3 Reasons The Lab by Apollo is NOT Your Typical Photo Lab

1. The Lab by Apollo is a full-service photo lab. When we say "full-service photo lab" we mean everything we do is in-house. Most photo labs only do photographic prints in house while outsourcing the rest of their products. Here at The Lab, we have our own KODAK NEXPRESS S3000 that allows us to do a wide range of press printed photo products.

The ProPrints products and services from The Lab include our digital prints, digital proofs, photographic cards, retouching and artwork, finishing and mounting services. If you look at some recent blog posts you will find more information regarding The Lab's retouching and artwork services as well as our finishing and mounting services.

On top of the ProPrints and press printed products Apollo offers its own line of ProPhoto Creations -- specialty photographic products. Everything from mini photo albums to photo dry erase boards are available. 

2. As a full service photo lab, The Lab is in beta testing for Photo Boutique which is our SaaS (software as a service) for photographers. Photo Boutique is still undergoing some revisions and updates, but you should not be discourage and still check out what it has to offer. 

Photo Boutique will allow photographers to create their own customizable online photo storefront. The Lab recognizes that still a good number of photographers have not merged into the online environment. This service will allow photographers to take advantage of an opportunity to produce more sales online. 

To start building an online photo storefront, you will go through a build process that we have designed to be as user-friendly as possible. Keeping the thought in our minds that most photographers do not have a clue about building a website, Photo Boutique will take you through step-by-step on building out your site first by uploading a logo. You will then be able to choose your color scheme that will give your site personality. If you already have a website, Photo Boutique is structured to seamlessly integrate in to retain your brand identity. After you choose your color scheme, you will be able to choose which photo products you would like to offer and manage the pricing on those products. 

Once your site is built you can upload images to an online photo gallery where you can manage photo albums. As you go through photo shoots you can upload each shoot to its own photo album and direct customers to your Photo Boutique site, where they have the ability to choose which images they would like to purchase. 

As always, we take the manufacturing and shipping responsibilities on our shoulders and The Lab by Apollo will remain virtually invincible to your customers.

Check out our overview and tutorials of Photo Boutique. 

3. Our Photo Book selection is one of the largest of any photo labs. We start out with the everyday photo memory book, and sizes going up to 10"x15". A variety of cover options are also available with soft, hard, and photo cover selections. Photo books include a 100 lb. stock with 4 paper options available: standard glossy, high-gloss, ink-absorbent or protective-coated pages.

Lay-flat books come with hinged pages making it perfect for panoramic images that can span across 2 pages. These books include the same cover options as the memory books, however the paper options include a ticker, 110 lb. cover stock matte paper. 

Proof books are great for showing your customers photos taken from the shoot. These books are easy to create with our auto-fill option where a 16-page book can fit 64 images. Same cover options apply and the paper option includes a 100 lb. glossy paper type. 

Guest books are perfect for weddings where the couple can show off their engagement photo. The same cover options apply and the pages include a 100 lb. matte paper perfect for writing on. Guest books comes with 3 different lined formats for registry pages. 

Saving the best for last, the Artisan Collection Book is the Grand-daddy of them all. Cover options are still the same as the ladder, however the premium leather bound cover is what makes this book stand out from the rest. The pages are composed of a premium deckle-edge paper type that resembles that of watercoloring paper. The smooth finish and sturdy weight of the paper stock give it excellent ink absorbing qualities. 

Photo Retouching and Restoration

Have an old photo that just needs some artwork to make it look new again? Apollo's artists are experts in photo retouching and restoration. Do not let a blemish or a lens flare destroy a beautiful photo. Our artists will work with you exclusively to accommodate any special requests such as:

• Basic and extensive facial retouching
• Removal of facial shine, glare from eyeglasses, light flares and background flaws
• Removal of braces, teeth discoloration, double chins and stray hairs
• Eye enhancement
• Spot coloration
• Background substitution and extension
• Swapping of eyes or heads
• Addition or removal of a person
• Photo restoration

Photo retouching is a cost-effective way to create a nearly perfect image and is available for all print sizes. As many as 20 retouched or restored photographs can be burned to a CD for $5 to ensure it will last a lifetime. Retouching and restoration services will generally be completed within four business days unless otherwise indicated. We understand just how important a simple photograph can mean to you, that is why our artists are here to help make your photo look the way you want.

