Help printing My Asuka Book

[LuisE]

EDITED: Look at this link:

http://www.luisephotography.com

[rkphotography]

Those are excellent what do you use to design them

[LuisE]

Those are excellent what do you use to design them

Thanks, I am using photoshop . I have not tried yet another software but so far I feel very comfortable with cs2. I also do this kind of spreads for another photographic company and because of that I have been improving my skills at pp.

Thanks again for taking a look. Did you score some of them when you looked trought the albums?? Have not checked it out yet.

LuisE

[tim]

I had a look and I rated a few, but not sure it worked because of the spam protection filter. There's just too many and it's too hard to rate them. If you can work out an easier way i'd be happy to help!

[Michael]

Those are really great! Nice work.

[MrScott]

Here are a few suggestions for a quick trade on your PP workflow or template building process.

First off, very nice. Since its a portfolio of sorts, you may want to have sections to allow the viewier to "switch" between different venues/couples. Possibly include date, names, locations and any other significant facts. As is, I would find myself speeding up towards the end of the book because my mind is more analyzing your layouts then the actual photos. (the point of your post I know). But, if there was a focus to each event, I would be more likely to stop and read for twenty seconds and then look for what your referring to in the next three to five pages. If these are considered takehome items with a deposit, then the brides may spend quite some time "hunting for waldo" while looking into your photo's and layouts.

As for the layouts, I like the combination of desaturated backgrounds and frames, however, I think they may get a bit carried away when the pictures are duplicated or the space between photo's is minimal.(#20 is yuckie 29 needs a blur) I found myself looking more into the background than lookinig at the "framed" photo's.(3,11,27,29) I do however like the combination when space is given.(25 and 26 are great, 31 if the left was blured and more than just dad was shown) SO, if space is at a premium, then I would suggest bluring the BG so that my mind knows not to look there. (1 caught me right off, why is she hiding back there with a smile, half nose and an eyeball?)

Additionally, the frosted panes certianly lead the eye around the composition, IMO they call out for text though, maybe they need to be smaller or have multiple lines grouped together. (27 is nice, but 28 makes me think some text about the sax should be there?)

Finally, I guess I just don't dig the horizontal ovals, the vertical ones are somewhat better, but, for example, when the bride is looking into a square mirror, I would expect the frame to be square as well.(8bad - 12 good!)

Ok, one more, I'm a DOF freak, I don't see much "blur" in there, but I really like some of your close up shots that highlight it. (15 flowers, 27 ring shot, 30 I just hope the singer was that important!) You might want to start playing around with some "gothic glow" style actions or possibly using gradient masks to get rid of all that depth of field. People need to POP, its so hard when the pink stucko (2), ornate detail (11 left pic) and goofy onlookers (25, btw, dig the layout, just "seperate" the subjects) stand out in such great detail.

Hope this helps - sorry for all the mind jumps, I'm just amped up tonight.

So? Quick workflow rundown? How long did it take you to make these? Do you plan on reusing a few sets of templates or is each freeform? etc.

Scott

[LuisE]

Here are a few suggestions for a quick trade on your PP workflow or template building process.

First off, very nice. Since its a portfolio of sorts, you may want to have sections to allow the viewier to "switch" between different venues/couples. Possibly include date, names, locations and any other significant facts. As is, I would find myself speeding up towards the end of the book because my mind is more analyzing your layouts then the actual photos. (the point of your post I know). But, if there was a focus to each event, I would be more likely to stop and read for twenty seconds and then look for what your referring to in the next three to five pages. If these are considered takehome items with a deposit, then the brides may spend quite some time "hunting for waldo" while looking into your photo's and layouts.

As for the layouts, I like the combination of desaturated backgrounds and frames, however, I think they may get a bit carried away when the pictures are duplicated or the space between photo's is minimal.(#20 is yuckie 29 needs a blur) I found myself looking more into the background than lookinig at the "framed" photo's.(3,11,27,29) I do however like the combination when space is given.(25 and 26 are great, 31 if the left was blured and more than just dad was shown) SO, if space is at a premium, then I would suggest bluring the BG so that my mind knows not to look there. (1 caught me right off, why is she hiding back there with a smile, half nose and an eyeball?)

Additionally, the frosted panes certianly lead the eye around the composition, IMO they call out for text though, maybe they need to be smaller or have multiple lines grouped together. (27 is nice, but 28 makes me think some text about the sax should be there?)

Finally, I guess I just don't dig the horizontal ovals, the vertical ones are somewhat better, but, for example, when the bride is looking into a square mirror, I would expect the frame to be square as well.(8bad - 12 good!)

Ok, one more, I'm a DOF freak, I don't see much "blur" in there, but I really like some of your close up shots that highlight it. (15 flowers, 27 ring shot, 30 I just hope the singer was that important!) You might want to start playing around with some "gothic glow" style actions or possibly using gradient masks to get rid of all that depth of field. People need to POP, its so hard when the pink stucko (2), ornate detail (11 left pic) and goofy onlookers (25, btw, dig the layout, just "seperate" the subjects) stand out in such great detail.

