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The ultimate expectation of shooting Portrait Head-Shots at home or in a hired studio, is made easy with these step-by-step instructions to help you.

Getting Started It’s really quite simple and after having read this article and with some experimentation, you’ll be shooting like a pro…

What You’ll Need, To Start From a Simple Beginning:

1. CAMERA, 35mm. SLR., (single lens reflex), will be fine if possible with a 28-80 zoom lens, or separate prime lenses 80mm., or 100mm., for head shots and 50mm., or wider for fashion shots.

EVEN BETTER, a ‘MEDIUM FORMAT CAMERA’ such as:-

Bronica SQAI, or Hassleblad 501CM, or Mamiya 6, (format size 6×6cm.), with a 150mm. or 200mm., lens for head shots and a 80mm., lens for fashion shots. NOTE, using a medium format camera, will give you a better IMAGE Quality, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, it will slow you down and:-

MAKE YOU THINK LIKE A PROFESSIONAL!

2. TRIPOD, use a solid heavy duty one. Check out the second hand market.

3. FLASH. (Studio Flash), a separate studio flash unit. Start by checking the used photo equipment stores, trying to find good second hand studio flash units.

4. FLASH METER. Visit your photo suppliers and check out the new and second hand stock. Ask for advice, it’s better to find one that you feel comfortable with.

5. DIGITAL or FILM STOCK: If your using film then 100 ASA, film speed, will do just fine in most situations. At this stage you have to decide if you want to shoot with color print film, color transparency slide film, or black and white film.

SIMPLE LIGHTING SET UP For Head Shots.

SEAT YOUR MODEL: On a stool, one or two meters in front of a plain background, talk to her, she’s nervous too. (Read that line again!) It’s Important. Keep a good ‘rapport’ with your model, she will work much better with you. Did she fix her hair and her make up OK. If possible it’s a good idea to have a make up artist and hairdresser on hand to help you, the more attention to detail the better will be the results.

SET THE CAMERA: On a tripod, at the same height as the models head, borrow a stand in model to sit in for a few minutes, while you ‘GET TO GRIPS’ with the lighting set up. At this stage, you will realize what an advantage it was, you spent your ‘hard earned cash’ on a new or used studio flash unit, with built in modeling lights, to give you some idea of your lighting effects.

REMEMBER YOUR STUDIO LIGHTING: Should be set up and ready to use, long Before your model walks on the set.

POSITION YOUR ‘BROLLY’ FLASH: About 45 degrees angle to one side of the camera position and also about 45 degrees angle above the models head. The distance between the Flash and the subject’s head, (for head shot’s), should be about one meter flash to subject distance.

PLACE A LARGE WHITE REFLECTOR: To the opposite side as your flash unit, as close as possible to the subject. Sometimes it’s a good idea to place a flash unit bounced into the reflector as fill in, taking care not to over power your ‘Key Light’. Next, place a small white reflector under the models chin, to bounce light up to the shadow area under the chin.

FLASH METERS: Now, check out what exposure you should use and set the f. stop, (aperture), on the camera. The shutter speed is not so important in the studio, as long as it’s no faster than the camera’s recommended flash sync’ speed, or slower.

IT WOULD BE a good plan to do a test run the day before, allowing you time to process your test shots and check your exposure and lighting. Many professional photographers use a medium format camera in the studio, which can be fitted with a Polaroid camera back, allowing them to make instant tests on the spot. Also there are some Pro Photographers that use medium format cameras in the studio which have been fitted with special Digital camera backs, allowing the images to viewed on screen immediately.

OTHER LIGHTS: It’s also a good idea to add two or three other lights to your studio set up, (if the budget will allow).

A HAIR LIGHT: At the back of the set and to one side, fixed about two meters high, clipping the models hair. This should have a ’snoot’ or ‘honeycombe’ fitted to the front of the light, to prevent stray light falling on the camera lens.

BACKGROUND LIGHTS: Can also be put to good use, to light up, or create effects with the background.

IT’S REALLY A MATTER of experimentation to develop your own technique, until you have perfected a pleasing effect and you are more or less satisfied with your results. In the meantime you can drive your friends and members of your family crazy in trying out your new found skills… And then…

SET UP YOUR own small portrait studio in a spare room or garage at home.

JUST KEEP ON TESTING untill you have mastered the art.

