Our local photographers are absolutely addicted to these products and are actually finding selling Canvas hard now that these are on the market!

These ice panels have your photo mounted to a 4.5mm thick Acrylic Panel making your photo glow. Its give a 3D effect and are very stunning on the wall. If you are local to Port Macquarie or surrounds, we encourage you to come and see these for yourself in store. If you're not local, order one for yourself and see the amazing look of these acrylic ice panels. We are positive you won't be dissapointed!

Currently these products are in limited size ranges, but we hope to incorporate larger sizes as the year goes on. The largest size offered right now is 20x40 inches and the smallest size offered is 12x12 inches.

So pop on & check out these beautiful Acrylic Ice Panels, you can get them in a standard gloss paper or our exlusive Aurora Chrome Metallic (which makes the photo even MORE amazing!!).

We also have our Acrylic Desktop Blocks.. these are very very quickly surpassing the popularity of our desktop canvas prints. These Acrylic Desktop Blocks are done on a thick 20mm acrylic block and make incredible presents! We can't wait for you to see these products for yourself so you can be as excited about them as we are!

2011 looks to be an exciting year! As mentioned in the previous newsletter we plan on launching a fair few new products. We are always on the look out for new & exciting ways of displaying your images. If you have seen something or even just dreamt of something, please always let us know! This way we can research it and see if its something we're able to offer our fantastic customers.

Our weekly sales have started as of today- this week is the 12x18 inch Canvas prints for $50! We find this size as our most popular size and just right for displaying all your holiday snaps! Each Monday the sales will change & sometimes there will be more than one per week so make sure to keep an eye out for them.

For the locals of Port Macquarie or those travelling through Port Macquarie, make sure you pop in to say 'Hello' and check out our gallery. Starting again in February we have an amazing line up of Photographers & Artists. This changes every month & every month is worth seeing!

Also make sure you're our friend on Facebook & follow us on Twitter as we will be getting back into the insane 'One Day Sales'- these sales will always be at LEAST 30% off & totally random! So it pays to be connected! ;)

Follow us on FaceBook

Follow us on Twitter

So take care friends,

We very much look forward to working with you in 2011!

Best Regards & Wishes

The Momentz Team

With the unique blend of personalities and the combined heart of a therapist, detail of a designer, and wisdom of a mother, these ladies are making truly unique marks on the friends they make, the homes they decorate and the common art ideals.

Art to the Power of 3 are determined to share their passion for paint with the wider community, upholding incredible affordability for statements of such depth and delight.

Sony has just released its latest DSLR, which they are calling an SLT because of a translucent mirror.

The designation 'SLT' stands for single lens translucent and it's the 'translucent' bit that's the key to what differentiates these new models both from conventional DSLRs and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. The SLTs do have mirrors, but they're mirrors that let the majority of the light pass straight through to the sensor, rather than having to swing out of the way to allow exposure. As a result they are fixed in position, always reflecting a portion of the light emerging from the back of the lens onto a phase-detection AF array housed in the top of the camera.

Sony A55, list of specs below

• 16.2MP (effective) APS HD CMOS sensor
• Fixed, pellicle-type semi-translucent mirror
• Maximum ISO 12,800 (with a quasi-ISO 25,600 'Multi-frame NR' option)
• 15-point phase-detection AF array with 3 cross-type AF points
• Electronic viewfinder with 1.15 million dot resolution
• Built-in GPS
• Electronic level in EVF/LCD with pitch/roll indicator
• Dual-purpose Memory Stick/SD card slot
• 10fps continuous shooting rate
• 1080p AVCHD movie mode with continuous AF
• Articulated 3in 'TruBlack' LCD with 912k dots
• socket for external microphone
• 2x magnification mode in live view
• Face-detection AF (focus via nearest phase-detection AF point)

A full indepth review can be found here at dpreview.com

After spending a little time surfing the net this morning I notice that some other canvas printing providers offer a "Standard service" and a "Professional service" and obviously if your willing to cough up the extra $$$ you'll get better service. After examining the options I was quite amused to learn that there actually is little if any difference. Some printeries will say 100% cotton canvas is better and that is only used as part of their "professional service" and actually charge you more for a product that generally costs the same as the poly/cotton blend. I will be the first to admit that there can be quaility differences in canvas and paper. However, it certainly doesn't take a genius to figure out that charging you more for certain types of canvas is a marketing ploy to get you to spend more money.

