This week brings another round of dazzling digital award design ideas that bring unexpected glories to a deserving audience.  My first award brings prestige to my endeavors, straight from the Famous Academy of Bloggers and Technicians in honor of imagination found right here at Matte Watch.  The composition brings a rich highlight to the selected photo of a fine sculpture which provides the central theme for this award.  With any luck, the site will be honored with more of these accolades.  If your site deserves a similar honor, you are welcome to comment on why you should be in line to receive your own award.  So far, the Academy has only issued two awards, which is one more reason why Matte Watch belongs to an elite group.

Imagination is a wonderful thing...especially when it is recognized.

The next award suggests a concept that is rarely found among neighbors across the country today.  Made from the fall photo of a quiet Leawood Kansas location, the award suggests something that can be shared to bring any neighborhood closer together and express pride in the community.  Since the award is a digital composition, everyone on the block could easily share in the recognition on a regular basis.

Could this be your neighborhood? Yes.

My third award for this month could be used to honor those individuals who are able to look to the future for better days and dreams ahead, and who actively pursue bringing advancements to life.  The photo composition is used to represent that visionary focus into infinity, taken on the landscape of the Nelson Art Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.  Who do you know that is deserving of this fine form of recognition?

The world of tomorrow, are you ready?

The final award installment is aimed toward the unsung heroes that bring us all a sense of tranquility through the art of a well planned landscape.  The matted photo shows just how much beauty can be added with a splash of color from fall blooms, and well planned fall colors.  I would like having lunch on this patio, surrounded by so much beauty, I might forget about wanting to go back inside to work on a warm afternoon.

Have you noticed your landscape today?

People take pictures to preserve the memories of important occasions, precious moments, events, places, family, friends, and a host of other reasons.  Some images are lost in obscurity over time, some are classic, and others become lasting impressions of times gone by.  No matter how good or bad a picture turns out to be, it is kept for reasons often forgotten.  When your photo is important enough to become a keepsake, it is also important enough to commemorate.  Depending on the subject of the pictures, the emotion, memory, and details about the shots can range from elaborate and deep, to simple identifiers to preserve reminders of when and where they were taken.  For my own part, if there is not enough meaning to remember a photo, there is not enough reason to keep it.  For the photos that mean the most, I have a number of ways to help you commemorate and showcase the personal thoughts associated with them, in a fashion that gives them the valued treatments they deserve.

The first example shows one technique for providing a photo commemorative.  With a rich combination of matting techniques and prose, the photo is elevated to a level that tells the viewer that this is an important image.  Do you want to take all your photos to this level?  I think not, but everyone has a few special memories that deserve to be preserved at this level of attention.

Photo, prose, matting tell the complete story of your images.

The next commemorative example is a step down from the first.  Certainly, the matting treatment gives the picture a boost over plain display, but the added description which identifies the date, location, and subject of the shot help to enhance and identify the purpose behind it.

Showcase even simple compositions with meaningful commemorations

The third commemoration provides a matted photo with a simple label to remind the owner when and where the photo was taken, notated directly on the digital matting.  This is a nice alternative to scratching out a hand written note on the back of a nice print.

Labels on matted photos provide succinct history

In the final example, the photo itself is altered to reflect a thought or mood for the scene, coupled with another matte label.  All these treatments work well for a digital picture frame display, or as a computer screen wallpaper. 

Special effects, matting and labels convey mood, impression and intent for special photos

Share your memories with friends and family by commemorating the occasions you want to remember.  What can I do to help you give your pictures the kind of appreciation they deserve?

My first design for this week provides a bright mixture of colors and textured accents to get you in the mood for the fall season.  I decided to use this design as my own screen wallpaper for the month.  With enough space to add events and company logos, this would be a good basic promotional calendar design for just about any business to capture the attention of customers who are ready to see something memorable from your business.

Calendars make great desktop accents.

The second offering of the week is a brightly colored calendar cube design that has enough punch to satisfy any calendar buying enthusiast.  I like to use this kind of design in my digital picture frame to add dimension and flair to any room in the house.  This calendar page is tempting to keep on hand after the month has passed.  It is also good for posting event information in a simulated metallic etching, all at no extra cost per image.

Who says calendars have to be boring? Not me...

If you like green marble texture, the third calendar for this week will appeal to your senses along with the embedded matted photo accent which further enriches the image.  This composition might go well with marble counter tops or other marble design accents around the house.  Using virtual materials makes it easy and affordable to look rich on a working person’s salary.

Virtual elegance can be yours now.

The last calendar for the month uses metallic accents to enrich the fall photo theme, through a blend of textured copper and brass coloring in a simple, yet elegant design.  This type of calendar design also lends well to promotional calendar purposes, adding snap and value to events, advertising, and company logo impressions.  All these digital designs carry the added value of being produced once, then replicated as many times as needed for no extra cost or effort.  Just get a page and send it to all your customers or friends via email or by loading them directly into a digital picture frame.  By spreading the electronic images, there are no mailing or printing costs to make a big hit.  Where else can you get designs like these for so little?

Beef up your promotional reach for less than a song...

This week begins with showing off four new digitally matted pictures, using four variations of matting compositions which help to accent photo highlights, raise the quality of the content, and challenge traditional matting techniques with some unusual flair.  Using a digital photo frame to display your matted photos gives you the ability to have an excellent showcase for your creative works at far less cost than matting and framing your pictures using traditional methods.  If you are still not convinced that a digital picture frame is the answer, these compositions can be printed and framed using traditional frames, or as screen wallpapers on your computer.  I use all three ways to keep my pictures out where I can see them.  Well, it is time to deliver the goods.

My first picture of the week was used to make a birthday card for my brother last month, so I thought I would run it through the presentation cycle for this month.  I took the picture in Overland Park because I thought the sculptor did a good job of capturing that mental state of children when they glide off into their imagination and spend time living where they want to be, rather than where they are.

Plane, bird, or rocket, this metal kid is on his own cloud.

Second on the list is a photograph with more subtle matting highlights, and the bright fall colors of a neighborhood walk on a sunny day.  It is always great to watch the leaves turn vivid colors and think about somebody else having to rake them up when they finally come down.  This year has not been so nice around here, so I got out one of my shots from the past.+

I am always a sucker for autumn colors.

The third matted photo was also one of my favorite past fall pictures.  I did something a bit different with the combination of highlights, textures, and the accent lines around the outer matte edges.  These kinds of simple variations would turn out quite expensive if they were produced using traditional matting. 

Country Club Plaza - a nice place for colorful autumn shots.

My last photo in the sequence was taken on the grounds of the Nelson Art Museum in Kansas City.  Some might immediately ask, “Where are the people?” My answer is that for some reason, I seem to live in the part of our dimension where I can get lots of shots with no people in them, even in crowded places.  It might be somewhat related to all the time I spent in my younger years talking to people’s backs at parties.  I just seem to be where nobody else wants to go for the moment.  At any rate, the matting for this photo accents that unusual perspective with its nebulous outer limits quality of colors and blobs.  You have just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

Picture if you will, being alone...very alone.