Natural Color Lab

2010-03-11T12:36:00.001-05:00

Natlab just back from WPPI in Vegas..Thanks to everyone who came by our booth and made it a very successful show..already looking forward to next year!!!

25% off meridian albums

2010-02-02T09:54:00.002-05:00

Dont forget about our weekly specials.. this week only 25% off our beautiful meridian albums.
go to our website for details...www.naturalcolorlab.com

Weekly Specials January 25th

2010-01-20T15:15:00.003-05:00

Next weeks Special..Starts January 25th

Buy a Frame and get the print for FREE!!!!! watch for the Email details and the updated splash screen in ROES. Call for more details 800-342-0900

Specials

2010-01-11T16:59:00.001-05:00

Look for many new and upcomming specials this time of year. Our first one is 30 % off photographic gallery wraps. Launch Roes to see all the details.

For your Customers

2009-10-08T15:49:00.003-04:00

Dont Forget about our online gallery for your customers to see our products.
www.samplesonline.net
All new styles of foldover cards just in time for the holidays. Located in the Natural Press Roes launch

Winter Specials

2009-02-25T12:49:00.002-05:00

Now is a great time to get any samples made for your studio. Now until March 31st the specials are as follows

Meridian albums --15% off
all Chromaluxe items ---15% off
2 for 1 wall portraits 16x20 and larger

and dont forget to ask about our new custom framing division
www.framingfool.com

New Flash

2009-02-10T10:35:00.002-05:00

As Of February 1st Natural Color Imaging has aquired The Framing Fool !!!!!
We now have a state of the art framery inside of our facility. check out the website here
http://www.framingfool.com Please call and ask for Rich if you have any questions at all.

HOLIDAY HOURS

2008-12-19T10:52:00.006-05:00

Hello and Happy Holidays. We hope you and your families have a wonderful holiday season and please keep in mind that we will be closed from--

1:00 p.m. on December 24th thru January 5th at 8:00 a.m.

Thank you from the staff at
Natural Color Imaging

September newsletter

2008-09-19T16:23:00.001-04:00

http://www.naturalcolorlab.com/newsletters/nlsep2008.html

PPANE TRADESHOW SEPTEMBER 14TH & 15TH

2008-09-09T09:34:00.005-04:00

Dont forget to stop by our tradeshow booth this weekend at the PPANE convention in Nashua NH. We will be showing off our new layflat albums along with all new Chromaluxe products.
STOP BY TO SEE US!!

image uploads java updates

2008-08-15T14:19:00.002-04:00

due to an unexpected Microsoft update the current version of your image uploader will not work. please go to the Microsoft web site and run all recent updates for your OS, including all security updates..Then proceed to image uploads java and reinstall the Active X component when asked.. This should fix the issue. If you still experience issues the Zip uploads still works fine..Thanks for your understanding.. Please call us if you have any questions.

August Newsletter

2008-08-13T09:18:00.001-04:00

http://www.naturalcolorlab.com/newsletters/nlaug08.html

Email server Maintenance

2008-07-31T22:04:00.002-04:00

dont worry if you dont see your email confirmations in your inbox.. we are maintaining our server.if you have an immediate concern please email to the following addresses

charlie ----at naturalcol@aol.com or naturalcolor@aol.com

or steve at sbpansey@aol.com

thanks for your understanding

Adobe launches lightroom2

2008-07-30T14:48:00.000-04:00

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/features/

Article written by Photographer of the month -Powers Photography

2008-07-28T12:33:00.000-04:00

Stewart and Susan Powers – Being Successful in a Difficult Economy

Stewart and Susan Powers from Gainesville, Florida (www.powersphotography.com) know that there is no question that their clients are shopping differently. They are choosing differently, and they are communicating differently. To that, Susan and Stewart’s blog has become the best way of communicating to their clients. It has replaced the traditional newsletter. The idea of the blog is to generate traffic, keep in touch and show their portfolio. It is used to promote specials and to keep their clients up-to-date on their latest photo sessions. Their blog received as many as 50 hits per day during the first month.

Even with a population of 250,000 to draw from in the county, there was still a need to find new avenues to generate customers. The Powers have increased their business with a few promotions. One of the simplest is the portrait wallet special, which is generated by creating eight wallets of a client’s most recent photo session with the promotion information text over it. The current clients give out these wallet cards to friends and family. When their referral submits the card to our studio, the new client receives a free iPOD or phone slideshow of their session. The client who referred them will receive a Powers Gift Card for $50.00 which is created at Natural Color! They use a similar concept with their brides; the bride giving the referral and the new bride each receive a complimentary enlargement of her wedding.

To increase their visibility, they have utilized mall displays for more than four years. Because they are a residential based studio, the mall displays give their images face-time with their clients. They have purchased wall space and have decorated the walls with their portraits. Interestingly enough, their current display space is in the family restroom lounge in the food court, and it gets more traffic that any other spot they had previously rented! There are full color gloss-coated 5x7 cards on the wall for their clients to pick up. As a result, they receive a lot of calls and inquiries; 50% of their calls come from the mall displays.

One of the Powers’ newest features is Curves and Kisses. The nature of Curves and Kisses is to make a woman look her finest! Curves and Kisses is designed to leave a lot to the imagination, and leave a man wanting more. “The difference between the glamour shots in the ’80s and their Curves and Kisses is that we enhance the photographs the same way that Hollywood models are done! LOTS of cheating! We want every woman to look amazing! It’s an entirely different high-end product line including collages and albums. It’s proving to be very popular and profitable.”

The Powers have been successful, even in the current economy, by being diversified. Their breakdown of where their income is derived is Portrait, 48%, Weddings and Events, 39% and Commercial 13 %.

Stewart and Susan plan for each portrait session, allowing 90 minutes for a child’s session and two hours for a family. Their sales presentation, at which time they project their images onto a large screen, is a two-hour time slot. Their raw file processing and retouching is all done at the studio. When they are ready to order their prints, they upload their files to Natural Color using the ROES RTP software. “We use Natural Color because they have such great consistent quality and finishing.”

The Powers create their images with a Canon 5d DSLR with a battery grip and Sandisk Extreme III 4-gig cards. The images are captured in sRGB space in RAW for final files and small JPEG files to show in their sales presentation. They archive their files to a Thecus Yesbox 750 gig Raid 1 NAS and to an off site archive with Mam-A Gold DVD.

Their lenses of choice are a 90mm f2.8 Tamron Macro lens, a 28-75 f2.8 Tamron SP, a 70-200 f2.8 Tamron SP, a 135mm f2.0 Canon L and a 50mm f1.4 Canon lens.

For their studio lighting, they prefer Profoto Acute 1200 and Compact 600 monolights and a variety of Westcott Softboxes. When they are on location or in their portrait garden, they use a Profoto Acute 600R single head (with a modeling light) with a Westcott softbox or Quantum T4d with a Doug Box and a Quantum Turbo 2x2. Each light is on a light stand off-camera for dimensional lighting. They fire their lights using a Quantum Freewire Radio Slave.

Stewart and Susan work with a number of computer programs. They begin with Microsoft Expressions to edit, resort and rename the files and ACDSee Pro 2.0 for quick image selections. Their RAW process is done in Lightroom and their image mastering in Photoshop, NIK Color Efx3.0 and Imagenomics Portraiture plug in and color management with Gretag Eye1. Once everything is tweaked just the way they like it, they upload their images to Natural Color using ROES Ready to Print and request Fuji Crystal Archive paper. For their collages and album designs, Stewart and Susan use Lumapix FotoFusion Extreme 4.

“Because Natural Color does such a great job, all we have to do when the photographs come back from the lab is sign them and either box or frame them for the client.

The real beauty of being photographers is making new friends, making them blissfully, photographically happy and then staying friends for a long, long lifetime! Stewart and I have been so blessed to share in the life histories of thousands of couples and families; we are not photographers, we are Visual Historians.

Our goal is for the experience of the photography to be beautiful and fun and relaxed. When our clients come to us, they know they are getting best quality product in the world, thanks to Natural Color Lab! They will be receiving the best service and they will be treated like family! The concept of being Visual Historians is that we become part of a client’s life and family, photographing life-changing moments throughout their lifetime. We basically function as photographers on call.”

Server Maintenance

2008-07-23T18:15:00.002-04:00

Dont worry if you haven't been getting you order confirmations. Your orders are here, we are just doing some work on our server tonite..Thanks for your understanding.

A must read about Comcast Internet service

2008-07-14T08:49:00.001-04:00

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/07/11/fcc_chief_says_comcast_violated_internet_rules/

July Newsletter

2008-07-10T15:31:00.000-04:00

http://www.naturalcolorlab.com/Newsletters/july08nl.html

Please feel free to read our newsletter as our hours have changed

June Newsletter..Check it out!!

