Free postage stamps for the first 20 responders

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For the first 20 responders, you can send me any picture and I’ll create a postage stamp out of it. You can choose the denomination and the country, or any other text you would like on the stamp. If you don’t choose a denomination or country, the default denomination is 49¢ and the default country is United States.

I reserve the right to crop the picture, remove noise, increase contrast, get rid of shadows that are ugly, etc., generally anything I deem will make your picture better.

I will email the finished product to you as a high quality digital file, but the “high quality” will be limited by how high the quality is of the digital file you send me. Send the biggest picture you have. Don’t reduce it!

You reserve the right to tell me my work is grotesque and ugly, but you still get to keep the postage stamp digital file.

Your postage stamps will be uploaded to Photographic Art by Russel Ray Photos at Fine Art America should you want to buy professional quality prints on paper, metal, acrylic, at reasonable prices.

No, you cannot use these for United States mail, or any other country that I’m aware of. What they are is a keepsake to make a great gift for an anniversary, a birthday, a marriage, a divorce…

As an example of cropping and other work I do to make the picture better, attached here is the original photograph and the postage stamp I created.

Email your picture to me at photoartsd@aol.com. If you’re not one of the first 20, you’re out of luck this time around.

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img_3518 kangaroo paw stamp (Custom).jpg
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I would like one. Thanks Russell

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I’m in…

4

Cool! Way to go Russell!

I’m in.

Tom - Will attach a photo in a bit…

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I’ll take you up on that. Thanks!

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Definitely in, thanks!

7

Count me in as well; thanks Russell!

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Me too Please. I sent you the file. Have fun :slight_smile: What software do you use for your photo work?

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Mostly Photoshop CC, which is my preferred program, but I also have Lightroom, Photo-Paint, Paintshop Pro, and onOne Perfect Suite.

I also use a lot of plug-ins, actions, and filters in Photoshop.

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For those who have responded here, be sure to send me your digital pictures. Email address is in the original post, but here it is again: photoartsd@aol.com

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Pretty much many freeware programs can do stamps with “frames effects” to answer the question.

Say Russ nice pictures do you have a Flickr account ?

Been thinking of getting a RX100 Sony just to play with.

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I’ve been “playing” around in photography for 48 years. Time to make some money with it. Since I also happen to be an expert at marketing, I suspect I’ll have no trouble, and if my sales for March are any indication, I’ll be wildly successful. March sales commissions from Fine Art America and personal sales to Realtors here in the San Diego area totaled $1,542.73. Expenses totaled, uh, about $15.00 – electricity to run the computer, subscriptions to Photoshop CC and Fine Art America (prorated for the month), and, of course, cat food for Zoey the Cool Cat who approves everything I do.

I don’t have a Flickr account. Nor Instagram. Nor Foursquare. Nor Twitter. Nor SmugMug. Nor Zazzle. Nor…

Just Fine Art America.

So far the thing I dislike about all the stamp frames in all the programs I have tried is that the frame is perfect. Stamps when they are separated are not perfect. Look at the stamp frames in the two pictures below. The first is the frame from PanosFX and the second is my frame. Vastly different.

It’s in the details!

zoey 00118 stamp frame (Custom).jpg

zoey 00118 stamp frame (Custom).jpg

zoey 00118 stamp frame (Custom).jpg

zoey 00118 stamp (Custom).jpg

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Yes I would like one too!

Thank you

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What type of work are you doing for Realtors that does not cost you to go to their sites and such. I love to see someone making a living doing what they love.

I also have ton a Ton of photography but it seems everyone with a digital camera is now a photographer. Around here it is a hard nut to crack.

I love when friends get married I give them the service. Saves them a ton, I do not have to find a gift and I do not have to sit still :). I normally get fed around the time of the bride and groom.

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I have met about 10,000 Realtors since I moved to San Diego in April 1993. About half of those are no longer in business–retired, quit, moved, died.

Of those 5,000 still here, I sent all of them an email about still doing home inspections but now also offering my Photographic Art as closing gifts, pop-by gifts, anniversary gifts, birthday gifts, graduation gifts, marriage gifts, etc. Many have already bought my work, and I have no doubt that with appropriate bopping on the head via emails–just like I always did with home inspections–sales will continue to grow.

Most sales are done via Fine Art America but I have smaller gifts available, and for those I will usually drop them off when I’m out and about taking pictures.

17

I ran into a similar problem when word processing and laser jets hit the market. Those two things made professional graphic and layout designers out of anyone who had enough money. Then writing, editing, and proofreading went by the wayside when spell checkers and grammar checkers came to the market.

With photography, I cannot compete with professionals using $15,000 Hasselblad cameras and such, and everyone with an iPhone or a P&S camera thinks they are professionals, so they aren’t going to buy my photographs.

I do have a compositional eye for photography, but the lack of $30,000 worth of equipment hinders me, and I really don’t want to spend that much money anyway, so my own hesitation in spending that much on camera equipment really is what hinders me there.

My camera equipment is a Canon 550D (Rebel T2i here in the States), a Tamron 28-300mm lens ($480), a $9.95/month subscription to Photoshop CC and Lightroom, a $30 annual subscription to Fine Art America, and some older photo editing programs that I bought (Photo-Paint, PaintShop Pro), as well as some newer programs, filters, plugins, and actions that I have bought that have cost about $300 at this point.

Since my camera and lens are not going to take those tack sharp pictures that National Geographic is known for, I make Photographic Art out of my pictures. Photographic Art allows me to remove wires, people, cars, poles, dead trees, etc., to make the picture the best it can be. I don’t have to be pixel-accurate either because the mere process of making Photographic Art will cover any flaws.

The two pictures below are a great example. Compare the original to the postage stamp and notice the differences.

It all comes down to something that I have practiced for 48 years, and which my wise old grandmother taught me in 1966 when she was helping her 11-year-old grandson set up his first business:

“Don’t compete with everyone else. Compete with yourself.”
“Don’t compete with them. Make them compete with you.”
“Don’t be the competition. Create something new.”

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IMG.jpg

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Yes Gamma,revive,contrast,fuzzy select and layers are my friends.

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Except for Nathan, everyone else who wants a stamp needs to send a picture to photoartsd@aol.com. I can’t do anything without your picture!

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this absolutely should get the “MOST HELPFUL” award this week!
if it doesn’t i’ll send you something useful…