Q: How much do you charge for custom designing?

A: We charge a fee for each image you submit. This per image fee does not mean that is how much each image is valued at. A dollar amount represents time. We know how much time is involved to create unique and classy designs best suiting the images you have provided. That time is divided by how many images and that creates a per image fee. The more specific you can be on your quote request the better we will get to know your needs and desires. If you are including quotes and other scanned items that is helpful to know. Our design fees are all inclusive meaning we do not charge for any changes. So it helps us to know what you need before hand.

Q: Why should we hire you to design when we can just buy the templates?

A: Dawn, is the designer. It is what she does and has great passion for. Each and every design job is an opportunity to explore new ideas and to have the satisfaction and joy of being involved in preserving a special memory by being hired to design. There is much more to designing than relying on templates and in fact she doesnt use them for her own design projects. They are meant to allow her work to be useful to photographers who want to spend the time designing, but she puts much more of herself into her designs than placing images into certain spots. Each image is planned and placed in a balanced manner to what she feels looks good and the client will like. Designing doesnt stop with image placement. She adjusts each image using techniques such as levels and curves adjustments, uses a variety of black and white conversion methods, will spot color and tone images as well as apply additional blend mode layers to enhance the overall look of each image as it relates to the layout design and feel of the album as a whole. So designing using templates and custom designing is not the same process.

By partnering with Dawn to do the designing the time she spends designing saves you time to photograph and post process your session images. You can provide direction or you can just let her do her thing.

Q: What file formats do you accept for design services?

A: If we are going to design from your submitted digital files we prefer high resolution .jpg images saved at little or no compression. Our Photoshop design canvas is set at 250dpi so that we can take full advantage of your high resolution files without doing much image extrapolation to fit the design idea in mind. We also accept .tif/.tiff files if necessary by MAIL on DISC ONLY, but they will be converted to .jpg once received so .jpg is desired.

Q: How long does it take until I can see my designs?

A: Design turnaround can be from a couple days to several days.  Please allow two weeks before asking how soon a gallery of design proofs will be created. There many be a number of design projects in different phases going on at once. But, depending on how many images were submitted and how many changes you may want the designing could be anywhere from a week to several, but communication is ongoing throughout the process until all layouts are approved.

Q: How do I know what images to choose?

A: Image selection is up to you, but ideally you will choose the best shots that tell the story. You should include images showing detail that can be used to balance out images of people. If you want quotes incorporated please submit them via email or a submitted electronic document so exact wording is used where appropriate.

Q: Can I just send a disc of all my images and you can pick for me?

A: I love having some choices to decide what works as the flow of the design unfolds, but it would be too overwhelming to choose from all of the images you submit. If you can narrow it down as close as you can and tell me how many you are submitting, but how many you want to include then I can decide what is eliminated for you.

Q: How many pages will my album/book be?

A: There is no definite answer solely based on the number of images you submit. Depending on the images the flow will require more images to be grouped together while others will be less consolidated. However, on average every page side designed may have 2.5 images (5 images per double spread design). An average wedding album is based on about 80 images. Divide that by 5 and you will end up with around 16 spreads or 32 pages. 16 spreads times 1/8th means your album will be about 2 thick plus the cover.

If we are trying to keep to a certain budget there are two ways to help control cost.choose less images or request that I build the designs NOT to exceed a certain number of pages. It may mean I will design differently than I normally would, but if it helps control cost I am happy to help.