Canvas Prints...The Good and the Ugly

With the Ashtabula Covered Bridge Festival coming up in
October, I decided to make a switch on my display. Instead
of carrying 25 to 30 framed prints, which was heavy, bulky
and not to mentioned proned to scratches no matter how careful
I was, I was changing to canvas.

The canvas prints would be larger, but I'd only need half as
many. That meant more space in my suv. Plus the canvas prints
were a whole lot lighter.

Always looking for the best deal, here are the companies I
tried and my thoughts.




CVS (http://www.cvsphoto.com/home.aspx) - F+

My first online order went great. They had free shipping to
the store. Had my 24x36 within the week. The print itself
looked great.

After that, it all went downhill.

I received an email offering 50% off all their canvas prints
by a certain date. This was great for me cause the expiration
date was one day later than my payday and I could basically get
two prints for the price of one.

A few days later I received another email from CVS, offering 40%,
but this was for everything. I didn't pay no mind to that.

When it came time to order my next set of canvas prints, I entered
the code for the 50%. The site didn't accept it. What the site did
accept was the 40%. I figured 40% off of something is better than 0%.

I still thought they should honor their 50%. So I wrote to their customer
service. Two weeks went by, not a peep. So I posted my problem on CVS'
Facebook page.

Their response was for me to call them. Excuse me? Call them? How about
you return and answer my email?

Then it got worse.

When I went to their photo part of the web site, I was greeted to a message
saying that the 3rd party company they use for credit card processing was
hacked.

They never sent a warning to their customers, no news on the event. Basically
I found this out by accident.

Normally when sites get hacked, they're back up in a few days, if not sooner.
A month later, they're STILL down.

Again, I posted on their Facebook page if they had an estimate on when they
might be back up. They refused to answer my question. Instead they danced
around it by saying they appreciate my patience...huh...and they're working
on it.

Well, you keep working on it and I'll take my business elsewhere.



Easy Canvas Prints (www.easycanvasprints.com) - C

This company offered 60% off their prints. So a 24x36 was around $103 (vs the
industry average of about $150) for a 3/4 frame. BTW, if you offer 60% off
all the time, I don't consider that a sale.

I decided to try them next.

Their ordering process is buggy, at best. The only thing that went right was
me choosing what size I wanted.

The next screen is the image upload and where it fell apart.

The text says the file limit is 20mb. So I uploaded a 24x36 at 10mb.
The preview screen on the right told me my upload was to big, it had to be,
get this, under 50mb....uh, which one is it guys?

After downsizing my image multiple times and getting the same response, I wrote
to their customer service.

Unlike CVS, at least these guys wrote back. Unfortunately to get my image uploaded,
I had to jump thru hoops which included a link to upload larger files. That just
didn't make sense. If your original upload screen can't handle a 5mb file, but the
link you sent me does, why not swap the two?

No thanks. I didn't want to go thru that every time I had to place an order.

I'd give this company a C. The price is right. The site is easy to navigate. They're
customer service cares about you. Its just their upload doesn't work.



Photography.com - C+

Oh boy, what a bunch of losers.

I found these guys in Outdoor Photography magazine. They were offering buy 1 print,
get 3 free. Great! Nope.

First, you had to buy a coupon for the price of the first piece. No problem, except
the largest they went was 20x30. Minor problem, but hey, for 3 free, why not?

On their site they mention it takes 5 to 10 business days to process your order. That's
pretty long in this age, but again, I keep telling myself, I'm getting four prints
for the price of one. Plus, surely it wouldn't actually take THAT long, right? Wrong!

Twelve business days later I wrote their customer service wondering on the status. They
wrote back within 24 hours. Unfortunately, they don't read what they write. Cause they
gave me the same excuse...5 to 10 business days. Hello! Its been 12 days!

So as soon as I get my prints...bye bye to these guys.

Would I ever be happy?

Yes!

In fact, the company I'm going to write about next...they've fulfilled two of my orders,
all coming from India compared to 0 from www.photography.com.

Grade for photography.com? C+. At least I was able to order from them. It'll just be
nice to get the prints before 2016.



Canvas Champ - http://www.canvaschamp.com/ - A++++++++++

This company I actually found by accident. I was reading some old discussions on an
art fair site and saw this site mentioned.

The company is in the United States, but they print and ship from India. Don't let that
scare you. In my two orders I've placed so far, they've both been at my doorstep in less
than a week!

