DIY Digital Image Wrapping for Photographers

I’ve had a hard time deciding what my first (official) post should be, and how to deal with future posts. Do I go back and post all the crafts I’ve made over the years? Photoshoots from 6 months ago? The recipe for that quinoa salad I made for that party two weeks ago? Or do I only post things that I’ve created since the development of this blog?

I was over thinking it again. I've been so determined that this blog is not going to stress me out like the others. In the end I decided to go with the first thing I could think of – It’s photography and a craft project all in one. This is how I've started presenting digital images to my clients.

I got called in as an emergency photographer last weekend. I had previously sworn off weddings due to the amount of anxiety they give me, but the desperation in their voice and the amount of love I have for this particular family made me think twice.

I rocked that photoshoot.

I’m not typically this confident (vain?) about all my shoots, but I guess all that praying to “please don’t let me screw this up” really paid off. The cloud cover was perfect. The newlyweds were willing to do whatever I wanted, and they posed themselves (the benefits, I’ve discovered, of photographing a former model). The pictures turned out great and I didn’t have to edit any because I wasn’t being paid to do so for this shoot (though I might do some minor editing of a few to post on my photog).

The crafty part came when I packaged the disc with their digital images. It’s not fancy like the DVD cases you can buy from the photo labs, but I’m a low budget photographer so this is what my clients can expect instead. I like it because it’s personal and cute, but I still think it looks classy.

First I printed one of their photos with my business name/logo on the disc. There are two ways I do this:

(1)    You can either buy discs that have blank white paper on top, stick it in a printer like mine that has a disc printing slot, and print directly on the disc; or

(2)    Buy some Avery CD labels (like these from Wal-Mart) and print on the sticker sheets. I’ve found that using Avery’s Word template is not helpful for me when adding photos, so I’ve created my own template in Photoshop by taking measurements from the label sticker sheets.

Next I cut some craft wrapping paper just smaller than the DVD case and secured it with some cute camera washi tape. (Side note: ALL of my washi tape comes from one of two places: the scrapbooking expo or Consumercrafts.com.)

I put one of my business cards in a glassine bag, folded the top of the bag down and secured it with more washi tape, and punched a hole in the corner.

I wrapped some of the dark brown baker’s twine (from consumercrafts.com) around the disc, slid in a Photo Release Form that I shrunk to about 4”x4”, and then attached the business card bag.

For an added final touch, I lightly stamped these arrows on the glassine bag and the back of the craft paper. When I get around to revamping my photography logo, blog, and all my advertising media, these arrows will become a major part of my brand.