Vintage to Release on Monday

Well, senior season is in full swing and I have been playing around with the new release Vintage quite a bit on my senior portraits. Here is something I created a few moments ago by altering a template which will appear on the DVD. Enjoy and watch your e-mail on Monday!

Creating a Custom Frame

I have been meaning to add some tutorials on the blog for quite sometime now. (sorry for the delay) Anyway, in the future, I hope to start adding more tips and tricks on how to use the photoDUDS products. So, stay tuned and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for future posts.

So, in this lesson I took a frame for the Modish collection and used a brush from the Bebe collection, in order to breathe a little new life into something I use all the time when designing. So here goes:

1. Open your photoDUDS frame
2. Create a new layer (make sure new layer is above the frame)
3. Grab desired brush, select desired color and stamp on your design
4. In the menu bar go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask
(this will clip the brush into only the frame)
5. Add your photo behind the frame

PS click on the images below to see larger versions

Coming SOON!!

We are working on a finishing a new product to be released soon. It's called Vintage and it's going to be a photographer's toolkit. It has lots of frames, edge effects, textures and masks, all created really large so you can use them on 16x20s and larger. Here are a few things I created using some of the new things from this exciting new kit.

WPPI Road Trip

I am so excited to be a part of the upcoming WPPI Road Trip. This September, WPPI will be bringing a mini convention cross country to a city near you. Each city will feature four speakers and I will be appearing at the Minneapolis venue on Wednesday, September 23 along with Jim DiVitale, Robert Lino and Jim Garner. Visit the WPPI website to find out more information on cities, times and speakers. Hope to see you there.

Sale!! My daughter is graduating!

We're having a sale but it's not just any ordinary sale. My daughter, Katherine, is graduating from high school and getting ready to attend college in the fall. So, the college bills are already starting to appear and I decided to have a sale to generate some extra cash for college. It's 20% off of everything in the store and the sale ends on June 5th. So hurry on over to the photoDUDS store and check it out. When you check out enter the code mygrad20 to receive your 20% off. Thanks!!

I need your VOTE!

Hey! I need your help! I submitted a photo for the WV Executive Magazine and I was chosen as a finalist and now I need your vote to win! Please go to wvexecutive.com and cast your vote for my portrait, Coal Miner, which features the late Casset Bias of Madison, WV.

Survey! We want your opinion!

Hey! We want to hear from you. We have all sorts of ideas brewing for new products and we want your feedback. Just answer a few quick questions and as a thanks for your help, at the end of the survey you will be directed to a page where you can download 2-FREE senior templates! Click here to go to the survey and to get started. Thanks for your help!!

pssst . . . we will be starting a very special sale next week in honor of my daughter, Katherine's graduation. (Yes, those college bills are already starting to add up!)

Grad Card Set

Hey! Check out this awesome grad card set I created with pieces from our newest release, Wild. Isn't is funky! I have been having so much fun with this set!! I can't get enough of it and the seniors are going crazy over all the awesome designs!! I have been getting a lot of e-mails asking where I get the 2" round seals printed. I have those and the return address labels printed at Marathon Press in the mprint section. Yesterday, I conducted my first of two webinars through Marathon Press. It was fun! I was a bit nervous at first . . . I wasn't sure if I could be an effective speaker without actually being in the room with my audience. But, people seemed to enjoy it and I received loads of kind comments and e-mails today from many of the attendees. Thanks to Marathon Press and to everyone who attended!! Be sure to join me for my next Marathon webinar on June 3rd!!

Pre-Sale Wild Grad Cards

We just announced the upcoming release of our newest release, Wild! Senior Card Set. It's a collection of senior gradation announcements, thanks you cards, seals and a signature board. It's also loaded with some cool animal print overlays. For the new few days, you can order the set for 20% off until Friday, April 10. So, head on over to the photoDUDS store to check it out!

Ron and Renee Guzlas--photoDUDS users

I just received an e-mail from Ron and Renee Guzlas who own the studio, Surf Side Photography in Gulf Shores, Alabama. They wanted to share their newest marketing piece showcasing their painter oil portraits, that was created with the help of photoDUDS. Renee writes,

Just wanted to tell you that we love photoDUDS! We have used DUDS for albums, ads and on our website. It’s a great dresser-upper. Although my husband and I are in our late 50s, our ads look cool and up-to-date thanks to you.

Thanks Ron and Renee for sharing. Your work is awesome and I really like how you used the DUDS along side your beautiful painted portraits! Keep up the good work!

Graduation cards are here!

We released our newest product today... a graduation card set, Natural. It includes all sorts of press product announcements, thank yous, 411 cards, seals, papers and a bonus signature board. Here are images exhibiting the contents of the DVD. Also, we are currently running a 15% discount on everything in the photoDUDS store. Please use the code spring15 to receive the discount.

Upcoming Release!!

We are diligently working on new products. Our next two releases consist of Graduation Announcements and accessories. Each set will include press products such as announcements, thank you cards, address labels, seals, 411 cards and a signature board. Plus, each set comes with a 10 coordinating papers. The first set, which we plan to release within the next two weeks, is shown here in the photo. The next set, which will follow in the few weeks after that will be a fun and funky set with zebra prints, hot colors and tons of attitude! So stay tuned, we have a lot of new things in the works!!

Marketing Piece

Just wanted to share marketing piece I created using DUDS form the new Bebe collection. People are always asking me how I use DUDS, so I wanted to remind everyone of the importance of the marketing piece in portraying our studio image. Plus, I will coordinate the price list for this event using the same elements and designs. (Just a side note the bunny image is not a photoDUD--it is a piece of clip art I purchased from clipart.com)

DUDdrops are here!

Wow!! I have been having such fun with these new products!! Always looking for ideas for new backgrounds, I came up with the idea for these DUDdrops a couple of months ago while at Imaging USA. (So many people we coming up to us and asking if they could get a background with our pattern on it.) I came home and started toying with the idea of selling large vector files which could be customized according to the photographer's wishes. After printing the first sample, I was hooked. Plus, as the seasons and colors change I can simply print up new backdrops. Here are some of my first images from the Damask and Mehndi DUDdrops. As you can see, I took the original file and customized it to the colors of my choice before sending it to the printer.





I had the files printed 4x8 ft. on matte paper and and hung them on my wall with thumbtacks. You want to make sure they are printed on a matte surface with no sheen so as to not have glare from your lighting. In the future, I am going to mount the 4x8 ft. prints to gatorboard so I have a two-sided background. But thumbtacks are cheap and easy to get started with.


As for printing options, I had mine printed at my lab (www.photoprodcution.com) but you can check with your lab, local kinkos, or sign company. If you want canvas, you can contact Simply Canvas. Fore more information on the DUDdrops, you can go to the www.photoduds.com and there is a downloadable pdf with more information. Also, every DUDdrop comes with a pdf on how to color and customize your DUDdrops.