Take the photo, then get creative with the print

Being creative doesn’t stop when you’ve captured the print

You’ll never tire of looking at family photos with your loved ones.

It’s such a wonderful time of the year to take pictures. I am spectacularly guilty of shooting every event, person, dish or dog that takes my fancy. And every now and then, I take the time to get a really good shot, in eye popping high resolution. And I’m not alone. Its estimated 196 million are taken globally every single hour. So now we have the best pictures of our lives, what’s next? So many fabulous moments; we should celebrate them again and again and again while we can. Come on, let’s expose ourselves in style.

Take the photos and enjoy the memory.

We are so spoiled! No longer do we have to painstakingly rewind film in our cameras before handing over the canister to the chemist shop. Now, we can download directly at kiosks, or photo centre, or even better, download from home. But where? If you’re going big – such as a poster print, I’ve had good results (on Fuji stock) with Big W. I know, shocking, right? And for about $40 for 50 x 75cm print, it’s great value. Even better, the deals at the moment are fantastic – you could get this same poster for as little as $20. By comparison, Officeworks, at full price, is about $40 for the same sized poster. The old 8 x 10, now measured at 20 x25cm is a typical print size for framing can be found at $3 each, Snapfish is around $3.45 – but look for the deals. For that really great shot, that you are in love with, it’s time to go to a serious printer, and invest in great papers. Poster Factory is one such place – they use archival quality Giclee printing products. If you want the best of the best, check out the Cotton Rag 310gsm paper option. Invest in your treasures. Your memories and immense talent are well worth it.

Invest in the memories.

We are bombarded with ads telling us how easy it is to create a photo book – and to be honest I am a big fan because I am sentimental and they are easy things to have on the coffee or bedside table or the beach house kitchen bench. A girl has to dream. Over the years I have made quite a few – some fantastic, and some really disappointing. Plus, some are easier to create than others. If you are organised ie. have labelled pictures or a file on your laptop with the hero pics, things are more fun. I’ve had two cracks at creating books from my phone, but very possibly due to user error, I’ve failed. However, on the big screen it gets a lot easier, and it’s here I have had great success. Hard cover, glossy or matte paper, there is a lot of room to express yourself with the shelf rate at less than $20. Watch out for the number of pages per book and cost of extras, and Australian printing (better recourse).

Get creative with a digital book.

Now it’s time to show off, and the options are many. If you are framing for the wall or desktop – you must, absolutely must, use a matte shape to surround the picture before the frame. And if you are adventurous, use two mattes in contrasting shades. Most frames come with one, but otherwise make your own (too hard?) or buy them at craft or photographic supply stores. Digital frames have remained doggedly stuck in the past – but do a job none the less. Watch out for USB, Wi-Fi and remote control issues – and the huge disparity in resolution rates. Research! My favourite today is one that allows you to message your images to the frame – how cool. Send relatives and friends images that will just pop up in their homes; check out LuvLink $239 on sale, and the Home Life Technology Smart Photo Frame for a fair bit less. Or just hang pics on string or rattan from a tree branch – very chill. Or, super easy, ‘fold back clips’ – pastel or gold are gorgeous; they grasp the pic while standing on their ‘spines’.