What’s Your Number? Image Counts in the Design Style
As photographers we are constantly striving to refine our style. We know what we like and dislike. We compose, light, and expose our subjects in a manner that we feel is most pleasing, and when we reach the point in our career where we actually have defined a style, we have set ourselves apart!
In this new series, we will be offering our ideas, concepts, tips, and suggestions on developing your own style and, particularly, a design style. We started off in our last post with a simple introduction, focusing on the image selections. We now consider the number of images in a design.
Setting ourselves apart. Isn’t that really the definition of style? When you see three photographs taken by three different photographers, do you recognize their work? Why? Because they have set themselves apart. You would never confuse the work of Yervant with an image by Denis Reggie, would you? They have set themselves apart.
It’s also important to have a design style. It might constantly evolve as you refine your style, but you still need to start somewhere. Leaving it up to your client is what many do, to varying degrees, but this does’nt set you apart nor allow you to stand out. If you can show a client a design that is similar to the one they will receive, one that defines your style, you will not only set yourself apart, you will set yourself above. Of course this takes a little work on your part.
What is your style? How do you begin?
Start with the number of images. One of the questions I get from almost every potential client is, “how many pictures will be in my album?” I always answer, “I have no idea! We haven’t photographed your wedding yet.” But I can show them a sample design and tell them, “You can expect something similar to this.” I love to see their eyes light up, and I enjoy explaining the style so they can imagine their own wedding album. The most basic decision the photographer needs to make is how many images to include in the albums. If your style allows one image per page, then you can easily tell your clients how many images to expect. If your style allows for about four images per page, you can give your client an expectation based on that number, and this simple decision will lead you to certain design themes that will accommodate the image selection. It is, however, the responsibility of the photographer to give the client direction, just like the photographer gives the client direction when they are being photographed.
So, how many images? How do you know? Count them! Look through designs that you like and count the images, then divide that total by the number of pages, and you have how many images per page – simple! But you need to keep this number in your mind. Offer your client a general image count or a short range to stay within instead of a specific number, which can create an expectation that may be tough to meet in the design. You want to focus on the final album, not the exact number of images.
As designers, we suggest that you edit to 2-3 images per page. So in a 40 page album you can expect to use about 80-120 images depending on the layout and style. That’s quite a range! We also suggest that you choose all or most of the images. But that is another topic, so be on the lookout for an upcoming post about whose album is it anyway, and who chooses the images.
~ Robin