Need Your Input

Hi Leslie,
I am still a novice and to me your work is absolutely stunning! Recently joined your newsletter and can hardly wait for the next one! Thank you so much for the freebies, etc. Just love your style!

Merci!

Marie Antoinette Voges
South Africa

Thank you all for your comments! It helps a lot. I’m also really touched by your really lovely feedback. xx

I see I need to find a more precise vocabulary for “cutting out the background.” What I mean is that I cut out the white background behind the postcard so that if you wanted to say, place the postcard onto a background, the postcard would have the rounded, shabby corners and it’s original borders but you would be able to see the background you placed it on.

As an example – see the small version of the postcard in the image above. It’s a little hard to see as it’s small, but the corners are rounded.

Goodness, that’s hard to explain in words! Maybe I do need to put some more examples!

So to clarify, I’m not cutting out the backgrounds of the postcard IMAGES, but the background of the scanner. :-) I’ll put more images. ;-)

Oh, also – I scan at 600 DPI so that you could enlarge the image to twice it’s original size if you wish. The way that would be done is to just change the DPI to 300 without resampling the image. This would make the image almost fill a 12″ × 12″ digital paper.

Thanks for showing me where I need to find a more precise way to describe this! I may try offering these with different options in the beginning to see which end up selling better.

Please do continue to let me know what works for you. Thanks!

Leslie, I’m on a tight budget and don’t make money from my art. That said:

1. I prefer the original borders with the slightly shabby corners.

2. Backgrounds cut out if you think it detracts from the image. This is a vague question for me because I don’t see samples.

3. 600 dpi is large enough. Most photographers and scrapbookers aren’t creating huge images. Or if they are, they use several in a collage/montage.

4. Retouching the greeting makes it far more marketable. Many don’t have that skill. They buy text overlays and can readily had what is suitable for them (or not).

5. I don’t sell graphics. In the future I might sell my photos as stock art, so I would like to see that extended license pricing. I wonder if we can add that later. I don’t know if I will ever sell digital graphics, but if I do, it’s great to go back and get the proper licensing.

Thanks for all your diligent work. It’s a huge endeavor to rebuild the digital aspect of your business. Hang in there and no apologies for perceived ‘lack of’ doing what we expect. Do what you need and we’ll still be here!

Thanks for all your inspiration work, tutorials and interviews. Now enjoy Spring in France!

jenny in santa monica, ca

I like them just the way they are.

Hi Leslie! As I always mention, YOUR product and service are the best on today market of a kind of stuff you sell.
The quality is impressive, tutorials- a great help how to work with your product, and also helps understand why I desperately ) need some of your stuff I have had no idea about before.
I love your samples as well.
Now about your new offer- the postcards. I simply give an answer at each point.
1. YES!!! And for sure. The borders make the postcard with an image on it. It is something very unique and charm.
2. YES!!!! It saves my time and YOU do the precious job cutting them out.
3. YES!!!
4. Would be nice to see Before-After, if that’s possible. But so far as I can see and use, you do a great job
5. YES. I create new digital graphics and alter your product using it for my portrait, or greeting card photography with intention to sale my final product, if someone will buy it. I’d prefer to have an extended license for each product I buy from French Kiss. However, the price still need to be reasonable, otherwise I’ll continue creating my own textures and etc. As I say, the French Kiss product is a great source for me and it saves my time for some kind of routine work. But one more point after the fresh unique ideas and quality of the product, is that I like the prices.
6. I can give a credit to French Kiss, when in a work of mine I use something of French Kiss, so and the link to the French Kiss web site. We can talk about.

1. borders, yes because I can always crop if i don’t want them
2. Wow! Would love to have the backgrounds cut out. Then I could possibly but my own subjects into the backgrounds. Oh, the possibilities!
3. 300 DPI is plenty for printing. My labs don’t like huge files. They request 250-300 DPI
4. Yes, love that you take out the greeting- makes it more adaptable
5. I’d be using these as artistic backgrounds for portraits to sell to my clients. Whatever I would need to pay for the rights to do it legally.
Leslie, I’m so excited about the postcards. I’ve always admired the soft watercolor look of cards from this era and wished there was a way to get this look. So thank you once again for doing what you do that makes my work look so unique. Hugs, Lorelei

1. LOVE the borders, shabbier the better.
2. I don’t have a preference for this. Rely on your artistic judgement.
3. i work mostly in larger formats — 16×20 — some notecards, too.
4. If the greeting adds to the image, I say leave it. If not, again, relying on your artistic call.
5. I say do what rewards you best for your extraordinary work and efforts. I think it is priceless.