The Purple Ladies

Over the Garden Wall

2009-03-10T12:51:00.007-04:00

Spring has almost sprung and we are more than ready for it. This month we are featuring one of our most popular Limited Edition sets--Over the Garden wall. This spring, transport your children to the flower-lined path of an English cottage. Join us from March 19-21 in one of our most stunning sets, "Over the Garden Wall". Create masterpiece portraiture reminiscent of the impressionist style. Costumes are provided, and children will receive the book The Secret Garden. Call today to set your appointment, (860) 693-1414.

Valentine's Day Portraits

2009-02-10T16:32:00.004-05:00

Surprise your special valentine with a beautiful portrait for Valentine's Day. Artistic Images of Canton is partnering with The Hair Loft of Avon for this special event. Have your hair and makeup done and then visit our studio for a glamorous framed photo taken by award-winning photographer, Marianne Hebenstreit. The hair and makeup package is $65 and our photo packages begin at $69. Call to make your appointment today (860) 693-1414.

Find Us On Facebook

2009-02-10T16:17:00.003-05:00

Artistic Images of Canton is on Facebook. Now you can become a fan of Artistic Images of Canton and receive notices of up to the minute newsbreaks on specials and other happenings. Search for "Artistic Images of Canton" and become a fan today. And tell all your Facebook friends about us.

Meet Me At The Malt Shop

2009-02-10T16:12:00.003-05:00

Experience the fabulous Fifties! From February 19-21, join us for timeless portraits in our exciting new limited-edition set "Malt Shop". Bring your boys in jeans and a white t-shirt, and we will provide the leather jacket for boys and poodle skirts and vintage tops for the girls. Each child will also receive an ice cream gift certificate as our gift. This set was a huge hit last year and is sure to be the same this month, so make your appointment today and save $25 off the session fee!

Holiday Greeting Cards

2008-11-20T15:34:00.011-05:00

Have you ordered your holiday greeting cards yet?

If not, we've got you covered. Check out our new greeting card gallery on our website - you can choose your holiday greeting card from there, or we can custom design one for you and your family. Your cards will be personalized with your own sentiment and photo. Didn't get your portrait taken at Artistic Images this fall? There is still time to schedule your appointment, so call us! We can also use your own photos - digital or printed photographs. We will work with you to make sure you get the holiday greeting card that is right for you.

Our holiday cards start at just $32.25 (plus tax)! And, as long as you pick them up at our studio, there is no charge for shipping! You must order in increments of 25 cards. Call or email us today to order your photo cards!

Visit our... Holiday Greeting Card Gallery
860.693.1414
info@aiofcanton.com

2008-11-12T12:19:00.004-05:00

Every year at Halloween Artistic Images of Canton hosts a drop-in photo session for our clients and we always get a great turnout. It's one of our favorite annual events. This year we hosted it on two days, on Sunday October 26 and on Halloween afternoon. This year we saw some outstanding princess costumes as well as a great variety of other costumes including a Nemo and the very popular Star Wars garb. Check out these photos. May the Force be with you!

Santa's Coming!

2008-11-03T16:13:00.011-05:00

Make your list and check it twice...Santa is coming to Artistic Images! Instead of standing in line forever at the mall, give you children 30 full minutes of one-on-one time with Santa Claus this Christmas! Listen to his stories, ask him questions, and your child will receive a free gift, too! Your children will be so thrilled to spend quality time with the REAL Kris Kringle, so, bring your children dressed in their holiday best on Saturday, Nov. 22! He'll only be here for one day so schedule your appointment today!

Call today to schedule your Santa Appointments!
860.693.1414

You can also find us at these other local Santa Events:

November 28 - Roaring Brook Pet Center (10am-4pm) : We'll be at the Roaring Brook Pet Center to photograph your pets with Santa! Appointments are not required, but encouraged. We are offering special and very affordable print packages for this event and you can pick up an order form at the Pet Center. Call our studio today to schedule your appointment!
December 6 - New England's General Store, Farmington, CT (10am-5pm) : We'll be at the New England's General Store in Farmington to photograph your pets and children with Santa! You are encouraged to schedule a no-wait appointment ahead of time, but walk-ins are welcome too! Print packages for this event start at just $35! Order forms will be available when you arrive at the store. Call today to schedule your no-wait appointment!
December 7 - New England's General Store, Canton, CT (12pm-5pm) : We'll be at the New England's General Store in Canton to photograph your pets and children with Santa! You are encouraged to schedule a no-wait appointment ahead of time, but walk-ins are welcome too! Print packages for this event start at just $35! Order forms will be available when you arrive at the store. Call today to schedule your no-wait appointment!

Print packages for these three events are specially priced and include great package extras, such woven blankets, coffee mugs, Christmas ornaments, and more!

