So here is my first attempt at album design really. I've read and read and messed around some, but here is 1 design from a full wedding.

Keep in mind this wedding was a VERY short 2 hour shot for them for $300, and I was called last minute the night before. heh, ive since changed my pricing.

Just for show really, c&c if you want. They didnt order an album. But I used the photos so I could get myself a sample made so i can show customers. I'm also going to try to make a sale with it. I'm a noob what can i say.

http://slantphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/4576759_5vZeE#270206346

Really great for you first. I'd be proud of this. I would rethink some of these for where the faces/people land in way of the gutter. 12, 16, 18, 20, and 21 are sure to split a face/eye. i blew it on my first album with a jekle/hide split and I had to redo the album, (it was a sample, no biggie). Depending on where you get these bound, gutters very from maker to maker.

~Sam

4, 11, and 21 are really odd and do not fit the style of the other pages.

I'm not a fan of #2. Two big pictures of the brides face.

Besides that, I wish my first album was as nice.

Wow, I'm impressed. I'm making an album for my own wedding, and I hope it turns out this well! And I hope my photos come out this well at my "first" (solo) wedding in June! Did you charge them $300 for the photo shoot and then extra for the album? I don't know if the couple I'll be shooting wants an album, but I know i can't afford to do it for nearly free.

Also -- what kind of lighting are you using? I've been a second shooter on two weddings and an "independent" shooter on another (where I was simply practicing for an upcoming wedding). And I shot some good shots, but it was a year ago and I'm stressing about lighting for the June. I like to use natural light wheneven possible. I just bought a 5-in-1 reflector, and I use a flash with an omnibounce at night. I like the lighting in these shots. Could you tell me what you did? Or was it photoshop?

Nice job! The only thing I'd change would be the pink background on one of the spreads. Also like some others have mentioned, make sure that faces are not in the gutter space.

yeah, i noticed some of the things i did were 'graphic design no-no's' i guess. I was just trying to find ways to spice up the album with what I had.

I charged them 200$ for 2hours (i know, too cheap, sucks) in a shoot&burn type deal (they were from out of town, called me last minute expecting snapshots from me)

Her dad liked the way i worked and took pics, so he tipped me 100$.

So since they seemed to like the photos, and im going to use these for my own sample album, I sent them an email saying that it's available for purchase for 500$.

I sent them their stuff (click to see what i sent for my 200$ package lol)

I've raised my pricing some since this wedding.

I'm only 24 by the way, so its hard to have couples trust your worth sometimes, especially just starting out like me.

I used flash on basically every pic i took, adjusting to flavor.. (580ex) I didnt get to play much with my strobist kit that day.

Here was my method of making my album..


I normally do my adjustments in lightroom (you know brightness, contrast, vignette, special effect presets ive made and downloaded) and I upload all the 'adjusted images' to smugmug for them to buy (im pretty fast in lightroom, so I can go through 1000 pics in about 2-3 hours, and thats taking a long time because im anal)

Anyways.. I found an easy way to make the design/photo editing for albums easier.

Instead of using the same photos I posted online with my adjustments, I make a whole new set of high rez jpegs that are adjusted for exposure etc.. but basically they are PLAIN. because....

I bust open indesign make a 12x24 spread, and get to work.. I just open Bridge, and drag and drop pics to each of the pages how I like them to go together.. keep in mind these are my basic edited files, nothing fancy, nothing too crazy in terms of contrast/saturation, because of the next step.

After I kinda place the images how I like them in a spread.. I then right click, edit original, then it opens the file in photoshop, and I use kevin kubotas/boutwells actions and try to keep the look of the images on the same spread somewhat consistant. And the only way to do that and to make it go faster, is if you start with similar, basic, not so heavily adjusted in lightroom jpegs.

So its a combination of indesign, photoshop w/ actions (and slight blemish editing), and bridge.. It works pretty well, and makes for a better album, especially people who dont like spending too much time like me..

I think it took between 6-8 hours to design this album, im sure I'll get a lot faster once I do more of these.

Maybe I'll get better, and not need to use the photoshop side of it too much, and just use lightroom files.. but for now, this is my method..