OK, I know I did these in a real hurry, but I wanted to get a good starting point to show you guys for some advice.

Thanks so much !

I like the images you've chosen, but I'm not digging the text or the background. You need somethign a little more catchy. I think I'd flip right by this ina magazine. Try using a different font, or flipping through a magazine ad right now and implementing some of the design elements onto your ad.

I like the second image the best. It's so hard to pick just one that's 'you' isn't it?

I'm no wiz with design or fonts, but I think I might lose the drop shadows on the bottom text at least. If you left it on just your name then that would pop out.

i like number 4 I'd also suggest dropping any drop shadows, and making sure that whatever one you chose, making the text not be wider than the image, if that makes sense.

Hey Jillian I was hoping that you would chime in. I took note of the valuable information you had recently gived to another photographer working on an Ad.
So , I will drop the shadows and try to find some different text. Should I try to make the background Black?

Also, I thought about throwing a few big cities at the bottom to tell where I am near???

Number 4

I agree... #4, kill the drop shadow and work on a different font for your name.
Try to go with something a little less, 'old photo studio-ish'.

Find a nice, clean modern font to go with your clean layout and clean/modern image in #4.

Try perpetua titling, It looks real nice IMO.

Here are 2 revised images. THANK YOU for the help. Are these more what you guys were thinking?

I still prefer this one. And I like the black too.
My only major nit would be the size your name will be when it is printed full page!
If you want the name that big, you should space the letters in 'Images' more.

Print it out on a sheet of paper to see how big it will appear.

Oh, I would bring the image down some too, you should leave room for trimming.
One last thing I think would be cool - add some dots or vertical lines between each city, kind of like this:

ashville | atlanta --- ashville . atlanta

I like these better. Just a thought: can you "square-up" the top of the second photo? The crooked ceiling line at the top catches my eye. I REALLY like the photo but I think it would look even better if the ceiling was parallel to the border.

That's just my opinion.

Scott

I will work on these suggestions and post another image later.
I still welcome more opinions & suggestions. One thing that struck me as odd, is that you like the image of the bride alone better than the couples. Do you have a theory that the brides looking at the magazine will like this more, or do you simply like that image BEST?

Ron,

I like the bride image because it is more eye-catching to me... it looks like a magazine image.

What magazine is this going into btw?

Yes! That's more like it. These are the two I would choose from an now that you have made these changes I would definitely say #4. It has a lot of punch to it. Also has Southern charm but very modern and stylish. I like the cities at the bottom. I tend to like that on any ad and I think it looks really nice the way you have done it here.Good luck and great work!I agree and I also like the suggestion about lines or dots between the names. Silly question Johnny... is there a particular font you use that has the option of that vertical line? Please be kind if it's actually hiding somewhere on my keyboard! HA! JK...

I agree...the ceiling is really distracting. Can you straighten this?

The vertical line is just above the enter key. Hit SHIFT \ (back slash) to make |

OH MY GOD!!!!!!! I am not even kidding... I have seriously been looking for it for a month! I wish you could all hear me laughing right now!!!

Don't you all wish you were blonde like me??? Thank you Johnny... I will make sure to ask you more silly questions since you were so gentle with your response. hahaha!

Thank | You | Johnny | I | Cannot | Stop | Laughing

| |

Awesome! I love what you've done with this one. the font looks great, though some of the text might be a little small (i'd have to see it printed out to be sure)...

as far as the city names....they don't look bad, and they are small enough not to be distracting...but do you really need them? first, are you advertising in a local or national magazine?

if local....why would you need to restate that you're local?
if national...why advertise in a national magazine if you don't want to travel?

and i also notice that you say "&beyond" which kind of invalidates the purpose of putting the cities...which kind of denote an area that you prefer to work in.

however, i'm not an advertising guru...so maybe someone else has a more insightful opinion on this?

I agree that the city info is confusing. If it were me, I would only list cities that you have a studio in (or ones that you wouldn't charge to travel to). Otherwise, I would list the states or regions you service (if its local), say "based in _____, available for domestic & international travel", etc. or leave your location off altogether.

I hope i didn't confuse things more.

How does this look?

looks beautiful! still not a huge fan of the bottom text, but it doesn't bother me.

Hey Ron,

Really nice, I like where this is going.

I liked the sepia better myself and I don't think I'd get rid of the ceiling all together. What do you (and everyone) think of this?

I love this! It looks fantastic. My only suggestion would be to rotate the image just a tad to the left. I feel like I am turning my head a little to look at it. I would make the line in the rug straight before the top of the window. Great work!

That's what I was thinking - I like it. I think some ceiling should still be there, just like this. I also like the sepia.

Scott

That's the issue I had initially with making the top of the window parallel to the border around the image. I initially had made sure that the subject was STRAIGHT in the frame. While I agree that the top of the window was distracting, When I corrected that ( My latest version ) It threw everything off too much ( As stated in the quote above ). Should I go half way in between?

The dilema.

If I make the window straight at the top, the sides are leaning and the bride is too.
If I make the bride straight, the top of the window is tilted quite a bit. Suggestions?

Latest Version.

In that case, I would forget about the ceiling in order to have the rest of the images properly aligned. That, or do some major PS action.

I like it though--the Based in SC and available for travel makes sense to me.

A

Thanks to all who gave so much valuable input

So now, let's hear some final suggestions / appprovals from you guys.

To heck with the ceiling. The image is awesome. Use it as it is. It looks great.

Scott