Special Edition Set: A Dicken's Christmas

2008-10-14T16:52:00.008-04:00

This Christmas, step back in time to the days of carols and cobblestones. With gorgeous vintage costumes and beautiful falling snow, our limited-edition set "A Dickens Christmas" is sure to be a magical experience for you and your children. Join us on Nov. 12-14 for this special, seasonal portraiture! You can make your session fee FREE by bringing a bag of food valued at $25 or more! All food collected will be donated to the Canton Food Bank. With a hard winter on the way, teach your children the valuable lesson found in Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" - that giving to those in need will be rewarding to them, too. Last year we raised over 300 pounds of food for the Canton Food Bank. This year, help us achieve our goal of exceeding last year's record and have fun doing it! This special edition set won't be available at any other studio in the area, and sessions will fill quickly, so schedule your appointment today!

No matter how you celebrate this time of year, you can still make lasting memories with our seasonal set "Snowy Winterland", which is available all winter long! These portraits look great on holiday greeting or invitation cards, and make great gifts! You can also schedule a personalized portrait session with our photographer to capture your family's unique heritage. Call to make your appointment today!

Pro vs Amateur Photography

2008-10-13T15:51:00.017-04:00

With the advent of digital cameras some consumers are getting a little more serious about photography. Although these days you can get some pretty good images with your consumer camera, we decided to take a closer look at the professional camera and the consumer camera and see what the differences are. There are a few things that differentiate a consumer and a professional photographer, like professional lighting, professional posing and composition. These are only a few important things that most consumers don't know much about and where a professional photographer is schooled in such things. I will discuss these in a later blog.

But today, I wanted to point out some quality differences between a consumer digital camera and a professional digital camera. You will see I took a photo of our designer Cassie Swartwout in my camera room. The first photo I took with my professional Fuji S5 camera with my basic studio lighting. In the second photo I took a picture of Cassie with her Canon A540 consumer camera. Hers is a 6 megapixel camera with a few professional settings, such as its ability to set it to manual and control aperture and shutter speed. However, in the second photo we set it to program mode and let it shoot with its built-in flash (which is the way most people use their cameras).

The first big difference you see is the flash was not quite powerful enough to expose Cassie properly. We actually did some Photoshop work on it to improve the exposure and make it brighter. The top inset is how it came directly out of the camera. The bottom inset is a close up of the actual pixels which shows a lot of noise (that's all the multi-colored specs in the close-up). Compare that with the inset on the first photo taken with my professional camera. There is no noise in the close-up and it is clearer. Furthermore, professional cameras are much more acurate with color. The clarity and acurate color of the professional photo is a function of its higher quality sensor as well as its higher quality lens.

Consumer cameras, for the price, are usually good enough for small snapshot sized prints. But if you are looking to enlarge your photos from a consumer camera you will run into problems with noise and lack of clarity.

The third picture was also taken with Cassie's camera and this time we used the studio lights to light her and the room. Again we took the photo on the program setting but no flash. This time we don't see as much noise (because there was more available light) but we still can't compare with clarity and color in the professional photo.

There are many reasons to use a professional photographer-professional technology is one reason. Next time I will discuss how posing, composition and professional lighting are even more reasons to leave it to the professional.

October Events and Specials

2008-09-30T17:51:00.032-04:00

Come to our Halloween Open House(s)!

We can't wait to photograph your little goblins and ghouls this Halloween at our annual Halloween Open House! Whatever costume your child is sporting this year, make a lasting childhood memory with a professional portrait! These sessions are FREE and and come with your choice of affordable print packages! We'll be printing your images on-site as well, so you'll be able to take your images home with you that day! Drop by our studio for donuts and cider, and we'll have treat bags for the kids, too!

Drop on by:
Sunday Oct. 26, 2-5 PM
Friday Oct. 31, 3-6 PM

Also, to celebrate our new mat debosser, we are offering free mat debossing with a custom frame purchase for the entire month of October! Its easy to enhance your custom framing design with debossment - choose from a variety of designs, or deboss your name! You can also bring in your own design for debossing!

Special Edition Set: Victorian Afternoon

2008-09-25T17:33:00.000-04:00

From October 16-18, come in for our limited edition set, "Victorian Afternoon." This fairy-tale set is sure to capture your child's imagination. Don't miss this opportunity to step back in time, enjoy a fun afternoon tea with Teddy, and create a special portrait that you will cherish for years and years! This limited edition set is great for adults as well! Get your siblings or friends together for an absolutely beautiful portrait!

Call today to make your appointment! 860-693-1414

It's Our Anniversary!

2008-09-25T17:20:00.000-04:00

On October 15th, we will be celebrating our very special 5th anniversary! Because we want you to celebrate with us, we are offering our customers special deals on just about everything! For the week of October 13-18, we are offering the following specials:

20% Off all custom framing (does not include our No Frills Framing or Poster Specials)
One FREE 5x7 portrait with any Gift Portrait Package from any 1-hour photo session
And, for our Artists, we are offering 5 prints of the same image for the price of 3. (That's a 40% savings on prints!)

Celebrate with us and save!

October is Family Portrait Month!

