BBC 2009 Photo Calendar Nominations

[bdann]

maybe we should go back a few years.

[SA Bill]

One more I like.
  Bill

[fartymarty]

I would like to nominate these for inclusion on the calendar...

[fartymarty]

I would like to nominate a couple few more:

Fog Rolls Into the Basin (2001)

Big Bend Rainbow (2006)

Toll Mountain Campsite Sunset (2007)

[tjavery]

It's getting late in the year now, and I thought I'd pick this project back up. I've just created and ordered calendars from both Cafepress and Shutterfly. These should be delivered to me later this month. These are my own personal projects featuring my own photos - I'll just gift these out after I've looked at them.

Again, the purpose of this exercise is to determine which service offers the best quality prints in their calendars. Right now, only Shutterfly and Cafepress have a feature where outsiders (that's you) can place an order for a "product" (that would be a calendar). Other sites, like MPIX.com, do not have a "share" feature where you can allow others to order your projects.

Fyi, my cafepress calendar site looks like this: http://www.cafepress.com/tjavery.312501261

And here are some screen-grabs from when I created my calendar projects:


snapshot of my Cafepress calendar


close-up shot of Cafepress calendar page

The cafepress calendar photos are full-bleed (i.e. printed edge-to-edge). There is no room or feature that allows you to add text stating info about each image. I purposely created a white border and added text within each JPG file using Photoshop first. These JPGs were then uploaded to Cafepress and inserted into my calendar project. This isn't a big deal - just one of the fine details I had to work through to make the final product as I wanted it.

In our BBC calendar, we'll need to add text to each image stating the details and photographer's name.

Now, the Shutterfly calendar:


example page from Shutterfly calendar


Close up of Shutterfly calendar page

Shutterfly does not offer full-bleed. The largest printed area (per calendar page) works out to about 10.2" x 7.6". For comparison, the printed area in the Cafepress image is 11" x 8.5" (standard letter size). This isn't a terribly big deal to me, but it's one thing to consider when we get to evaluating which service to use in a few weeks.

So, I'll report back here after I get the two calendars and evaluate the quality.

---------------------------------------------------------

Moving on.... It's time to start thinking about what photos from fellow BBC'ers that you want in the 2009 BBC calendar. Let's keep this thread moving by nominating your favorites. Feel free to submit your own pics, we won't think less of you :-))))

A few thoughts:

- Image quality needs to be somewhat good. 3 - 4 MP (or greater) photos from digital point-n-shoots and also pics from DSLRs should be adequate. Photos should be technically good, i.e. blurry or underexposed images just won't look good in final print. A blurry photo of the a$$-end of a black bear might have a ton of sentimental value, but it's not a good photo.

- Be picky in your nominations. Remember that you'll be looking at each one of the photos for a full month next year.

- Vertically oriented (portrait-format) photos can be used in the calendar, however they'll require a lot of wasted space (large white borders to either side). Horizontal (landscape-oriented) photos will be best. This sketch should give you an idea of what I mean:


horizontal vs. portrait formats used in calendar

I'll volunteer to collect the hi-res files of our choice photos from the contributors and do the leg-work to create the calendar, if y'all want.

Contributors are welcome to perform their own digital editing, or not and leave it to me. Photos will need to be adjusted (where desired), cropped, resized, sharpened, etc. The details in the cropping and resizing will be dictated by which service (Cafepress or Shutterfly) we use.

If we do end up choosing Cafepress, then I can collect, edit, and prepare all the image files and then send them to Casa Grande (the man, not the mountain) so he can easily upload them and create the calendar within the official BBC Cafepress store.

[tjavery]

Also, when you reply to this message with your nominations, PLEASE also include some info with the pics, such as the photographer's name and URL where you found the pics (i.e. BBC thread).

[fartymarty]

  TJ, I have three comments,  1. WOW! 
                                         2. Really,...WOW! 
                                         3. Request: The next time that you take a vertically oriented photo like this: http://www.texbrick.com/photo/bb_2_07/3400-03.jpg
                                                          would you please take another one along side of it to be stitched together for a calendar page? 

[tjavery]

TJ, I have three comments,
1. WOW!
2. Really,...WOW!;
3. Request: The next time that you take a vertically oriented photo like this: http://www.texbrick.com/photo/bb_2_07/3400-03.jpg; would you please take another one along side of it to be stitched together for a calendar page?

