The book and zine making thread

Ooh, look!

View attachment 279533

They've turned out just fine. (y)

Now to try and talk some sheep fans into buying a copy! :LOL:
Nice.(y) Following this thread for some time to get the inspirational kick in the butt to start doing a zine. Consider it delivered although severel reminder kicks may be required. Like your Ghost images a lot btw.
 
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Nice.(y) Following this thread for some time to get the inspirational kick in the butt to start doing a zine. Consider it delivered although severel reminder kicks may be required. Like your Ghost images a lot btw.
Thanks.

Can we kiss and make up? :)
 
I thought getting to grips with Affinity Publisher was hard work. Using Resolve to edit videos is proving a real head banger! It doesn't help that I only use it once in a blue moon I suppose. I got there in the end without wasting too much time for this one. Although I should have done more to sort the exposure and colour out. I should spend longer recording and planning things instead of diving straight in and playing around...

It's a bit of a long watch.:(

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0h6Oisv_cU
 
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I thought getting to grips with Affinity Publisher was hard work. Using Resolve to edit videos is proving a real head banger! It doesn't help that I only use it once in a blue moon I suppose. I got there in the end without wasting too much time for this one. Although I should have done more to sort the exposure and colour out. I should spend longer recording and planning things instead of diving straight in and playing around...

It's a bit of a long watch.:(

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0h6Oisv_cU

so....am I going to get loads of videos about sheep on my youtube feed now? ...........................looks good to me, never tried video myself, maybe one day
 
so....am I going to get loads of videos about sheep on my youtube feed now?

If you're lucky!

These flip throughs seem to be popular for presenting zines and photobooks.

I've dabbled in video and quite enjoy it but it's more time consuming, both to record and edit, than stills.
 
Probably teaching you all to suck eggs but I learned something new today.

When reordering from Mixam it's possible to edit the zine. Saddle stiched can be changed to perfect bound, for example.

like a lot of things on the Mixam site it took some working out what to do to make this happen though! It has one of the least intuitive interfaces I've used for anything.:banghead:
 
I've ordered a set of sample papers from Mixam to see what I like best. After that, I really need to figure out how to make my first zine. I'll probably have a trial run before deciding on something for the zine swap.
You're on the slippery slope now!
 
I hate editing photos.

Having decided to do a book (210x210mm, perfect bound, 250gsm cover) of poultry show pics I whittled a selection down to 536. Some are duplicates (vertical/horizontal, same subject different picture, etc. to allow for different page layouts) with the aim to get it down to around 100. I've been putting this off for a couple of weeks or more.

I was going to do it earlier, but went out with the camera instead. It started raining so I came home defeated and made a brew. Two more brews later I sat down and went through them this afternoon. Now the selection is narrowed down to...






...313. :rolleyes:

Time to get ruthless! :D

First I'll sort them into themes/subjects so I can choose between similar pictures. That should get it down to a manageable number. Then I'll start laying the book out to make my final selections. My idea is to make a more adventurous layout than one pic per page like the A5 zines I've done. We'll see.

This might be the cover.

poultryshows_1.jpg
 
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One way to avoid whittling pics down is to make grids...

Left hand page will be this:

_7509330.jpg

Right hand page this, or a version of it:

numberplates.jpg

The first number plate is a lame attempt as SILKIE.

None of this planned in advance, just a result of shooting loads of pictures of trivia which are pointless in isolation. Take enough of them to a theme and you can create grids which make some kind of sense.

Back to the 'remove from collection' button...
 
Slowly whittling things down. Only 232 to choose from now. I'll have another culling session tomorrow then the fun bit of laying pages out can begin.

spread.jpg
 
The sample papers from Mixam that I requested haven't arrived yet. :(
Did you request them on their own? I got mine with a 'free' proof order and they came quickly.
 
It's raining, I've got to wait in for a UPS collection so it's time to knuckle down to the final cull. It's down to 186 pics now (some in horizontal and vertical versions to allow for layout options. I think I'm getting there. I've split the pics into egg shows and poultry. Waterfowl have been weeded out entirely. I find that sometimes it can help to edit from thumbnails as it makes strong compositions stand out.

eggs.jpg

Just spotted three in the wrong set - which will make the egg lot easier to weed. It's the others I can't face!

shows.jpg
 
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Getting into the swing of things now. Nothing set in stone but coming up with a few spread variations to break it up from one or two pics per page. But not too many or it'll look like jumble. I love teh way Affinity Publisher snaps pics into line with others in the spread and to centre lines. And the 'Replace image' button is great.

This is an example of how I like to put small supporting pictures with a larger one which could stand on its own.

spread01.jpg
 
Getting into the swing of things now. Nothing set in stone but coming up with a few spread variations to break it up from one or two pics per page. But not too many or it'll look like jumble. I love teh way Affinity Publisher snaps pics into line with others in the spread and to centre lines. And the 'Replace image' button is great.

This is an example of how I like to put small supporting pictures with a larger one which could stand on its own.

View attachment 287905

That's getting sophisticated, I like it (y)
 
That's getting sophisticated, I like it (y)
Ta. I'm not sure how the bleed and running across the gutter will work out in real life. I've done it with Blurb books and it was OK, but Mixam might be different.

A 'flipped' variation on the layout. All this might change, of course!

spread03.jpg
 
Ta. I'm not sure how the bleed and running across the gutter will work out in real life. I've done it with Blurb books and it was OK, but Mixam might be different.

A 'flipped' variation on the layout. All this might change, of course!

View attachment 287910

You could always do a Mixam test print of a few pages, if you've not overused this facility - I did one for my last zine with just colour images to see how various colours would come out. Must admit I'm tempted to do another in a month or so's time exactly as you are above, with a print across two pages.
 
You could always do a Mixam test print of a few pages, if you've not overused this facility - I did one for my last zine with just colour images to see how various colours would come out. Must admit I'm tempted to do another in a month or so's time exactly as you are above, with a print across two pages.

I have a proof available with Mixam for this month. The problem with their test prints is they are stapled, this book's going to be perfect bound on heavyish paper. It's also not A5 portrait which I think is the only option for a proof. I might give it a try though.

What concerns me most is how the pages will look opened out. Saddle stitched usually opens out fairly flat but the Blurb books I've done don't. With careful placing of a picture -so there's nothing important in the gutter - pics run across a spread have looked OK. e.g. https://www.blurb.co.uk/books/5630980-the-bantam-society-shows-2013-2014 It's almost like making two pictures from one. The two examples above should work all right.
 
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I have a proof available with Mixam for this month. The problem with their test prints is they are stapled, this book's going to be perfect bound on heavyish paper. It's also not A5 portrait which I think is the only option for a proof. I might give it a try though.

What concerns me most is how the pages will look opened out. Saddle stitched usually opens out fairly flat but the Blurb books I've done don't. With careful placing of a picture -so there's nothing important in the gutter - pics run across a spread have looked OK. e.g. https://www.blurb.co.uk/books/5630980-the-bantam-society-shows-2013-2014 It's almost like making two pictures from one. The two examples above should work all right.

Possibly best to a trial (low cost) perfect bound run, then do the main volume with the information learnt. Costs time and money though......
 
Possibly best to a trial (low cost) perfect bound run, then do the main volume with the information learnt. Costs time and money though......
Good idea. A reduced page count to keep cost down - maybe of a different set of pics.

My estimation for this book is that it's as cheap to get 25 copies as it is to get one! That's the advantage of Doxdirect - you can get one copy for not too much as a proof, then order more to get a batch price. But Mixam offers more in the way of formats and paper choices.
 
Good idea. A reduced page count to keep cost down - maybe of a different set of pics.

My estimation for this book is that it's as cheap to get 25 copies as it is to get one! That's the advantage of Doxdirect - you can get one copy for not too much as a proof, then order more to get a batch price. But Mixam offers more in the way of formats and paper choices.

And don't forget to tell us all, you we can make use of your wisdom and £££ spent :D
 
No that I have ever tried but do Mixam have guides for the gutter size on perfect bound and if so, it is not "just" a case of setting the correct gutter size in your DTP software?
 
No that I have ever tried but do Mixam have guides for the gutter size on perfect bound and if so, it is not "just" a case of setting the correct gutter size in your DTP software?
Hmm. I'll have to look into that.
 
Clear as mud...

mixam.jpg

I'll have to take a look at some perfect bound books to see if I can find any with pics running across spreads.
 
I think margins and bleed areas apply more to text than pictures to keep it easy to read. Although I have read some paperbacks where the text was too close for my comfort.

It's often considered bad form to run pictures across the gutter but I think it can work if not over used - it's a form of cropping in some ways and for presentation purposes I'm happy to crop.

That said I have an alternative layout style I could use. I'll see how things go and wing it as usual.
 
And don't forget to tell us all, you we can make use of your wisdom and £££ spent :D
I've bitten the bullet...

Ordering a 28 page plus cover single copy with a variety of spreads and image sizes including pictures run over two pages and full bleed single pages. Should give plenty of ideas as to how things will work for this and future publications.

All contributions to this community service gratefully received! :LOL:
 
Affinity Publisher 1.8.4 update available.
 
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