2008-09-25T17:04:00.000-04:00

As you may have seen in our postal mailings, e-newsletter, or on our website, October is "Family Portrait Month" as designated by the Professional Photographers Association of America (PPA). During the month of October, PPA Charities raise money to benefit "Operation Smile", an organization that helps treat children who suffer from facial deformities. Operation Smile is made up of thousands of volunteer surgeons, dentists, and specialized health-care professionals. Artistic Images of Canton is proud to participate in Operation Smile, and for the entire month of October we are offering the following promotions:

Our one-hour session fee is half-off at $50!
We will donate half of this session fee ($25) to Operation Smile!
Additionally, with the purchase of a Wall Portrait Collection, you will recieve twenty-five FREE 4x8 in. holiday greeting or invitation cards!
You'll also recieve one framing credit on your Artistic Images of Canton Frequent Framer card!

For more information about Operation Smile, please click here to be directed to their website.

To schedule your portrait session, please give us a call at 860-693-1414

Children's Photography

2008-06-24T15:20:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it has been almost two months since I last blogged. It has been busy for us these days, which is good. I'm not complaining.

Since I last wrote I have had the pleasure of photographing some of our Baby's First Year clients. I just love doing these sessions! First of all I get to hold babies of all ages. And as a mother of two adult children holding babies is so-o-o much fun. Second of all, I get to see these children grow in their first year which is always such a wonder. It never stops amazing me how much a child changes in the first year. All the more reason to document it because they change so much and you think you will remember each little thing about them but you never do. So I just love to see these children come in every three months or so. Lately, we have been offering some fun little posters of the babies during their 6 or 9 month session. I've attached a couple of samples of what we've offered. They've been big hits.

2008-04-29T22:16:00.001-04:00

The Joys of This Job

2008-04-29T21:20:00.000-04:00

There are some tasks in running this business that are just no fun--like paying taxes. And that's how my day started today. After paying our sales taxes today I got started on an album for a family celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. And these are the things that make my work all worth while. I photographed the event earlier this month and the family is due in to view the photos later this week. These family get-togethers are so important to people and I think I have the greatest job in the world being a witness to these types of family events. Chronicling important milestones is one of the most important things a family can do to preserve memories for future generations. I am so grateful to the many families that call on us to be a part of these celebrations. It makes my life so rich to be helping others to build memories that will be cherished for generations to come.

Just as it is important to document family memories it is also important for many people to document the many beloved pets in their lives. And so Bobbie and I did just that at one of our Roaring Brook Canine College classes at Roaring Brook Pet Care Center. I so enjoy doing these photos because the dogs are just so cute. Tonight was no exception. Tonight's class was a puppy class (my favorite). And much to my surprise the pups were all quite well behaved for a puppy class. Wendy Shaw is an awesome trainer. The photos aren't finished yet but I will be sure to post them later this week. We had two Bernese Mountain dogs, a Teacup Chihuahua (adorable), a Dalmatian, a Havanese, and a Cairn Terrier. Wait till you see the photos!

Tomorrow Tom and I go off to Boston for a Photoshop class taught by photo realist genius Bert Monroy from Kelby Training. Tom is really looking forward to this because Bert Monroy is a master at creating unbelievably realistic images in Photoshop. It's something that really interests Tom, the master pencil and charcoal artist.

I will leave you with this final thought. Three weeks ago when I attended the New England Institute of Professional Photographers I took my one week class with Scott Dupras, master painter. This was my second year taking a class from him. Both years I have come back from the school totally inspired by Scott. This year I promised myself I would work in painter at least once a week. And so far I have kept that promise. So I wanted to share a couple of my images here. One is from my trip to Germany last summer and the other is an image I painted during Scott's class this year. Click on the images to look at them closer. And with that I will sign off for tonight.

Marianne

Meet the Purple Ladies

2008-04-28T16:27:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Artistic Images of Canton official blog! We've been in business for almost 5 years now. Because of the purple clothes we often wear we have come to be known as "The Purple Ladies." We understand that many of our clients are bloggers, so we've decided to maintain this blog for them, and to exercise our brains!

We do a lot of things here at Artistic Images, including fine portraiture, custom framing, graphic design, art reproduction, and large format printing. Marianne just came back from a Connecticut photographers Ladies' Day, and she decided a blog would be a great way to keep our clients informed. So here we go.

This week I'm (Marianne) psyched about our collaboration with The Hair Loft in Avon (860-674-9460--Their website is under construction). We are doing a Mother's Day Special--The Hair Loft is doing all that great pampering stuff like hairdos, makeup and manicures and we are going to be photographing the beautiful ladies when they are all done. This should be lots of fun and a great Mother's Day gift for any mom or mom-to-be and even greater to do as a mother/daughter affair.

Also this week Tom (our fantastic employee) and Marianne will be attending a Photoshop seminar in Boston hosted by Kelby Training Seminars. These are some of the best Photoshop seminars one can take. So Tom and Marianne are pretty psyched about Wednesday's trip to Boston. Marianne has been to about fifteen Photoshop seminars and this will be Tom's second (although he is very advanced with Photoshop). We should come back with lots of neat tricks in our bag.

On Tuesday and Wednesday Marianne will be photographing more dogs at Roaring Brook Pet Care Center in Canton. For the past year we have been photographing all of the dogs in training at the Roaring Brook Canine College--training classes conducted by trainer Wendy Shaw. I've got to say we get some awesome portraits of these dogs. Take a look at these photos:

That's all for today. Check back tomorrow for more news from The Purple Ladies.

Marianne and Bobbie