Thanks! Actually, I did shoot a horizontal from that location, but I couldn't work in the patchy flowers to get a nice composition, and by the time I found a pleasing composition the light had changed a lot. Colors like that (during sunrises and sunsets) do not last very long. I probably wasted several minutes going from that portrait scene to a horizontal, and it was just enough time for the cloud colors to fade and the sun to pop up over the horizon.

However, Randell did get a nice horizontal shot from that location:



And, while I'm at it, here are several other photos from BBC'ers that I think are pretty darn good:

SA Bill's "Sun and Hills":



JeffB's night sky:



Vipers shot from the south rim:



Randell's ET shot from his RMJGMR trip (for the die-hard ET fans):



Casa Grande's lunch at Boot Canyon:



Beemerchef's sunset from Sotol Vista:



Randell's Marufo Vega journey:



I remember seeing almost the same scene, but shot a little later in sweeter light. I think it was a horizontal. I found this vertical, and I think the light is getting better, much like I remember the other horizontal shot in warmer light. Randell - do you still have the horizontal version that I'm thinking of? (if not, then I admit I'm smokin' too much crack and my memory is shot)



I know there have been many more great photos posted on BBC in the last years, and I'll do more digging to find a few more to nominate. In the meantime, YOU do the same and post your choices here! 

[Casa Grande]

that's realy good TJ..now you've got me all excited about it....

[SA Bill]

I love all of your selections tj! We truly have some great photographers on this board. I've never been published before so if one of mine makes the cut...

I'll need two calendars...one for home and one for work!  I'll take two even if I don't make the cut. 
   Bill

[Al]

CG, I have no idea what it would take to produce a calender and whether it would be worth the effort. It would be a great deal since the photographers would be donating their work, if any excess profits, after are you compensated for your time and effort,  are donated to an appropriate Big Bend non profit organization(s).  I'll buy a couple for sure.  TJ is identifying great photos that I would love to have hanging from my wall.  There is bound to be a way to pull it off that will make every one happy. 

Al

[tjavery]

CG, I have no idea what it would take to produce a calender and whether it would be worth the effort. It would be a great deal since the photographers would be donating their work, if any excess profits, after are you compensated for your time and effort,  are donated to an appropriate Big Bend non profit organization(s).  I'll buy a couple for sure.  TJ is identifying great photos that I would love to have hanging from my wall.  There is bound to be a way to pull it off that will make every one happy. 

Al

That's what we're working towards here. We've identified two places (Cafepress and Shutterfly) that allow us to upload photos and create a calendar project, and then anyone can order calendars on an individual basis. We discussed this a while back, and we feel this is the best option.

The other option is for someone to out-right buy a case or two of calendars and then sell them to forum members. This may get tricky and expensive, especially if the people who wanted calendars don't actually buy them after the order comes in. There's also the nightmare of shipping out all the calendars to individual buyers.

I'm looking at two options to see which supplier has the best photo quality. Cafepress would be ideal (as it would allow CG to generate a little profit for BBC), but I've seen a Cafepress produced calendar (several years ago) and the quality wasn't very good. Anway, I'm "testing" Cafepress now by submitting my own personal calendar. We'll see how it compares to my Calendar from Shutterfly.

I'll let y'all know. As of today, both my calendars have shipped and will be delivered sometime late next week.

[Casa Grande]

(as it would allow CG to generate a little profit for BBC)

Of course, I appreciate that, however, BBC is doing just fine.   Might I suggest,  a bit to our fearless Moderator, Richard.  He puts a lot of time and energy in keeping this board neat, tidy and moderated!

[RichardM]

(as it would allow CG to generate a little profit for BBC)

Of course, I appreciate that, however, BBC is doing just fine.   Might I suggest,  a bit to our fearless Moderator, Richard.  He puts a lot of time and energy in keeping this board neat, tidy and moderated!

Actually I may be asking a favor of a few of our fine photographers. My mother wants me to print up five Big Bend pics for a custom frame set to be given to my younger brother to put in his new house. I'll probably print them at home as 8x10s. As soon as Mom and I get around to figuring out which ones will work with the frames I'll be begging for permission to print them up. I think it's either 3 vertical, 2 horizontal or just the opposite. I'll probably need to do some cropping as most photos that spring to mind are horizontal.

Update: Never mind. My Epson Artisan 700 printer did a great job printing some of my relatively low-res pics from my last trip out there.

[fartymarty]

I would like to nominate this one for the BBC Calendar:
 

whickum's shot of the basin full of cool whip.