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New Products: Part Three ~ {Pensacola, Florida Pet Photographer Allison Shamrell}

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

All right, here is another product! It’s for those of you who refuse to give up the wonderful story-telling aspect of books, but just can’t stand having blank walls. This is called a storyboard. It’s similar to a canvas gallery wrap, in that it can be hung up without a traditional frame, but it’s definitely not made out of canvas! The back mounting is a type of styrene, a hard but light material that’s 3/4″ thick. The front features the images, of course- and on this material (unlike all my other products) I get to design with more than one photo! So storyboards allow us to tell a story on an awesome surface, all while having the modern feel of sticking out from the wall framelessly. Again, pictures say it better than I can:

I included the glare from my lights so that you can see the surface isn’t canvas-like at all. It’s matte; like a photograph without the high gloss coating. The entire surface is on one plane, no dips or ridges, even though the lower images look framed. This is a “digital mat” effect. Pretty cool, right? Here’s a close-up of that effect:

The sides of the storyboard are the same color as the overall background, plain white. The sides have a bit of texture to them, and here are a couple of photos so you can see it better. I think it’s clearer in the darker photo, since the shadows bring it out more, but you should be able to get a pretty good idea from both pictures.

And here’s a shot of the corner.

It’s a modern, new product that you can’t find in too many places. But I love making them for my clients!! They work well with one dog and with multiple dogs, because they can show multiple aspects of one personality, or how different dogs interact with one another. In this one, for example, I included a photo of each of the Goldens that I felt really showed their personality (I think their owners can back me up on that!) and one of them together, because they really are the lights of their parents’ lives. Anyways, it’s another way for me to get creative without crouching behind a camera, and I have a lot of fun designing these unique products! So if you’re dying to hang up a big piece of artwork on the wall (this one is 20×30 inches) but simply can’t choose one favorite from your session, here is your solution!

Next time: a new type of book that’s the young, rebellious nephew of the coffee table album. Just wait until you see it…

Thanks for reading!

New Products: Part Two ~ {Pensacola, FL Pet Photographer Allison Shamrell}

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Okay, so you thought the canvas gallery wraps were cool, but you’re not really a hang-it-up-on-the-wall person? You’re a tell-the-story-in-a-book person? That sounds good to me too. Here’s what I have for you:

Custom albums!

With the purchase of a Dalmatian or Great Dane package, I will custom-design a gorgeous coffee table album for you to show off to all your friends! It will be 20-30 pages long, and can have anywhere from 1-6 images on each page.

The book jacket has a glossy finish, but the pages inside are matte finish, so that you don’t get fingerprints everywhere!

Are you ready for my favorite part of the books? They have an option to upgrade to a fancy new trend called “lay flat pages”. These aren’t your typical photo books: the pages lay completely flat, like the name suggests, instead of curling up at the binding like magazines and other books! Check out these comparisons:

As you can see, it’s a completely different kind of binding. Here’s a close-up:

The end result is very modern-looking. The pages are slightly thicker than normal photo books, and it turns out to be a completely unique gift- perfect for featuring your completely unique dog!

Hopefully you get the idea by now! It’s a gorgeous product, and I’m really quite thrilled to be able to offer it. But it’s only available to those who select the Dalmatian or Great Dane sessions, simply because it becomes difficult to fill up an album for which every page makes you say “Wow!” when our session is only about an hour long.

So that should satisfy the storytellers out there- a coffee table album with lay flat pages. Oh, but you just can’t decide between an album and a gallery wrap? You like hanging pictures up but you also want to see them tell a story? I have a solution to your dilemma… I think you’ll like my next blog post!

Until next time!

New Products: Part One ~ {Pensacola, FL Pet Photographer Allison Shamrell}

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Time for a new series on the blog! I’ve been working behind the scenes quite a bit, getting things ready for the new year and making sure each of my future clients will have an amazing experience! Part of that is offering more than just 8x10s and 4x6s. I’ve been expanding my product line, and I’d like to show you my trademark product, which 90% of my clients purchase simply because of the wow factor!

The canvas gallery wrap is relatively new to the photography world. It’s a digital image printed onto canvas – yes, canvas – which is then stretched around a wooden frame. The effect is almost like the image is floating! You can see at least part of the picture from anywhere in the room, even if you’re 90 degrees from the direction the gallery wrap is facing. The final product is a photo that doesn’t need a frame- because it’s already built in!

