You won’t believe how easy Getting Started with Blurb BookSmart (2:12) is. If you’ve ever made a book traditionally you’ll be amazed. If you haven’t you may be tempted to take this new found ease for granted. The mechanics of making a book has never been easier. The art of making a book (editing, sequencing, designing, etc) has never been more important.
Learn more in my online Bookmaking Lessons.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.
Make electronic or print on demand magazines with MagCloud.
Find out more about MagCloud here.
Find my design resources here.
I don’t know anyone who knows more about artist’s copyright than Reznicki and Greenberg. That makes this a must read must have resource for all visual artists.
“Written by the president of the Professional Photographers of America, and a leading New York copyright attorney, this book provides photographers and visual artists with the most authoritative legal advice available. Everything is covered, from contracts, subcontracts, releases, and permissions to the copyright laws and all the steps artists should take to register and protect their work. Find out how to use copyright to protect your work from infringement, insure you are properly paid for your work, and how to proceed if your rights are infringed upon.”
Catch their seminars at Photoshop World and Kelby Training videos online.
Learn more on their blog The Copyright Zone.
Find more of the best photography business books here.
Horizontal, vertical, or square? It can be challenging to decide what orientation is ideal for your photo book.
In cases where all images share the same orientation, choose the same orientation for your book; a horizontal book for horizontal images, a vertical book for vertical images, a square book for square images. (If you’re concerned about how a book fits on shelves at book stores, use square formats cautiously and choose size accordingly.)
If the orientation of the images in a book is mixed, consider two approaches.
If a majority of the images in a book share a common orientation, choose that orientation.
Or, if you want to give all images equal opportunity for size and surrounding space, choose square for the most orientation neutral format.
When in doubt, remember that vertical books generally fit in people’s hands more easily.
Find more Bookmaking resources here.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing workshops.
Catch my Making Your Own Photo Book seminar today at 12 at Photoshop World Las Vegas.
There’s a lot to learn about producing books and graphic design.
Find books that will quickly help you learn about these interesting topics here.
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Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing workshops.
How many images is optimum for a photo book? Of course, the answer depends on the kind of book being produced and its purpose. There’s no set number; extreme lengths for books vary between as few as 12 to more than 300 images.
There are number of things to keep in mind when making a photo book.
Most photo books contain between 50 and 100 images.
Shorter books can work well if the images they contain are very concentrated, being both graphically strong and thematically related. Short books can leave and audience feeling hungry for more, which is a good thing – but if they don’t create strong presence rapidly they’ll lack both impact and staying power.
Longer books work well if a subject is complex and/or portrays a substantial duration of time. Long books may tire an audience and if not carefully edited and sequenced can seem unfocussed and rambling.
Be careful. It’s tempting to show all of your work. Instead, show only your best work. Avoid including weaker images to make a book seem larger and more important; they just dilute the average quality. And, include only images that relate to one another. Avoid including more images simply because they’re graphically strong; instead, select images that are related to each other. The form of a book will imply and create relationships between the separate items included in it. Make sure a viewer’s attempts to find and understand those relationships don’t go unrewarded. The more interesting and rewarding you can make this search, the stronger your book will be.
One way to find out if a book is too short or too long is to create a prototype and then observe how people interact with it. Do they put a short book down quickly without giving it a second or third look? Do they suddenly increase their viewing speed in a long book or not finish at all? After someone looks at a book, ask them if the book seems too short or too long.
Find more Bookmaking resources here.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing workshops.
Barbara Ventura shares here wonder and amazement for one of the most beautiful deserts in the world – White Sands, New Mexico – in her new book.
Find out more on my Alumni blog.
Learn more about my White Sands worshop here.