Remember the very first time you sent a letter? (Or for those who have never posted a letter - sent an email?) There were doubts - would it get there? Would strangers look at it in transit? Did I have enough postage? Did I have the right address? Do I trust the postie to take great care of my efforts? The same goes with sending orders to Queensberry through Photojunction for the first time. We need assurances that I know, as a very regular user, become less relevant with experience. Photojunction has many 'safety' features to prevent people from mucking up their orders. These safety features exist To View More >>

Recently Michael Segal asked us to design and make a 14x10v Musée album in gorgeous black embossed leather. I could show you the cover, I guess, but I'm not allowed to open it and show you round. Michael won't let us because his clients would…not be pleased. So all I can say is that it's the wedding of X and Y, held … somewhere. Among the guests are A, B, C and, oh, D, not to mention E and F. Most of them have worked together. When Michael asked Heather how she thought the book had turned out, she replied, "I think it looks beautiful. I feel very privileged to have been involved. "It's such To View More >>

I was sitting at my desk eating Mini Dinosaurs (from the Natural Confectionery Company). I was wondering about the scope of Photojunction as a tool in our business … the list of opportunities to make money from this (very free) software. I could increase the album sale with… More pages - fancy covers - extras like flips and wings - cases - digital copies, duplicates and parent albums - press book versions. I can show some of these (like extra pages, flips and wings) in the software. Others, like fancy covers, may need help from Queensberry's swatch book. Actually press books are a huge opportunity To View More >>

One of the most beautiful features of Queensberry Press Books is the ability to add translucent pages. The PJ team have been busy working on this feature and you can now add text and images just as easily as you can on ordinary pages. Translucents can be added just about anywhere you like using the button at the bottom of the layout window (see image below). Translucent pages can be used to overlay text over an image; or image over image. They give a whole new dimension to your book - adding a soft delicate atmosphere or "unveiling" the story. It's really a personal decision as to how much opacity To View More >>

Yes our circumstance is unique (our studio was wiped out in an earthquake), but what a great motivator to get a new sample album or two. Very seldom do we get a blank canvas opportunity where we get to look at what we do and ask, "If my past no longer dragged down my future what would my future be?" On February the 22nd  everything changed. We went from a plan, to a nightmare, to a dream. But this post isn't about us. This is about you. We as a studio would often leave updating our samples until there was a specific need, which most often was a bridal show. This always put pressure on us and the To View More >>

I was talking to Stephen last night and he made a comment about how photographers will approach an album on the Queensberry stand at trade shows. He said that most often they will pick up the book and look at the last pages first. If what they see catches their interest they look more closely. I can think of several reasons for this behaviour. At trade shows there are many suppliers peddling their wares, It is important for photographers to be efficient in their research. The last image in an album is often a defining one and in some way summarises the quality, content and feeling of the album. To View More >>

Just read a post (love the internet -pause- sometimes) and had to share the punch line. The complete post is here and it's written by a guy called Spencer Lum for a blog called Ground Glass. Read this and grow. I wish I had written it. Find yourself in 13 steps 1. Be true to the art. The art powers it. It’s not a flash to the side, a quilt on a couple, or a texture on an image. Those are just techniques. Techniques have no soul. You do. Art does. 2. Don’t rush it. Faster isn’t always better. You start on a path, and it’s hard to get off, so if you push too hard, you get lost before you To View More >>

We've now released v1.49 to fix a few minor issues in 1.48, but everything in this post is still current - Ed. In case you haven't noticed, we kiwis are very modest ;) Which is why I like announcing stuff that I didn't have much to do with, but I feel really good about, because I can sing its praises without feeling bad about myself! Anyway… The dev team have been busy busy today pushing out a new final release, and I think it's a really good one. They've put a lot of time and effort into refining features first released in v1.47, especially for Queensberry Press Books, but there's some juicy To View More >>

Further to Anna's emotional cry to 'save people in photographs from random and thoughtless amputations'… I was trying to think of a way to 'stop the suffering'. It occurred to me that we could specifically shoot for the panoramic opportunity. Shoot what you might call 'the subject image' and then move slightly to get the 'rest of the scene' photograph. Use the spine as the aligned join for these images to create a panoramic effect. This has two advantages. The enlargement required is less, keeping the quality up. You plan more for the placement of your subject so that nobody has to lose an arm. To View More >>

Forget animal sacrifice, this is about image sacrifice, and why it is - quite frankly - morally and photographically unethical! What I’m talking about here is panoramic layouts and when to 'cut' an image (and when not to). Queensberry doesn’t make leaves with prints continuous across the spine of the book, as some manufacturers do. Instead, the prints on our digital pages are split at the centreline, leaving a gap of about 2mm (about 1/16”). The reason for this is because if the print is folded - it almost invariably discolours and/or cracks. Our albums are all about protecting images rather To View More >>