To learn more about Portrait Head Shots, go here: Pro Portrait Head Shots

Roger is from London and started out in the days of the Swinging Sixties when London was quite a place to be. Roger says that In those days he use to shoot catalog fashion shots with a 10X8 inch View camera, so the transparency images would be the same size as the image on the catalog page. “I have to tell you right now that took quite some doing. Now I spent most of my time with my website: Pro SECRETS of Money Making PHOTOGRAPHY writing and teaching photography, shooting the occasional assignment”.


To learn about Shooting Pro Fashion Photography go here: Pro Fashion Shoot

Nowadays, as so many business and entrepreneurs are looking at online video sites as a great place to publish content to grab the interest of their potential customers, it is necessary to appreciate the basic values of utilising internet video promotion sites.

Here are one or two basic things you must be familiar with previous to you starting to circulate corporate videos on web video channels.

Constantly endeavour to use professional videos that provide worthwhile info to your audience - Numerous business people mistakenly presume you can just put any sort of advertisement on a video channel, but nothing could be any closer from the truth. Each and every video should give some worthwhile content to the desired market, or otherwise start topic of talk.

Do some kind of market research on the video websites prior to you adding your very first video - It’s an excellent idea to allot some considerable time typing your market’s essential keywords into Yahoo, in an attempt to realise what competitor promotional videos are currently out there. Then make sure you have written down the profile names of the most important firms in your area. Possibly later down the line you can make a joint venture or have some type of association with these companies. For online video publishing strategies that meets your companies requirements, take a look at the Vidify website now.

Keep in mind that each and every video channel has a society built into it - With this in mind you must respect the other members and it’s suggested that you add positive notes to your competitors’ videos. First & foremost you need to be a member of the society, providing advice, ideas etc. And only then must you consider being a video marketer & begin to broadcast your very own 1 & merchandise.

Commit yourself to making various promotional videos - You must have an obvious strategy for producing and posting numerous promotional videos. Or else, your company’s page on the video portals will give the impression of being blank if it only has one video on view. As a result, allot extra time setting up the construction of a sequence of short format corporate videos, instead of one considerably lengthy video.

Online video marketing is one of the most successful and quickest methods of promoting your company just now.

We have a slight problem in the world and that is that other nations are teaching and educating their children that The United States of America is some sort of big bad bully in the World. Indeed some of the teachers and professors in our own country are busy doing the same. Of course this is utter hokum and complete hogwash; not to mention a little re-writing of the Middle Eastern Conflict, War on Terror and the Attack of 911.

This is simple brain washing and it is being spurred on by the mass media hysteria which was incited by the French as they put out a media hit on the United States of America prior to the Iraq Gulf War II. But why did the French turn on the US? Well it is simple really there are World Capitalists who were involved and also those who were involved in the French Government and the Iraqi “Oil For Food Scandal” and one could say it is pretty ballsy for them to call us evil in some way.

But that was then and this is now; and now we have the public school systems in Europe, Middle East and other parts of the World telling their children that America is an evil empire and this is a terrible thing for future world conflicts and those nations should not do this. It is liable to cause wars, which will get those same children killed, and shorten their lives and devastate their families. It is so completely irresponsible for these other nations to purport such BS in their classrooms to impressionable minds. That my friends needs to stop today.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

It’s not a surprise that at least 60 percent of diabetics are concerned not only about their blood sugar level control, but also about their weight control. This is obvious, because diabetes causes weight put on.

The way out is a 1,000 calorie diabetic diet. It requires a very limited daily calorie intake. This diet is very strict, and without proper medical control it can even damage your health. With such a low caloric intake, be sure that what you are choosing to eat provides your body with the nutrients it needs. A diet doesn’t mean that you have to eat something you don’t like. Just remember to choose your foods carefully and don’t forget to count calories.

A 1,000 calorie diabetic diet will certainly help you loose some weight. Though, you should not expect extremely rapid weight loss. Because loosing weight rapidly and naturally (and thus safely) is quite difficult. Besides rapid weight loss could be dangerous sometimes. It can cause your feeling sick and even faints. Moreover, after rapid weight loss there is a high probability that you put on the same or more weight in comparison to that you have lost.

Make this process be natural. And as we all know natural processes are not quick. So, be patient.

There is still a large population of 35mm users shooting in the photographic world. With Canon’s 5D announcement, the digital enticement is certainly going to be hard to resist. Will film users convert?

