Tried Wedding Album Software (Lumapix)

Hi all, I gave a go at putting together a wedding album with the Lumapix Extreme software recommended to me in another thread. It seems like it's a great tool, I am sure there is a lot more that I could do with it, but this is my first time using it, so I kept it simple. Anyway, how do you think they look?

THanks for posting!

While the photography is good, and you caught some great moments, I do believe the album design is way too busy and complicated. It is too much for the eye. You need clean lines and clean designs to accent and showcase the photography that you took for the couple. To me, it seems like you tried to fit everything you possible can onto the page and I feel that is a big no no in wedding album design.

Just my two cents

I can't disagree with you on that at all, for this couple I have to keep the amount of pages down though, so I am kind of forced to keep the density up. On the other hand I could probably take some of the redundunt photos out

I agree with the above...great shots, but maybe a few too many of them. Also, you need to remember where the gutter of the album will be (some software leaves that up to you). You have a couple pages where the gutter will run right through some people.

davidgr wrote in post #6041467
I agree with the above...great shots, but maybe a few too many of them. Also, you need to remember where the gutter of the album will be (some software leaves that up to you). You have a couple pages where the gutter will run right through some people.

I see, I was wanting to put this in a Flush mount album from White Wedding Album. Do I still need to worry about that with the Flush Mount? I don't reckin I've seen a Flush mount album for myself as I am just getting into Wedding Photography.

Hey RumRunner,

While I agree the album is a bit too busy you are definitely on the right track. Minus some business that looks to be an excellent album.

The Gutter is the space where when you bind the album it will put a crease in the middle of the page (like a book, the center where it is bound).

I don't know about White Albums but Graphi uses continuous binding on their albums so there is no gutter, and you don't have to worry about pictures being in the middle of your pages and then being bound. I don't think many companies use continuous binding, I know Asuka doesn't. But they are coffee table books and a lot less expensive than graphi albums.

Thanks, I'll clean these up a bit and maybe create two more pages.

Well there are all kinds of things I could say. But is the bride and groom happy? I've been using this same software for over a year, and am now moving away from it for my more recent weddings. Only time will tell where I land.

Well they haven't seen it them yet, I have some changes to make still. I know they would want alot of photos, and they are concerned about the cost, so that's steered me to more of a collage type. So your moving away from the software, are you doing them manually now or are you using different software?

Rumrunner,

I still use it, but I have a set of album creation actions that are becoming my main stay. The album you made is great. I'm just finding that I'm making more use of masking as part of the album creation process rather than the prep process.

One more thing about the album, you need to take our comments with a grain of salt so to speak. If this is your style then run with it. That's why I asked if your bride likes it.

I use You Select It... It's pretty good software..

Suggestions:
1. keep the images on a spread the same size - or at least, don't make so many different sizes on a spread.
2. Fade the opacity of the background shots. I think it would help the foreground shots stand out.
3. And don't be afraid to make a plain white or balck background.
4. Try doing without the borders/strokes around the edges - especially as you fade the background or go with plain white/black background.

where do you get this stuff printed? the software looks good where would you send the files to for printing?

I think the overall feel is nice. Maybe to many photos per page, but like you said you need to make the album as few pages as possible. It is a general rule of thumb to make extra pages in hope of upselling the customer. My packages include a 20pg album, but I usually make 40 pages. I'd say about 50% of the time the couple find the extra money to get at least 10 more pages after they see the predesign. An easy extra $600 or so.
I"ve never used that album software. I currently use Gary Fongs Album Creator. A bit old, but I love it.

adobe indesign. most of us use photoshop and it leaves you with unlimited creative freedom.

i think it looks presentable over all, but may i suggest either a graphic design class or even just looking through some design magazines.

Graphic design work is a weakness of mine in school, sometimes i can execute a design which turns out to be a good solution while most of the time it just looks like poo. But i love talking and watching the designers work at my school, it really is a whole nother world. Everything is considered and should be made for a reason.

like the earlier posters recommended, keep the lines and layout clean. Three colors that always work together are black, white and red, but be careful with the red.


i feel you're first two pages are your strongest. The 2nd one with the groom and best men is my favorite, but i feel the images should all be b&w or maybe a light sepia/toning color. This is one of those things that you just need to play with too see what looks best.

I myself dislike mixing black&white and color on the same page, granted, i have never done a wedding or created a wedding album.

But from the few design classes i've had and the basic art classes i've taken the last 4 years of college, you're layouts are just very busy, but very home made, no offense.

The triptych of the bride is classy, but the resizing of the middle one is awkward. I would leave them all the same size but again, thats me. Now, you could make them all large or smaller, but the odd one in the middle.


forcing symmetry is something else to consider. You can have balance without identical layout. Take your 2nd page again, the repetition of the small frames of one tall one wide one tall one wide makes for an uninteresting layout as well. Humans like balance, but pure symmetry is something which seems out of place when it is on paper, very obvious and doesn't satisfy the "clean" balance we were looking for.

Again, personal style, but i would prefer some sort of theme that carries over the whole album. Again, not necessarily something really obvious but having a goal for the overall feel can make things easier to achieveing a clean look.

In the future too, consider shooting some filler shots if time permits, some more abstract or non human shots for the backgrounds if you choose to go that route. When framing these, consider what would like a nice backdrop for the photos on the page, and frame accordingly, leaving OOF space for the photos.

You're off to a good start though. Always look at other photographers work to for ideas. Although we all like to think we are innovators, there is nothing wrong with adopting a style or idea from another artist that seems to work to get you going. again, don't just copy it directly, cause thats just wrong, but imitation is a great way of learning, especially a task as daunting as layout.