As of this week, the British royal family have established their online presence on Flickr – www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy. This is after opening YouTube and Twitter accounts. Can’t wait to befriend some royals on Facebook.

The album will allow Flickr users to use the photographs in blogs and other media, the Daily Mail reported. 

Comp Cards – How To and What Works

As PhotoHand gets more and more orders for comp card design we also receive more requests to help in picking the photos for our model clients. We hope this post will be useful in this task.

General
A model comp card has a front side with a full size portrait and a back side with a selection of representative shots from the portfolio — and the model's basic stats (see below) and contact information — printed on both sides of an 8.5" x 5.5" piece of card stock (12 pt stock) (US) or 15×21 cm (Europe, Asia).

Think of your comp card as your marketing tool. This will determine how you want to pose for it and which photos to choose. The casting manager will hardly look for Miss Congeniality with a big teethy smile. Neither is important how pretty you are. What is important is HOW GOOD YOU ARE AT MODELING.

Number of Photos
You need one good headshot for the front side and 4-5 photos for the back of the comp card.

Photo Size
Photo should be at least one Megabyte (=one Megapixel) in size for quality printing, especially the headshot for the front of the comp card.

Posing
Before the photoshoot, pick a dozen of poses you think you can imitate from fashion magazines and practice them in front of a mirror until they feel natural. Strike poses that show elegance and power.

Facial Expression
Some very good photos of you are only good for the family photo book. Nice smiley pictures won’t get you very far. You will not get booked because you are a nice person. Look at the glossies, the models there are all pouting or spot a faint smile. No big teeth smiles.

Make sure your face is not tense. During the photoshoot, close your eyes, think of something and then open your eyes. This usually does the trick.

Front Photo
For the front of the comp card, select your best ¾ portrait shot.

Back Photos
You’ll need 4-5 photos for the back of the comp card. Make sure that at least one photo shows you in full height.

Versatility
The photos at the back should show the different sides of you: glamorous, bohemian, sporty, sexy, grungy, country, business… whatever style you can master. This was you will present your true potential to get you bookings.

Model Stats

For Men	For Women
Height	Height
Shirt	Bust
Waist	Waist
Shoes	Hips
Hair Color	Shoes
Eye Color	Hair Color
	Eye Color

Comp Card Design
Your comp card needs to have a pleasing, not to mention professional, look to attract the attention of the casting manager. This is like packaging for a product. Even if you are not so happy with the results of your photoshoot, your photos will shine when cropped for the maximum effect, or tilted, and nicely arranged in an elegant format.

Take it from the professionals. This comp card that we retouched and designed some time ago, was used in a television program in Canada as a sample of how to design comp cards that get you jobs.



We hope you find these tips helpful. Good luck!





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Consumer Guide to Photo Book Printing & Binding

Not all photo books are created equal. When consumers come to PhotoHand to order a wedding or family book, our first question is what kind of printing and binding they prefer.

Based on the type of paper and binding used in the production, photo books can be of three kinds: Flush Mount Albums, Coffee Table Books, and Lay-Flat Photo Books.

Options available for all the types:
- custom photo book design or templated design
- custom photo cover or fabric/leather/vinyl cover with a monogram or without
- UV coating

Flush Mount Album
Flush mount albums have thick, unbending pages with printed photos dry-mounted on cardboard. The covers are mostly made of leather, leatherette fabric, or vinyl.
ADVANTAGES: The book opens flat allowing to see the seamless continues design through the page spread.
DISADVANTAGES: The pages are thick as cardboard which makes the book too heavy and difficult to flip through. Also, the most expensive kind of the three.

Coffee Table Book
If printed at a good printing company, the book looks like an art book sold at Barnes and Noble. Coffee Table Books have been successfully replacing Flush Mount Albums in the wedding album, family, maternity and baby book market. The photo paper pages can be reinforced with UV coating that will make them as thick as business cards.
ADVANTAGES: The book definitely looks more contemporary and elegant. Price-wise, the most affordable of the three options.
DISADVANTAGES: Frequent handling can eventually weaken the binding or cause paper cracking leading to tear at the binding.

WARNING! If you opt for a coffee table book, you might decide to use one the online services that lets you drop photos into templates and send the book into print at a click of a button. This is a cheap solution that probably serves some purposes depending on your expectations. We wouldn't recommend this for a family memories book. The samples that we received from cheap printers invariably had some deffects: front and back covers differed in size, the paper was yellowish (probably recycled) which made the photos look dull, and the stitching was sticking out luck a sore thumb when you opened the book. Top-quality printers only work with photographers and designers and avoid taking orders directly from consumers because there are a lot of technicalities involves.

Lay-Flat Photo Book
A relatively new "hinged paper" technology introduced in January 2008. An integrated flexible hinge, allows the book to open flat like a Flush Mount Album though the book still has flexible photo paper pages making the book manageable. The photo paper pages can be reinforced with UV coating that will make them as thick as business cards.
ADVANTAGES: The most durable binding make the book resistant frequent handling. Through slightly more expensive than an average professionally made coffee table book, a lay flat book is still very affordable.
DISADVANTAGES: Compared to Flush Mount Albums, the design spread has a visible separation line at the binding, though with skillful design that keeps this fact in mind, the separation between the pages will not ruin the visual perception of the collage.

As you can see there pluses and minuses in each option, but Whatever type of printing and binding you pick, PhotoHand will create designs to match the requirements of of your chosen technology.

Glamor with a Disclaimer

To fight self-esteem problems experienced by girls and women who feel pressure to fit the standards set up by advertisers, British and French lawmakers are pushing for laws that force the Advertising industry to disclose when retouching is used on models. According to the proposals, all ads where retouched images of models have been used should carry a disclaimer stating that changes have been made.

