The Stationers Guild

With all the simplicity of digital cameras and improvements in offset printing, this season a great number of households will digitally print family photographs on their annual holiday card. What could possibly be easier? Merely upload your image to an online printer, find a design template, crop your image, click the print icon and your printed Christmas cards will be mailed to your home.

This sounds like an idyllic state of affairs, but photography professionals unwaveringly insist that digitally-imprinted holiday photo cards are not nearly as attractive as photos attached to the greeting card. One knowledgeable stationery store owner and amateur photographer remarked, “Digitally reproduced holiday cards simply don’t have the quality and print image resolution of photographs developed by a commercial printer. Some digital holiday photo cards can be quite attractive, but when you compare them side-by-side, the distinction is clear: Photomount greeting cards win hands-down.”

Not every person would go along with this assessment, but certainly when you consider the “convenience factor” and reduced price tag, it is no shock that consumers have migrated toward digital holiday cards. “Let’s admit it,” said this seasoned stationery store owner, “you are getting a nice quality photo card – maybe not the best – however, you avoid the hassle of mounting the photos with adhesive tape.”

Due to this change in consumer buying behavior, leading printing companies have moved quickly to increase their digital printing capabilities. Actually, industry leaders, Crane & Co. and William Arthur now provide clients a choice of imprinting their photograph on the Christmas photo card or placing their photographs on beautifully designed greeting cards – often engraved – with pre-applied adhesive tape.

To appreciate the variations in both printing techniques, it is wise to visit a qualified stationery store in your neighborhood to see printed examples personally. Whichever printing option feels like a fit, a variety of printing companies are in the midst of their holiday card sale. Save anywhere for 20% to 50% by ordering your holiday photo cards before the end of September.

Sheila May is the owner of Therese Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT. She writes frequently about photo greeting cards and holiday greeting card trends.

Being a stationery store owner, I am repeatedly questioned whether digital camera Holiday personalized photo cards are “nicer” when compared to 4″x 6″ photographs mounted on a personalized Christmas card. There actually is no straightforward answer to this question, but I will share a couple of insights that might be helpful take into consideration when making your choice.

Even though the printing quality of digital prints has improved considerably, photographs developed commercially have a clear edge. This shouldn’t be surprising considering that commercially developed photographs are produced under ideal developing conditions utilizing papers manufactured to make consistent high quality prints. Even though I have seen exceptional digitally reproduced photos using high quality printers on specially formulated photo papers, this printing technique should be left to experts.with well-calibrated printing and developing equipment.

Digitally-reproduced Christmas holiday custom photo cards are likely to be more affordable than photographs attached to Holiday greeting cards. The cost of digitally printed photo cards is often a result of the paper weight and uniqueness of the design and style the photo card templates. While many photo cards look like commercial promotional mailers, some leading design companies have attractive window frames to showcase your photograph.

There exists a wide-spread false impression that “it is more convenient” to pick a digital holiday card rather than a traditional photo-mount holiday greeting card. This is certainly not the truth. Anytime you create digital prints you possess an infinite selection of coloring possibilities. I’ve all too often witnessed the stress than sets-in when a buyer is faced with numerous design alternatives to reproduced their digital photographs. Engraved and printed frames from prominent printing companies and designers are generally of far better quality when compared with the constrained web template choices offered by most online printers.

William Arthur, two of the main Christmas photo card creative designers, give the client the choice of using adhesive strips to mount your photographs or getting the picture imprinted digitally on the very same high quality paper stock. The price of both Crane’s and William Arthur’s Christmas photo card is identical no matter what printing process is elected. While the caliber of photo prints is superior to digitally reproduced pictures, printing your photo card digitally can save you some time and $0.19 per photograph print.

To view the many printing choices available, we suggest that you contact a Guild member store in your area to see which printing process works the best for your family photograph this Christmas season.

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

Being a stationery store owner, I’m quite often asked if online digital Christmas holiday photo greeting cards are “a lot better” over 4″x 6″ pictures mounted on a customized holiday photo card. There actually is no straightforward response to this question, but I will share a few insights that might be useful to bear in mind when reaching final decision.

Although the print quality of digital prints has improved considerably, prints developed at photo centers have an advantage. This should not be unexpected since commercially printed photos are developed under the most desirable print conditions utilizing papers created specifically to produce uniform top quality photos. Though I’ve come across outstanding digital photographs utilizing high quality photo printers on treated papers, this printing technique should be left to professionals.with the appropriate printing and developing equipment.

Digitally-printed holiday personalized photo cards are usually cheaper than photographs placed on Christmas greeting cards. The price of digital photo cards is usually a result of the paper stock and uniqueness of the design and style the card templates. Although some photo cards look like commercially made mailers, several quality design companies have stunning window frames to call attention to your picture.