 

 

What is the best fisheye lens for a Canon 40D or up?

During the PDN Photographers' Virtual Tradeshow a few questions had surfaced regarding what the best fisheye lens is for a Canon 40D and up. We will take a look at three different lenses and give insight into them.

Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5

Tokina AT-X lenses are built for quality. The lense is made of medal which reduces the lense bobble once attached to the camera body. Focus and zoom operate very smoothly and the lens extends a few millimeters at 10mm and 17mm. It is impossible to mount any filters despite the extreme field-of-view. A new WP (Water Proof) coating has been applied to the front element making it easier to resist water and smudge marks. 

The lens has no internal AF motor and relies on a slotted drive screw operated by the camera. As a result, it will generate a moderate degree of noise. The AF speed is quite fast, but being a fisheye lens it is quite meaningless. 

Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG

This lens is the only 8mm lens with a full autofocus capability. The lens' only controls feature the manual focus ring with a distance scale and the standard AF/MF switch. There is no filter thread, or, for that matter, a hood bayonet as the coverage of the lens, being a full 180°, stops any accouterments forward of the front element being permissible. The lens cap/hood consists of a stopped sleeve and a fairly normal lens cap that fits onto it.

The sleeve sports a 72mm filter thread and cap. And 72mm filters can be used in this thread, albeit at the expensed of further vignetting. Under manual focusing, the ring requires a quarter turn to go through the full range and the ring does turn during autofocus, which is fairly quiet during operation and quick enough for any purpose this lens could be put to.

A spring loaded holder is fitted to the rear element of the lens to accept gelatin filters and the lens comes with a metal template to assist in the cutting of these from gelatin sheet.

The lens is not the kind of thing you would want to carry on the camera all day, but it is light enough and compact enough to fit in the camera bag with hardly any penalty.

Peleng 8mm f/3.5

The Peleng lens is a T-mount lens. It can be used on both T-mount to MAF adapter or with T-mount to M42 adapter, even M42 to MAF adapter. One of the biggest problems photographers face when using DSLRs is the ability to focus properly. Small viewfinders are not really optimized for manual focusing. However, in the case of this 8mm lens, you can set the aperture at f/8 and you will have everything in focus. 

Besides the all metal build, there is an additional ring for opening or closing aperture blades which is used for stop down metering process. 

Even though images are sharp at f/8, the lens really rocks at f/11 and f/16. Image quality is best at center of the frame, with the sharpness and contrast decreasing in the corners.

Another strength of the lens is the color quality. The lens is multi-coate, which means that it should be resitant to flare but we are talking when used at wide focal lenghts. 

 

Organizing Your Digital Photos

Is your computer full of digital images and scattered in kinds of different folders?

 

Similar to the previous post Back Up Your Digital Photos Before Its Too Late, this post will focus on organization. Not the most exciting subject, but there is nothing exciting about stressing over images you cannot find because they are saved in different locations.

 

Here are some suggested practices Apollo recommends following.

 

1. Delete your blurry images in your camera. They will not miraculously become focused just because they are on your computer. If you have enough juice in your camera battery, scroll through your images during some down time in a shoot and clean up your memory card.

 

Also, if your uploading program allows you to manually select which images you want to upload to your computer, delete any unwanted images. This will also help the time it takes to upload from your camera to your computer.

 

2. Take the time to upload your images after every shoot. Then erase the images from your card. By doing this continually not only will you be ready for your next shoot, you will get in the habit of properly organizing your images.

 

3. Select a folder that you will be saving your images to and always upload them to the same spot. If you have a Photos folder on your computer use it. Or create a different folder and place it on your desktop so you will always know where your images are.

 

Don’t forget to backup your images as soon as they are on your computer. That way if there is an error, you will still have the original image.

 

4. Come up with a filing system that you will stick with. Different people have different preferences on how they like to file their photos. Many people create subfolders and title them the year the photos were taken, then break it down further into months within the year.

