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Okay, by now you know that printing and distributing a catalog will help you sell your product. You have chosen how you want to design your catalog but you have some printing questions. In this article I will help you explore all of your options and give you some catalog printing tips you can use.

Lets start with the cover of your catalog. What options do you have and which options should you choose for printing the cover of your new catalog?

First Catalog Printing Tip: Catalog covers should be and most often are printed on heavier paper stock than the rest of the catalog. That means the front and the back cover of your catalog. The old adage about don’t judge a book by it’s cover doesn’t work for catalogs. If the cover is not designed well and not printed on the right paper, people won’t open your catalog. And if they never open the catalog… well you get the idea.

The paper your cover is usually printed on is called cover stock. It is a heavier weight of paper than you will be using for the interior pages of your catalog. This also makes your catalog last longer. It will be there sitting on someone’s coffee table for others to read for a long time to come if you print your catalog on good paper stock.

Second Catalog Printing Tip: You have a lot of options when it comes to printing the interior pages of your catalog. A lot depends on the type of products you sell. For instance, if your catalog is for industrial products, you can probably get away with a much lower grade of paper than you would for a high-end product like jewelry.

The types of paper you can choose from range from newspaper-like stock all the way up to glossy paper that is heavy in weight. The lighter weight text-stock paper is used most often for catalogs that will have a lot of pages. For catalogs that will be less than 20 pages, you might choose the same heavyweight stock you used for the cover.

Again this depends a lot on your product. For high-end products like furniture, fashions, or jewelry, glossy heavy paper-stock is the only way to go. You have to understand that the heavier the paper and the higher the quality of the paper, the more you will need to spend on printing. But you get what you pay for. If you want people to buy your high-end products, then you have to present them in the right way.

Third Catalog Printing Tip Colors: One of the major advantages of sending out a catalog is the expectation that more than just one person will read it. For a well designed catalog it is estimated that two to three people will read it.

The colors you choose for your catalog will have a lot to do with how much product people buy and how many people will pick up and browse through your catalog. Nowhere is this more important than both the front and back covers. If your covers are appealing, people will want to pick it up.

So your covers need to be printed with a 4-color process, especially if you are selling high-end products. But for all catalogs you want printed, choosing to use the full-color process will make you more sales.

Depending on your product, you may also want the interior pages to be of similar quality as the covers. For a catalog that is to sell high end products, glossy paper with full color for the photos is the only way to go. For an industrial-type of catalog, printing with just 2 colors is usually just fine.

Fourth Catalog Printing Tip Binding: This will depend a lot on both what type of product you sell and the number of pages you will have printed. For example, if you sell a high end product or you will have over 80 pages, you will want your printer to use “perfect binding”, where the pages are glued to the spine of your catalog. If you will be printing less than 80 pages and have a lower-priced or industrial type of product, then a good printing tip is to have them bind it with saddle stitching and stapled in the middle to hold it together.

Fifth Catalog Printing Tip Choosing a Printer for your Catalog: Make sure first of all that the printer you choose for your catalog has experience with producing catalogs, not just brochures, business cards, etc. One of the most important catalog tips I can give you is, “Do not let price be the deciding factor in choosing a printer for your catalog.”

I don’t mean the more you spend the better catalog you will have either. But the opposite is more often true than not. The cheapest catalog printer you can find will likely print you a “cheap” looking catalog that people will not be compelled to buy product from or even read.

You will need to be prepared before you visit your catalog printer. You will need to know how many catalogs you want to print. You need to know the number of pages you will want, (It is always a multiple of four pages, 4,8,12,16,etc.). You need to know the size you want your catalog to be, (8 ½ x 11, 11 x 17, 8 ½ x 5 ½, 4 ¼ x 5 ½, etc.)

You need to know the number of colors you want the cover and the interior pages to be. You need to know the type of paper you want used, although your printer can offer you those choices when you visit them. Just keep the catalog printing tips mentioned earlier in mind when choosing the type of paper you want.

You can also work with your printer on the type of binding they offer and how many times you want to be able to see a proof of the catalog before all of the copies are goinjg to be printed. This is important. The last thing you want to do is miss a mistake AFTER you have already printed 25,000 catalogs

Old photography can be appropriately defined as a leisure activity. It is actually a part of antique photography. Most of the times, this type of photography was undertaken by royalty, so old photography can be imagined to be a spin off part of the art of novelty photography.