What about resizing photos or uprezzing?

Resizing or uprezzing as its known in the industry can be done a few different ways. A lot of people in the industry will just decrease the DPI, which in turn, increases the size of the image. The trade off here though is often a loss of quailty. For example, an image, 10in x 20in @ 200 DPI that is reduced to say, 100 DPI will now be an image that is 20in x 40in @ 100 DPI but now less sharp, not very clear. So what do you do? The other option is uprezzing. There are quite a few different programs for this. It's usually known as bicubic interpolation, by which the image is upscaled and the quality is retained keeping the same DPI. We always offer this service at no cost. How would you feel if you went to Pizza Hut and ordered your pizza and they said "if you want cheese it's an extra $$" or went to Subway and they charged you extra for lettuce and tomato? You would feel a little hot under the collar. Well that's how we feel at Momentz. You will get all these little extras at no added cost.

At Momentz, we won't separate the sheep from the goats. We know that everyone out there deserves professional service, high quaility materials, fast turn around and great customer service with a smile.

So if you don't want the run-around and the marketing ploys, just know that with Momentz you will always get what you pay for and that's "The professional serice" and we will not compromise on that!

While taking pictures, photographers really do not need to worry anymore about potentially incorrect exposures, white balances or lighting set-ups. It is now a fast and easy process to modify lighting or to recover details in deeply under- or overexposed pictures. By merging multiple photos of the same scene, Oloneo PhotoEngine not only offers an almost unlimited control over exposure and lighting but also provides a new level of creativity in digital photography.

At the core of Oloneo PhotoEngine is a fully real-time, 32-bit floating-point per channel (96-bit per pixel), ultra-wide gamut, full resolution and non-destructive image-editing engine. Oloneo’s color model handles a range of colors that largely surpasses what printers or screens are capable of displaying today. Combined with the suppression of any color shifting and clipping, it guarantees photographers against any loss of image data during the HDR process. With a simple, intuitive and responsive user interface, all image controls work in full real-time at a rate of 1/20 second or less on a general-purpose desktop or laptop computer.

You can download the beta version at oloneo.com to try it out.

So now you can edit those wonderful photos on the run and then send them to Momentz to print on eiher Canvas or Photopaper, and with momentz fast turn around time you can have them ready and waiting for when you get back from holidays.

For more information click Here to go Directly to Apples Itunes site for Download & checkout all the fantastic things you can do

Because of being in the printing & framing industry, I often get asked

"How do I get my photos out there?" or "What can I do to market my photos?"

So where do YOU begin?

A good place to start is by asking yourself:

Do you have the type of photos that people want to hang on their walls?

Your friends and family will often say you have the nicest photos in the world, but are they being

honest? Or maybe just encouraging you to keep trying?

Well a good way to find out is to join various critiquing sites such as:

www.deviantart.com

Here you are able to join the different communities within. It is a massive network of other artists and photographers from all walks of life with varying amounts of experience and most will be more than happy to help with advice. They are also great for helping with exposure, filters, HDR and various other techniques that can hone your skills.

Other sites such as www.flickr.com. can be just as helpful.

Now that you have a collection of photos that are wall worthy, How do I market them?

Besides the obvious and most expensive way of TV and Newspaper, there are cheaper options and FREE ones as well. What is the worlds most popular social networking site, that has just surpassed googles average hits and is totally free? You guessed it FACEBOOK- sign up for an account there and setup a business page that people can become fans of. Then market that, even to just your friends at first and within no time you could have hundreds, if not thousands of followers. You may not sell anything straight away,. But when people are talking about great photos they have seen, they will probably be directed to your site- which in turn can be linked to your personal website.

