Guide To Creating A Photo Book
People have realised over the last few years that they’re taking more photos than ever before, but no-one’s seeing them. Gone are the days of eagerly waiting for the holiday snaps to come back from the developer and flicking through them with friends and family, and the days of photo albums are consigned to history. Or are they?
It seems that the growing popularity of photobooks might be the modern version of the DIY album, that invariably saw photos coming unstuck. The photobook is widely available now and is an easy, stylish way to show off your photos.
So how do you go about making one?
Step 1 – The Reason
Why are you putting together a book? Is it to commemorate a wedding? A holiday? Maybe a baby’s first year. Something needs to link the photos together other than that they were all taken by you. Not only will this help narrow down the images for the book, it will help it make sense later on.
Step 2 – Choose the Book
What sort of book do you want? This will be driven by several things, not least the subject of the images inside but also how you’re going to use it, and the budget you have to spend. A wedding book might be something you keep on a coffee table, on display, so it might be a hardback, glossy finish. Think about the size of the book, too – do you want a statement A3 size, or will a smaller, more subtle A5 cover it?
Step 3 – Themes and Images
Choose a theme. It could be ‘British garden flowers’, a photo every day for a year, or anything else. It’s your book. The theme will be able to help you order the images. Using the garden flowers example, it would make sense to include them in the order they first bloom. The daily photo should go in chronological order. It helps the brain process what it’s seeing.
Your images need to tell the story of your theme. That means some shots will be better than others, but means you don’t miss bits out. Be selective though. There is no need to include every photo you took, especially if it’s blurred or duplicates another.
The exception to this would be the cover image, which could be from any point. The job for that picture is to ignite interest and make people want to look inside to see more.
Step 4 – Layout
There are so many options for layout. You will be naturally drawn to some more than others, but take your time arranging your images to find the option you like best. You’ll also need to decide whether or not to include captions.
Reading this, you might be forgiven for thinking that this is a complicated undertaking. It isn’t. But, the more thought you put in up front, the better the book will be, and you’ll end up with something beautiful and personal to treasure forever.
