First Asuka Book - C/C Welcome

[sblais]

This is my first design for an Asuka. I'd appreciate your C/C on both the images, montage, layout, etc. Thanks in advance.

Cover
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/0000.jpg

Page 1
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/0001.jpg

Page 2-3
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/0203.jpg

Page 4-5
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/0405.jpg

Pages 6-7
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/0607.jpg

Page 8-9
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/0809.jpg

Page 10-11
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/1011.jpg

Pages 12-13
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/1213.jpg

[sblais]

Continued...

Page 14-15
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/1415.jpg

Page 16-17
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/1617.jpg

Page 18-19
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/1819.jpg

Page 20
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/2000.jpg

Thanks for looking!

[sblais]

Oh, forgot to add: this will be a demo book for my business... Hence the "Sebastien Blais Photography instead of the B&G names ;)

[Grace]

I think its all very clean..for some reason though, the only page I don't really like is 10...I love the pictures, but the lay out if just a bit funny to me...

great job on the rest of it though.

any particular reason you chose not to keyline all images, and then keyline one page with black instead of white?
just curious :)

[Livinthalife]

Great photos, and excellent work on the collages! Big seller!

[liza]

Beautiful work, Sebastien! I'm in agreement with Kathy about page 10, though. I can't put my finger on why I don't like it, but I think it's just the template itself.

[sblais]

Thanks for your input ladies and gents :)

Based on the feedback, I'll reconsider page 10 ;) Also, Kathy, I only put keyline on the images that don't stretch from end to end (I made one exception to that rule with page 3 as the pic is very dark (but I like the conversion that way ;)) and it was blending a bit too much with the black of the page.

Also, I put a black keyline for the images on page 12-13 as the background is paler than other pages and I preferred a black keyline for those... May be I should stay consistent throughout the album?

[howzitboy]

really nice lay out and i bet u will get tons of customers from it!

few shots missing or id change:

bride full length, good lighting to show off the very expensive dress.

u got 3 close up of groom, usually Id go with only 1. weddings are for brides!! imho

u have lotsa closeup shots but not that many full lengths. Id like more couple shots full length of a bit farther back to show them in their finest.

lotsa posed shots but where are all the candids? candids are what show the persons personality and interaction between everyone.

its all pretty and clean but i want PASSION!! i want tears, i want hugs, i want loving looks between bride and groom!!

[davidgr]

All really nice shots, and like the layout, just a few nit-picks...

Page 5, bottom pic, and page 11...subjects are looking "off the page", which takes your eyes "out of the book". Switch pages 10 and 11 around, and 4 and 5.

[Grace]

Switch pages 10 and 11 around,

I think that just may do it!!!! Good catch david...I couldn't quite spot it!!

[tim]

I haven't read other comments so you'll get my ideas without preconceptions. My personal preference for albums is to keep them simple and elegant, remembering that they will likely be around for decades and what looks cool now will look dated by then. Written quickly so please read it as short quick comments.

2-3 left side seems top weighted, which I don't like. Right side bit dark.
4-5 left - maybe do a full bleed page? Right again top weighted.
6-7 left i'd keep the images the same size and aligned horizontally
8-9 left bit fancy for me. Vertical strip more space on right than left i'd center it.
10-11 right wasted space at top maybe full bleed page.
12-13 vignette the hand in the background? Make it less of a focus IMHO. Bride pic is oriented differently from the rest put in a portrait shape one if you have one. I've learned to take sets of shots with the same orientation, you have to shoot for the album.
14-15/16-17 again top weighted
16-17 only one image in color?
18-19 left - her eyes not flattering
20 nice image, if that's an artifical vignette i'd lighted up a bit. I'd also make it sepia, again personal taste.

Hope that helps :)

[Montec]

I like it, your clients will love it.

I would do more with the cover though, you have so much room to work with.
I personally leave a black vertical panel on the back cover for text with wedding information. Gives it more of a book appearance, that is subject to taste I suppose.

Overall a very good piece of work.

[howzitboy]

i really like the cover! it was my favorite part of the album...

[Scarlett Nic]

Sebastian i think you have done a fantastic job, but i agree with the few helpful thoughts already given. I totally agree with the page swaps suggested and Tim's thoughts are very much inline with my own. I prefer full bleed pages and would like to see more incorporated in this.. thats my own opinion though. The only page i really dont like is page 8 .. not sure why .. just stood out from the rest to me.
(I just designed my first Asuka book too :D)
Nic

[sblais]

Thanks all for your comments! I really appreciate them and it will certainly help me improve my layout!

I just have one question about full bleeds pages for square-format albums (this will be a 10x10 album). Am I the only one that thinks that square formats images tend to make people look fatter/bigger (may be good for the groom if he is buff ;))? I wanted to do more of these and now people are suggesting me to do so, but I am reluctant because of this... Any input? (saying that I am crazy is an acceptable answer :p)

[tim]

(saying that I am crazy is an acceptable answer :p)

Who am I to disagree with you... :p I have no problem with square format, medium format used it for years before some bright spark cut the edges off.

[mmahoney]

Wonderful album, and sorry but I can't offer any improvement suggestions. How did you find the shipping time & cost to Canada?
Mike

[Montec]

Wonderful album, and sorry but I can't offer any improvement suggestions. How did you find the shipping time & cost to Canada?
Mike

Hi Mike,
I have had them shipped to Canada and I do not believe there is any extra costs incurred, or delay.

