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Posts Tagged ‘Photojunction Remix’

Printing and assembling Duos

February 10th, 2009 in Products & Services by


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Photography by Michael + Anna Costa

Although we’d love all our clients to print with us, and most now do, we can’t expect that everyone will. It’s a huge ask to send your images to the other side of the world for printing. 

But sometimes, for reasons that have little to do with the printing itself, we need really tight control to deliver you a good result. Duos are a prime example. The design and craft processes that allow us to integrate digital and matted pages, create split mats etc are intensive and very demanding.

In particular the variability in output from third party labs is a serious challenge. Variation in print size is one regular problem and complicates trimming prints and aligning images in apertures, split mats etc. The result? Mistakes… having to adjust page layouts and re-cut mats to work around problems… having to replace prints… and the associated costs.

That’s why we need to print Duos at Queensberry. Our lab equipment and systems are set up specifically to suit Photojunction and our album processes. And if we do make a mistake we can re-print a colour-matched image no problem.

All up there are the three Duo “musts”…

  1. The album must be printed at Queensberry.
  2. The album must be assembled at Queensberry (we trim the finished page block before we bind it).
  3. The album must be designed in PJ Remix (Remix knows all about those “design and craft processes” so we get exactly what we need to make the book).

We know “musts” can be frustrating.  It’s all about offering you a hassle-free experience, fast service and the best possible product.

Cheers, Nigel

PS See the Costa’s entire album here.

 

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    • Best of 2008 – Part 2

    January 29th, 2009 in Uncategorised by


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    Wading through our “how-to” posts was quite a job. Trying to single out the best was just as difficult, but worth the effort.

    Here are my favourites. Hopefully you’ll find them handy when dealing with Queensberry and Photojunction, and evaluating your own workflow…

    There’s so much good stuff in the  Smooth Sailing series I reckon you should check them all, but here are a few:

    Photo Front covers (easy peasy) - If designing Photo Front covers sounds hard. It’s not. Here’s how to easily do it.

    What can delay your orders? –  Here are a few simple things that frequently delay people’s orders (long delays in some cases). Interestingly, our staff sometimes end up double-checking things to head off ‘could-be problems‘.

    Titles in PJ Remix – There’s no standard “title” aperture in PJ Remix, so how do you add a title? There are actually two ways.

    Below are some more useful posts which walk you through ordering your printing from Queensberry.

    Designing and exporting your design
    Remix Order Wizard and LabFTP
    Sending us just your Cover Image

    Cheers, Nigel

    PS Why not check out the various Categories in the right-hand column of this page to discover your own good stuff.

     

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    • How we pre-design

    January 16th, 2009 in Photography & Design by


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    Three points!

    1. Investigate and determine your clients needs, limitations, and dreams.

    2. Establish design objectives.

    3. Exceed your clients’ expectations.

      We set the parameters of size, style, and content from discussions with our client prior to the wedding. Having a series of questions to answer on a sheet means you get the information you need.

      Album type, size, and budget are the first questions. Then how many albums and what these would do.

      We gauge their response to our sample albums and ask questions about what might be important.

      We define the style by giving them a key description and asking them to elaborate on what that might mean for them. We use words like Story Book, Creative, Classic, Contemporary, Simple, to give us a general direction to work with.

      And then we create a skeleton. This has the ‘thread(s)’ for the story and gaps for the things we are not sure of. We most often use the sequence of events to determine the order of appearance.

      Then we go crazy. Play some vintage Split Enz and let our hair down. It’s that Flow thing.

      We design beyond their expectations.

      We look for images they must have and, if we can, we do some artwork on them. We leave gaps for things like the family images.

      And then we stop and review…

      Give the images a reason for being, so that you can discuss them as part of a whole rather than as unique entities. This gives them a geater chance of being in the final selection.

      Include more pages than they wanted – to tell the story better – to give them something to decide on, and to potentially make a better sale.

      The key things are to let them change anything they need to … and commit to better research if you got any of the fundamentals wrong.

      Making changes and choices means that they are involved.

      PJ Remix is important to this. It makes editing, hunting for images and interacting with the clients quick and easy, but not too easy. Very important – we only make changes to a duplicate of the original design. Think about duplicating the album design in the Browse window of PJ Remix so you can offer alternative designs. Easily turn your plan into an amazing slideshow for them to view when they walk in the door, before they see the rest of their images.

      Use the '2X' button to duplicate your design

      Use the x2 button to duplicate your design

      If it is taking too long consider using templates to streamline the workflow, or listen to more upbeat music.

      There you go.

      This works. Make the time for this to happen. Even if you don’t make the sale, if you have done your job right, they will share the experience with their friends who could come to you in the fututre.  At all times remember that everything you do is for the long term benefits not the cash in your pocket today.

