Beginner Creating a photo book for memories

sooly

sooly

Messages
11
Name
Mark
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm creating an A4-sized photo yearbook of my flying hobby in 2022. It's really a collection of memories, rather than trying to be an artistic piece. However, I would like it to be coherent and will be shared with family and friends, with maybe a few copies printed. There are so many different styles that I'm finding it hard to decide what to include and exclude. I took 3000 photos last year and put them on SmugMug and have whittled it down to about 170 pictures for my photo book, but I'm wondering if even that is too many.

Any tips!?
  • Should I include lots of white space, or let the images bleed to the edges?
  • Should I label each picture with a date and place, or leave them unlabelled?
  • Do I inset the label or put it on the white space?
  • For landscape aerial shots should I use a landscape format photo book, or maybe square?
  • What about multiple photos per page?
 
sooly said:
  • Should I include lots of white space, or let the images bleed to the edges?
  • Should I label each picture with a date and place, or leave them unlabelled?
  • Do I inset the label or put it on the white space?
  • For landscape aerial shots should I use a landscape format photo book, or maybe square?
  • What about multiple photos per page?
Click to expand...
There are no rules! How you lay a book out depends on the photos to a great extend. What info you include depends on what you want the book to be for. If it's a personal diary type of thing then dates and places might be a good idea. Looking at what others have done with a similar a subject might provide some inspiration.

You might find some ideas in this thread.
www.talkphotography.co.uk

The book and zine making thread

I've started this thread following Harlequin's mention of making a zine as a discussion place for anyone who makes or wants to make books zines of their own. It seems to me that having a publication in the back of my mind, even if it's only for myself, helps keep me focussed on projects. in any...
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk
 
Last edited:
A lovely set of photos and I'm quite jealous of some of those views.

I agree about there being no rules. It's all personal choice and a tricky one.

I think if I was a family member, dates and places as you have done, are a worthwhile inclusion.

I make my own books and never go to the edge purely because it's my own printer and I don't want to dirty my rollers or fill my waste cart.. and it takes me ages! I like the photos going to the edge although I don't think it works so well when two images butt up against each other and go to the edge on the same page, but it's all subjective.

The landscape format suits your images IMO, and it's nice that you can do a double page spread. The only book I've had printed professionally, I chose a landscape format and there was quite a lot of text on some pages too, so some images went to the edge and some didn't, and some went across two pages. I presented a copy to Princess Anne which may be the highlight of my photo book career :LOL: (I should add they weren't all my photos and it was for a charity of which she is a patron).
 
For the past 10-15 years I’ve made an annual yearbook of family photos on Blurb. I’ve always gone with a large format landscape, as I have the choice of having one large picture or several smaller ones (but still at a decent size). Page layout is a mix of full bleed or white border, it’s nice to mix it up a bit. And I always have captions for event / place and date as it’s a useful point of reference in years to come.
 
I used Mixar to make a Zine and it was very easy and very good quality. I expect they do books.

I downloaded the trial version of Affinity Publisher to make the Zine, it was so easy I bought the company (ok, I bought the software).

As others have said, there are no rules other than have it say what you want it to say. TAKE TIME to get it right before you send it off. Print the photo's on 4x6 and lay them out. Practice turning pages. Practice differing positions on the image on the page. Most of all, enjoy the process and I suspect you will enjoy the end result.
 
Some really good shots there, constructively many of them are similar in that you do not need to include all 170, particularly for friends and family

For yourself however go wild, I really need to print digital more
 
Your collection is really impressive! Spectacular views! As if a photo story about the places of your flights.
 
How did you manage to transit Class A airspace in a paramotor (Heathrow & Luton)!? I only managed an overhead Special VFR once at Gatwick due weather diversion in a PA28. That must have been both scary and exhilarating.
 
lindsay said:
How did you manage to transit Class A airspace in a paramotor (Heathrow & Luton)!? I only managed an overhead Special VFR once at Gatwick due weather diversion in a PA28. That must have been both scary and exhilarating.
Click to expand...
Ah, I wasn't in a paramotor for that flight. It was my birthday and a friend of mine took me down the heli lanes in his helicopter. There's some video of it here too if you're interested
View: https://youtu.be/jaHZx0x3ql4
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top