2008-06-11T14:34:00.000-04:00

http://www.naturalcolorlab.com/Newsletters/june2008nl.html

May Special 25% off Metallic Gallery Wrap

2008-05-05T14:25:00.003-04:00

Click on link to see our May special

http://www.naturalcolorlab.com/Specials/Go-Metallic/index.html

Walk For Hunger HELP NEEDED

2008-04-28T09:14:00.000-04:00

Looking for a couple of photographers to assist, on a pro bono basis, photographing the 2008 Walk For Hunger in Boston on May 4, 2008. If you could help please call Sasha Didier at 617- 239-2502. Photographs are used for brochures, reports and advertising. Copies are always sent to photographers. This is a great way to develop material for your portfolio.

Spring Clearance special for hard cover proofbooks

2008-04-22T13:34:00.003-04:00

Starting Immediatley we are running a spring clearance special on hardcover proofbooks in black and blue for only $5.00.(Cover only)These covers are a little different from the suede ones. They are a rich leather look with a very professional feel to them. We suggest you order a proofbook jacket in either lustre or metallic as the 3 lines of foil imprinting is NOT AVAILABLE FOR THIS SPECIAL. To help make your decision easier there will be a 20% discount on either of the jacket types as long as supplies last. As always our low proofpage price is .99 cents(color corrected). An industry low. To take advantage of this special ,please input code word "CLEARANCE" in the promotional code area of the review order section in Roes Press before you upload your order.

New Products

2008-04-14T11:47:00.002-04:00

With the spring season about to get started, dont forget to take a look at all of our new products.
these include our Chromaluxe line which are great for Mother's Day portraits and Father/Daughter dance portraits. After the sale why not give your customer a "thankyou" bookmark with a sparkling UV coat. These bookmarks are a great way to promote your studio and your images. We also just introduced a gift card and a gift card holder fully customizable to your liking with a small minimum order to make it easier on the wallet.Last and definately not least our Metallic Gallery wraps are a huge hit as we are one of the only labs in the whole country offering them. Order a sample today to set yourself apart from your competition. As always please call customer service @1-800-342-0900 with any and all questions regarding our services. Happy Shooting!!

Fresh off our Trip to WPPI

2008-03-21T14:12:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone! Frank , Charlie and I just came back from the hugely successful Wppi convention out in Las Vegas. Our new lines of Chromaluxe and UV coated press albums went over quite well and were talked about among many photographers. We also saw some new ideas that we will be implementing in the next few weeks in order to bring our customers as many exciting products as we can to make you more profitable. If at any time you see something that we dont offer please feel free to call and talk to one of us about it. We will do our best to bring it to you and most of the time improved:) Dont forget our next upcoming shows including NEIPP and the upcoming Triangle School at the Greentree Holiday Inn In Pittsburgh starting March 30TH.

MARCH MADNESS

2008-03-06T15:32:00.001-05:00

Click on link to see our March Madness sale
of 50% off your first Chromluxe order
http://www.naturalcolorlab.com/ChromaLuxe/index.html

Chromaluxe Products

2008-02-21T10:22:00.002-05:00

announcing a new Product Line only available at Natural Color. The Chromaluxe line of sublimination products is now available in the Roes Catalog under the designer template tab. These new products will fit nicely into any type of work that you do(sports,weddings,portraits,schools etc..) They consist of key chains, mousepads, 5x7 desk easels, 8x10 desk easels and many more..Please open up your Roes catalog and take a look.

Day Off

2008-02-15T15:06:00.002-05:00

Don't Forget Natural Color is closed on Monday Feb 18th to celebrate Presidents day.
Enjoy

Vendor of The Year

2008-02-11T09:18:00.001-05:00

This past weekend at the Connecticut convention Natural Color was given the award of
"Vendor of the year". Thank You CTPPA

VISIT US AT THESE UPCOMING TRADE SHOWS

2008-02-07T16:09:00.000-05:00

CTPPA http://www.ctppa.com/annual.html this weekend Feb 8-11th
PPAM http://www.ppam.com/ fEB 22-25TH
PPARI http://www.ppari.com/ March 1-3rd
WPPI http://www.wppionline.com/ March 17-19th
NEIPP http://www.ppane.com/NEIPP.htm April 6-11th (must be registered to attend classes)
country store on Wed Evening.

upcoming Roes Seminars at the lab

2008-02-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.naturalcolorlab.com/Seminars/ROES/index.html

Something New

2008-02-07T14:50:00.000-05:00

Hello, and thank you for visiting Natural Color's Blog. In the near future we are plan on using this as another vehicle to convey specials, new products, events and any other photographic news pertaining to Natural Color. We will even have tips from well known photographers to help you further your skills. Thanks and we welcome any feedback..
AND STAY TUNED

Welcome

2008-01-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Natural Color Lab blog. Here you will find the latest news and offers from your favorite lab.