Getting back to those critiquing sites, you can have a signature setup which is a message that automatically displays under every comment you make. You should be putting links in there to all your other sites, even your facebook fan page. It's all about marketing and constant marketing. One thing I often see on FACEBOOK is that people will put 20+ photos on there page all at once. Whats wrong with that you may ask? Well if people have 100+ friends on their list you will disappear down their list very quickly... and you know what they say- "out of site out of mind", so what do you do? Just add 1 photo every 2 days by itself and that means that you will always have your photo displayed on someones front page. Also every time a photo is added, go onto twitter and tweet about that post and then your twitter followers may also become your facebook followers, again it's all about consistency and marketing.

In this day and age there's no such thing as a free lunch, and if you're getting a free lunch- I want some!! People will rarely come to you, you need to go to them. Finally, if you want to market in your direct area for a fairly cheap way- get some flyers printed-www.vistaprint.com.au is a marvellous site always giving away freebies, or dust off that old laser printer and print some yourself. Then go for a walk every morning or afternoon and put one in everyone's letter box. Just watch the "No Junk Mail" signs! It's good for your business, and your health, and you never know- you might just find that next perfect shot.

Cains aim is to capture what the average person would overlook by finding a perspective or elements within a scene which suit the appropriate lighting and composition he has in mind.

Cain is located on the Mid North Coast of NSW and he spends most of his time taking photos of the local area. "After exploring so much of the place, I have really come to love where I live and find it quite hard to leave! I shoot with a Canon 5dMk2 which I can attach a lens of my choice, usually a wide-angle as in my opinion, the larger the angle of view- the better!" :D Cains inspirations are Ken Duncan and Michael Kenna, Here are some of Cains Pictures

This Image is titled "SWEEP" a local photo of Port Macquarie

Cains Recent trip to Uluru

Tekapo Moonlight, From Cains New Zealand Trip

If you would like any of Cains Photos on Canvas or Photographic Paper, just Contact Cain directly

You can view more of Cains pictures on his website or on the following blog sites- just follow the links

www.cainpascoe.com.au

bleed-the-sky.deviantart.com

flickr.com/mark-of-cain

It seems that most Electronics we buy, Digital Cameras included will have some minor & sometimes major software issues. So it pays to keep up with the latest Software or Firmware as the camera manufacturers call it, since its the actual operating system for the Camera & not an add on piece of Software.

Getting the best out of your canvas prints means not just being able to use your camera or having the best scene or lighting to shoot with, but ensuring your camera is operating at its best. This is where firmware updates come in. Think of them as being like software updates for your computer, firmware is simply a software update for your camera.

You may feel that the manufacturers should have got it right the first time, but the reality is they don't and probably never will. The advantage for us is that we dont need to buy a new model until we are ready & we get to enjoy some new updated more efficient features without outlaying our cold hard cash.

Often firmwares updates can breath new life in to your camera giving you new features and genral useage improvements, for example

• Improved battery management
• Better lense focusing
• Software glitch fixes
• Better colour and contrast control.

So check out these links below for some worth while updates of the more well known brands.

• Nikon DSLR Firmware updates

NIkon DSLR Software & Firmware Updates

• Canon DSLR Firmware updates

Canon DSLR Software, Firmware Updates & Latest News

• Sony DSLR Firmware updates

Sony DSLR Software & Firmware Updates

• Lumix/Panasonic DSLR Firmware updates

Lumix / Panasonic DSLR Software & Firmware Updates

• Olympus DSLR Firmware updates

Olympus DSLR Software & Firmware Updates

• Leica Digital Rangefinder Firmware updates

Leica Digital Rangefinder Software & Firmware Updates

• Fuji DSLR Software & Firmware updates

Fuji DSLR Software & Firmware updates

Here are only a few of the new features we really hope you enjoy:

• Simpler
• iPhone & Mobile Compatible
  
• Cute New logo
  
• Brighter
• More choices- ie: more desktop canvas print sizes!!!
• More great products arriving shortly
• Regular fact filled blogs on photography, printing (lots of tips, tricks & links)

We are still the same great company behind the scenes, making the same great quality canvas prints. You can be sure that that part hasn't changed. If there is absolutley anything we can help you with in canvas printing then be sure to call or email us.

Bringing you the best in canvas prints,

The Momentz Team

Please note: When we moved your account to the new store we couldn't move your password (because it was encrypted). So you will need to use the password recovery feature to reset your password.