You would think that in our day and age, everyone knows that ad images are artistic interpretations. They are decorative. Let's be honest, you wouldn't want Calvin Klein ads to feature "guys from work".

I personally think "feel-good" movies are more damaging for the psyche of young women. And, if we continue along the disclaimer path, they should run a marquee warning during romantic comedies and Cinderella-plot movies saying this is just wishful thinking and no one should fall for this delusion.

As for photo retouching, it has become a natural part of the process of developing an image for publication. It puts fixes where the photography failed. You always do the bare minimum checklist:

- Improve lighting
- Adjust colors
- Remove flyaway hairs
- Remove glare
- Remove shadows from faces
- Even out skin tone
- Cover up temporary skin imperfections
- Correct smudged make-up
- Fix clothes

These are the basics of photography post-production that have nothing to do with manipulation of the public conscience.

And if you still consider this an illusion than the illusion starts from the production stage. There is a crew of workers besides the photographer at any proper fashion or celebrity shoot. If you have ever watched America's Next Top Model then you should know how a good make-up artist, stylist, and lighting specialists can improve the outcome and make the photo look glamorous, the way you (let's face it) like it.

PhotoHand.com Catches Growing Attention of Professionals and Small Businesses

Fast and affordable online service for image editing and photo design - PhotoHand.com is quickly turning into one of the most valuable online resources for small/SOHO business, entrepreneurs and professionals looking to boost their images.

Traditionally limited by modest marketing budgets and now influenced by the current recession, professionals and small businesses are reconciled with the fact that their promotional images can’t rival those of corporations. PhotoHand.com is changing this perception by bringing Madison-Avenue quality image editing and photo design to Main Street folks.

The strictly online mode of operation might not fit the processes of large companies but it is perfect for Actors, Models, Consultants, Dentists, Indie Designers, Small Manufacturers, Beauty Professionals, Tattoo Artists, E-shop Owners... the list goes on.

Just upload your photos through PhotoHand.com website, supply your directions in plain language (what you want or what you don't like in the photos) and in three business days you have the images that will make you or your business stand out - all without breaking the bank.

PhotoHand's fees start at $3.50 per photo for complete cosmetic retouching. For $11.95 your product photo will be altered into an ad worthy of glossy magazines. Online proofing and changes are free.

Unlike many photographers, PhotoHand works under the "work-for-hire" clause and thus does not claim copyright over retouched photos or photo designs. This means PhotoHand's clients have the full ownership of their images and can take them to any printing company of choice.

PhotoHand.com works with amateur photos as well as with professionally shot images. The company realizes that many business owners or professionals take one shot at a time when they are ready with a new sample and paying $75-150 an hour for one-two photos is excessive. Most of them have long figured out how to use powerful digital cameras and how to set up the lights for a shoot.

Naturally, such DIY photos need some editing help but so do professional shots, as PhotoHand can attest. With a little bit of post-production TLC, PhotoHand makes such photos shine.

After all, it's 60% how you look, 35% what you sound like, and 5% what you say.

PhotoHand.com acted as a co-sponsor of the charity event on June 30, 2009 organized by the company’s client – international fashion designer Sara Romoli – to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Metro New York. The event featured an exquisite fashion show of Sara Romoli’s latest collection, followed by an unforgettable performance of Amy Rivard of the Riverdance and Celtic Woman fame and culminated in a vintage jewelry auction starring some pieces of the Belle Époque period.

The team of PhotoHand.com was glad to contribute to the success of the event that drew significant attendance from the New York City business and creative community, as well as members of the media and raised contributions to benefit one of the world’s most well-known charities that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

Shooting for the Wedding Book

The wedding season hits in June and we at PhotoHand expect a rise in custom photo books design orders. Most of our clients have been in the wedding photography business for a while but there are a lot of talented young beginners who have been asking us to give them some tips on how to be prepared so that they are in the right place at the right moment and shoot enough material for a lively photo story.

We looked at the weddings albums that we have created so far and came up with this cheat sheet. A bride can also use this list when giving directions to her photographer.




A wedding is a celebration of a tradition and traditions by their nature adhere to certain scripts. Below are the points general to any wedding but if the wedding is to include some ethnic traditions or special family customs, that photographer must be notified of all such details beforehand so that he or she is able to capture every key moment.

Behind the Scene
The dress on a hanger
close-ups of any remarkable details on the dress
Accessories: flowers, shoes, jewelry, the rings
The bride getting ready (makeup, hair, jewelry, dress,shoes)
Family and bridesmaids assisting the bride
Others getting ready
Portrait of the bride
The groom getting ready (adjusting the ties tie or cuff links)
Portrait of the groom
Waiting for the Ceremony
The wide-angle view of the location
The groom waiting for the bride
The groom, the best man and the officiator
The ring bearer and flower girl
General view of the seated guests
Arrival of the bride

The Ceremony
The best man and maid of honor coming down the aisle
Each groomsman and bridesmaid coming down the aisle
The bride coming down the aisle
Wide-angle view of the ceremony
The vow and ring exchange
Signing of the marriage license
The kiss
The bride and groom coming down the aisle
Any special musician, singer, speaker, etc.

Formal Photos
Hands with the wedding bands
Formal group photos
Romantic bride and groom photos

The Reception
Details: centerpieces, the cake, decor
The wedding party entering the reception
Toasts
Cutting of the cake
The first dance
Dances with parents
Bouquet toss
Garter removal
Guests at each table
Dancing guests

Final Scene
The newlyweds waiving or walking away
Departing Limo

That's it! Have a great shoot!