Monthly Archives: May 2012
Greetings friends! A few months ago we had a post concerning a new feature on our Walgreens mobile app called Quick Prints. Just as a little refresher, Quick
Prints lets you instantly print photos directly from your phone and pick them up at the nearest Walgreens in about an hour. It’s easy and convenient, and with no log-in required – all you have to do is select the photos that you’d like to print and decide if you would like 4×6, 5×7 or 8×10 prints.
Have you tried it yet?
Well, we’re pleased to announce a pretty swanky new addition to the Quick Prints experience…
Multi-upload!
Now, you’ll be able to upload five photos at a time! All of those sweet shots from your nephew’s graduation party? You can print and pick those babies up by the time the ice cream cake melts.
In case you don’t already have the Walgreens mobile app, click here to download and start printing right from your iPhone or Android!
-Marina, designer at Walgreens
Have a new bundle of joy? A gorgeous princess with the tiniest fingers and toes? A bodacious little dude always boasting a mischievous smirk? You just want to capture their EVERY moment. Like when she pointed at da-da and laughed at the silly face he
made. Or when he serenely slept through the entire afternoon. Such an angel. Most of the time, anyway.
But, what if you want to take a picture of the newest, cutest addition to your family and surprise mom when she gets home with the radiant photo hanging front and center on the living room wall? No problem.
With Photo by Walgreens new Canvas Print Same Day Pickup service, you can create your Canvas Print and pick it up at
your Walgreens around the corner. It’s really that easy.
Or, surprise mom with an artful masterpiece: make an asymmetrical headboard of your newborn’s most darling features, and a charming picture of mom with the baby.
Same Day Pickup Canvas Prints are perfect any time you’re in a pinch. It’s a quick and easy way to create a meaningful impact for birthdays, graduations, anniversaries – and simply just because.
Let’s say you happen to realize your 3 year anniversary is Thursday. And uh, it’s Wednesday. Not that that would ever happen, but let’s pretend. In a single day, you can capture the essence of your years together.
Various sizes and frames are available – so you can customize your masterpiece even more.
Get started today and make your home a beaming, expressive work of art.
- Marina, designer at Walgreens
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Father’s Day is right around the corner!
Photo by Walgreens is pleased to announce our new “Shop by Personality” shopping experience that lets you search
photo gifts for Father’s Day based your dad’s personality type! We’re featuring:
In addition, Photo by Walgreens would like to announce a very special Father’s Day contest. In three words or less, we would like you to tell us why your dad is one of the above dads! (You can only pick one!) Here’s an example:
“The Outdoors Dad: Camps in woods.”
We will be choosing the best response for each personality type, with the winners each receiving a $50 Photo by Walgreens gift card!
That’s right- four personalities, four gift cards for 50 bucks. Pretty cool, right? The contest starts May 21 and runs through June 9. Simply post your three word answer in the comments section below with the type of dad you have. We’ll announce the four winners after the contest ends!
Good luck!!!
Click here for complete rules
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Great whites. Sub-zero temperatures. Un-climbable cliffs. Jumps that seemingly go on forever.
Sounds perfect, right?
Odds are if you’re reading this, you’ve probably at least spent an hour or two watching one of those, “How to survive the arctic tundra with only a paperclip and a stick of gum” shows. When out with your friends, you’re more likely to take pictures of amazing mountain summits and deep sea dives than food dishes and dinner parties. Sound familiar?
Clearly, you also want to capture proof of these death-defying antics, so today’s post features a few tips to help you with your extreme outdoor photography. So grab your survival kit, snowboards or karabiners, and let’s do it!
- Keep your camera warm and dry. You may want to consider bringing a waterproof lunch cooler. Cameras can freeze up while in freezing temperatures, and it would be a shame to miss an unbelievable black diamond run.
- When shooting underwater, you can keep your camera covered with camera housing. There are also tons of waterproof cameras available these days.
- Get up close to your subject. Better yet- use blur to show movement.
- If your camera has burst mode…use it! That way the camera will continue shooting without waiting for the shutter to close and open.
- Be ready! Stay alert and keep that camera out – you never know when the opportunity will arise to capture spontaneity.
