I am really struggling to get my new website up and running due to the amount of work involved in it and the lack of hours in the day I seem to suffer from.

Anyway I decided today was going to be a website day and I have spent ages scanning pictures from the Qualatex Retail Portfolio folder for the site (some to be standard bouquets that I will keep in stock and others to be examples of bespoke bouquets). However, I have discovered they seem to be printed on anti-scan paper as the quality is terrible. I had assumed (stupid I know) that because you are allowed to use the retail portfolio folder for display in your shop should you have one that it would be okay to scan them for your website but obviously this is not the case. I am really cross with myself for not checking until I had scanned all the ones I want to offer

I am now in a lovely catch 22 where I can't really take my own but can't really advertise on the website that I do deliveries without photos! I have tried to take my own photos but not only does my photography suck but I don't have any plain walls or any other suitable place to take the photos. I have a pop-up light box but it isn't large enough for bouquets and have tried to rig up sheets etc as a plain background but nothing so far has worked. I have even looked into getting a proper photographers backdrop on it's own frame but the cheapest ones are around £60 which I don't really have at the minute as work has been so quiet this summer.

I also am having problems with photos of larger stuff like arches and canopy's. I hired a hall weeks ago and a semi pro tog friend of mine offered to take the photos but I'm still waiting for those due unforeseen circumstances. I would hire a hall again and take my own photos but I only have between 9 and 12 child free so can't really get anything done in that time so I am at a loss of how to get photos for my website?

I could really do with some creative ideas as to how I can get photos of what I can do for my website without it costing me an arm and leg so that I can finally start advertising!!!

Hi Yvonne, if do do not mind my asking did you attend the retail portfolio day ? if you did you should have been emailed the pdf files which contain all the pictures.....

I have a few on web site, I did not put them all on there as people like to see what you have done, also another slight draw back is that you need to stock these balloons in case you are asked for them, especially as people are asking for balloon decor and bouquets later than sooner so you may end up not being able to do something as the delivery is for the next day etc etc, I had a wedding enquirey on a bank holiday Monday for the Tuesday morning - nothing like leaving it all to the last minute......

Hope of some help p - Debbie
www.wow-balloons.com

I did indeed attend the retail portfolio day and hadn't realised they were supposed to send me the pics in pdf too! I will send them an email asking for them in that case.

I totally understand what you are saying Debbie about needing to have stuff in stock but I have already thought that one through. I am going to have a standard bouquet page with 10 run of the mill bouquets which will be in stock, priced up and ready to collect the same day. I will also have a page for bespoke bouquets with some examples etc but they will need to be pre-ordered and themed as per the clients requests etc.

At present I have no real pictures of bouquets since my house is bursting at the seams with clutter and the weather is not good enough to take pictures outside. My only solution would be to get a proper photographers backdrop and set it up in the garage! but at the moment I just haven't got the funds. The plan will be to invest as soon as I can afford it and then I will slowly replace Qualatex pictures with my own. However, I will also need to learn how to use a camera a little better

Yvonne, you can use a plain white sheet as a backdrop - just make sure it is ironed and crease free.

My brother in law is a professional photographer and in his early days that's what he used to use.

As another thought, do Qualatex not have the standard bouquet images on their website? If they do, you could probably ask if you can just lift them from the site instead of scanning them.

I've tried the sheets Lisa but there is just nowhere to hang them. I haven't got curtains or anything downstairs and all my walls have furniture and ten ton of tatt against them! As for Qualatex' website the portfolio photos are not on there, not even in the QBN bit.

I've emailled them asking for the portfolio in PDF and hopefully they will let me have it shortly but thanks for the suggestions

If you are on the QBN Yvonne are there not pictures in the professionals section of qualatex.com you can use?

NABAS also supply new members with clipart you can use and I am sure anagram and conwin have none copywrited pictures on their websites. I know enough people use their pictures.

Sorry after all you went through your pictures have not worked.

Personally I think your own work pictures sells best, and if you are going to supply stocked items, find a way - make them up and photograph them - offer them free to local restaraunt or hotel in exchange for letting you photograph them on site - they will let you do it 5.30pm on an evening, not may customers about them and you get situ pics - just do one or two per place. Take then done and it wont take long. Wont be that high a cost if they are stock items anyway - charge it to promotion and advertising on your accounts. I used to get people from other parts of the world as far away as Australia book deliveries they saw on the site for family/friends who live local to us - so I know it works..

you can get a decent digital camera very resonably now and a lot of smart phones even have half decent cameras in them.

I try to reduce my picture pizels down so you do not need a very high quality camera, I also crop them down to show what I want so

1. they load quickly onto other peoples computer when they call it up (nothign worse than a picture coming in line by line) and

2. they cannot be stolen and used by others.

( she says when her gallery is crap at present as she lost the lot and its taken forever to get the site pages back so now needs to work on gallery pronto) none of us are perfect....

Pam
xx

Pam thanks for the suggestion but I have managed to get the jpeg's from Pioneer.

Whilst I appreciate that people would prefer to see my work at present I just don't have enough to make it look decent on my site and my main priority is getting the new site up and running. My original plan had been January 2010 but we lost my grandad and since then I have had so much go on in my personal life the date keeps getting pushed back and pushed back. I had hoped to have it sorted and up by the end of the summer hols but my kids have not really let me get anything done but I am determined this time to get it done by Halloween.

As for the cameras I have 2 really good cameras but it is my lack of knowledge and suitable place to photograph the bouquets that causes the bad photos. I am the first to criticise when I see websites with blurry photos on them as I think it does a business more harm than good etc. I will get there and I do have books which will hopefully teach me how to become a better photographer but in the meantime I've got far too much to be getting on with to manage that too! Especially as my youngest's birthday is 2 weeks today and I've not even thought about a pressie!

I do like your suggestion about bringing bouquets into restaurants etc but again logistics and younger kids mean that at present it is impossible. At 5.30pm I would have both kids in tow and I'm not so sure that's a good idea

The QBN does have pictures etc but a lot of them are not the kind that I am looking for. A lot of them are a few years old and I suspect I would not even be able to get some of the balloons anymore for a few! For the Retail Portfolio I have a lovely display folder full of beautiful (and some not so beautiful) professionally taken and edited photos and I would prefer to use these photos as they look so much better than anything I could take. Once I start getting orders in (hopefully) and if I get nice photos of them before they go out I will start replacing the q ones with my own.

As for the rest that I am using they will be there as examples of what is possible but underneath my own photos and clearly labelled as being courtesy of Qualatex. As I start taking more of my own photos the q ones will slowly deplete until I only have my own but I for one would prefer to see lots of photos to give me ideas when planning a big event rather than a handful of pics and then trust the person to produce something that I will like on the day with no real idea of what they are doing. In actual fact I have just gained a client because one of my local competitors did something very similar. Not a big job but all good

I am considering offering a 10% discount for all jobs booked before the end of the year to celebrate the official launch of the website but that depends how soon I can get it ready

Glad you got the pics - go for it! look forward to seeing the site when its up and running

Pam