Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-11-05
; Camera Angles :
Time Has Arrived to Work on Christmas Cards
By Alexander J. Wedderburn

lHIlG I lUS ~
By Alexander J. Wedderburn
Cvrator of Photography
The Smithsonian Institution
II you are one who plans to use
Photographic Christmas cards
this>year I suggest that you get
to work on them right away. It's
a grand feeling, when December
rolls around, to have your greet
ing cards all ready for addressing
and mailing.
Photographic Christmas cards
are not only more distinctive
kind but always impress the re-
'cipient with the feeling you have
gone out of your way to send them
a personal holiday. message Of
good will.
Two questions usually arise
whenever this subject is under dis
cussion. One Is cost and the other
extra work. We can say right at
the start that photo Christmas
cards are no more expensive than
other greeting cards of good
quality that you would buy
ready-made. You can just about
set your own cost for the opera
ton because the cards can be
simple single sheet contact prints
or they can be elaborate four-page
folders made from a sheet of 8x10-
inch printing paper. We will talk
about these various types and
sizes of cards a little bit later on.
But if you do all of the work
yourself you will have to invest
only a cent or two for each card
plus the small cost Of the envelope.
Where a full sheet Of paper Is
used. the cost will go up slightly
and the overall cost per card will
also increase with added touches
such as underlays for the print,
printed messages. etc.
The amount of work and time
that you put in can be either
great or small. as you wish. A
simple print card with a hand
written message will only take a
few moments Of your time If
you have a good negative to work
with. More elaborate examples
will take a correspondingly greater
time and effort but will be we'll
worth 1t in the finished product.
We suggest that you allow your
own circumstances to guide you
in this respect. If you have a
great number of cards to send out
it would seem advisable to keep
them to a reasonable size and SIM
plicity of arrangement. But keep
always in mind that the whole
reason behind this project is your
desire to produce a greeting card
that is different from the run-of-
the-mill sort. Consequently, the
more time and effort that you are
willing to give the more apt you
are to achieve your purpose.
Many types of pictures are suit
able for Christmas card photog-
raphy. But those with familiar
symbols of the Christmas season
are the most effective. Among
these are pines and other Yule
trees. holly. snow scenes, pictures
OF the family made on other
Christmases, tabletop arrange
ments. Santa Claus and many.
many more that you will think of.
II none OF these are available you
can substitute with simple por-
trait. posed storytelling shot or
series Of pictures or a cartoon
drawn by you or some friend or
member of the family. In the case
of the drawings or cartoons you
can use your camera to copy the
material and then use the mega
tive in the usual manner.
II you are not equipped with a
darkroom or other facilities for
making your own cards you can
still succeed with your ideas by
taking the negative or negatives
to your photoflnisher and he will
do the job for you. Practically all
dealers have large selection. of
Christmas card masks with a wide
choice of messages and all they
need from you is the picture that
is to be used. They will do the
rest. In this connection it might
be added that Christmas card
printing sets complete with masks
and the various seasonal messages
are for sale at these same stores
at small cost. You can purchase
a kit of this sort and take 1t home
to your darkroom and run off
the cards without even bothering
to make masks, inscribe greetings,
etc.
Be Sure Envelopes All Right Size.
Another suggestion is that you
be sure what envelope sizes you
can obtain before making up a
batch Of cards. Otherwise you
may be embarrassed to discover
that your cards are too big or
much too small for envelopes that
are available The best bet is to
buy your envelopes now, selecting
a size that is suitable to accom-
modate the size of the card you
TRAVEL.
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