C & C First Coffee Table Book

Moderated by: Steve Tinetti, guardian

Visit the FM Store · Image Upload · Buy & Sell
FM Forum Rules
Wedding Resource List

FM Forums | Wedding Photographer | Join Image Upload
end

billkrekephoto
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #1 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

I appreciate the great amount of talent on this forum and I would appreciate some feedback on my first coffee table book design.

I plan to use this as my sample album.

The spreads are at the following link.

http://www.billkrekephoto.com/images/critique/coffee_sample/index.htm

I plan to have these bound as an Art Leather Montage Art Book and the spreads will be 20" x 10".

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Bill

Jan 23, 2008 at 02:00 PM

Mike Mahoney
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #2 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

Really nice shots and the church looks wonderful, so the photos are very good.

The album is nice enough, some of the vignetting toward the end looks a little fromage, but overall a pleasing traditional look.

Jan 23, 2008 at 03:13 PM

hassy501
Offline
[ X ]

p.1 #3 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

The pics and spreads look good.....i personally dont care for the drop shadow look to the individual pics........is that your choice or the album companies software ?

Jan 23, 2008 at 03:23 PM

Marcus Watts
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #4 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

The beveled edges are really tacky. The glow edges also.
Other than that it is typical of what comes from the many photographers that design their own albums but have never done a course in graphic design.
The problem with some of the album layout programs on the market is that they leave photographers to do the designing still. Yervant's page gallery on the other hand is flexible yet takes the design side out of the equation.
I would recommend that you consider such an investment in a program that takes the design element out of your hands for now. Especially if you plan on doing a display album.
The layout could be cleaned up though i stand by my abocve advice. If you are planning on staying with this layout then i would replace the edges with simple outlines at least.

Edited on Jan 23, 2008 at 03:38 PM

Jan 23, 2008 at 03:33 PM

billkrekephoto
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #5 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

Thanks so much for the constructive criticism. I really appreciate your candor Marcus.

Just an FYI. I prepared all of these in photoshop with no outside assistance.

My concern with not using the drop shadow or the glow is that the inlaid images will blend into the background.

Marcus, I will give the simple outlines a try. Could you provide any more specific advice regarding cleaning up the layout? Are you referring to the number of images or the placement of the images or both or something else completely?

Thank You,

Bill

Jan 23, 2008 at 04:18 PM

caryb
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #6 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

I think for the most part the spreads look good with some things already pointed out. I'd personally just put maybe a 3-6px stroke around the images instead of the bevel like Marcus suggested. Use an inside corner and it'll make a nice, subtle effect and not blend with the background.

However, there are some spreads that seem unbalanced to me. There are several pages that have b&w mixed in but there's only one image out of 4 or 5 that's b&w.

#7: Not only are there more images on the left than right, the ones on the right don't line up width-wise. I think it'd be more symmetrical for them to be the same size. I'd also put the groom on the right since as someone in the audience that's where he'd be. You probably did it as-is so he's looking at the bride which is tough because you were (it appears) standing where the minister would be.

#8: The vert - vert - hor layout bugs me. Maybe putting the candle lighting shot in the middle would balance it more. And the candle by itself seems out of place.

#9: Again, the b&w shot is by itself and looks like the main image so it's not adding anything to the story.

#16: This is nice. Looks balanced. I might tend to flip the bride though so they're both looking into the image. It's like she's looking out of the book.

So to sum up I think my biggest peeves are mismatched image sizes leading to an unbalanced feel and the seemingly random mix of color and b&w. Hope this makes sense.

Edited on Jan 23, 2008 at 08:09 PM

Jan 23, 2008 at 08:07 PM

Sam Hassas
Offline
Image Upload: On

p.1 #7 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

Drop shadows and the J.C Penny vignette kill it. Other wise very nice spread. Rather than the drop shadows how about just white or black key lines?

Jan 24, 2008 at 07:27 AM

canuck88
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #8 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

Less is more. Simple clean borders and lines will make a dramatic improvement.

Jan 25, 2008 at 05:28 PM

hassy501
Offline
[ X ]

p.1 #9 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

Sam Hassas wrote:
Drop shadows and the J.C Penny vignette kill it. Other wise very nice spread. Rather than the drop shadows how about just white or black key lines?

JC Penney vignette...........thats hilarious...........hey, i like shopping at JC Penney........they have great deals on shoes.........but not vignetted ones !!

Those drop shadows remind me of the bride with the bouquets around her head..........yuch.......

Edited on Jan 25, 2008 at 06:12 PM

Jan 25, 2008 at 06:11 PM

billkrekephoto
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #10 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

Hi Everyone,

How about a second take.

http://www.billkrekephoto.com/images/critique/coffee_sample_2/index.htm

The original one is still posted at the link below for anyone just joining in.

http://www.billkrekephoto.com/images/critique/coffee_sample/index.htm

Thanks everyone who has provided feedback so far and thank you in advance for any new comments.

-Bill

Jan 28, 2008 at 08:19 PM

Jared Bludsworth
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #11 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

What site did you find to use a sample album spread like that so you can show your clients on-line?

Jan 29, 2008 at 01:05 AM

billkrekephoto
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #12 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

Hi Jared,

I used the web gallery under the tools tab in photoshop to create the gallery.

Anyone have any feedback to give?

Thanks,

Bill

Jan 29, 2008 at 02:25 AM

dennis10512
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #13 · C & C First Coffee Table Book

Marcus Watts wrote:
The beveled edges are really tacky. The glow edges also.
Other than that it is typical of what comes from the many photographers that design their own albums but have never done a course in graphic design.
The problem with some of the album layout programs on the market is that they leave photographers to do the designing still. Yervant's page gallery on the other hand is flexible yet takes the design side out of the equation.
I would recommend that you consider such an investment in a program that takes the design element out of your hands for now. Especially if you plan on doing a display album.
The layout could be cleaned up though i stand by my abocve advice. If you are planning on staying with this layout then i would replace the edges with simple outlines at least.

I agree with Marcus on the beveled edges and the drop shadows are a bit heavy. I think if you use too many effects like the beveled/glow/drop shadow in an album it takes away from the photography. And who knows in 5-10 years those effects may be out of style and so will the couple's album and that fact will jump out at them each time they look at it. Simplicity is timeless.

Jan 29, 2008 at 04:13 AM


FM Forums \| Wedding Photographer \| Join Image Upload end