Free Templates for Photographers Giveaway :: Elena Wilken

It's been about a year since I first become very serious about my passion and I started my journey in photography. I learned a lot from many other photographers this past year so I created these two sets of templates as a way to say thank you and give back.

While I keep growing, I have come a long way. I am thankful for the inspiration. It is really cool how you can learn something from every one - what to do and sometimes what not to - good photography, bad photography, kind manners, bad manners.

Enjoy them! ...and pay it forward someday :)

All the templates are BC size. As the examples show you can use them as play date cards, save the date (gift to the couple after an engagement session), cards for mommies of newborns (most hospitals offer mommy and me classes that new moms attend), or as senior rep cards. All awesome ways to market your business. (they follow the WHCC specs.)

A few facts:

- the templates are created with the CS3 suite, all the final files are.psd files. I have not tried to work with them in other versions of Photoshop, so I don't know if problems are going to come up when they are opened in other versions. (it would be cool if you can let me know what your experience was - haven't heard of any 'bad experiences' so far)

- you can not sell them in any way, shape or form as templates, but you can use them to create printed products for your clients

- here is a link to the free font I used for the front/name (OptimusPrinceps); the second font, the serif is Baskerville. if you do not own that I strongly recommend using another similar, serif font.

- the image is cropped to the shape you see in the examples I posted, with clipping masks. you will find that very simple to use once you understand the concept. I don't have any directions included, but here is a link to a video tutorial on the whcc website on how to work with clipping masks (the first video on the page; here is the link )

For these templates the clipping mask is already included. all you need to do is:

1. drag your photo in the template (sized down so it fits within the card),

2. make sure that on the layer called LAYER MASK the mask is the one selected (just click on the box on the right to do that)

3. and then while holding down the option key drag the mask on the layer where your photo is and watch the magic happen :).

So after all this talk here are the goodies :)

Victorian set - MAC users

Victorian set - PC users

The cool thing about the second set is that you can change the colors on pretty much all the elements (pattern included) to match your business identity color scheme or to complement the colors of the picture you pick for the front. (With this set I set out to create artwork with a modern feel to it and in the process I was inspired to put together a set that's a cross between modern and retro, I would say.)

Retro Flair set - Mac users

Retro Flair set - PC users

Comments and feedback are welcomed and appreciated :)

If you like these, come back again. I am planning to create and give away a couple different templates every few months. I know I enjoy gifts :)