      Take care

      Johannes

       

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      4. Pre-design: the power of suggestion

      January 15th, 2009 in Photography & Design by


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      In the ideal world (which is different to the world we actually live in) we would pre-plan all of our albums and our clients would love everything we do.

      Pre-planning albums, to present when our clients collect their images, allows us to tell it the way we saw it. It allows us to influence the design more than if we leave it until after the clients have chosen.

      It increases the value of their experience with us.

      We want our clients to use us because they like the way we see things. But we also want them to contribute to the writing of the story.

      We plan the skeleton but we make it flexible.

      We want it to be irresistible. But we give them permission to move and change.

      We want our clients to make changes because we want them to own the finished book.

      Why do we do it?

      • We do it to create a beginning.
      • We do it because it is impressive.
      • We do it to sell albums.

      How?

      It creates a strong and undeniable emotional relationship with the story and the imagery. It can over-ride the budget part of the decision on how big an album might be.

      Why wouldn’t we do it? Time. Time is the enemy. However, by using PJ Remix we are able to do quick layouts, and even template repeated design elements, to speed up the process.

      If our pre-planned album design is their first viewing of their wedding then it is incredibly powerful as a suggestion of how things might be.

      More on “how” next time.

      All the best

      Johannes

       

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      7. How to win an album award

      January 13th, 2009 in Photography & Design by


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      The recognition of your peers is something to be proud of. The New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography has run Wedding Album Awards for only two years, but I (we) have won both times.

      Now there’s talk of changing the competition rules. That’s OK, but the word is that some photographers feel I shouldn’t be allowed to enter next year …

      For what it’s worth, as I see them, here are the secrets of my success: Flow, Rhythm, Storytelling, Pace and Creative Expression. If you think about these words again they not only relate to album design, but are also about music. Music is the other secret ingredient!

      Both years I used Photojunction to prepare the designs. The software gives me the freedom to design a contemporary book within realistic parameters. I used Queensberry Duo albums so I could combine the freedom of a digital magazine style page with the classic beauty of a matted page presentation.

      I listen to music when I put together an album …. not just any old music … sometimes its Johnny Cash because it has to be … and sometimes it’s somebody like Emiliano Torrini because she has a sense of fun in her music… or sometimes its Gomez.

      How does music affect the design? It’s about something called ‘Flow’. Flow is when you get into a creative space that lets you ignore formulas, and design by your feelings. The music is good to exclude other influences that interfere with the creative process. The best is when it clears your head, inspires you, and engages you with your visual environment.

      After Flow there is Rhythm. Rhythm creates a life for the album. It’s true! The rhythm of the album is the delivery of the story in a manner that keeps the viewer’s attention by balancing the presentation of the images with the layout and page density.

      Rhythm is really the poetry of the storytelling.

      As the wedding photographer I must also be the story teller. That’s what makes an album such a wonderful way to bring the parts of a wedding together.

      I feel strongly about the poetry and rhythm of an album. I try to pace the presentation of images to allow for the natural flow of the story being told. The story must be as strong as the photographs.

      I like to vary the pace. Sometimes the viewers can stroll through quiet pages with few images. Sometimes there will be busy pages, with many images, where they will need to stop and browse, but these will always be near quieter spaces.   There is a flow that feels right.  What I am trying to say is that the album should read well and not be cluttered.

      Then there is Creative Expression. This should start with the making of the images, because in truth creativity is not the use of random spot colours or some filter applied after the fact.

      Both my competition albums were for brides who were reluctant about photography. I think this helped me because in each case I was encouraged to look at the entire wedding as a story. The entries represented only a part of the full albums supplied to the clients but told enough of the story to give a sense of skill, creativity, style, design, and emotion.

      Wedding album award 2008

      Wedding album award 2008 (click the image to see more layouts)

      Finally, wedding albums should always be independent designs that reflect the subject matter, as well as the personal style of the Photographer. Not the Photographer’s style as seen through the images of somebody else’s wedding.

      So there it is … I do want to give my best but I always strive to be better. I haven’t decided whether to enter next time …. maybe I will.

      Best wishes, Johannes

      PS I said ‘we’ won because the rest of ‘me’ is Moda Fotografica, our wonderful studios just out of Christchurch in Lyttelton. And it is through our combined effort that our studio strives for excellence.

       

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      10. Photo front covers (easy-peasy)

      December 9th, 2008 in Photography & Design by


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      How do you know what size and shape to make an album cover image? How do you account for the aspect ratio and cover wrap-around (the part of the image you can’t see)?

      If it sounds hard, it’s not. Just design the cover in PJ Remix. It’s exactly like designing pages only easier. You can see the aspect ratio and the wrap-around. And problems rarely occur because it’s so obvious when images don’t fit.

