Here's how you can get the best photograph of your Sweet 16 Girl, so that we can make the best quality print on your thank you card

1.

You can use a school photo, or arrange for a session with a portrait studio.  Portraits taken by professional photographers tend to work ideally.  The focus is sharp, the subject is well posed, the background is neutral, and the lighting is perfect.  We can make a great print with a photo like this.

2.

If you choose to take the photograph yourself, please bear the following in mind:

 A. Consider how well the girl is lit.  Try to have your Sweet 16 girl standing in natural light, either outdoors or indoors with the light coming in through a window.  Make sure that the light isn't blinding, and that it isn't making her squint.  Be sure that the girl is not standing in front of a window on a brilliant sunny afternoon.  While she may look great in the room, she will wind up photographing as a dark silhouette in front of the light coming in through the window.  The lighting source should be coming over the photographer's shoulder and falling on the girl.  It should not be behind the girl.  Make sure that there are no shadows falling on the girl, because if there are, they could ruin an otherwise great photograph.

 B. Try to arrange to have a neutral background behind her.  If the girl has had her hair and makeup done, and she's wearing a tiara and she's dressed to the nines in her gown, please do not pose her inside a cluttered bedroom, or any other area in the house that hasn't been straightened up.  Even if the house is immaculate, the furniture in the background may wind up distracting the eye from the subject of the photo.  Ideally, you'd like the girl to stand before a blank wall.  You could also choose to hang a clean, stain free, well ironed, solid colored bed sheet on the wall behind her, and use that as a backdrop.

 C. Make sure that the girl has brushed her hair.  The camera can be unforgiving; it can pick up what the naked eye may not see.  Wisps of stray hair will show up in your photo, and may give the girl a messier appearance.  Also, make sure that the girl's makeup has been touched up, that there is no lipstick on her teeth, and that she isn't chewing gum.

 D. Make sure that you hold your camera as still and as steady as possible.  This will help you get a sharper print.  If you have a tripod, use it.  If you don't have a tripod, try resting your camera, or your elbows, on any fixed piece of heavy furniture or any solid surface.  The more that you (as the photographer) can keep your body still while shooting the photos, the better the chances that you won't make any small movement that could wind up blurring your photograph.

 E. If you are taking photographs with a digital camera, we encourage you to take a LOT of photos of the girl in several different poses.  Some professional portrait photographers will take 48 shots of the subject, so that they have a large selection to choose from when deciding upon the final.  Even if you're using a standard camera with film, you may want to shoot an entire roll.  If you only take one or two photographs, and the prints don't live up to your expectations, it can be disappointing.  You're better off taking as many photos as you can.  That way you're bound to end up with at least one that's perfect.

 F. The Sweet 16 girl will look less stiff and posed if you can encourage her to talk during your photo session.  Top fashion models cultivate the talent of conveying a message to the camera with the expressions on their faces.  Try to snap the girl's photo after she's just finished saying something.  She will wind up looking more alive, even while sitting still in a pose.  More of her personality will come through in the photograph.

3.

If you are sending us a photo that was taken by yourself or a friend with an auto focus camera and no tripod, which doesn't meet the criteria above, there is still a chance that we can retouch your existing photograph so that it makes a good print on your thank you cards.  We are happy to retouch photographs, but unfortunately, we are not magicians.  If your photo requires extensive retouching, we will have to add a surcharge to your order.

4.

If you are sending us a group photograph, and you want it retouched so that the Sweet 16 girl is isolated on a neutral background, make sure that the other people in the photo are not crushed against her.  If they are touching her or embracing her, then it becomes very difficult for us to remove them and leave her looking as if she was standing alone.  If they are covering up part of her hair or her face, or her neck and shoulders, we will not be able to reconstruct her once the other person is removed.

5.

If you are sending us a digital photograph, make sure that you've seen a print of the photograph before you decide to use it.  What looks fantastic on your computer screen may not necessarily make a fantastic print.

6.

Color varies from one monitor to the next.  We cannot guarantee an exact match to skin tones or the color of the girl's dress or the background unless you have provided us with a paper sample or print before work begins.  We will match your colors only if we have a sample to match them to.  We cannot exactly match colors when we have nothing more than a digital photograph.   We cannot accept returns on custom merchandise when a customer decides, after the fact, that she is unhappy with the colors in our print.

7.

If you are choosing either the heart or the star shaped photo, please make sure that the girl's entire head and all her hair, and the upper half of her torso are in the photo.  The shapes of both the heart and the star require that there be room above the girl's head, and room to either side of her.  For the star shaped image, we require room below her chin to fill out the shape.  If the photo is cropped so that the top of the sides of the girls head or hair have been cut out, then it will not work with these shapes.

8.

If you are e-mailing a scan of a photograph, please try to send a file that is 300 dpi.  The bigger the file, the better the print we'll get.  We accept most image formats, but we prefer .eps or .jpg files.  Unless you can produce a very good scan of your print, you're better off sending the print to us so that we can scan it.  We'll return it when we ship your order.

9.

If you have a digital photograph, then you can e-mail it to us.  If it's a print photograph, then you can send it to us through the mail.  We will return it to you when we ship your order.

Our address:
IPV Studio
529  77th Street
Brooklyn, NY  11209
Att:  Debbie McKinley