We are a post-production studio for professional photographers and their clients.
We specialize in custom album design, which you can learn more about in the Design section.
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Current Turnaround Time
Minimum 4 Weeks for New Design Orders
Please Note that we are not accepting new clients at this time
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.
When I sat down to design the latest album for photographer Andrea Murphy, I had a sense of how the design should feel when it was finished. We now have a sort of rhythm with Andrea’s designs, and have developed a style that she is excited about, so I was really delighted to get started. As I browsed through her image collection, I knew this album would be a joy to design. Why? Because the images are just right for creating a beautiful album. In this post I will share what I see when an image collection is balanced for producing a great album with a cohesive story and design theme.
First, Andrea’s “just right” collection includes a few abstract and interesting images – photographs that stop the eye and require thought to discern the subject. These kinds of images are perfect for an opening spread. Only a few are needed, maybe one or two in the entire design. They provide a good visual break from the busier spreads and allow the viewer to pause, reflecting on the artistry of the photography, or perhaps the beauty of the couple and their special event.
Next, the bride’s preparation images highlight details in both wide and tight perspective. Often, these preparation images contain only close-ups. This may be the photographer’s style or a clients preference, but wide perspectives provide context and alternative views. If you have them, include them so they can be used as a faded background or embellishment to support overlapping images and the overall design theme.
The ceremony images often stir emotion. In this particular design, the ceremony images are primarily wide field-of-view. The angles, leading lines, and well-timed captures made them perfect for telling the story from a different perspective.
The creative portraits are the most fun section of the album. Andrea did a fabulous job of capturing both classic and creative images with a bit of an edge. Too much of that edginess and the design can start to resemble a fashion shoot. While this stylization can enhance certain images, the goal is to design a timeless wedding album, so classic images are always an important addition for balance and relevance.
Andrea successfully played off of the bride’s gorgeous flowers. Choosing a striking object or important detail and then building a theme around it can provide a design “anchor” and the focus of several very different images. It’s an easy way to create a cohesive, richly dimensional design.
The importance of family portraits can be overlooked, and often added only because of the “must have” factor. However, they are usually the best selling images and Andrea, again, did very well by creating images that are fun and classic. Check out the spread of portraits for some inspiration.
Finally, the reception images. A great collection of reception images will include the important events, as well as the great fun all were having. And don’t forget the details! But these pages can be challenging! Without care the reception pages can look crazy busy and confuse the viewer. It can be difficult for the album designer, not knowing who all these people are in all those shots. If an image collection is really random, a good solution is to create one or two spreads with images in a collage. This works well for up to about 20 images per spread. In this particular design for Andrea, it was best to select the ending image for the last page, then go back and lay out the reception pics in relation to the beginning, continuing story, and final image.
Over time, DoodleDo has developed a unique style for Andrea’s albums, something of an individual theme using various layers along with images used as embellishments. We can create your designs this way, too! Just let us know your preferences and include appropriate images for the layer effects.
Hopefully, this gives you a little direction for choosing images and guiding your client in smart image selections. Think about these things when you are shooting and give your clients a balanced collection, while encouraging them to also be selective when choosing. Andrea’s beautiful photography and considerate editing is ultimately what makes this album design shine.
~Robin
Click the thumbnail to view Andrea’s latest multi-layered design.
Popular album producer, Zookbinders, recently launched their Collections concept. Promoted as a great way to increase sales, the Collections include a beautiful leather wedding album, duplicate PhotoBooks, and the new Frames. Zookbinders describes these Frames as featuring “the same aspect ratio as the panorama pages in the Zook Book so that the digital designs you create for albums can be framed.”
We were delighted to receive a sample from Zookbinders. They come completely assembled, with your selected album spread printed and mounted within one of three stylish frames – silver, cherry, or black. While the package concept makes a smart new addition to the options available to your clients, delivering framed favorite spreads from the album design would be fantastic surprise gifts as well.