There exists a common misconception that “it is more convenient” decide on a digital Christmas card than a conventional photo-mount holiday greeting card. This is most definitely not the fact. Any time you make digital prints you possess an unlimited range of coloring choices. We have all too often seen the annoyance than sets-in when a buyer is confronted with so many design options to print their digital photographs. Engraved border photo frames from prominent printing company are typically of much higher quality compared to small design template alternatives offered by most online print companies.

William Arthur, two of the main holiday photo card designers and printers, offer the buyer deciding on a using photo-mounts or getting the photo imprinted electronically on the very same high quality paper stock. The cost of both Crane’s and William Arthur’s holiday photo card is identical irrespective of printing process is chosen. While the caliber of photo prints is superior to digitally reproduced pictures, printing your photo card digitally can save you time and $0.19 per photograph print.

To view the many printing choices offered, we recommend that you contact a Guild member store in your area to see which printing process works best for your family picture this holiday season.

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

As a stationery store that sell holiday greeting cards and photo cards, I am frequently quizzed by our customers if they should use digital photo cards this Christmas season. Virtually all of these customers have typically used photo mount holiday greeting cards to share family pictures.

This is a complicated query to respond to, since it depends on your objectives. Digital Christmas photo greeting cards are generally more straightforward, despite the fact that the color reproduction of digitally printed photo cards is not as highly detailed as conventional photographs. While great improvement has been produced in improving the quality of digital printing, one needs to be careful in selecting the printing company and the style selections.

One artist who has got a long history of graceful designs and styles is Stacy Claire Boyd. Stacy has long been creating captivating Christmas photocard design templates for a long time. She just lately joined with Printswell, a high-quality printing company, and right now has the possibility of producing premium photo holiday cards at very affordable prices.

Stacy Claire’s 2011 Christmas photo card collection features her classic focus on new families and young ones. Her own styles seem to capture the delight of a carefree childhood and her Christmas photo greeting cards are a great favorite among our customers. Pick from a variety of card dimensions and orientation with multiple or a single picture of your family.

If you choose that digital photo card printing is the right choice for you this Christmas season, please take a look at Stacy’s attractive holiday photocard designs and styles. Prices for Stacy’s photo cards vary from $2.50 to $4.00 a Christmas photo card according to the number of photo cards you select to purchase and the printing or style and design choices.

Richard W. May
Founding Member Stationers Guild

The digital camera has revolutionized photography.    The rapidly evolving technology has made it possible for the amateur to take great photographs, one of which often ends up on the family’s annual holiday card.  As a stationer, I am often asked whether I prefer cards that are digitally imprinted on the card or photographs which are mounted on the card using adhesive strips.

Invariably, I believe that photographs printed on photographic paper are superior to images that are digitally reproduced on paper.  If consistent and high print quality are your overriding objectives, then a commercially reproduced photograph is your best choice. 

There is nothing easier than visiting your local photography store or photo printer and having high quality images printed in a matter of minutes at prices which are generally less than 20 cents per photograph.  Nevertheless, images from your digital camera often get cropped when converting them to a standard 4″x 6″ photograph.  This is because the aspect ratio is slightly different from the standard 35mm image.

Without going into a lot of detail (see previous digital photograph article), you might lose about 1/4″ off the top of a horizontal photograph.  If you have already cropped your image, this means that you might lose the top of someone’s head when the edited photograph is produced.

To avoid having this problem, be careful and avoid cropping your photograph too closely.  Better yet, I just learned this little secret when printing some photographs for a client:  rotate the picture 180º and this will cause the body(ies) to be cropped while leaving the heads intact.

Inverted Digital Photo for Cropping

For those seeking an attractive  photo card with great print quality and beautiful designs, take a look at William Arthur’s holiday photo cards.  William Arthur offers a variety of printing options for holiday photo cards.  Have your photographs imprinted directly on the card using William Arthur’s superior digital printing capabilities or use their photomount cards and mount your photographs with the pre-applied adhesive strips.   Whichever option works best for you, William Arthur is a good choice for those seeking a stylish photo card at an affordable price.

Richard W. May
Thérèse Saint Clair

After much cajoling and perhaps some bribing, you have finally managed to snap a great digital photograph of the family – even the dog was smiling.  You think to yourself, this would look great on our Christmas photo card.  You do a little cropping and editing to get the photo exactly the way you want it, save it to your flash drive or CD and rush down to the photo store to print your 4″x 6″ photographs.  Painfully, you discover that the top of your husband’s head was cut off when you get your print.  What happened?

