p.2 #3 · Which album design software would you chose???
Photoshop if you have design skills. I mean professional level.
If you are like the other 90% of us then Page gallery. It takes the design side out of the equation. I am sure it may not be perfect having to find a template ( i don't find any problem there though others may) but it is going to give you a vastly superior end product.
That is not to insult other photographers but to say lets be honest as the answer to this is dependant on your level of graphic design skill.
Recommending anything prior to that being established knowing that the probability is not in favor of those skills being adequate i do not believe is fair or professional of us.
Other programs still leave you to do the designing so why not stay in photoshop if you do intend to design yourself? It's not a slow program.
YSI i cannot comment on.
p.2 #4 · Which album design software would you chose???
Marcus Watts wrote:
Photoshop if you have design skills. I mean professional level.
If you are like the other 90% of us then Page gallery. It takes the design side out of the equation. I am sure it may not be perfect having to find a template ( i don't find any problem there though others may) but it is going to give you a vastly superior end product.
That is not to insult other photographers but to say lets be honest as the answer to this is dependant on your level of graphic design skill.
Recommending anything prior to that being established knowing that the probability is not in favor of those skills being adequate i do not believe is fair or professional of us.
Other programs still leave you to do the designing so why not stay in photoshop if you do intend to design yourself? It's not a slow program.
YSI i cannot comment on. ...Show more →
you haven't tried InDesign then have you
same design concept, except if you decide to change an image size, style etc, it takes a half a second. All you're doing is placing image holders, if never imports the images into the program, so you are free to manipulate them at any point without doing harm to the original or risking image degradation.
And every page you make is then a saved template, for drag and drop convenience the next time. Not to mention PS for text is just awful.
p.2 #5 · Which album design software would you chose???
I have FotoFusion and find CS3 much easier and more creative! Wish I hadn't wasted my money on anything else!
Set yourself some actions and it's a breeze in CS3!
p.2 #6 · Which album design software would you chose???
coreypolis wrote:
you haven't tried InDesign then have you
same design concept, except if you decide to change an image size, style etc, it takes a half a second. All you're doing is placing image holders, if never imports the images into the program, so you are free to manipulate them at any point without doing harm to the original or risking image degradation.
And every page you make is then a saved template, for drag and drop convenience the next time. Not to mention PS for text is just awful.
No you are right. i have not used in design.
Of course it still depends upon the graphic skills of the photographer.
One of the great setbacks in the industry right now is that many good photographers are combining good to great images with tardy unprofessional looking album layouts.
Not everyone of course but from those i see post on forums i would say that the majority fit that mould. We have become the uncle bobs of graphic design.
Your own site looks fantastic Corey. I take it you do your own graphics?
p.2 #8 · Which album design software would you chose???
I've moved from templates to photoshop only.
I look at other's online albums for inspiration while I'm in the learning phase. I've now done 3 albums in PS and am getting faster and am enjoying much more than using templates.
A book that helped with some workflow stuff and concepts I like is digial weding album design guide by woodford. Frankly, I don't care for many of the designs but the book was very informative for me and where I'm at in the whole process. I gained ideas and workflow. While it's not mentioned in the book I use LR and put all album selects into a collection. Then I start selecting the appropiate # of images for the pano and then drop into a folder, IE, p2+3, 4+5, etc. then export...Now I have all pano's in their folders. I then start laying out the images on my blank pages. When I'm done I go back and apply strokes, gradiants, etc.
There is more but you get the drift. With a little effort you can do better than a template if you are willing to put in some learning time in the beginning...
While I'm not a "graphic artist" I'm not finding it that difficult to make some nice lay outs.
Look around for inspiration at others work. Learn how to "apply" the affects in PS.
You will have much more creativity once you get going and will most likely have more satisfaction in your work as opposed to using templates in my opinion.
If I were to spend money on software for album design other than CS3 then it would be Indesign, but that ain't cheap...
p.2 #9 · Which album design software would you chose???
hislight wrote:
I look at other's online albums for inspiration while I'm in the learning phase. I've now done 3 albums in PS and am getting faster and am enjoying much more than using templates.
Where are the resources that you look at for inspiration. Are there specific sites dedicated to this. If so please share
p.2 #12 · Which album design software would you chose???
hislight wrote:
While I'm not a "graphic artist" I'm not finding it that difficult to make some nice lay outs..
That is what way too many photographers think who are as i say putting out less than professional album designs.
I cannot say for you personally without seeing your work but that mindset is adopted by too many photographers who live in denial.
At the end of the day an album layout program that will increase the quality of your designs is very cheap.
If someone here charged $800 to do a shoot and burn wedding he/she would get flamed for lowballing. For less than that you can have a program that will let you put out album designs of a higher quality than most of your competition and better than you could do yourself.
I have to say it again. If you are a professional level graphic designer get a program that lets you do all the design.
If you are not then get one that provides the templates designed by real graphic artist. You will be doing yourself, your clients and the industry a favour.
p.2 #13 · Which album design software would you chose???
Marcus Watts wrote:
That is what way too many photographers think who are as i say putting out less than professional album designs.
I cannot say for you personally without seeing your work but that mindset is adopted by too many photographers who live in denial.
At the end of the day an album layout program that will increase the quality of your designs is very cheap.
If someone here charged $800 to do a shoot and burn wedding he/she would get flamed for lowballing. For less than that you can have a program that will let you put out album designs of a higher quality than most of your competition and better than you could do yourself.
I have to say it again. If you are a professional level graphic designer get a program that lets you do all the design.
If you are not then get one that provides the templates designed by real graphic artist. You will be doing yourself, your clients and the industry a favour. ...Show more →
p.2 #14 · Which album design software would you chose???
I didn't see a mention for PhotoJunction. The new ReMix version is very good. Once you design a book, all of your spreads become templates with thumbnail views - reuse a design you did months ago - cool.
That said, it's hard to get around FotoFusion - I see it as thee target - I'm not on a PC, so I can't run. Thinking about adding XP to one of our iMacs. My PhotoJunction licesnse runs out this fall - we'll see.
p.2 #15 · Which album design software would you chose???
Yeah funny how we only get it with bad photographers who think they can shoot weddings professionally but cannot at all get it when it comes to our own graphic design skills. Getting a professional camera does not give one the required skills does it? Though if you add a good book they could be shooting like a pro in no time.
p.2 #16 · Which album design software would you chose???
You guys should stop spending you money on Fotofusion, YSI, and Yervant etc. Just get Indesign and you would never look back. I have use all the above programs and none of them came close to Indesign period.
My wife is a pharmacist and has no interest in photography nor graphic designs but after playing around with Indesign for less than 20mins she came up with these designs. Imagine what some of you could do with Indesign.
p.2 #18 · Which album design software would you chose???
I purchased Fotofusion and wish I had spent the money on Indesign instead. I've used Adobe software to design high school yearbooks and found it to be much more intuitive.
p.2 #20 · Which album design software would you chose???
coreypolis wrote:
InDesign CS3
Yes Indesign is a good program, but I don't think it's great for albums. Yes, page design, brochures, BC cards, etc. I use it all the time. But CS3 is much more flexible and customizable for albums. It's much easier to control gradients, drop shadows, blending modes, etc.
Indesign is great for vector artwork. I don't consider albums to fall in that category. YMMV
Exactly what my graphic design friends say too!