to the parents, an order
card, a discount coupon for senior portraits, and a
prom photo price list (click to enlarge) which was
mailed out two weeks in advance of the prom date. The
school liked this idea because it greatly reduced the
number of phone calls to the school by parents inquiring
about pricing of the prom packages. One school even
agreed to do an email blast for Tom even though they
wouldn’t
release the information directly to him!
For his offer Tom raised his prices about $2 per package
and offered retouching on his deluxe packages for $10
more than the standard prints. Compared to the same
prom the previous year his results were significant:
• Sales rose $2500
• Two-thirds of the orders were checks or credit
cards
• He sold 61 deluxe packages that included retouching
• 94% of attendees bought photos compared to 65% the
previous year
• Coming to the prom with completed order forms kept
lines to a minimum
Until something changes Tom has decided to stick to
this pre-marketing method for all of his future proms,
with two more taking place this weekend. Sometimes
it’s better to step back, take a deep breath,
and apply some creative thinking to discover a solution
to a problem; especially when it involves your livelihood.
In Tom’s case lemons never tasted sweeter! For
additional information contact Brian
Speers.
Cropping is one of the most confusing
issues in photography. It is also the number one issue that delays orders
at the CCS lab because of our effort to find out what our customer really wanted.
We have set up rules and have written articles about specific market types and
how they are cropped but I don’t remember seeing a general explanation
that covers the entire subject.
Cropping starts when the photographer shoots the picture. At that time,
he or she positions the subject matter in the viewfinder in a specific way and
fires the shutter, freezing that sometimes momentary image in the viewfinder. However,
how the photographer positions the image and his or her accuracy in doing so
determines in many cases the acceptability or lack of acceptability of the image. Here
is why: The viewfinder image does not usually match the proportions of
standard prints. Even if the photographer positions the image so that it
looks great in the viewfinder, that does not necessarily mean it will look great
in the final print.
For example, if the photographer shoots the image full frame with all of the
subject matter within the viewfinder and we printed an 8x12 print, you would
see all of that subject matter on the print. If we print an 8x10 from that
same image, we will be losing approximately 17% off the height of the image. This
is because the shape or proportions of the 8x10 do not exactly match the shape
of the image captured by the camera or the 8x12 print. This is why some
print sizes cause parts of images to “disappear” from the print even
though they were present in the original image. This problem is due to
the laws of mathematics, not to any equipment or software that the lab is using.
Since several print sizes with different aspect ratios are typically offered
from a given image, the part of the print cropped out will vary depending on
the aspect ratio of the print sizes offered. Hence, from the photography
point of view, it is imperative to crop in the viewfinder for the most restrictive
cropping (the print size that will remove the largest amount of the image) so
that no important part of the image is removed (cropped out) when the print is
produced. Typically, this is the 8x10 print unless offering square print
products.
Candid Color Systems provides preset cropping for different size
prints and retains as much image as possible while still making the image fit
in the print size you have ordered. This is all done transparently, behind
the scenes, with our software. Hence, if you shoot pictures according to
our cropping guidelines, you will not have to manually crop your pictures in
Photoshop or other photo editing program before ordering prints as required by
some other labs. You can still do so in special circumstances where you
wish to zoom and crop to emphasize or deemphasize a particular part of the image
before posting online. In the Quicpics, Sports, Prom, PPS, Race and Groups
markets/product lines, we automatically center crop the images. For an
8x10 print which has the most restrictive cropping, we will take off approximately
8.5% (or 1”) off the top of the image and 8.5% off the bottom if shot vertically
with a 3:2 aspect ratio camera such as a Nikon or Canon SLR. On a horizontal
print, we would crop equally from the left and right. A 5x7 print would
lose approximately 3.3% off of the top and then 3.3% off of the bottom on a center
cropped vertical 3:2 aspect ratio image.
Cropping examples for Center Cropped Markets/Product Lines – Quicpics,
Sports, Prom, PPS, Race, Groups
Center Cropped Images
The one exception to this rule is the graduation market. In
the graduation market we take all of the cropping from
the bottom of the print in order to avert accidentally
chopping off the top of the head (which is prone to happen
in this market because the subject is often moving at
the time the picture is taken). On an 8x10 print,
we would take the 17% entirely off the bottom and on
a 5x7 print we would take the 6.6% off of the bottom.
All horizontal images for the graduation market are still
center cropped.
Cropping examples for Top Crop (all is removed from bottom) for Graduations. (Note
that some products in this illustration may not be available in this market)
Top Crop Images
We do, however, provide you with the flexibility to crop online on the Administrative
Page. The first step is to identify the size of print you are going to
have printed. Then you indicate that you wish to crop it. After that
you position a red box which outlines the proportions of the print size over
the image in the fashion you wish to have the print cropped. Additionally,
your customer can zoom and crop his or her image online with our cropping tools
when you utilize our e-commerce system. We do not charge you extra for
this feature but we do provide you the opportunity to charge your customer for
this enhancement, if you so desire.
The most important thing about this entire subject for you to understand is to
not put important parts of your subject at the very top or bottom of the picture
if you want that part of the image to appear in a vertical 8x10.
Cropping references in your camera’s viewfinder such as grid lines, focus
points, etc can be used to aid you in cropping properly. Each camera may
differ in reference points, so experimentation is required. You can also
install crop lines on the LCD image review monitor as “after the shot” references
using artist tape or even have crop lines installed directly on the camera’s
focusing screen at www.brightscreen.com. Contact Steve
Foisy in Customer
Support to request a
set of crop line installation instructions via e-mail or at ext 166 to discuss
your specific needs with your camera and subject matter.
Submitting Images for Uploading on Portable Harddrives
To ensure the most expedient uploading of images from portable harddrives, please
format the drive prior to use. This will improve the drives’ readability
compared to a drive that has gone through frequent copying and deletion of files
and folders. Updates on CCS samples by Jessica
Irvin
New sample images are now available for sports products.
Images have been added to all of the major sports,
including, Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Soccer.
Other sports with new images are Cheer, Golf, Gymnastics,
Dance, and School. To order your samples go to www.picmyphotos.com and type in SampleSample as the password.
The sample
ordering pages have been updated to include all of
the newest products, Pearlized Paper, and thumbnails
of different styles. Sports is not the only market
that has been updated. PPS and QuicPics have new additions
too.
Thank you to all of our customers who have contributed
their images for use on our samples. However, we are
still in need of more model released images for several
sports, such as, Lacrosse, Field Hockey, Cross Country,
and Boy Scouts. Your account will be credited $50 for
each image that CCS deems usable for samples.
Get ahead of the game and order your Fall Sport Samples
today, and don’t forget to visit the new Level
2 sample events! Contact
your Customer Development representative with any questions
about ordering samples or preparing for the fall.
Lab Service Times for the week of05-04
to 05-10
by Bo Lewis
Problems
with, or suggestions about The Developments Newsletter? Email us
to see if we can help.
