Printed Pictures and Online Printing steals!

Hello Seedlings! 

I am a former Professional Photographer and as such I was privileged to a few industry secrets. Today I will talk with you about the thrill of getting prints for "FREE".

You may think that in this digital world we live in it doesn't make since to have printed pictures. Afterall, we have digital picture frames, phones, tablets... etc. I like to think that I have coined the phrase "frame worthy". LOL! This simple phrase says, is this picture worthy of a picture frame. With limited space in my (now previous home), I had to be very choosy about what I placed in my frames and I ended up with a system of rotating pictures out.

I am a new Momma (Gigi is, as of now, 19 months old). You can imagine that I took about 5000 pictures of her. No kidding. Of these photos only about 50 were "frame worthy". I would edit and crop the photos to be exactly what I wanted and then have them printed online. What I discovered next will shock and excite you. Did you know that on http://www.shutterfly.com/ and http://www.snapfish.com/, the more you print the more freebies you get?! Here is the kicker, you even get freebies on freebies! How awesome is that?

The way that it works is that you pay full price for you first service (or chances are one of your Mommy friends has a code she isn't going to use). Then, the online service provider will send you a code about 1 week after your purchase ships. This is meant to entice you back so this is a biggy! It is usually a photobook code or 150 "free prints". This offer says free but you do pay shipping charges. To keep the ball rolling in your favor you will want to redeem this code. After that you are a permanent fixture on their email and snail mail list. Yes, you will get emails every week, but you can send them to junk mail or you can follow my lead and auto-direct them in to a folder marked Photo Offers.

Now that I live is a larger house I am planning on making a singular wall of framed pictures. I have yet to decide on the frame type (they will all be the same color, thinking about all white), and I think I will do an inverted family tree. Our family (Eric, Myself and Gigi) on the inside and our families on the outside. I will post another article when this is completed.

3 Questions to consider when choosing frame worthy prints:

1.  Is it classic? -will the print stand the test of time or does it show modern trends (clothes, hairstyle current products) For your home prints I recommend avoiding these types of prints, keep these for a photo album to pass down to future generations. Having a classic style, framed print gives the opportunity for visitors to see beyond current trends and see the event or person in the picture.
2. Color or Black and White?: A current trend in photographs now is to have blown out coloring. This means that the photograph looks faded in color (extreme whites) or High Contrast in black and white (extreme blacks). Take time to consider if you want to set these types of photos in groups (odd numbers are better for decorating). Groups of similar color types draw people in to your world. 
3. Me, Myself or I: Are you in the picture? So many times I go to houses and when viewing the picture I can tell who in the family is the photographer. How can I tell, they are not in the print. Consider the me myself and I.. Do you want to be in the picture? 

Thank you for taking the time to read through these tips and tricks of the trade. I would love your feedback on this subject. Leave your comments below and don't forget to FOLLOW us!

Grow Strong! 

Nichole