The main point of these old time photographs is that they are printed in black and white, or more appropriately sepia tones. One can pose in various ethnic outfits, use antique props and costumes. This actually gives a feel of antique wonder when a person sees the photographs.  Also, people can recreate the aura of the gone by times, and see how people looked in the earlier times. These services are generally available at historical places of interest. Most of the times, people are supposed to choose from a variety of themes, to be set as the backdrop of the photo. Old time photographers charge a little extra for their photographs since they also provide the appropriate costumes for the chosen period. The most famous themes people tend to pick are the Victorian era (the years from 1837 to 1901 when Queen Victoria ruled), the roaring twenties (the 1920s) and the old west theme. Some people also go for the old ranch settings.

One can also create old time photographs if he or she knows the art of photography. Since the old time cameras are difficult to find, you can achieve the same effect using your digital camera. You just have to determine the photo basics first, and then get some costumes from antique shops. You may also come across these costumes in thrift stores where they stock a variety of these costumes and props at a very low price. Color will not play any part in your shopping list, because the end photos will be black and white! You will now have to determine the set up of the pose, and decorate your set accordingly. It is better if you create a plan before even starting on the shopping. After all the set up, take photos with your digital camera. Remember to click more than one picture of a particular pose so you can determine which one is best. All you will have to do after this is to load the pictures into the computer, and use photo editing software to create your own hand made antique photo!

The option of old time photography is available with only some selected places at the present. There are specific camera types for old photography. The most used were Agfa and Polaroid. Even some photo booths will be able to give you a photograph resembling the masterpieces of old photography. This kind of photography is now quite rare, but if you wish you can still find people doing that at fairs, festivals and the like. Some historical places of interest also hold old photography attractions. This type of photography is also in demand at some marriages, where it gives the feel of a vintage wedding, and there is nothing better than a different look for a special day!

Before the turn of the century, photographers, like most other professionals, worked with a vertical market. That is, they put their ads in a trade magazine or the Yellow Pages, and based on their talent, marketing know-how, and luck, they conducted their business.

This made for extreme competition. Longtime pros were able to cling to their top position because they built a following based on their competence and expertise. Newcomers to photography found it difficult to surmount this unless they brought superb talent or an exceptional fresh approach to the marketplace.

Eventually the field of photography fragmented into targeted areas. The photographer who could photograph most anything for a client, the “generalist,” was no longer the top dog in the industry. Like in most other professions, photographers evolved to specializing; the trend was to develop an expertise in specific subject areas, such as aerial, sports, fashion, documentary, etc., and to go after a “niche.”

With the arrival of the Internet, all of this has changed, especially in the field of stock photography. The changeover comes to light especially when you look at the market from the buyer’s approach.

In our field of stock photography, a buyer turns to an image or images to get a point across, whether it’s for an advertisement, brochure, or textbook. Since our thrust here at PhotoSource International is from an editorial standpoint, I’ll address editorial stock photography.

The arrival of search engines has brought sophisticated software that has been able to break down the former restrictions in the field and open it to any photographer with quality images.

At the same time, the publishing industry has become more and more specialized. Type any topic plus the word ‘publishing’ in a Google search, and you’ll find that a magazine, book publisher, website or other entity, exists for the sole purpose of supplying that interest area with information.

Here’s where every stock photographer can emerge from the “Yellow Pages” race and become an important resource to specific segments of the vast market for stock photography that has now emerged –thanks to the Internet.

A publisher in Albuquerque no longer consults the Yellow Pages, the local library, or a bevy of good ol’ boy favorites when producing an article on a certain way of harvesting desert cacti. She consults the Internet.

Why? Because that “just right” picture exists. The “Law of Probability” says that a local photographer might not have the picture. Surprise, surprise. She finds it on the Internet, through a search engine search. The photographer is not even a New Mexico resident, but a visiting tourist from Japan who has cacti as his specialization. Thanks to hi-res delivery of pictures, the publisher is able to meet her immediate deadline.

I hope it’s evident to you that as an independent stock photographer, you are part of the largest stock photo resource in the world. No, it’s not Getty, Corbis, or Jupiter – it’s the Internet. You are no longer competing against those major agencies – thanks to your silent partner — the search engine.