 

If you are scanning photos and are unsure of the year the images were taken, we suggest creating a separate folder and title it “Scanned Photos.” Then break it down into subjects such as vacations, family, pets, etc.

 

5. Be as descriptive as possible when naming your photos. Instead of naming photos of your pet as Rover_1, Rover_2, etc. Be very descriptive such as Rover Sleeping, Rover Eating, etc. This will help you search through your images with ease.

 

6. Create a folder for edited photos. If you convert your images to black and white, create a folder and title it accordingly.

 

The most important thing is to stay on top of organizing your images. It takes a long time, but it can take just as long to search for an image if you do not organize properly. There are many photo organizing products available for free. Things to look for when searching for photo organizing software is editing functions such as rotation and cropping, ability to view thumbnails, batch naming, and search key words. Some may even add the dates and what camera settings you had.

 

 

Reviewing the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 Digital Camera

While the latest Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 has many impressive features, including a built-in stereo microphone and a stereo-mic input, its high-definition video recording with stereo sound makes this camera truly unique. Because HD video is fast becoming a necessity for today's digital cameras, I'm focusing on the GH1's capabilities here.

The high-definition video is available in two resolutions: 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x 720 pixels. At 1920 x 1080 pixels, the camera only shoots 24 frames per second, which is cinema rate, rather than 30 fps of HDTV. The 1280 x 720 option allows recording up to 60 fps, which is preferred for shooting fast-moving subjects. According to Popular Photography magazine, "The 720p footage [is] on par with the image quality you can expect from a [mid-level] HD camcorder."

In addition to great footage quality, the new Panasonic allows photographers to select the type of video file they want to use. The top resolution is AVCHD. "At 1280 x 720 or less, at 30 fps, you can...record MOV Motion JPEG files, also a common format, so it should be similarly trouble free to edit. For the smoothest video, use the AVCHD 1280 x 720 60-fps mode."

A great attribute of the GH1 is its ability to auto focus, although the camera is presently limited by a lack of available lenses. "The only Micro Four Thirds lenses optimized for continuous AF for video are the 14140mm f/4-5.8 that comes in this kit and the 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Olympus kit lens for the E-P1."

For comfort of shooting, the DH1 celebrates a 3-inch, 460,000-dot LCD monitor that flips left and swivels. This erases the feeling of a shooting with a camcorder. "Instead, the body mimics a tiny DSLR or electronic-viewfinder, super-zoom still camera." Try holding the camera (below shoulder length) from the bottom, and use your left hand to handle the zoom and manual focus controls. Meanwhile, the right hand is kept free to control panning, adjust brightness or start/stop recording.

Yes, the camera boasts a far-reaching lens, but the unit is a bit on the pricey side ($1,500) because it comes only in kit format with a 10x zoom lens. Perhaps cameras like the GH1 will become more economical as HD offerings become more common.

And if you're interested in the camera's shooting capabilities, consider these features:

• Imaging: 12.1MP, 4000 x 3000 pixels, 12 bits/color in RAW mode.
• Storage: SD/SDHC cards, JPEG, RAW, RAW + JPEG.
• AF system: TTL contract detection, 23 focus areas, single-area focusing, face detection, single-shot and continuous AF.
• Shutter speed: 1/4000 to 60 sec plus B.
• Metering: TTL metering, 144-zone Intelligent Multiple, center weighted, spot metering, EV 0-18.
• ISO range: ISO 100-3200.
• Flash: built-in pop-up flash GN36.
• Viewfinder: electronic, 1,440,000-dot equivalent.
• LCD: 3-inch TFT, 460,000-dot resolution.
• Output: high-speed USB 2.0, HDMI video, NTSC/PAL composite, PictBridge compatible.
• Battery: rechargeable DMW-BLB13PP Li-ion, CIPA rating (300 shots in LCD or 320 shots in EVF).
• Size: 4.9" x 3.3" x 1.8".
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Tips for Better Child Photography

Children and adolescents make great subjects for photography, and their school days are full of photo opportunities. If you have a child in grade school (or have already put a child through grade school), you know what I mean. Whether enjoying recess on the playground, painting during art class or leaving on the bus the first day of school, children provide an endless array of natural possibilities. As a parent, you probably wish you could have a camera on hand at all times (or at least hire your child's teacher to do the job for you) for these are once-in-a-lifetime moments. I scoured the September issue of Popular Photography, the world's largest imaging magazine, to bring you some tips on capturing the best child shots:

• First and foremost, understand children and their behaviors. While they make great subjects due to being "less guarded and more honest than adults," they are also very "hard to corral and coax into posing." Most photographers of children will tell you not to even try posing young subjects. In other words, just let them be themselves. "Watch carefully, and when the moment is right, shoot multiple frames at your camera's highest burst rate."
• Make sure you have the right gear because children are quick and less likely to stand still. "Kids can rocket through a viewfinder, so use a camera that can keep up. By the time a typical point-and-shoot [camera], with its long shutter lag, records an image, your kid will be two classrooms away." This makes using a DSLR imperative.
• If you find yourself in a school gym or auditorium, use a high-speed lens with a tripod. Many photographers find success using f/2.8 lenses (or faster) because they help "capture fleeting moments sharply, while lesser optics blur them."
• Use ambient light. "The harsh, artificial quality of electronic flash contradicts the innocence and naturalness we associate with children." Plus, flash units tend not to recharge fast enough to catch fleeting expressions.
• Try a 50mm f/1.8 lens at full aperture so you can shoot without a flash or tripod.
• For truly creative photos, don't dress your child. Let him or her make wardrobe decisions. By letting children be themselves, you will more likely capture life's precious moments of "a tutu and boots or a giant pink backpack [that] often results in a far cuter picture than one mom could have styled."
• Every parent gets excited about and fears a child's first day of school. It marks a moment of slowly exiting the nest and your child's journey to growing up. To properly capture the first day of school and your child's innocent excitement, use soft, diffused, natural light. Some have found the best place for this is near sliding glass doors in the house before leaving for school. Or try waiting for the sun to descend lower in the sky and using it for natural backlighting.
• What about big sporting events? These are surely some of the best photo moments of all. Try investing in a "camera with a high burst rate, a monopod or tripod, and a lens with a focal length no shorter than 20mm." Or try going early to your child's game to get close-up shots during practice or warm ups. Even a 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens might not do the job; sharpen your shots by brightening your "optical act with [a] Canon 85mm f/1.8.
• At track meets, try panning and shooting at a fast burst rate. "It implies motion, and it's also a handy technique for keeping children framed until you're ready to shoot."
• Indoor sporting events pose difficult lighting. Some photographers use an 85mm f/1.8 Canon to cope with dim lighting and fast movements. Try keeping your shutter speed greater than 1/250 per second by increasing the ISO to 1250 or higher. Setting white balance and exposure manually can also help.
• For theatre productions, stage lighting can be your biggest obstacle; therefore, invest in a fast lens such as a fast-moderate tele (Nikon's 85mm f/1.4). If you cannot afford one, rent one "or buy an inexpensive 50mm f/1.8 and get in close." For subjects in motion, shoot at ISO 1600 at f/1.8 and 1/250 second (or 1/100 second at the slowest). For better shots, don't be afraid to position yourself at different locations throughout the auditorium. Shooting from the audience will limit your abilities. Just don't be disruptive, and be sure to share your photos with other parents because you are likely to capture other children in your frames.
• All the hard work pays off when your child finally walks across the stage and receives a diploma. To capture students tossing their hats in the air or group shots after the ceremony, shoot "10 images at [five] frames per second." For best results, use a 300mm lens "to put viewers in the middle of the action."

Apollo Partners With an Expert in Professional Photography and Digital Imaging

Apollo has proudly teamed with Mike McNamara, a renowned expert on digital imaging devices such as cameras, printers, and camera phones. He also possesses a wealth of knowledge about professional photography, photo products, industry trends, and various issues photographers face. His website, The McNamara Report, hosts useful information on cameras, printing, software, and more. You can also hear and see Mike on a weekly online radio and TV segment called Inside Digital Photo. Look for future feature spotlights from Mike McNamara here or in our e-newsletter (sign up for a free Apollo customer account and opt in for e-mail updates).

-Cory Grassell

Marketing & SEO Specialist