Full-Frame DSLR Now Within Reach

Originally, a DSLR would cost around $7,000 for a full-frame shooter. Canon’s 1Ds series was the only choice and it was an expensive one. It was also extremely heavy. Try carrying around 3.5lbs (camera and battery) and a 3.5lb lens (the Canon 70-200 2.8L IS USM), and 7lbs begins to take its toll. Canon has gone an interesting route by creating a full-frame DSLR in a conveniently small package, basically the size of its 20D, for under $3,300. A battery grip has been offered (BG-E4), and it’s nice to see Canon giving users a choice of what to use. Sometimes you just don’t want to lug around an extra pound and a half, as well as making the camera conspicuous by its size. I can say from using a Nikon D100 in the past, it was very convenient to take off the battery grip and just shoot with the camera, making it lighter and more compact to take on particular outings.

35mm Film = How Many Pixels?

This is really a controverisial subject, and quite honestly, you will get a huge variance of answers, depending on how zealous a photographer is in defending his particular format. I’ve read articles over the past several years of photographers saying anywhere from 3MP to 30MP for a DSLR to equal 35mm film. As usual, the facts are in between somewhere. Let me just state a few experiences from my own use with film.

From my own experience in shooting film and digital (about 15 years), I’ve noticed that a 6MP DSLR can just about match a 35mm Film camera’s resolution. Notice I say “just about” and I say “DSLR”, not a compact camera or a DSLR-Type camera. The main reasons are the pixel size and dynamic range.

Crash Course On Pixels

I will be covering this subject in-depth in another article, but for the purposes of this one, smaller pixels inherently have more noise, and lower dynamic range (that’s why your compact camera does terrible in low-light situations). Larger pixels inherently have less noise and more dynamic range. Basically put, larger pixels enable a much higher tolerance of light accumulation before they carry over into nearby pixels (resulting in Blooming, a very common issue with digital cameras). Think of pixels as a bucket (which is a common example most imaging professionals and photographers use). Some buckets can hold more water than other buckets. Canon’s 6MP DSLRs and Nikon’s 6MP DSLRs have just about reached the 35mm film equivalency. And in fact, I would just about say a 6MP digital image properly exposed, could match up to a film image. Overall, my observations are that a 6-8MP DSLR can match a film print. Canon’s 12.8MP full-frame DSLR at 8-microns square, easily makes this target.

Canon: Alone In The Full-Frame World

So far, there is no other company offering a full-frame digital even close to the price of the Canon 5D. In fact, we don’t have any other camera manufacturers at the date of this article, even mentioning a full-frame DSLR as a possible offering in the future. This is quite disturbing. Why? Well, it appears most camera manufacturers are concentrating on compact camera sales (these are the highest profit products), in addition to sending a message that full-frame DSLRs are not necessary to get high quality images.

It is a shame we don’t see as much leadership in the imaging technology. But we sure see a lot of hype and empty promises. Whatever happened to Foveon? LBCAST? I remember when these two technologies were touted as new and revolutionary in the DSLR sector, and how users would expect such great images, putting all other cameras to shame. Well, the shame only really started to form, when the promises became biblical. Come to find out Foveon sensors could barely survive over ISO levels of 800 (which required a second generation DSLR to come out, leaving previous 1st gen owners in the dark and irritated…and a worthless investment), and Nikon’s LBCAST sensors were just politely and purposely forgotten. And we have one manufacturer creating “honeycomb” pixels (I’ll leave that to another discussion). From my viewpoint, we have a terrible behavior from camera manufacturers denying the opportunity that people want full-frame digital cameras which mimic the 35mm film cameras most of us are familiar with using. Why are they denying us this? I guess we’ll these questions and answers for another time, but currently, Canon is the only company to step up to the plate and take a chance. Personally, I think they made a good one, and I think they know the Canon 5D is a sure winner.

35mm Film Users Should Begin The Celebration!

If you’re currently shooting Canon 35mm film cameras, your lens collection will do just fine. True, we have some who make arguments about the edge issues of wide angle lenses on full-frame digitals, but in my opinion, this is mostly an exploded issue. I’ve seen so many Canon 1Ds and 1DsMKII images which look absolutely amazing, with no edge problems, that I am purplexed at why it’s an issue. While $3,300 is not small amount of money, this price point has surprised almost everyone in the digital sector. Even in the film sector. If you’re thinking of taking the digital plunge, the Canon 5D might just be the answer.

©2005 by Jason Busch (http://www.digitaldingus.com)

35mm Film Shooters: Is It Time To Go Digital?