      We’ve already blogged about album covers, especially here and here, so we won’t repeat ourselves. If you’re not sure how to send us the image there’s a link about that too.

      If you don’t use Remix chances are you’ll slow down your album and maybe even incur extra charges, so please chat with your Account Manager if you’ve got any questions.

      Smooth sailing, Nigel

      PS Check out Matt Blum’s album (illustrated) here.

       

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      13. Design orders in PJ Remix 1.22 beta

      November 24th, 2008 in Photography & Design by


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      Someone reminded us that last week’s post about how to do Design Orders in Remix doesn’t work with the latest version, 1.22 beta (thanks for the heads-up). Most people avoid beta versions, but if you do have v1.22, please be aware that whereas earlier versions have a function called “Export Copy Of Event”, v1.22 uses Portable Projects. If you’re unsure what to do in 1.22, please contact PJ Support directly on the PJ Remix forum.

      This discrepancy will be tidied up when Portable Projects go final.

      Cheers, Ian

       

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      16. Design orders in Photojunction Remix

      November 18th, 2008 in Photography & Design by


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      This post is now superseded by new functionality in Photojunction v1.22 and later).

      If you use Queensberry to design your albums we want to make the process as smooth as possible. Here’s how to go about it.

      (The PJ work sounds more complicated than it is, but we’re here to help if you need it. Follow the links for further information.)

      1. Open up PJ Remix and click the Start New Project button. This fires up the Project Set-up Wizard for you to enter your Client and Event details and import the images.

      2. Click Finish when you’re done setting up the Project. Remix will import the images and open the Event window, where you need to choose the ones you want to include in the album. Move the selected images to a clearly named Group or Collection (eg ‘Album Images’). Remember, we charge per image for design work, so don’t send them all to us! If you’re choosing the images outside Photojunction, just import the ones you need for the album to PJ.

      3. Still in the Event window, locate the Products header in the Navigation Panel (above), click the ‘+’ button to create a new album and enter the details for it (format, cover material, cover style, page details etc).

      4. Once you’re done, open the Project Browser (eg go to the File menu and choose Browse Existing Projects). In the Project Browser, select the Event (just select it, don’t open it).

      5. Go to File> Export Copy Of Event. The window above will open, and you’ll need to set up the details as we’ve shown them. Start by clicking Browse (if necessary) to choose where to save the exported copy.

      6. We need the high-res files to prepare your files for printing, so check the “Include Original HR Image Files” box, which will reveal more options in the window.

      7. Click the “Select Images from Groups, Collections or Albums” radio button. DON’T click the All Images button! The LabFTP upload could be huge and you would incur extra design charges. Choose the Groups or Collections where you put the images that you want used in the album (step 2).

      8. Click the Export button. Photojunction will create a folder containing the PJR file and associated image proxies (ie the exported “Event”), plus the selected high-res files, in the location you specified, and also display a message with the name of the folder for your convenience.

      9. Open LabFTP and upload it to us using the “Full Colour Service Layouts” order form. Under “Select a service” choose “Design and Print”.

      10. Sorry, but for the time being you also need to fill in and fax our Design Order Form. We’re working on a new version of LabFTP that will allow you to send the necessary information online.

      Notice, by the way, you haven’t used the Order Wizard. The Order Wizard assumes that you’ve designed the album, whereas you want us to do that.

      HTH, Ian

      PS If you want to go a step further, you can drag the images on to the pages (just drop them where you want them). You’ll see in the last graphic that Photojunction lets you choose images “used in album” instead of a Group or Collection when selecting the high-res files to send (Step 7).

      Our goal with these posts is to give you an insight into our systems and promote a productive, hassle-free work flow. Please let us know what you think.

       

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      19. How to design pagemount Duo split mat pages

      November 12th, 2008 in Photography & Design by


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      The image above shows what we call a split mat in a Duo album. The image extends from top to bottom (or side to side) of the mat, dividing it in two. How did I do it?

      In this case I started in PJ Remix by adding a 10×7 aperture, then selecting Fill Page Height under Aperture Details on the Images tools palette. Look at it closely (as in the third image below) and you’ll see that the pagemount effect appears, just as it should, to the left and right of the image, but at the top and bottom the image extends right out to the edge of the page.

      I hope this helps.

      Smooth sailing, Ian

       

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      22. Free to all

      November 4th, 2008 in News by


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      The best album design software is now free to all.

      The Directors of Queensberry and Photojunction are delighted to announce a major change of direction for Photojunction. Effective immediately PJ Remix is a free download for photographers everywhere.

      This is great news for Queensberry clients in particular as it means developing a dedicated, intuitive, hassle-free Queensberry workflow will be a top priority.

      You can read the full announcement on The Junction.

      Best wishes from the Queensberry Client Support Team

       

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