After the adventures are over, there are lots of great ways at Photo by Walgreens to make sure that you can show off your extreme photos. Canvas Prints in particular are a great way to show off outdoor shots due to the detail and texture of the canvas. For weekend trips into the wild, a Same Day Pickup Photo Book is a great way to get all of those photos in one place – you can create and pick up your book in a day. Finally, underwater shots look incredible on Glass Prints, especially when light is allowed to flow through the glass.
Feel free to share your extreme or outdoor photography tips below – we’d love to hear about ‘em!
Be wild and STAY SAFE!
-Marina, designer at Walgreens
Ready or not, the time has come.
I know, crazy right?
You remember his first step. The first time she cried out for “ma-ma.” First boo-boo. First day of school. First love. The list goes on and sentimentally on.
But life moves forward and so does he. As does she. She has grown beautifully before your eyes. He has matured into a handsome, thoughtful man. Well, maybe a handsome, thoughtful boy. Either way, you are proud. As you should be!
The achievement of graduation is meant to be captured and treasured forever. As my momma always told me, “Your education
is something no one can EVER take away from you.”
Of course, you want to share this momentous occasion with all of your family and friends, both near and far. With Photo Cards, Folded Cards, Folded Words and our brand new card line, WellWishes, you can do just that.
All of Photo by Walgreens Graduation Announcements and Grad Party Invites are convenient, simple and allow you to add your own personal touch.
So get started now. Show off that stylin’, smilin’ grad!
- Marina, designer at Walgreens
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the wonderful mothers around the world! This Mother’s Day at Photo by Walgreens, we are featuring an exciting Generaciones nesting dolls printable craft project, plus brand new Hispanic Mother’s Day Cards.
What’s better than one sweet face? How about four! Our dolls are easy to craft and even easier to love.
Brighten any space with our printable nesting dolls. Line them up or give away as a special surprise!
Arrange our nesting dolls on Mom’s breakfast-in-bed tray this year for a very special Mother’s Day surprise.
Not only will Mom love this unique, thoughtful, creative gift – it’s the perfect way to get the whole family involved in Mom’s present this year! You can place them on the dining room table next to Mom’s delicious homemade breakfast and Photo by Walgreens Mother’s Day Card.
Try it now:
All you have to do is click here, print out and start your project for Mom today!
You can even create an entire scene around the dolls. Don’t be afraid to get super creative.
Then, share your finished crafts in the comments section below, and be sure to Pin It right from our blog!
Make her feel so loved with one of our new 5×7 Hispanic Mother’s Day Folded Cards. It’s the perfect complement to your beautiful Mother’s day printable creation.
Our Heart of the Home is one of our new favorites! Mom will love the attention to detail, colors and sentiment.
For a more clean and elegant design, check out Te Queremos, Mama.
¡Beuna suerte!
- Marina, designer at Walgreens
Hi, I’m Deb!
I’m a commercial photographer, which means that by day I shoot for advertising clients but in my down time I shoot out in the real world for myself. I end up with scads of pics to sort thru. Playing around with image pairings is almost as fun as shooting them! Getting them into a concise, beauteous space for a portfolio or personal photo book can be time consuming but it’s also super rewarding.
For example, let’s say you just got back from a marvelous vacation in Maui, and your camera is jam-packed with hundreds of shots of the gorgeous lava flows, beaches and family fun.
What do you do now?
It’s time to make a collage! Or frame some of your favorite prints to hang together on the wall!
Let me share with you some easy tips and tricks to follow when crafting your photo masterpiece:
Select images that go together:
- SHAPE – Look for shapes that repeat from one image to another. In the images above, the repeating circles connect the different images. Shapes such as circles, squares, triangles and even lines can be seen in urban and natural settings. Find similar shapes in your photos, then see how the images look together. Play with the order of them, too. One picture might look better on the left than it does on the right.
- COLOR – Look for complementary or contrasting colors. Take a look at the color wheel below. Complementary colors are opposite on the wheel. When placed next to each other, complementary colors make each other stand out. Like blue & orange, yellow & violet, red & green. You can also stray a bit from direct opposites, like I did above. Notice that the closer the colors are on the color wheel, the more similar they are, making it less likely for them to “pop.” This doesn’t mean they don’t look good together; it just depends on the scene you’re going for!