The Zookbinders Frames are an awesome accompaniment to your albums. Overall: Quality:Innovation: Wow! Factor:
Subtle earth tones, soft pastels, ivory, white, black. These are colors one expects to find in most wedding albums, and ones we use often to compliment the photographer’s images which must remain the focal point. Color and graphics can be distracting if poorly used or positioned in ways that overpower the images. We carefully coordinate these elements in each design to create presentations that are unique, striving to not replicate what we’ve done in previous designs. Sometimes the image collection we receive calls for something a little more daring, a challenge to experiment with these elements in unusual ways.
Photographer Sainath Kamath came to DoodleDo during our March sample album design sale and acquired a number of great new showpieces for his studio. We featured his family album design in a recent post, unique for its interplay of images, color blocks, and negative space to evoke a sense of playfulness. In this featured design, the bold, colorful wedding details inspired the use of equally bold, primary colors. This striking use of color still keeps the images the center of attraction, accomplished by using just a few colors with no interfering graphics. The key is simplicity.
While checking out the multitude of booths and products at WPPI, one of the items that caught Robin’s attention was an exceptional, well-made, smart little tool named the Lookbook. Developed by photographer, John Mireles, and offered through his great website, Photographer’s Toolkit, the Lookbook is a posing guide in swatchbook format. With hundreds of poses and tips in two versions, one for wedding shooters and the other for portraitists, we agree that it’s “the cure for the common pose.” To learn more and get a good look at the Lookbook, you have to watch this episode of What’s in the Box.
The Lookbook deserves excellent ratings for producing a exceptionally well-made and practical tool. Overall: Quality:Innovation: Wow! Factor:
In a previous post about the very important Design Order & Preferences Form, including a selection of Must Have images was mentioned as one of three very beneficial elements to a successful album experience. The Design Form, reference to favorite design themes, and the Must Have image collection will streamline your sales process. Perhaps more importantly, it will help you meet your clients expectations and could save you time, money, and headaches. Not only that, but your turnaround times can be shorter, a great benefit for those who collect album payments upon delivery.
So what do we mean by a Must Have image collection? It is simply a collection of images chosen by you or your client that must appear in the album. Let’s take a look at three possibilities.
If your client will choose the images, we recommend limiting their selection, especially if your albums are meant to be representative of your artistry. All too often, clients select images with little attention to the artistic or storytelling aspect of the whole body of work. Of course, there are exceptions (like our featured design below), and since it is their album you want them to be happy with the end product. But limiting their selection to a number of favorites, including the important group shots, will give you more freedom to include the images that emphasize your style and artistic interpretation of the event.
If you, the photographer, chooses all the images, the design will certainly showcase your preferences, but depending on the amount of control you give to the client, this can become very challenging in the revision stage. Unless you’ve effectively managed the process, this method produces the most difficulties. Choosing images alone, then presenting the client with their design and (this is important) allowing them total control over revisions, has great potential for significant changes. This usually results in delays, multiple revisions, and maybe even additional fees depending on the impact to the initial layout. It may also, as stated above, affect invoicing and collection of balances as you wait for that final approval or album delivery.
Ideally, you will choose the images in consultation with your client, and together arrive at a collection that you both admire. We believe this is the best method. It’s easy enough to include such a consultation in your workflow, which can even be conducted online or in a phone conversation. However, this also requires a well-managed customer experience from the very first pre-contract consultation to presentation of the final design. Not that this is difficult. It is part of a nicely planned sales strategy sensitive to the needs and desires of your customer, as well as your own need to preserve artistic credibility and marketing benefits. We’ll examine this very important aspect in a future post. For now, consider working closely with your customer in choosing images that best tell the story and represent your stylistic viewpoint, yet includes the shots that are important to them.
What about those of you using a pre-design method? We’ll cover this in a separate post also, and highlight strategies for an efficient pre-design workflow.
Our featured design includes images all chosen by the photographer’s client. California photographer, Christina Hernandez, had great confidence in her client, and the image selections are fantastic. We created a design that flows well, retains it’s journalistic qualities, and includes all the images the customer desired in a one-of-a-kind presentation.
Quality:
