Three quick tips to simplify album design. 1. Avoid unnecessary repetition (eg this is the bride looking slightly left, straight ahead, and slightly right) unless you make your profits from the number of images you sell. 2. Embrace open space (especially in sample albums - lead by example). 3. Offer a two album option that allows people to have lots of images without overcrowding. While I'm mentioning 'leading by example': If you don't make a sample album from each order, at least make each design into a slideshow you can show prospective clients. This library of slideshows allows you to show them To View More >>

I used to have a rule, 'If there is a black and white image in an opening the whole opening should be black and white!' It was a good rule because it fitted well with my 'Keep it simple' approach to album design. I have however seen some lovely designs from some very talented photographers where they are using the contrast between the black and white image and the colour one to either remind you of colour, or remind you of form. So I have modified my rule. Use colour and black and white together with intent only. Random meaningless mixing creates visual chaos and disturbs the viewing experience. To View More >>

Version 1.47, builds on changes introduced in v1.46. Our main focus was on Queensberry's new press books, including fixes to the new workflow, many of them "behind the scenes" from the user point of view. We know we have a way to go with this and the developers are continuing to work on cover design issues in particular. Having said that we've introduced three new features to speed up your album design. They're still a bit "v1.0", but we wrote them in consultation with Queensberry's design team, who live and die by productivity, and we wanted to get them to you early so you could take a look and To View More >>

Many users think the Event window is just a glorified image list, but it's not. It's a fast and easy set of tools to review, sort and organise your files before you even start thinking about album design. Open the Event window to review images is a very handy option in the Project Setup window. Instead of starting work on an album, slideshow or whatever, it allows you to simply open your images in the Event window to work on them. After all, at that point you may not even know what album your client wants. Once you're done working with your images, and you're ready to start designing, you can To View More >>

What does a photographer do when their client wants something ‘a bit different’ for their wedding day? Ask Steve and Heidi of Aim 2 Please Photography. That’s exactly what they were asked by Katherine and Steve who were married at a stunning golf course resort north of Toronto on a warm spring day. The bride and groom were married by the bride's Grandparents, who are both members of the Salvation Army, then headed off to several locations around the resort where Steve and Heidi has set specific shots up. They posed with chairs in a grassy field, under a white canopy bed and set up a shoot To View More >>

Let's wrap up this Problem reporter series and stop ignoring the elephant in the room… Who needs a problem reporter anyway? After all, as we confirmed at the webinar it drives some people nuts. Well I'm glad you asked! I should start by saying it's not an unusual concept. Try googling "pre-flight", for example, and check out the Wikipedia and Adobe listings in particular. What the pre-flight process does in the printing industry is ensure that digital files sent for printing are all present, valid, correctly formatted, and of the desired type. Why? Because, if they're not, the job can't be done. To View More >>

Shortly after the iPad was announced, Nigel posted about wanting to run Photojunction on it. While that hasn't happened (yet), the iPad has become quite a popular tool for photographers. Personally, I like to use it to present final album designs to clients. Photojunction makes creating and editing layouts so simple, that sitting there with a client flicking through their spreads takes the mystery out of knowing exactly what they'll end up with. There are so many presentation options within Photojunction, but here's a few that work with the iPad... 1. Slideshows Want an album slideshow to fit perfectly To View More >>

You, the photographer, are entrusted with telling the story of a couple's day ... not any old day ... it's the BIG one. [caption id="attachment_8319" align="alignleft" width="333" caption="The bride and groom"][/caption] They want it told with beauty and creativity. They chose you because they saw your work and figured that you would be the best person to tell their story. Or was it that they fell in love with your prices, and assumed that all photographers were equal (except for pricing)? Ultimately we are telling a story ... we need to know whether we are the authors or the observers, and apply To View More >>

Hey, you guys are album designers. Check out Johannes van Kan's recent post on the Queensberry Connects, Judging albums for awards. As a judge for the Australian Professional Photography Awards at PMA in Melbourne a week or so ago, he shares some insightful observations and advice about album design... And shares a few pointers for anyone entering albums for awards. Cheers, Nigel To View More >>

I've gathered enough gongs now to qualify for an opinion on album design. Last week I was a judge for the Australian Professional Photography Awards at PMA in Melbourne. This was an honour I shared with the lovely Jo Grams, Jerry Ghionis, Jackie Chan, Yervant and other luminaries. Several things became apparent: 1) Some authors treated the album as a set of individual prints, mixing black and whites with colours, verticals with horizontals, with blatant disregard for the influence of those images on each other. 2) Some authors were hypnotised by the ability to apply a filter to create a look ... To View More >>