Are you a blogger? We hope so! Because along with our friends at Love All Blogs, we are calling all bloggers for an image of something they love! The competition is simple, if you are a blogger you just need to share an image of something you love on your blog; the kind of photo that brings a smile to your eyes!
Some of my all-time favourite photos are party moments; whether they are silly dress ups, formal gatherings or casual picnics (and I’m sure you’re the same!). Just being at a party tends to make people relaxed and happy – all the better for snapping that great shot. Because of this, photos from parties are often ones I want to include in my photo books.
To really make your party photos shine, we have added some new “party” themed backgrounds and clipart to the Albelli photo book editor. See a selection below… they’re sure to add some excitement to your next photo book!
Do you find it hard to say ‘I Love You’? You won’t be the only person!
A colleague in our Dutch team has created this photo book for his girlfriend for Valentine’s Day. “Hou ik van jou” directly translates as “I love you”. Such a simple but beautiful way to show your love on Valentine’s. We know his girlfriend will be feeling very special on Valentine’s and will treasure this gift for years to come.
Still looking for Valentine’s Day inspiration? Find it here in our great gift ideas.
We might like to think we are a nation of romantics but we decided this Valentine’s that it would be interesting to look at exactly how we do spend at Valentine’s so we commissioned a survey to find out more!
We’ve taken our favourite results and put them into an infographic (a small taste of this is below). Click through to see the full infographic and also take the embed code to host on your own website or blog if you wish!
Remember that moment when you walk in the door from holiday… the familiar, welcoming smell of home, the tired feeling after a long journey, the tinge of regret that something good has come to an end and the knowledge that inevitably routine will kick in the next morning. Yes, you know it!
It’s not the first time we’ve said this at Albelli, but a photo book really is a beautiful way to relive that holiday feeling weeks and months after the memories have started to fade. The latest addition to our photo book inspiration pages is a book by a colleague Martin on a recent trip to New York with friends. Now you don’t even need to have been to New York to appreciate the beauty of this book on your coffee table, but if you are the one who lived through each of those photos, it is a very special reminder of a magical time in your life, to savour for years to come.
Several weeks ago I announced that we were excited to be sponsoring the Geekanoids Photo Critique. We are now into the 3rd month of the critique, with the January theme being Street Photography – you can see the details here. It’s a great project and if you are a budding photographer, I’d encourage you to check out the current entries and enter here. I wanted to share with you the online widget of the photo book I’ve made of the entries from the Novemeber critique – with the theme ‘water’. Some great images and the book looks beautiful on my desk!
We are forever coming up with fun new ways you can make your photo book truly special. The latest selection of clip art in the gallery (available in our free download editor) is called “Pinboard” and features funky ways to add style to your photo book.
I’ve had some fun using the new clip art in a baby book, see below.
To access the clip art in the download editor, simply click on “Insert” then “Clip art” then select the “Download more” button in the pop-up to download the new clip art (and any you haven’t previously downloaded), then select from the range (see below).
Note: To insert text, simply insert a text box on top of the clip art and edit as normal.
If you are ever wondering what other fun assets are available in our editor, don’t forget to check our Layout extras pages for great ideas and tips on how to make the best of your Albelli photo creation.
What’s your favourite clip art features and how do you use it? We’d love to hear!
A couple of the creative people at Albelli have been playing with how to take the best photo of your Christmas tree (can also be used for decorations). Here’s some fun tips for really capturing the Christmas spirit. These are just taken in the office, so imagine what you can do in the ambience of your home!
What do you need?
• A camera that lets you choose the shutter speed and aperture can be set (no need for it to be an SLR).
• A stable surface (preferably a tripod). Hot tip: If you don’t have a tripod, try resting your camera on a bag of dry raw beans, this should help steady your camera and allow you to tilt and position.
1. Christmas lights: The trick is an open aperture setting and not sharp. This ensures that the image will be slightly blurred, creating the perfect backdrop. Take your time, it might take a while to acheive the setting you want!
For this picture we used:
• Mode: Av (Canon). (If you have a Nikon, try using Mode A)
• Aperture: F2.8 (or at least minimize)
• Shutter: 1/8th sec
• ISO: 100 Lens
• Focus: set it to manual focus and set it deliberately blurred
2. A Christmas tree ‘tunnel effect’: The trick here is to zoom in while taking the picture. Step 1: Zoom all the way out and keep your hand on the zoom ring on your camera. Step 2: Press the shutter button and zoom now (during recording) in. This will create the funky tunnel effect you can see.
For this picture we used:
• Mode: TV (Canon) (If you have a Nikon, try using Mode S)
• Aperture: F6.3
• Shutter speed: 2 sec.
• ISO speed: 100 or 200
3. Christmas tree movement: To create this effect, get rid of the tripod and use the below settings. Be creative and try all kinds of patterns. Again the trick is to be as patient as possible – it might take a while to get the effect you are after! The good news is you don’t need a steady hand, so that glass of wine in one hand may help!
For this picture we used:
• Mode: TV (Canon) (If you have a Nikon, try using Mode S)
We’ve been very busy here at Albelli with our European business processing a record breaking number of photo books for our customers in time for Christmas! At our factory we are processing a photo book every 3.5 seconds! You can read all the details here, but what does 3.5 seconds a photo book really look like? Well….
It looks like 17 photo books produced per minute (that’s nearly 25,000 a day!).
5000 km of FSC paper – as far as from London to Moscow.
And 70 million high res photos, which equals 33 Terabyte of memory; the memory of 2,000+ iPads. 2,000 iPads stacked on top of each other is over 17m tall, taller than 3 giraffes head to toe.
Now that’s a lot of memory, a lot of Albelli photo books and hopefully a lot of happy customers at Christmas!
With just one day to go before our Christmas cut off date, we thought we’d help out with a list of our Top 5 Christmas gift ideas from Albelli – perfect for last minute shopping. And the best thing about these ideas? You don’t even need to leave the comfort of your home and battle the crowds; base yourself at home by a roaring fire and we’ll deliver to your door!
1. Your favourite shared holiday memory in a modern Acrylic Print – acrylic is great for showcasing vivid colours and sharp contrasts. The colours of India, the magnificent blue of the Mediterranean; find your most brilliant holiday snap and enjoy it all year round.
Liset one of our online marketers has made this acrylic print for her sister of their trip in Thailand earlier this year.
2. The family portrait on Canvas – think about selecting a candid shot when everyone is natural and smiling, rather than a serious portrait shot. It will bring warmth to any room.
3. A Photo Calendar – every household needs one, making it the perfect gift for all. Make it special with fun memories to make you smile all year round. With our new calendar creator, it’s super quick and easy, plus you create one calendar and order copies for all those last minute gifts in your life!
Tamara from our team with her “Asia” themed landscape calendar, a gift for her parents.
4. A Speedy Book - just 24 photos required and with a simple one photo per page layout, you can create a truly personal gift in less than 10mins – go on, try it!
5. Quickest & easiest of all… an Albelli E-Gift Voucher. Choose your price (£15, £25 or £50), order in moments and because it’s an e-voucher you can order right up until the moment you need it!