In this day and age of franchises and multinationals it's so refreshing to meet a young couple like Chris and Leslie Atack who own and operate Momentz The Artists Framer situated at 146 Lake Rd, on the corner of Blackbutt road. As owner operators of the business, they are passionate about their product and care about their customers.

Chris was raised in Port Macquarie from the age of two and when he and Leslie married in 2004, Leslie made Australia her home after growing up in beautiful Alberta, Canada. In 2005, Chris and Leslie purchased 'The Artist's Framer', a small framing business that had been established for quite a number of years. Almost immediately, the young couple expanded the business to include photo printing, both on paper and canvas.

The marriage of photo canvas printing with framing was a natural one for Chris. "I have been around cameras and photography all my life", says Chris, "Dad was trained in photography in England and managed camera stores in Sydney so I guess his knowledge rubbed off."

Momentz canvas prints are becoming renowned in the industry for quality. Being professional framers the finished product is beautiful. "We pay very close attention to adequate stretching of the canvas and take pride in making even the back neat  and ready to hang and because we are framers, each frame is custom  made with purpose produced 'stretcher bar', so in theory any size is possible. Other printers we've heard of use discount store artists canvases and wrap over that" says Leslie.

Adding to the quality canvas product result is the museum grade industry standard lacquer with which Momentz canvas prints are finished. This finish ensures your canvas print will last a lifetime.

"We also sit down with the customer and will help them edit their photo, perhaps crop, lighten or darken and even add a special effect to make sure the end result is everything they imagined it would be. Sometimes the image may need a border so we do that " says Leslie. "Canvas prints ordered at a machine in a department store can't give you that personal service and our prices are every bit as competitive."

"Our canvas prints are sent all over Australia through our website, www.momentz.com.au and we offer this same service to our online customers. We are proud to be one of the top three canvas print suppliers , on the first page of the major search engines in Australia when searching for photos on canvas " says Chris.

When it comes to custom picture framing, Chris and Leslie have the same commitment to customer satisfaction and a quality result. At Momentz, they refuse to cut corners  (no pun intended) as some others do. "In picture framing you get what you pay for" says Chris, "the struggling artist may be tempted to go for a 'cheap' price but honestly, we've had to redo some jobs from other framers and seen that inferior backing boards have been used that aren't acid free. It's just not worth the damage this can cause to your art down the track. We like to use true timber frames also. The end result will sell the picture. I have to say that many comment on Leslie's flair for putting the right matt and frame on the picture, I guess it's experience that's made her an absolute genius at it!" laughs Chris proudly.

Momentz provide framing and photo printing services to many professional artists and photographers and are happy to discuss quantity discounts for wholesalers.

Chris and Leslie would like to invite you to visit their store in Lake Road and whether you would like to have a picture framed or a photo printed on paper or canvas, discuss your needs, they are only too happy to help. They guarantee you will be thrilled with the result!

Momentz-The Artists Framer, 146 Lake Rd., Port Macquarie. (Parking at the door, in the same car park as Doors Plus) Ph 02 65812666.

Well folks the silly season is now upon us. This means a lot of canvas prints & photo prints are flying out our door at record speeds. But you may be concerned about how long your order is going to take, and will it in fact arrive in time? The process it goes through when ordering your canvas print is as follows:

1. Order is Placed by you, and Paid for.

2. Image is emailed to our staff for proofing.

3. Proof is done & emailed, usually within 2 hours if order is placed during business hours.

4. You assess image & let us know if you're happy with borders, colors, etc.

5. Image is put into “printing” queue immediately after being approved.

6. Image is printed & sent to lacquering department, done the same day as printing.

7. After image has sat for 12 hours (usually overnight), our staff makes your custom frames & wraps your canvas print.

8. Your canvas print is taped & strung for a professional finish

9. Image is wrapped in acid free tissue paper & bubble wrap for shipping.

10. Canvas is boxed & carefully labelled for pick up via courier.

Phew!!! And thats just one canvas!!! …. Well... dont worry! Extra staff is always on here at Momentz during the silly season to help ensure we process your order as quickly as possible. But heres the list of things you can do to help make sure it runs smoothly!!

