Vista Prints

I love www.vistaprints.com !!! They are constantly sending me emails for sales and freebies. Thanks to all of these sales, I've been able to pull my marketing material together for almost nothing. (nothing being an image upload charge and s&h.)

The picture above shows the following products :notecards to send to clients to thank them for booking me or thank them for their order, brochures for boutique proposals, large postcards for info packets, small postcards for mailing, and handing out, business cards (in glossy!) stamps to stamp my website and one for gallery address and passwords, and rack cards w/pricing.

I don't know how they make any money. I'm sure they take a cut from the S&H and the 4.99 upload charge. Plus there are those times I just have to have something whether or not it is on sale.

I recommend using the 7 day shipping option. It usually arrives in only a handful of days and is only a few dollars more. Also instead of uploading a text backside for postcards (and paying an extra 4.99), consider using their tools to type the info in. Oh and get glossy on those premium business cards. I forgot to do so with my last batch and can tell the difference bigtime.

New definition for "road rage"

My flickr friend Leya recently made a post in one of our groups about using your car as a mobile stuidio. It was a bit tongue in cheek but the truth is we know it works and we love it! You can see Leya's set up here

Now whether it's that you haven't learned to use studio lights, don't have them, or just prefer outdoor light, here are some other places to get out of the sun while still getting that nice daylight look:

Parking garage
on the front or back porch
in the garage
Under an umbrella
under a blanket
under a table or other furniture
under a pier, bridge or overpass
in a doorway

have fun!

Make your own flash diffuser

Now really diffusers don't cost too much. A Gary Fong Lightsphere will cost you about $40. But we have other things we want/need to spend $40 on. Well you're in luck! There are plenty of tutorials out there if you're up to making one yourself. And depending on how innovative you are, you could score one for free.

I thought I might need one for an indoor session I have tomorrow. I looked around in the cupboards and found a rubbermaid squarish drink conatainer that had been missing it's lid for some odd years. I carefully cut away the bottle mouth and then traced my flash over the reminaing hole. Then cut away again carefully until my flash could be slid in snug. Here's my flash bounced off the ceiling with no diffuser and then using the difusser at the same settings, both sooc.



other flash fun:
Homemade softbox
And what about making one for your pop up built in flash out of a claer film canister (if you still have one around?)

Welcome! A bit about me and the Frugal Fotog blog

My name is Monique Duke. I've been in business for 2 years and been a photographer and artist my whole life. Part of being an artist is exploring and playing. You learn how to do things yourself, which is why a lot of new indie crafters refer to themselves as DIYers. Because of my background, I feel that I've been able to bend the rules a bit when it comes to my business. I'm pretty good at discovering tricks and doing things for myself. Though a lot of professional photographers advise that you should hire other people to do things for you (logo design for example) it's not always in the budget...especially if you're saving up for the D3 like I am ;)

Let me know if you have any post ideas/tips and if you're looking for help PLEASE let me know in the comments. Stay tuned a little diy project is coming up tonight!