Hope this helps - sorry for all the mind jumps, I'm just amped up tonight.

So? Quick workflow rundown? How long did it take you to make these? Do you plan on reusing a few sets of templates or is each freeform? etc.

Scott

Thanks MrScott,

I really appreciate what you have done. You have gave me a very detailed comments that I will take in consideration before send the spreads for printing. About you question, I use Photoshop CS2, is not fast as I would like but It works for me right now before I can get another tools for Album design. It takes like 1 hour to design each spread, but in this case I have spent more time trying to get something really good for my asuka Book. And also the idea is to keep many of this spreads as a templates.

Thanks again for you valuable time.
LuisE

[LuisE]

I had a look and I rated a few, but not sure it worked because of the spam protection filter. There's just too many and it's too hard to rate them. If you can work out an easier way i'd be happy to help!

Tim, The rating is not working as I would like. I have get some nice inputs from the people but it looks that many of you get bored after few minutes (may be because the spam protectionh filter as you say). I will try to do something different because I really need your feedback.

Thanks ,

LuisE

[amonline]

Some beautiful work you've got there... the rating idea will no doubt give you an incredible portfolio. Great idea!

I did make it through your complete album in hopes of keeping your ratings fair.

[Grace]

i think you did a beautiful job! those photos are fantastic and I like the layout.

[LuisE]

i think you did a beautiful job! those photos are fantastic and I like the layout.

Kathy, If somebody like you tell me that my photos and layout are good, that is even more fantastic :D . I admire you as a photographer. Thanks a lot for your time.


LuisE

[Eoseni]

LuisE,
I have a slow internet from this computer so I didn't rate the pages. In general I felt your photos were excellent but the pages were too busy. My preference is not to mix BW pics with color pics. But do it YOUR way!

However, if you have to judge between showing a beautiful elegant portfolio and making it all fit in, I would go with keeping it simple, beautiful and elegant - not too many photos, not too busy.

Thanks for sharing.

[LuisE]

LuisE,
I have a slow internet from this computer so I didn't rate the pages. In general I felt your photos were excellent but the pages were too busy. My preference is not to mix BW pics with color pics. But do it YOUR way!

However, if you have to judge between showing a beautiful elegant portfolio and making it all fit in, I would go with keeping it simple, beautiful and elegant - not too many photos, not too busy.

Thanks for sharing.

Yea Tim, Too busy is one of the comments that I have received the most. I'll take care of that.

I appreciate your time.

LuisE

[Eoseni]

I have been working hard building some spreads that I can use to print an Asuka Book. The idea is try to show it to my prospects as a portfolio. That's why I played a lot with frames, differents effects, layouts....

Luis E

LuisE,
If you intend to use this as a template for future albums, making it simpler in design will make for more elegant, beautiful albums that your brides will love. If you need more space, use additional pages.

If you intend to use this as a portfolio of your work to entice brides-to-be to hire you as their photographer, then even more reason to simplify...

Your excellent photos DESERVE more breathing room. Choose the BEST and highlight them on simple pages.

Your album layout and design must serve your photos... in graphic design, usually, less is more. Graphic design should serve your product, not crowd it out.

Again, Your excellent photos DESERVE more!

[LuisE]

LuisE,

Again, Your excellent photos DESERVE more!

I am gonna take this as a compliment.:D

Thanks a lot,
LuisE

[subtle_spectre]

LuisE...I like all that I saw for the most part. While there are many design elements I don't personally care for, as a shocase of altrnatives for prospective clients imo any combination of pages would work well. In the end, your work stands out as presented in different fashions...and your work is quite nice.

Suggestion: rather than or in addition to an Asuka Book, some other sites offer photo books that are economic as a means of showing off work. MyPublisher had a deal, may still have, 2 for one books. So I put together a 50 page compilation of this year's weddings to data and received two books for about 60.00. Prospective clients have loved them and they are paving the way for others to order the more robust Asuka Books.

[LuisE]

LuisE...I like all that I saw for the most part. While there are many design elements I don't personally care for, as a shocase of altrnatives for prospective clients imo any combination of pages would work well. In the end, your work stands out as presented in different fashions...and your work is quite nice.

Suggestion: rather than or in addition to an Asuka Book, some other sites offer photo books that are economic as a means of showing off work. MyPublisher had a deal, may still have, 2 for one books. So I put together a 50 page compilation of this year's weddings to data and received two books for about 60.00. Prospective clients have loved them and they are paving the way for others to order the more robust Asuka Books.

Thanks for your comment. I will take a look to the website you have mentioned. Asuka give me 50% discount on my first print, looks to me like a good deal and their products are really good. Anyway the idea is give the costumer some different options.

Thanks, LuisE