A part of The DigitalDingus Guide To Photography series.

Bachelor gowns

College diplomas refer to qualifications earned in a tertiary institution. They are considered as the bridge between high school diplomas and university degrees. Acquiring a diploma is an achievement as it opens more doors for an individual’s advancement in career goals and life in general. In a competitive job market, a college diploma can greatly increase a person’s chances of finding a good job. Academic excellence is one of the factors that potential employers consider. Diplomas help students to learn new skills both in theory and practically. They make it possible to specialize in specific areas of interest.

The practical training prepares students to work in full fledged organizations where they will have to prove that they can perform. The college diplomas also provide an opportunity to study further and strive for more academic achievements. The duration of diploma courses ranges from months to years, depending on the nature and intensity of the course. Short courses are suitable for people who are pursuing crash programs. The longer courses are best suited to people who have time to learn full time. Whatever the case may be, college diplomas are an indication of a person’s capability or qualification in a particular field.

The occurrence of low budget flights - sometimes lower than a domestic rail ticket - has increased to make purchasing a home in a foreign country a viable choice; even in this period of global fiscal problems. Without mentioning that a land abroad has massive investment potential - be that through renewal and sale or renting your property as a vacation lodging.

In most cases, countless individuals are unconscious or ill informed concerning the probable dangers concerned with purchasing land out of the country. On the contrary there are a quantity of plain processes you can use to certify you save capital, obtain a large house and avoid possible anxiety, disquiet and economic crisis.

First of all make sure to directly scrutinize currency exchange; this not just applies to the phase whilst you are purchasing the foreign assets, however also any periods while you’ll be doing redecorations or even taking wide vacations. This issue is mostly dominant in today’s recent economic climate.

You ought explore regional real estate directive - a lot of times people face problems since they didn’t appropriately understood their rights. This is relevant to both buying a property and redecorating it. You also should make sure that the resources in the vicinity of your asset will not be put up for sale on and factories constructed on it. Find property for sale in Greece from owners, agents and developers.

You must also examine the groups you are dealing with - most of the time if there is any negative publicity surrounding them, that is will be online. A simple Google search can frequently make better this - folks like to be vocal about things that have exasperated them; but be certain to look past page one - or dig through professional forums… that is where you will get the real information and not solely the business spiel.

Printer ink cartridges mainly contain one or more partitions to reserve ink, besides a chip that communicates with the printer. The finished quality achieved by an inkjet printer largely depends on the smooth and continuous flow of ink. So, once the flow of ink slows down, it is vital to change the printer inkjet cartridges. Various types of inkjet printer ink cartridges are available including high priced printer inkjet cartridges manufactured by original equipment manufacturers as well as non-branded compatible or re manufactured printer inkjet cartridges.

Workings Of Printer Ink Cartridges

Most printers, including Canon and HP, use thermal inkjet while Epson use Piezoelectric Inkjets.
In thermal inkjet printer cartridges, each ink reservoir partition contains a heating element that responds to the signals provided by the printer when it warms up. This heating leads to the vaporization of ink surrounding the heating element into a tiny air bubble that moves to the nozzle. However, if the ink is running out in the printer ink cartridges is less, the quality of printing will neither be good or smooth. The ink in the printer inkjet cartridges also acts as a coolant for the heating elements and its drying up can result in damage to the printer head.

In the case of Piezoelectric Inkjet printers, each nozzle contains a piezoelectric crystal which changes shape when heat is applied and throws out ink for printing.

Types And Pricing Of Printer Ink Cartridges

Although most printer manufacturers recommend sticking to inkjet printer cartridges manufactured by them, cheaper options are available on the market. Inkjet printer ink cartridges manufactured by OEMs are generally quite costly, so many people prefer to use cheaper versions that are not only compatible with their printers but also provide good quality printing.

The cheaper inkjet printer cartridges are brand new products, with new components, and claim to provide the same quality as do OEM products. option available for printer users is the professionally re manufactured inkjet printer cartridges that have been used once, emptied, cleaned and refilled to match OEM standards.

Part One

Choose a nature scene. For instance scenery of mountain, meadow or ocean to picture and imagine during your session. You might consciously choose a particular scene and find that when you close your eyes and relax a different scene pops into your mental vision. That is fine, go with the new scene but once you have started the meditation stay with that scene for that session. Choose whatever scenery accommodates your feelings for that day.

Allow your eyes to close.

Exhale contracting the abdomen gently.