Here you can see the canvas texture on the photograph:

It’s obvious from up close, but much more subtle when you step back and don’t use a zoom lens :)

Check out the way it’s folded behind the frame:

You can tell it’s real canvas material, not just patterned paper. Here are a couple of photos of the way it’s attached to the back, and you can see the study construction of the frame as well as more of the canvas texturing.

One suggestion I always make to my clients is, when in doubt, always go big! That “big 8×10” print will seem bite-sized next to a 16×20 canvas gallery wrap, and when you have a photograph that you really treasure, it only makes sense to let it become a focal point of the room. In fact, my canvas gallery wraps don’t come in any sizes smaller than 16×16! My clients love how their photographs suddenly become their walls’ centerpieces, and you just can’t do that with (even) an 11×14.

I love taking my canvas gallery wrap samples to meetings with clients, too, because it’s fun to see their eyes get big and hear them say, “Wow!” These products turn photographs into museum-quality works of art, and it’s just so much fun to hang up something different! I just ordered my sample of 24×36 inches, and I just can’t wait to hang it up in my meeting room!

Thanks for reading, and soon you’ll be hearing about more products which you may never have seen before! Stay tuned!

New blog! New logo! ~ {Pensacola, Florida Pet Photographer Allison Shamrell}

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

P A R T   O N E

So, maybe it’s silly for me to post about this, but as you can see, I have a new blog! It is way spiffier than my last one, and let me explain why!

  1. The picture-scrolling-flash-thingy at the top! Yes, that’s the official term. Did you know you can click on the photo of each animal and be taken to their blog post?
  2. Look how  w i d e this screen is! Although my photos from previous sessions are the same size they were before, now I can take over most of your monitor with my new colorful photos. Yahoo!
  3. I got to add a few more pages. So now you can read a revised About Allison section, a Local Resources page if you’re thinking of adopting, and an FAQ with questions that I’m positive you’ve asked yourself. Plus there’s a direct link to my portfolio website– pretty much a one-stop shop!
  4. There are fun things at the bottom of the page! You get to see my last five tweets, a (clickable) tag cloud showing what I blog about the most, and a search bar to find out exactly how many shoots on a beach I’ve done, for example.

P A R T   T W O

I made a new logo! Do you like it?

It’s the beautiful mug of my dog Bailey, and I wanted to isolate her ears, eyes, nose and mouth because these are her core features. I mean, think about it- about 99.9% of other dogs out there have all of these too, and I think these body parts are exactly how our pets (and dogs especially) express emotion.

I mean, think about it! I bet you can see these same actions/emotions in your dog:

  • Ears back = I’m scared or unsure about what’s going on
  • Ears up = What’s going on? I may not know but I’m happy about it!
  • Eyes half closed = I hear you moving around and I want to know what you’re doing, but I won’t do anything about it because I’m tired
  • Eyes wide open = Let’s go for a WALK!
  • Nose sniffing = I am extremely happy because there are interesting things to smell here
  • Mouth open, tongue way out = Whew, I’m exhausted! That was a great trip to the dog beach!
  • Mouth closed, eyes wide = Why can’t I have some of your roast beef?
  • Mouth half-open, lips turned in so teeth are barely showing = I am ready to spring into action!

And that’s not even scratching the surface of body language and what dogs do with their legs, tails, etc. I believe dogs’ faces are where we see their emotion, and since that’s what I intend to capture in every single session, I felt it fitting to include the face of my little muse as my new logo. You’ll start to see it around here, and I’d love to know your thoughts on it.

P A R T   T H R E E

My new website launches tomorrow and I’m super excited about it. Just saying.

The Problem and the Solution ~ {Pensacola, Florida Pet Photographer Allison Shamrell}

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

I hate to say it, but we have a serious problem coming up. Have you realized what’s going on?

It’s December.

Next month will be January.

Of 2011.

That’s right, a new year. Which means the calendar you’re using right now- right now!- will be completely useless!!! And I don’t want to see you scratching days into your wall like a sad, marooned island-dweller. I have a solution to this problem. And not only is it functional; it is adorable.

Announcing the Pooches of the Panhandle 2011 Calendar! Each month features a dog (or dogs) from the Pensacola area, and proceeds will be going to a local to-be-announced good cause! So you can look at photos of beautiful dogs all year, know that you’ve done something good for this community, and not have to guess what day of the week the 9th of June is. I’m not going to tell you, either- the calendars hold the answer.

So here is the promotional poster you might see hanging up in your local vet or groomer’s. Click on the link below to see a few sample months.  They’re just $15 each, so to order one or more, just send me a message through my website, www.AllisonShamrell.com. You can do so under the “Contact Me” tab. Thanks, and I hope you like them!

Calendar Poster

 

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