They do take 30 days to produce so if you are ordering make sure to use that in your time line.

btw, I looked at your site and the photo of the white and green tug with the cliff houses in the bg is absolutely beautiful.

[subtle_spectre]

Sebastien...looks good to me...I am not a (too) critical person, though.

What did you use to design the album, if I might ask. Was it straight PS or one of the templated apps?

[sblais]

I just designed my first Asuka book too :D

Nice, you should show us what you did! I'd love to see :)

Who am I to disagree with you...

Aren't you Mr Blunt? ;)

How did you find the shipping time & cost to Canada?

I have yet to find out as this is my first one. I'll make a few modifications to it this evening based on all the good feedback I received here and then I'll submit it for printing... They do mention that it takes about 4 weeks for printing, so I'm not expecting to receive anything tomorrow! :p

What did you use to design the album, if I might ask. Was it straight PS or one of the templated apps?

Plain old photoshop. And my personal organic calculator to position everything in a somewhat symmetrical fashion (except for those top-weighted pages that aren't symmetrical with respect to the horizontal axis and that I should probably change! ;))

[mmahoney]

Sebastien why did you not design full bleed?
Mike

[sblais]

I'm actually changing that as we speak! ;) I now have 7 pages with full bleed in each direction and a few more with full bleed along one direction only (as a square crop just wouldn't cut it for me). I'll post the update soon, if you are interested :)

[mmahoney]

I'll post the update soon, if you are interested :)

Like to see for sure .. also any impressions you have about the whole Asuka experience are welcome as well, it's one of the albums I'm considering going with.
Mike

[sblais]

Here's version 2. Thanks again for all the input received!

If you have the patience, feel free to C/C these as well. I'll probably submit the album tomorrow so I'll have the time to make a few more changes

Cover
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/0000.jpg

Page 1
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/0001.jpg

Pages 2-3
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/0203.jpg

Pages 4-5
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/0405.jpg

Pages 6-7
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/0607.jpg

Pages 8-9
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/0809.jpg

Pages 10-11
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/1011.jpg

Pages 12-13
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/1213.jpg

[sblais]

Pages 14-15
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/1415.jpg

Pages 16-17
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/1617.jpg

Pages 18-19
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/1819.jpg

Page 20
http://www.sebastienphoto.com/Temp/Ver2/2000.jpg

[Scarlett Nic]

Sebastien it is beautiful and the changes make a great difference, even though they were minimal.

This is just a personal thought and observation:p16/17 middle image on page 17.. looks to be such a lovely image with great expression on their faces.. i'd personally be inclined to put that on page 16 and swap that image over to page 17.... The other thing is the B& G are looking off the page again in that middle image.. just for your consideration.
Nic

[islandphoto]

I really like these for the most part - excellent photos and great graphic design, I'm not crazy about 1213 - the ring shot - I for some reason think it takes up too much of the space - it's too busy. And 1 - not crazy about the black and white and color - but the photo is great. The rest are phenomenal!!!

[sblais]

The other thing is the B& G are looking off the page again in that middle image.. just for your consideration.
Nic

:shock: Again?? What do I have to do to keep them looking inside the album! They are not easy to work with, I tell you :p!

Thanks for pointing that out! I'll definitively have to be a lot more careful about this next time... I can do it when I take pictures, I just need to condition myself to do it when I design albums too! ;)

And I agree about the pages 16-17... They do have a good expression in that small pic and I think I will make it larger. The current page 16 won't go well with the other pics from page 17, but I may replace it altogether...

Thanks again for your input! :D

[superdiver]

How much does a book like this run?

[tim]

It's a bit better. Many pages are still top weighted, and 16-17 top right is inconsistent with the rest of the design. I'm not a fan of the cover, but I don't know why.

Superdiver, prices for Asuka aren't meant to be publicly posted, partly because we don't want our end customers to know exactly what our markup is. They know there's one but that's all they need to know.

[sblais]

Just a quick clarification Tim: What do you mean by top weighted? At first, I was under the impression that you were talking about geometry, but now it doesn't seem like it. Do you mean attention-wise or number of pictures?

It's true that I should probably match 16-17 with 2-3 and 4-5 to be consistent.

Thanks again!

[tim]

Just mean I don't really like the feel of having 3 smaller portrait images at the top of the page, and one larger landscape image below. Don't know why just don't like that pattern. Not very helpful but can't really think of anything else to say about it.

[superdiver]

Superdiver, prices for Asuka aren't meant to be publicly posted, partly because we don't want our end customers to know exactly what our markup is. They know there's one but that's all they need to know.


LOL...Sorry...you could tell me, but then youwould have to kill me, huh....LOL

[Eoseni]

Fine photography, Sebastien. Your BW images are my preference. The album design's simplicity has lasting power. I like pg 1. and the cover most, design-wise. It's certainly a good show piece. If i had to add anything, it would be some FUN shots, or more fluid, action/candid shots. The feel of your album is heavily on the formal side. That's the impression it gave me. Excellent.

[sblais]

Thanks for your inputs, two Tims ;) To be honest, it was a somewhat formal wedding. I felt that the B&G were comfortable with us, but they weren't the super expressive and clowning types. They were more the quiet, sweet type (makes it easy for formals, but not a lot for candids!) Adding to that is the fact that the coverage was only for 4 hours. A lot of the coverage time was reserved for formal pictures and ceremony (very small coverage of preparation and almost no coverage of reception). It's true that we do have some candids that happened during the formal session with the couple, so I'll try to add a few when I get home this evening and do the final modifications.