Last year, I published a Blog on some of the differences between photographs taken with a 35mm camera and a digital camera.  Except for hardened veterans that still cling to their 35mm cameras, most everyone has gone digital.  Digital cameras are simple to use and one can easily share pictures with family and friends with very little technical skill. 

Unfortunately, there is a small problem (quite easily addressed) when printing a 4″x 6″ from a digital image.  The aspect ratio of a 35mm camera is 3:2 while the aspect ratio of digital camera is 4:3.   When the photo printing equipment takes your digital image, it does a little cropping and re-sizing of its own to create the 4″x 6″ print.  This leads to some rather unpleasant surprises as the photos below demonstrate (courtesy of Ritz Photo, Greenwich, CT):

Actual Digital Photo with 4:3 aspect ratio

Cropped Photo for 4"x 6" print

Unless you are a very skilled photo editor, the best way to avoid this problem is to avoid cropping too closely to the top of the photograph.  Give the photo printing automated  ”editor” a little space to “accomodate” the necessary cropping.   In fact, it is often preferable to do a large portion of your editing at the store.  Just a little simple planning will help you avoid this common problem during the holiday season.  Always, print one photograph to make sure that you achieve the desired result before committing to print your 300 photos.

Richard W. May
Founding Member Stationers Guild

As those who have followed my Blog posts know, I have long felt that the resolution of  glossy or matte photographs developed in a photo store are generally superior to  imprinting digitally directly on card stock.    This should not be surprising, since these photographs use high-tech developing equipment under consistent printing conditions and are printed on papers that were specifically developed for this  process.  Digital photography, on the other hand,  is more complicated because of the far greater variety of monitor resolutions, printer settings, ink colors and the papers on which your photograph is printed.  Nevertheless, digital printing is quickly closing the gap and in some cases it may prove to be the best option for this year’s holiday photo card.

One firm whose printing  and designs have generated a strong response from early-bird holiday photo card shoppers  is Tag & Co.  Tag & Co. provides a variety of different design options for your photograph(s) on a simple but elegant card.  While the  size of the photograph digitally imprinted on the card is generally smaller than the standard 4″x 6″ photograph, the resolution of the photograph and the beautifully designed setting work together in great harmony.  Clearly, a lot of thought and technical precision has gone into these beautifully crafted holiday photo cards.

Tag & Co. Holiday Photo Card Sample

Tag &. Co. holiday photo cards are flat cards.  If you need to write a short message you can use the back of the card or enclose a newsletter.  In any event, the reproduction quality and Tag & Co. designs certainly make for an elegant photo card.

Tag &. Co. Holiday Photo Card

If you are looking for a quality Christmas photo card,  I would certainly recommend giving taking a look at Tag & Co.’s new holiday album.  As with all fine stationery and custom greeting cards, a visit to at Guild member store in your neighborhood is encouraged.

The primary advantage of digital printing is the fact that you can imprint your photo directly on the holiday card.  This saves you the time of applying photos to the adhesive strips on the photo card or inserting the photos into tight slots.   With quality 4″x 6″ prints readily available at less than $0.20, it is difficult to construct a case that digital printing is less expensive than conventional photographs.  Applying consistent standards of paper weight, paper quality and equivalent printing and design standards, we can find no significant price advantage for digital imprinting over conventional photo cards.

Image resolution has always been the key factor in choosing between digital and conventional printing. In numerous side-by-side comparisons, I still maintain that a family photograph mounted on a framed holiday card is still the best way to showcase your family during the holiday season. That being said, digital printing now provides you with the opportunity to create custom photo cards that elegantly integrate the photograph(s) and supporting designs into elegant works of art.

Found below are two samples of William Photo Cards. The first image, “Christmas 2008”, depicts a 4”x 6” photo card that was applied to the card using adhesive strips.

William Arthur Photo Card

The second image (shown below) is a reproduction of a digital photo card that makes use of two of the eight William Arthur custom colors to create a distinctive holiday card.

William_Arthur_Digital_Photo_Card

Both images were scanned at a resolution of 300 dpi and then converted into gif images for the web.  While both images are considerably sharper to the naked eye, the different printing process highlights several important differences.   First, digital photo cards tend to have more of a matte finish and appear softer, even pastel-like.  Second, glossy photographs rich in color tend to work best with bold colored borders.  Third, there is no way to digitally reproduce the stunning engraved or letterpress borders that frame your photograph using photographs.  Finally, as with any digital printing process, you generally have more flexibility in determining the layout of your photo card and customization of your holiday greeting. 

Low quality internet resolutions do not do justice to William Arthur’s beautiful designs. I strongly suggest that you contact a Guild Member store in your neighborhood to see whether William Arthur’s new digital printing technology is right for you.

Richard May

Founding Guild Member