The first shock I got was their prices. A 24x36 canvas with a 3/4 frame was $44...yes...$44!
I can't tell you how many times I looked at their site to make sure I wasn't misreading
something. They do offer finishing for only about $5. Still, compared to the lowest price
I've found to date? This price was unbelievable.

Before I placed a big order, I was going to try out one first.

Their ordering from start to finish was a breeze! I had no problems whatsoever. Shipping?
Try around $10...from India (UPS)!

I figured I'd see my canvas in 2-3 weeks. I was shocked to get a UPS tracking number...the
next day!

From ordering to my home...less than a week. I think it took me longer to remove all the
tape from the box, it was packaged that well.

The canvas itself was simply perfect.

I found my company!

I placed a second order for four more 24x36 canvas prints. Just like the first order, it'll
be in my living room within 7 days.

Grade? A+ baby!

Changes!

Besides the change from winter to spring, there's also a change in
equipment for me.

First, this winter weather was brutal for me bird wise. The temps were
so cold I didn't get one photo this year, a first for me. So as you can
probably imagine, I've by anxiously waiting for this warmer weather!

Second, my equipment changes...I'm finally saying goodbye to the
two pieces of equipment I've had since 2007, when I started in
bird photography.

1. Gitzo 1327 Tripod. Even after all these years, the Gitzo I have is
    still great, but the legs were getting tougher and tougher to work.
    Even after a periodic disassembling of the legs, it just reached the
    end, not to mention finding parts harder and harder.

    So what did I buy? An Induro CT304 carbon fiber tripod. The tripod
    was first recommended by Denise Ippolito. With the tripod costing
    half as much as a Gitzo, I bought the CT304.

    The only negative of the tripod is the feet. They were made for pavement.
    For under $12 I bought some replacement spike feet. I used a regular
    wrench to replace the feet.

    Other than that, it looks like a great tripod. It's also smaller and lighter
    than my Gitzo. I can't wait to use it in the field.

2. The planets finally lined up and I said good bye to my NON IS 600.
    I sold my Canon 300 2.8 giving me the funds toward an IS 600. The
    600 is a version 1, but its still a heck of a great lens.

    I have to admit, I am going to miss my NON IS 600. It helped me take
    a lot of great pictures and prove to people you don't need IS to create
    a great image. What I'm not going to miss is the weight of almost 16
    pounds!!

Ooops...forgot the big news

I was just reading my last blog and discovered I forgot to follow up
on my big news!

As of September, my photography is officially a business!

I am now Doug West Photography, LLC.

Bird photography will always be my primary objective, but I wanted
to open up the possibility of making more money by offering other
photography services, so I figured this was a good time to do it.

Big Announcement Coming!

I have a BIG announcement coming, hopefully by mid to late September.
The timing is perfect because of the Ashtabula Covered Bridge Festival
I'll be at during the second weekend of October.

All I can say is, this is something I've wanted for such a very long, long
time.

Pedal to the Point 2014...Branching Out

On August 2, 2014 I volunteered to photograph my workplace team, Team MMO
(Medical Mutual of Ohio) as the cycled 75 miles from Brunswick High School
to Sandusky High School.

I decided that the place to setup so I could have the best opportunity to capture
as many team members as possible was outside of the lunch stop at the Lorain
County JVS in Oberlin, OH.

To make sure I didn't miss anything, I arrived at 7am. The first cyclist came
down the road at about 8am. Soon after, the first of the Medical Mutual Team
arrived.

The forecast was for thunderstorms, but in the beginning, the day started fine
with partly to mostly sunny skies. I didn't think of it, but I should've asked
somebody to drop me off a can of soda after their lunch, cause after 4 hours,
I did get a little thirsty :)

My equipment was simple...my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV and the Canon 70-200
F2.8 lens. I ended up snapping off over 1700 images! I would've gone over 2000
if the storms didn't roll in at the end.

At first when I started to shoot, I was starting at 200 and zooming out to 70, kind
of the same thing I do when photographing birds in flight as they come closer.
But I learned I had better success just picking a spot and shooting at 70mm.

The only hiccup I had was when my lens stopped focusing. I was panicking,
wondering how this could happen all of a sudden. Turns out while I was zooming
in and out, I accidentally turned the AF switch off on my lens. Ooops. Hey, at
least it was my fault and not the lens :)

Everyone that rode thru was so friendly, waving, giving me the thumbs up.
If I knew this was going to be such a success, I would've promoted this, but hey,
next year, cause I really want to do this again.

