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Photo Business CardsUsing Photos Of Yourself On Business CardsPhoto business cards give you the opportunity to put your
best face forward, literally. Adding a photo of yourself gives your business
cards a personal touch. It instills customer confidence by letting people
know they're doing business with a person and not a faceless corporate
entity.
Let's look at the mechanics of the photos. In the next articles, we'll explore how to get the best shots for photo business cards. |
the
photo goes all the way to the top and bottom edges as well as one side.
For instance, you could have your photo on the left (top to bottom and
to the left edge), leaving room for your text on the right. This option
requires a very large photo to start with. Bigger is always better when
it comes to the original image for photo business cards, but this one
requires the original photo to be a minimum of 2.25 inches high at 300
dpi, with at least a quarter inch of extra space around the subject (in
this case, the subject is you). If the top of your head is right at the
top edge of the photo, this option will not work due to bleed margins.
Bleed means that the ink (or image) goes to the edge the business cards.
Paper cutting is not an exact science, so a margin is required. If there
is no space around the subject in your photo, you will need one of these
other options.
The
most popular design I do involves two photos; a background image (like
a cityscape) and a customer's photo. This is most often done for real
estate business cards but could be done for anyone wanting photo business
cards. The background is removed from the customer's photo, leaving just
the subject, and it's superimposed onto the background image. This creates
an effect of 'being there'. It now looks like your photo was taken in
front of a beautiful Florida lake (or wherever). I usually use a drop
shadow or glow to help the subject stand out better against the background.
Drop shadow helps with lighter backgrounds, outer glow helps with darker
background images. This option is great because it doesn't matter where
your original photo was taken. As long as you look great in the shot,
it could have been taken in alley by the dumpster and it's not an issue.
This option still requires a large original image to work well with your
photo business cards. Print media requires a much higher DPI than websites
or general projects you create and print from your PC. The better the
quality we have to start with, the better your photo business cards will
look when printed.
The
third most common option for photo business cards using a photo of yourself
is a 'frame-style'. Your photo can be displayed much smaller with this
design option, therefore, your original image can be much smaller. If
you want photo business cards, but you don't have a large format photo
of yourself, you can often use what you have on-hand. This option is also
useful when using a particularly striking background image and you want
the background image to be more prominent than the photo of yourself.
This option also leaves more room for your text information on the business
cards. Most commonly, we place a frame border around the photo and superimpose
it on top of a larger background image and place the person's name and
title under their photo (see sample to the left). If a background image
is not needed, we would do the same thing with a complimentary background
color (see sample to the right).
While
the previous examples of photo business card layouts are the most common,
in actuality, the sky's the limit. Custom Business Card designs that incorporate
your photo can be the best way to express your unique business identity.
Many business card printing companies offer this option on their websites.
When you purchase photo business cards with custom design, a good graphics
designer or commercial artist can often create something truly unique
and spectacular. Ideally, a business card printing company's website should
offer custom designs that incorporate your photo or photos and give you
the option of including some basic ideas or instructions. This way, you
get exactly what you're looking for. The more you can tell a designer
about your business and about what you're looking for, the better able
they'll be to create an original custom design that suits you. Of course,
this option is a bit more expensive, but if you get exactly what you want
and it's the most effective photo business card for you, then you don't
have to pay for a new design each time you order. Ordering reprints of
a photo business card design is usually very inexpensive, often only about
half the cost of the initial order.