Today is a rainy Spring day that makes you feel kind of blah. So, I am trying to think of something happy. One thing that always makes me smile is our mascot Indie. His blog yesterday made me laugh! He is always so happy and well mannered. He is  always a bright spot in any work day. DDA will again be working with some fun party type products for print design. This time it will be for your pets, and that will make it all that much more fun! Our Graphic Designers will make the most out of our product photography to create a fun and colorful new print ad design that will make some people want to borrow a pet just so they can enjoy the fun! Maybe we can have Indie model right here in our own photography studio! Pretty soon, he’ll be charging for autographs…..

The new office has a lot more space than the previous location. Our advertising company needed more space for its operations to continue their growth. The photographers needed more space so, in our new office, they have almost two and half times the previous space to perform digital photography. Some different types of digital photography are, food photography,  product photography, and other photography services. The photography studio is shared with the videographers. Now these two can work concurrently and not bump elbows like in the previous location.

Our new office has plenty of space to grow and we are all excited to be here where all of us have more space and equipment to work with!

While our new facilities (since March 1st) are dramatically bigger and better and a joy to live with and in, they still lack a proper sign out front.

It turns out that most Townships, ours included, make money by allowing businesses to post signs outside their front door and make even more money by allowing the signs to change with each new inhabitation by each new business resident. This monopolistic money making scheme results in a lengthy, expensive and sometimes impossible permitting process that takes many weeks, forms, drawings and sometimes even consultants to complete successfully.

As we are often, and totally with the acquisition of our new facility, we are very lucky.

The former owner left a beautiful, big, expensive, and totally non-related sign in the facility. Didn’t want it or more likely didn’t want the hassle and expense of getting it approved in their new township location.

Turns out that if you do not change the shape or size or footprint of a sign, you can reface it without having to thread the permitting process. With some effort, good planning, and the effort of one of our artists we are in the process of rehabbing the sign just as we did the building, and just like the building it is turning out to be beautiful. Gold and green, rich and bright, lighted and landscaped, DDA will enjoy for many years to come not just the most attractive and professional sign on the street but perhaps in the entire township.

The sign reads Dynamic Digital Advertising, LLC. It should really say; within the walls this sign sits in front of, is the world’s best advertising, marketing, branding, website developer, video production company, graphic design house, photography studio, custom programming group, professional copy writers, animation artists, ecommerce specialists, search engine marketing technicians, and creative advertising concept developers.

We tried, but it just would not all fit!

One of the many services DDA offers in digital photography. Whether you’re able to bring your product to our studio or require us to go on-location, we can. DDA has been a forefront leader in digital photography since the beginning of the digital revolution but has always supported scanning and digitizing film or photographs. In fact, DDA was the first digital photography studio in Pennsylvania well over a decade ago!

DDA has also long since used programs like Adobe Photoshop to manipulate images, heighten colors, or place people in completely different backgrounds. With the skills we have acquired over the last 14 years in photography, we are ready to take on any photography project you need.

DDA’s recent move into a great new facility is the culmination of a year long search that taught us a great many things about our strengths, opportunities, staff, and ourselves.

Ironically, after many building visits, in a quite large swath of Bucks County, PA and the Philadelphia Metro Area, we ended up with the most perfect state-of-the-art digital advertising facility imaginable just about two miles from where DDA has been located for almost fourteen years.

Things we learned:

1.) If you care more about keeping the staff you have, and accommodating their commute travel needs, than you care about the building itself, the universe will reward you with both the perfect location and the perfect building.

2.) You can’t have too much office space, video studio and photography studio space, or closet space.

3.) If you have never had a real, really big office kitchen before, then you won’t believe how wonderful it is.

4.) Really small bathrooms are OK, if there are enough of them.

5.) The phone system cannot be up soon enough or the Internet connectivity fast enough no matter what you do. Thanks Tyler!

6.) Really high ceilings are really nice.

7.) A beautiful piece of property with great trees makes coming to work more joyful…especially for Indie.

8.) A fresh coat of paint and clean carpets are small miracles.

9.) As close as all 22 of us are, and as well as we all get along, it is really nice to each have enough of our own space.

10.) We are very lucky!

Today is another great day at DDA! Today, I will be working on submitting our clients’ websites to multiple directories which is a part of our proprietary search engine opitmization process. This will help to increase our clients’ website’s page ranking.

I will also be doing my accounts receivable work, which gives me the great pleasure of speaking with our clients. Hopefully I will be able to visit our photography studio which has become much improved since the company moved locations. I would like to be able to see how the improvements have come along.  Our Director of Motion Arts, Laurence, does exceptional work and is constantly busy.  Laurence is one of the best when digital photography is requested.

Till tomorrow!

Jewelry Photography and Videography is no simple task. There are many factors that come into play that are not an issue when dealing with other subjects. To start, you are working on such a small scale that large lights illuminate the entire subject rather than just a portion of it. This flattens the subject. Focus also becomes an issue due to your proximity to the subject. If the subject is rotating, it may go out of focus since the depth of field is incredibly small. The reflectiveness of the jewelry can also cause problems by reflecting the room around it making it seem dark or dull.

When I found out that I would be doing over 800 jewelry spin videos a few months ago, I was a little concerned. I needed to find a quick and easy way to process these pieces while at the same time making them look good and loop seamlessly. The whole process was trial and error but there was improvement with every batch. Finally, we learned of a “light tent” (pictured) which is a pop up white tent that reduces reflection by surrounding the subject with white fabric. The subject is lit from the outside, thus creating an even illumination by reflecting the light in all directions. This piece of equipment was what we were looking for all along. It requires virtually no set up time and makes the pieces look fabulous. It is a great addition to our photography studio.