After shooting for 3 hours on the ground, I decided to get up and shoot the other
direction as the cyclists were leaving lunch. My plan was to shoot until noon, but
with the thunderstorm clouds coming in, the wind gusting and temps dropping by
at least 15 degrees, I decided to call it a day.

In all, I captured at least 30-40 of Team MMO. If I had that extra hour, I'm sure I
would've got a lot more. As far as the other cyclists? Its hard to tell how many different
individuals I got, but if I had to take a wild guess...300-400.

To view the other cyclists that participated in this event, visit my other web site at:
http://dougwestphotography.zenfolio.com/

Busy...Busy

Last week I visited Brandywine Falls for the first time. This was
almost my first time trying to photograph waterfalls. I was there
for about an hour and came away with a few images I really liked.

I used my 24-105 lens for all of the shooting. I also brought my
Neutral Density filters, but it turned out I didn't need them. The
early morning found the sun behind the clouds, so my exposures
were manageable. I was using anywhere between 1 to 8 seconds
for my shutter speeds.

This week it'll probably seem like I'll be in my SUV more than
anything.

On Friday (8/1) I'll be traveling across the county to the Carisle
Reservation Nature Center to take my framed images down. This
drive takes me about an hour to get there.

After that, I have to drive all the way back to Euclid and hang those
same images back up at the Euclid Public Library, which is where
they'll stay for the whole month of August.

The Euclid showing is a little extra special this time cause its the
first time I've back since the library gave me my first opportunity
to show my work back in 2007. So its kind of like a homecoming
for me.

Returning to Euclid also made me realize how far I've come as a
bird photographer. What I had hung back in 2007 probably would've
ended up in the trash in 2014.

Then Saturday morning I have to get up at the crack of down and
photograph my company friends as they compete in the Pedal to
the Point. I'll be at the side of the road for a couple of hours in Oberlin
and then head to Sandusky to photograph them even more as they
cross the finish line. I might even be there on Sunday at the finish
line. Of course all of this depends on the weather.

I'm also planning my return to the Ashtabula Covered Bridge Festival
after a 3 year absence.

This return will also be big for me. I was always in the Grange Building.
The Grange Building had its own stalls and shelving. So setup was easy.
The building was also crowded, but some times to crowded in a way
that people couldn't admire my work. Normally only about 3 people could
get into my stall at a time, which meant a lot of people passing by.

This year I'm in the Commercial Building and will have my own 10x10
space. Right now I'm planning on how to best set up for that with a
combination of tables and art panels.

The Stinkers and the Keepers

After a day of shooting, the fun really starts...the time
to decide what images to keep and what images to delete.

When that time has come I use two programs, both from the
company Breezesys. They are Downloader Pro and BreezeBrowswer.

When setup correctly, DownloaderPro will automatically copy
my images from the CF card to a directory. All I have to do
is specify a job code. The job code is my description of the
images I just shot. For example it might contain the date of
the shoot and the place. All of that information is then appended
to the actual file name.

Now it comes time to review, which I use BreezeBrowswer. This
app is great because it allows me to view the images in full
screen via slideshow while marking my favorites. At the end,
anything that isn't marked, gets deleted.

I perform a couple of rounds of culling. The first round I delete
the obvious out of focus shots. If the images aren't sharp now,
they're not going to be sharp later. The second round is where
I pay attention to the technical side. If the image has a bad
head turn, bad background...anything that I'm 100% positive I
can't fix in Photoshop gets trashed.

The final round is usually marking the images that I think are
the best of the best. These will be the ones I'll give the most
attention to since they could end up in a frame or something.
The second best images if you will, are my backups, to be used
when I might need more down the road.

If I'm lucky, I'll have around 80-100 keepers out of a couple
hundred that were deleted. Now you hopefully understand better,
hopefully, why I'm so picky in the field (from my earlier blog).
I don't know about you, but I'd rather go thru 300 or 400 images
vs 1000-1500 images. Yikes!

After all of that I then move my remaining images to their own
directory. Me, I have a folder for each place I've visited. Then
that folder is broken down by year, then by RAW, TIF and JPG folders.

I know it might be hard to delete an image, especially if you've fallen
in love with the species. But this is where you have to separate yourself
from the others. You have to remove emotion out of the equation. I'd
rather see one great bird photo vs 10 below par images.