Consistency in sets of photos

sirch

sirch

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Not sure if this is the right place for this but here goes...

I've been shooting a "project" over the last few years and it is getting close to something I am thinking of publishing and may be putting together in a book, really just for the experience and for posterity. So I started pulling all the images together and there is quite a lot of variation in tone/hue across the images so I was wondering what is acceptable for this sort of thing? There is the option to reprocess some of these to make them more consistent but then some just are a very limited or muted palette and others are quite vibrant. How much does that matter and how much should the set remain true to the original scene? They are likely to be grouped in the final version so it might be possible to arrange some sort of transition.

To give you some idea of the range I have pulled together a contact sheet, this isn't the finished selection, just a sample of the sort of images that I have

ContactSheet-001 by TheWub, on Flickr
 
IMO the images should remain as true to original scene as possible BUT I have a pair of pictures in the bathroom which were very different but have been processed to be in the same tones.

Since YOU are the "customer", it's 100% your decision - although Mrs Sirch probably has a say in the matter!
 
Thanks @Nod, I have never put together a large set like this and I happy to consider the recevied wisdom even if I ultimately ignore it. TBH Mrs Sirch probably thinks they are rubbish whatever I do with them :)
 
My thoughts are...

In book terms how the spreads work is important, so inconsistency within the total set matters less than consistency across the pages. Assuming that is what you want . You might want to create a visual dissonance in some, or all, spreads. Then there is the 'flow' and 'rhythm' of a book to think about.

If presenting in a grid format the choices will be different again, as they might be for wall display in linear format.

There's no one size fits all answer.

You may well find that when you start arranging things some pictures will have to be discarded, even good one, because they don't 'fit', and other previously rejected pictures might find their way back in.

One thing's for certain, the process will make you think!
 
Thanks Dave, good point about the overall flow, at the moment I'm thinking one photo per page so there will be photos on facing pages but possibly with option of breaking sections up with a few words inbetween.
 
sirch said:
Thanks Dave, good point about the overall flow, at the moment I'm thinking one photo per page so there will be photos on facing pages but possibly with option of breaking sections up with a few words inbetween.
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Making sections would be one way of grouping pictures of similar look or feel.

I find the sequencing process for a project near completion often shows up holes in the project. I'm about to start on one soon which is quite different to any I've done before. It'll be a challenge and already I think it'll involve reprocessing some pictures.

It can be hard work but enjoyable putting a book together. Good luck with yours, Chris.
 
Ed Sutton said:
I find the sequencing process for a project near completion often shows up holes in the project.
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I'm already seeing that so it is a useful exercise to get them all side-by-side, somehting I should have done sooner I think but good learning. Who do you use for your books?
 
sirch said:
I'm already seeing that so it is a useful exercise to get them all side-by-side, somehting I should have done sooner I think but good learning. Who do you use for your books?
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I usually use Blurb, but I have done some A5 'zines' using https://www.doxdirect.com/ to print from PDFs I made. Both avenues have pros and cons.
 
I think it's more important to have each image how you want it. As Nod said - you're the customer. I tend to get books done with blank facing pages if there's disparity between images. My college courses all result in students delivering an A1 mountboard with any number of images presented on it in any manner. It's an attempt to try and force the student to think about a project as a whole and "finish" something with a presented "thing" at the end. Some people collage it in 6x4s, some do 3 or 4 A4s, but that final evening when everyone brings in their boards is the best lesson of the course.
You've got some really strong images there and culling things down to the number you want is, in my mind at least, one of the toughest skills with photography. Leaving out a top drawer image because it doesn't "fit" with the rest can be really hard. However it has to be done if you want that professional "finished" feel to it.
Not sure if this was off topic, but in answer to your question, I vote no. Don't reprocess, keep it as it was when you saw it.
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One tip if using Blurb - if you aren't in a rush wait until they have an offer on. It can be 30% or 40% off.
 
Thanks Ian, that’s really interesting and not off topic at all. That notion of “getting something finished” is a big driver for wanting to do this but in the push to finish it I don’t want to be too hasty. My initial inclination was to try to harmonise them at least in terms of saturation and palette to some extent, one thing that I find a bit jarring is the variety of greens but that could well just be me, over the last few years I seem to have been developing a disliking for some shades of green, which in photos of grass is a bit of an issue J

But the message I am getting is to go more down the road of selecting a subset that go together rather than shoe-horning in in images that don’t fit even if they are good images.
 
In terms of layout, when I am preparing an exhbition or a book I print all the images on 6x4's and them out on the floor. I then start to shuffle them round until themes emerge and you start to see which images look well together. I find it easier to do it this way than on the computer as I can see the whole set of images in one go.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
In terms of layout, when I am preparing an exhbition or a book I print all the images on 6x4's and them out on the floor. I then start to shuffle them round until themes emerge and you start to see which images look well together. I find it easier to do it this way than on the computer as I can see the whole set of images in one go.
Click to expand...
That's a really good idea and so obvious now you have suggested it, thanks Andy
 
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