With Imagekind Create you can print and frame your photos – a perfect gift for Mother’s Day! And, with our current free shipping* offer, you can find framed gifts for well under $15.

Send mom your favorite picture framed (or on canvas!) and if you order before May 4, we’ll cover the shipping for you! Just enter promo code MDAY09 at checkout.

Also, don’t forget to visit our special Mother’s Day art collection. We’ve compiled some of our most popular art that is sure to inspire any mom this Mother’s day!

*Type promo code MDAY09 in the promotion box at checkout. Promotion expires May 4, 2009 at 11:59pm PT and cannot be combined with any other promotion code. Limit one order per person. Promotion code must be used at time of checkout to apply. Your order must be placed during the promotional period to qualify for this special pricing offer. Free shipping promo applies to US ground shipping only. Not valid on greeting cards.

Lar Matre, wrote a very helpful blog post recently on how to properly photograph your artwork to create digital files for reproduction. I first read his post in one of our groups.

Lar breaks down the process into two main tasks:

1. The capture – actually taking the photo of your work
2. Post processing – cleaning up your digital image for print

Photographing your artwork for the purpose of creating digital images can be a difficult process if you are not familiar with what’s involved. However, one of the most important things to remember is your setup. Below is a good example of how to correctly setup your equipment to photograph your artwork.

Here is what Lar suggests:

You should be able to set your camera about 15-20-feet away from your painting — as the painting gets larger, so does the distance required. You use the zoom lens to fill almost the entire frame with your painting. The edges of your painting should be parallel to the viewfinder. If the edge of the painting looks curved, you need to move back.

Lar goes into great detail about all the recommended equipment you’ll need, processes and procedures. His suggestions are worth a read if you are at all wondering how to photograph your artwork for digital reproduction.

You can read his full post here: Digitizing Original Paintings for Giclee-type Prints.

Also, make sure to read other printing tips in our Printing Basics section on Imagekind.

It got me thinking, do most artists even consider having a particular niche or style? How do these two ideas correlate with an artistic brand?

The author, Aggie Villanueva, defines them in a very concise way. She mentions how finding her niche was relatively easy but that finding her style was a bit more challenging. However, as she contemplated her photos one day, a moment of inspiration struck her and she was able to discover her own particular style as well. With that she concludes:

Your niche is what you know

but…

Your style is what you love

With your artwork, what’s been easier for you to discover, your niche or your style?

Remember you can receive Sparkling Savings for July 4th and get 25% off Frames* by entering promo code July42008 in the promo box at checkout. Hurry, offer expires July 7th, just in time to get all your Fourth of July photo memories framed.

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Shop Artwork: 4th on Lake Austin by Trey Ratcliff

Shop Artwork: Fireworks by Tommi Arina

Shop Artwork: American Flag at Train Station by James Crotty

Shop Artwork: Fireworks 7.3.2007 by Notley Hawkins

Shop Artwork: USA Flag by Lenora De Lude

*Discount applies to custom frames only.

I bought my first Polaroid camera from a Goodwill in Rhode Island, and never looked back. I have taken thousands of Polaroids since then – a mix of snapshots and more formal pieces. Some of them stay as they are, others are incorporated into mixed-media resin sculptures, or used to make digital negatives for alternative processes. The loss of Polaroid as a medium is absolutely heartbreaking to me. Reading the testimonials on Save Polaroid made me want to do everything I can to keep this medium alive.

Artwork: Untitled by Colie Parks
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If you are a Polaroid enthusiast, you know that they made many other films besides the consumer 600 film, with only a few of them having the “Polaroid” white frame. The 669 film is especially unique in that the photographic emulsion is on the surface of the photo, not protected by a plastic layer. An artist can take the emulsion off of the plastic backing and apply it to almost any surface. With the consumer films, one can manipulate the photos after taking them too -the emulsion doesn’t harden right away, and so with a blunt tool and imagination, the artist can physically move the emulsion around in the frame. The long-discontinued Time-Zero film was renowned for its dreamy and soft manipulations.

Artwork: Vintage Court by Sarah Hazel
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Unless another company picks up the manufacturing rights to (and WANTS to manufacture) the film, then our Polaroid cameras have a bleak future (Fujifilm makes some instant films, which does give me hope!). So lets enjoy all of the Polaroids that are already in existence. I was so excited to find a large group of artists here on Imagekind who have digitized their Polaroid pictures and made them available for sale as prints.

Artwork: Hotel by Marianne Luther
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Though the demise of Polaroid film appears imminent, you can help keep them alive by buying and selling them as high end art prints. Here are four tips to help give your Polaroids new life as giclee prints. I have a few personal recommendations for making them as awesome as they possibly can be.

1. Be sure to scan them at very high quality. I leave all the scratches that the surface gets in the scan because I like the way it looks – but be sure to carefully look at the final scan to be sure it is free of anything that you don’t want to show up in the final print.

2. When scanning photos made with a consumer-grade camera, consider whether or not you want to keep the signature white frame around the image. One may argue that the kitsch factor is dulled by removing it. Take a look at what others have done and decide if your image is effective when cropped. If you do decide to keep the frame as part of the image, consider making it so you can see all the edges – adding a little bit of contrast or shadow to the edges to really make it stand out in prints.

Artwork: Hard Candy by Manuel Branco
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3. You should feel free to manipulate your pictures in Photoshop! Once your image is on a computer, take advantage of the tools that you have to make your photos even better. Or experiment even more and combine other elements into your photos that may be unexpected, such as drawings or textures. Let your Polaroids be a starting point for other works. You’ll still have the original to cherish, so have fun with your reproductions!

4. Consider the paper that you are going to print on. The Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl paper will give a similar stiffness and surface as an original Polaroid, but a watercolor paper (such as Somerset Velvet or Hahnemuhle Torchon) can bring out more painterly aspects of your images. Polaroid emulsion lifts or transfers look especially beautiful when printed on these papers.

Artwork: Polaroid Mix 4 by bradstrain
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If you want to read more about this amazing medium, there are some great resources out there. Our friends at COLOURlovers have interviewed some fantastic polaroid artists in their blog. If you want to join the petitions to save this amazing medium, please check out SavePolaroid.com. Spread the Polaroid love and post your Polaroids to polanoid.net, join the Save Polaroid Flickr Group, and of course start selling your Polaroids on Imagekind!

Artwork: The End by Lord Schmindie
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R.I.P. Polaroid. Hopefully we’ll see you again someday.

-Emily