Inhale by expanding the lower abdomen like it was a balloon.
Inhale, Inhale, Inhale, Inhale
And exhale contracting the abdomen gently

Breathe slowly and rhythmically
Observe how the body releases tightness with every exhalation

Continue inhaling and exhaling being aware on the inhale that the oxygen is relaxing your muscles from your toes to scalp as well as deep to your core

Relaxation flowing deep, deep, deep right to the space between your atoms

Watch the breath like it is a wave that is breathing you

Feel relaxation deepen with every breath as if your body is spreading and melting out

Observe the breath happening

On the inhalation, observe the energy of the oxygen that you draw through your body from toes to scalp

On the exhale contract the abdomen gently and feel the deepening and strengthening sense of peace and relaxation

Sense any areas of blockage and direct relaxation there
Like finding a closed door and opening it

Release your consciousness of the breath when you sense the body is totally open

Now maintaining your body’s sense of deep peace and relaxation, imagine yourself in a mountain, meadow or ocean setting. Use all your senses to develop the image. Start with whichever sensation feels the strongest. Depending on how you process mentally this will be either visual sensations or kinesthetic (a feeling of knowing)sensations.

For example, can you feel sunshine just the right temperature warming and relaxing your body, is there a gentle caressing breeze?

How does the earth or sand feel beneath your feet or are you lying in a meadow amongst flowers and grass?

What scents are you aware of - salty ocean air, fragrant flowers, crisp mountain air.

Are there sounds around you? The breaking of waves on the shore, bird calls, the singing of a breeze through trees or tall grass, friendly animal sounds.

If you touch different elements what texture or sensations does that feel like? What shade and color is everything?

Keep developing a scenic image through your senses for the set meditation time.

If you have difficulty getting a sense of a fantasy image, you can use a familiar image such as your home or car. When you have the feel of picturing a familiar image, place your familiar object in a fantasy setting.

Continue this lesson for seven days.

This exercise will develop your ability to access information and knowledge through your five physical senses and increase your psychic intuitive capability.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker

Excerpt from Relaxation Magic - Hypnosis, Meditation, Visualization

http://www.lulu.com/maryannlaraia

Certification
Hypnotherapy Training Institute of SD, CA

Advanced Hynotherapy Diploma 1989/Basic Hypnotism Diploma 1988

Hypnotherapy
KWAFC Kent WA 1990 - 1995

Private Practice

Encinitas, CA 1995 - 1998 / Hartford, CT 1998 - present

Related Education

Chapel of Awareness Encinitas CA 1996 - 1998

Meditation classes with the focus on healing

Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA 1982

Physical Effect of the Religious Experience
Study of what happens physically in the body during altered states

Builders of the Adytum LA, CA 1975 - 1980

Lessons on Meditation, Kabala

For information on modern technology which enhances hypnosis, meditation and visualization please go to

http://www.hypnosisimprovelife.com

Imagine being able to frame all your own photographs just as well as a professional. You can save enough money to easily pay for all the necessary tools, and the convenience of being able to do it yourself frees you from having to get someone else do it. If you’re an amateur a mount cutter, a frame clamp and a hand-operated frame joining tool is all the equipment you need to make professional looking frames. These days the tools are easy and safe to operate, inexpensive, and give you a good result. Picture framing can be divided into four areas. Cutting the bevel mount, cutting and joining the frame, mounting the photograph, and fitting and finishing the job. The tools required to perform each one of these functions are as follows.

1. Mount Cutting: A hand-operated bevel mount cutter is essential for all photographic work. The most important feature of modern mount cutters is to have one that runs on its own ruler or straight edge.

2. Frame cutting and Joining: The professional framer uses a guillotine to cut wooden frames, and an automatic v-nail joiner. But the cost is prohibitive for the small volumes of frames required by our industry. However, there are tools that give you a professional result at a fraction of the cost.

3. Mounting Artwork: Dry mounting presses and laminating machines are not the only way to safely and effectively mount down all your artwork ready for framing. We will look at vacuum press mounting, hinging methods and other less expensive options.

4. Fitting and Finishing: There are a number of hand-operated tools on the market to make this job quick and easy. These can be used safely by any person to give a professional finish to all framing jobs.

Our series of articles over the next four issues will examine each one of these processes.