Look for repetition of shape and color while you’re taking pictures, too.
While taking pictures:
- SHAPE – Look for repetition of shape out in the world. Being mindful of the things around you when you’re behind the camera will help you become a better photographer. Move your camera or move your subject until you like what you see. Find a background composition that is as interesting as that handsome devil who is your subject. Maybe there’s a fence in the distant background to echo the stripes in his pants.
- COLOR – When photographing color in the real world, you may not have control over some things, like what shirt your daughter is wearing. But, you should look around to see if there is a background that creates a color combination you like. As you move around to find that perfect composition, be careful to keep the sun from shining directly into your lens.
Learn about everything Deb: www.dfletcherphoto.com
Once you have your perfectly snapped photographs, look to Photo by Walgreens to transform your prints into delightful works of art in the form of a collage poster, canvas prints, mug and more.
Hope this helps, and thanks for reading.
Happy memory making!
- Deb, guest blog writer
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You’re getting married! Congratulations!
Fortunately, most brides and grooms have found that planning a wedding is a total breeze and that nothing ever gets more complicated than it should.
(Wait a minute, that’s not true? Get out of town. Really?)
Kidding.
I’ll admit…getting the details down for a wedding can be anywhere from “mildly in-depth” to “bending all laws of physics and nature” to make it happen. Personally, one component of a wedding that I think is often overlooked is the guestbook. The flowers, the food, the cake…they’re great, but they’ll also be gone around the time you finish doing the Chicken Dance. All those messages in a guest book wishing you a happy marriage? You’ll keep those forever. Especially if that book is a Photo Book featuring engagement photos of the bride and groom. It’s more fun for the guests and more fun for the newlyweds to flip through down the road.
One option that Photo by Walgreens features for your guest book is the Same Day Pickup Photo Book. It’s:
- Elegant
- Easy to flip through
- Filled with room for your guest to sign by their favorite photo of you
- Ready for pickup in about an hour
Another fun idea is to leave a different book at each table at your reception, with each showing a different trip or time for the bride and groom. Custom Cover Photo Books work great for this. The guests will get a kick out of seeing how the lovebirds wrote their own storybook romance, and they’ll get to participate in the happy ending by contributing their own words of kindness to the photo book.
Happy nuptials!
-Marina, designer at Walgreens
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The untamed wilderness. The final frontier. The land where Mother Nature reigns supreme.
Wait just a second. Back that truck up. What has to be so scary about outdoor photography? Sure, it’s different than having very carefully orchestrated poses and an indoor setting, but that’s the beauty of it! Outdoor photography can be spontaneous, serene, and if nothing else a cool change of pace! Especially in this time of year, look out that window – flowers are blooming, colors are vibrant, everything is coming to life, it’s absolutely PERFECT to shoot outdoors.
Looking for tips on how to photograph outdoors? Well friends, you have come to the right place. Here are a few tips when you get out of the studio and into the wild.
- It’s all in the light! Objects and even more so people look illuminated and somewhat ethereal when backlit in nature. Your photographs will have a retro quality to them, like your subject has emerged right from the sun.
- Location, location, location. Beautiful locations can be found all around you. Don’t discount a spot just because it’s near a less than idea area…sometimes the best outdoor photography takes place in spur of the moment spots. Just make sure that stop lights, street signs, etc. are out of the picture. (Unless you’re deliberately including them – then go for it!)
- Turn off the flash. Ok, you know this one. Moving on!
- Try a Tripod! Obnoxious puns aside, tripods give you clearer photos and will help with your depth of focus. If you have access to one, they’re a must.
Now, of course you’re wondering, “Well Marina, what do I do with my outdoor photos? Clearly they mustn’t just sit on my camera! Photo by Walgreens…HELP!!” One idea is to take a shot with a wide-angle lens and spread out a panoramic shot over three different Canvas Prints. An outdoor-themed Photo Book is also a “natural” fit (get it? Oh right, no more puns) so perhaps take a series of photographs over the course of a day starting at sunrise and ending at sunset.
Any other outdoor photography tips? Share them below!
-Marina, designer at Walgreens