#1- Make sure you have supplied your image. If this hasnt been via the upload process on the site, please make sure you email it as soon as possible after finalizing your order.

#2- Keep an eye out for your proof!! This is especially important for anyone ordering from overseas for family or friends in Australia. Our email address may be blocked by your junk mail filter so make sure you are checking both inbox & junk mail regularly so that you respond asap.

#3- Make sure you are very detailed on any changes that you want on your proof. If you dont like the full bleed for instance and would prefer a black border, send us an email stating that.. Make sure you don't just ask for a 'border' and not mention your color preference as thats another email that has to be sent requesting that information, and therefore adding to the delay in getting your product delivered.

#4- Payment. If you dont pay via credit card immediately on the site and would prefer direct deposit, please do this as soon as possible after placing your order. Then send us a quick email with the receipt, or receipt number so that your order isnt placed in a 'waiting queue'. This will make sure that your order is processed and not delayed because of payment. If you're in a hurry- credit card is by far the way to go!

#5- VERY IMPORTANT!! Make sure you have supplied the correct delivery address. Theres nothing worse than having your product sitting in a warehouse with thousands of other items with the wrong label, lost in the postal system!! Make sure you have checked & double checked for the delivery address. Note that delivery is always made during business hours, so if you arent home during these times maybe supply a work address so that you arent chasing up for delivery at a convenient time with either the Postal man or Fastway Couriers. The cards left always seem to disappear and then you're left wondering who to call, and when. Business hours delivery address is always the best way to ensure you get your parcel in time.

If you've gone through the checklist and done everything correctly, you're Momentz product should be arriving at your door in record time. Please note that we use Fastway Couriers when at all possible so we try to provide you with your tracking number as soon as its left our warehouse. If you're in regional Australia or on the far West coast, your item will be sent via Australia Post. We always register the items for you so rest assured we have done everything we can to make sure that once it leaves us, it should get to you!

So in short... If all information is supplied to us, and we have been given the approval for your proof, you image is usually shipped within 3 days of the order being placed. But remember that each step takes time and if we have to be waiting for images, or payment.. it all adds to the process and your order may be delayed. So organise & act fast and your Momentz product will be on your doorstep within days!!!

Example of a photo on canvas or "Giclee" printed from a jpeg file. Photo by Damien Tierney Photography.

Have you heard or seen the word “Giclée” bandied around in the photo printing and art world and wondered what the term actually means? If you are an artist or photographer you are no doubt fully aware of the meaning and you understand the printing jargon. However, for the rest of us who are simply trying to tread water in this techno/digital age, here is a simple explanation.

Well according to Wikipedia the word "giclée" is derived from the French language word "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle", or more specifically "gicler" meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray”. Pronounced ‘zhee-clay’, it is actually an invented term used in today’s speech for the process of making fine art or photo reproductions from a digital medium using ink-jet printing technology.

Using ink-jet technology for print making results in extraordinarily high quality photographic images of paintings, photos or digital art. The reproductions retain all the fine detail of the original photo or artwork, either as a print on canvas or paper. In fact, a wide variety of media can be used for the giclée print. As mentioned, the art or photo can be reproduced onto canvas or photo paper, either matte or gloss (a great range is available) however, also on watercolour fine art paper and even vinyl.

The giclée technology has tremendous advantages. As well as the obvious quality, it means that an artist or photographer no longer needs to outlay large sums of money to have their limited addition images pre-printed.  Now the photos or artworks can be reproduced according to the market demand.

Another advantage is that there is no risk of deterioration of reprints while they are ‘on the shelf’ waiting to be sold. The digital storage of the image is safe (we always recommend a back up copy) and will not deteriorate, can be printed on to canvas or paper as needed and the resulting reproduction is always of superb quality.

It goes without saying that galleries, museums and professional photographers are making wide use of giclée printing. It is reported that reproductions of famous New York photographer, Annie Leibowitch can go for over $10,000 USD.

The wonderful thing is that this extraordinary printing method is available to us all, happy snappers and professionals alike, since we can have our art or photos taken on film scanned into a digital format and reproduced or  so easily print our digital photos using the giclée method  to produce big canvas or photo prints.