Photography Albums: How To Design Them Without Headaches
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Today’s technology has given us beautiful, big screens with great colors. Even so, there is nothing like good, old fashioned printed photography. Albums are a great way to keep your portfolio or to show your work to clients. However, for many photographers, creating an album is synonymous with headaches and they would rather do any house chores they hate instead.
But it doesn’t have to be so painful. Here are a few guidelines to make album design easier and more efficient.
Rethink the concept
Many photographers think of albums as either big and expensive, or something old and out of fashion. None of this is true. You can create a custom album for anything between $50-$500. The available materials are very different and can suit even the craziest or most exclusive needs. The point of any album is to make it an extension of your portfolio. It must be well put together and feature only your best work, be it from a portfolio selection or a single event.
Use proper tools
Since you are a photographer, Photoshop is probably second nature and the most used software after your Internet browser. While Photoshop can be used successfully for the job, it wasn’t exactly created for this kind of work. In the long run, it’s better to turn your attention to more specialized software, like InDesign. It will speed up things and optimize your creative workflow.
Proper page arrangement
When you make an album layout, the last thing you want to do is fill the pages with as many photos as you can. On the contrary, the best way to make them shine is a minimal approach. You or your client probably can’t afford a single photograph/page, although this would be the ideal presentation method. But you should not include more than 4 photographs on a single page.
Color
As with page arrangement, you want to keep things simple. Go for either black or white. This is advice I got from a gallery curator. Both will make your photos stand out. The last thing you want is some crazy page color stealing attention away from your images.
No “special effects”
Don’t try to boost the look of your album with cheap effects like partial desaturation, fading shadows and other kitschy Photoshop fails. It will scream of bad taste and it will send potential clients running away.
Recipe
In short, find something that works and stick to it. Just like personal style in your photography, your album design should say something about you. It’s the little things, the details that make the difference.
Pick the images yourself
It sound like the right thing to do to let the client decide what images go into the album, but it’s not. Usually what you end up with is a random selection of their favorite photos that don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other. Inspire confidence and assure them that using your experience is the best idea.
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