Photo Book Layout
When creating a photo book, devote some time to the layout of the book. There are 2 basic things to consider: the order of the photos and how they appear on a page.
The order in which the photos appear tell the story to the viewer. If it is a family album, chronological order might make sense. For a birthday party, start to finish images will likely explain the day's story. For a vacation, keep days, events or locations grouped together. Think about the person who will view the book. They need to follow your story, vacation, or family history.
The actual placing of the images on the page requires some thought as well. Most book printers/publishers, like MyPublisher or iBook, have a variety of templates available to help with the positioning of the images. You can place as few as one photo per page or as many as 12 (in most templates). If you have some Photoshop skills, you can combine multiple images in Photoshop and import it as one "full bleed" image in the layout. Full Bleed means it covers the entire page; that's printer lingo. The image below utilizes the image at the top of this post as a background image. On top of this background, two additional images were added to make one full bleed image. You will only be limited by your creativity.
The images in this post were taken in Framfjord, Norway. The boat is one of several old row boats being restored by my wife's distant cousin, Gunnar Lee. The images, inset in the image above, are more images of the Lee family. Lee may not seem like a Norwegian name. Actually, the Lees came to Norway from Scotland around 1500. Scots or Norwegians, you decide.
I love the books, though I've done only a few, as they get expensive. I have managed to PDF them and turn the PDF into a QuickTime file via Keynote. Of course, QT can be used for several purposes, like putting on your iPhone. Well, not my iPhone, since I don't have one one...but my husband's.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that most people don't take the time to do anything with their digital photos, except look at them in their computer. I like to enjoy them over and over again and putting them into books or other avenues are a great way.
Hi Jade Lady,
ReplyDeleteI think more and more we will seee a family's digital images in a format that will allow them to be displayed on some type of mobile device. The PDF or QuickTime movie is a good way to get there. I do think books have a place, but it more for significant events or perhaps, saving old photos in a more orderly way than an old crumbling photo album. Thanks for the apt comments.