Mount Cutting And Decoration

Mount cutting is the creative face to picture framing. What distinguishes one framed photograph from another is the creative use of mounts. There is a wide choice of mount board brands and colours, possibly too many! Supplies are easy to come by, and the cost of the boards is not prohibitive. The best thing about cutting your own mounts is that once you cut it you get to keep the fallout from the middle, which can then become a mount for a smaller photograph. This saves money and helps qualify the investment in the mount cutting machine.

Most hand-operated mount cutters available in art shops come with the cutting head only and not with a guide rule. For successful bevel cutting and good clean corners a guide rule that the cutting head runs on is essential for good results. The FrameCo systems are ideal for the DIY framer or small workshop.

Mount cutters also come attached to a base board or just with the straight edge rule. The baseboard makes the system steadier, easier to use and more reproducible, however to cut a few mounts per year for you’re own photographic works, the head/ruler systems are quite sufficient.

Another consideration is the sizing or cutting down of fullsize sheets. The large professional mount cutters are large enough to take the full size sheet. But a sharp Stanley knife and straight edge can be used to cut down full-size sheets into the blank sizes ready for bevel cutting. A straight 90 cutter is available from FrameCo, which will also attach to the rule. This can be used for cutting the mount board to size, and is safe and easy to use. The advantage of this optional cutting head is that it can also be used for cutting foam-core board up to smm thick. It uses the same blade as the bevel cutter.

Cutting a Single Bevel Mount

The technique for cutting bevel mounts is quick and easy. After cutting the mount board down to the right size to fit the frame, rule lines on the back of the mount board to the border size that you require. The bevel cutter head then attaches to the rule, so it’s steady when cutting. Another feature of the head is that it has a start/stop indicator line. Following the ruled lines on the back of the mount makes it easy to get good straight bevels, but to get clean crisp corners you need to know where to start and stop the cut. The indicator mark guarantees no overcuts on the corners, giving you a professional cut mount every time.

Cutting a Double-Bevel Mount

Rule lines on the back of the mount. Start and stop line guarantees perfect corners.

Cutting a Double Bevel Mount

Double mounts enhance most pictures. A narrow show of colour can pick out the dark spots in the subject, which will increase the contrast between light and dark, and thus sharpen the image. So a double mount is not only decorative, but also functional. The “secret” to cutting a double mount, so that the edges of the inner mount are exactly parallel to the edges of the outer mount, is NOT to cut two separate mounts and then stick them together. The best way is to cut the top mount first, then stick the two together with double-sided tape (ie: the top and the bottom mounts, then cut the bottom mount). The reason for doing it this way is that you use the same edge as a reference point to measure from. The mount will then be in line with one another and will look OK.

It can sound confusing, but it’s not once you get the hang of it! The most important aspect of mount cutting is that with the right tools you can get a professional result relatively easily.

Once you’ve mastered cutting single and double mounts you can also add decorative finishes to the mounts, which will enhance the image and add value to all your mount work.

The Decorative V-Groove

One of the most important techniques in decorative mount cutting is the “V” groove. This is a small v-shaped cut set into the front surface of the mount. The v-groove adds a stylish look to all your framing. It is that creative touch that gives any picture a professional finish.

The professional framing industry uses existing large mount cutters to cut v-grooves. It is a twostage process because it involves cutting two separate bevel cuts to make the “V” cut. This is difficult to do and there are no guarantees for a perfect accurate v-groove. FrameCo has introduced the GrooveMaster. This is a hand-held v-groover, which cuts the “v” directly into the top surface of the mount. The GrooveMaster also attaches to the rule that you use for bevel mount cutting, which means it is accurate and easy to use.

Now v-grooving is within reach of any DIY picture framer. And the technique is easy to master. You can purchase pre-cut mounts and decorate them with a v-groove, adding value to the mount, and making it much more versatile.

Doing your own framing is ideal for the amateur, portrait or weekend photographer. You can save on framing costs to more than offset the investment in tools and accessories. You control the mounting and matting stage, and there is a great satisfaction in doing it yourself. However if you have a retail outlet handy then I wouldn’t suggest you try and compete with the mass market of ready made frames. These frames are cheap and well made. But there is a significant market for the one off odd-size frame that is not available in the ready mades. Either cut an odd size mount to fit a standard frame or make up the frame to suit. With your own framing, however, you can produce your own work and save money doing it over the longer term.

An experienced picture framer, Gary Leete is the owner of Melbourne- based FrameCo, a company that specializes in DIY frame construction kits. For further details ph: (03) 9872 3600 or visit the website: http://www.clubframeco.com