Posts Tagged ‘Tech and Design Tips’

Life is short. Don’t spend it waiting on digital uploads!

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Since we at Zookbinders moved from just assembling photo albums to actually printing the albums too since we launched print-to-bind service in 2006, we’ve learned a thing or two about digital imaging.

We commonly see image files uploaded to us at every conceivable combination of file size and resolution, some which are needlessly large. We recommend that photographers prepare their image files to the accepted industry standard for photographic printing, which is 300 dpi in the sRGB color space and saved at a level 10 JPEG format.

JPEG compression is the clever method of reducing the image size (and therefore storage capacity needed for) digital photographic files devised by the Joint Photographic Experts Group from where it gets its name. Compression means loss of image quality. Without getting too technical here, converting your image files to JPEG is a tradeoff between maintaining image quality and minimizing storage size. The degree of compression can be adjusted. In Photoshop, the range is from 1 to 12 with 1 being the highest degree of compression coupled with the lowest image quality, and 12 being the least compression and highest quality image.

So given that 12 is the highest quality JPEG, why would we recommend a level 10? The answer is that an image saved at level 10 JPEG is roughly one third the size of the level 12 file which will reduce your storage needs and dramatically speed your internet upload time.* Oh, and by the way, no one can tell the difference!  That’s right, there is no noticeable increase in JPEG artifacts going from level 12 to level 10. You don’t have to take our word for it either. The popular internet hosting site SmugMug reports that after years of debate and contests in forums, the results are that no one has been able to tell the difference between printed photographs generated from files stored at Photoshop JPEG 12 and JPEG 10 settings.

The takeaway here is save yourself the frustration and time wasted watching your images upload to your internet hosting site, or to Zookbinders. You won’t be compromising quality, and just maybe you can get off the computer and have dinner with your family.

*For example, given a 12” x 24” album spread at 300dpi, the uncompressed file (either PSD or TIFF, flattened) will be just over 74 mb. Save this file as a level 12 JPEG file, and it drops to around 15mb. If you save it to a level 10 JPEG, it drops to around 5mb or roughly one third the size of the level 12 file without any noticeable loss in image quality.

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Making a Difference

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Recently, I’ve overheard a few photographers saying “Why would I want to use Zookbinders if all of my competitors are using them too?”

While it is always good to differentiate yourself from your competition, is it the album that you use that makes you different or the images you put in your albums? Of course, here at Zookbinders we pride ourselves on making high quality, hand made, books and albums. We stack ourselves against any of our competition and strive to give our customers the best possible product in which to feature their images.

But it is your images that make your album truly unique. No matter how many photographers use one orientation or another, one leather color or another or one cover style or another, it will be your images and image layouts that make your album different from your competition. How can you make your designs different from your competitions’?

1 – Be Selective. Nothing makes an album look more like a scrapbook than cramming as many images as possible into the album. Before you begin designing, carefully select which images best tell the story of your client’s big day.

2 – Use Negative Space. Some people don’t like that term, I happen to think it is a great positive. Used properly, negative space balances and actually ads impact to the corresponding image(s) it surrounds.

3 – Fewer Images for Greater Impact. When designing each page layout, once again the old axiom is true; less is more. It may take a few more pages to tell the story, but your album will have much more impact if each page spread has a more sparse design. Admittedly you may need to charge more per image to cover the added cost of more pages, but your designs will be much more dynamic.

4 – Hire a Professional. We all love photographing weddings. But not all of us love sitting behind the computer designing or have the design background to create wonderful page layouts. Consider hiring a local designer or an online design service. We at Zookbinders have a partnership with Zoho Design, www.zohodesign.com. It may cost you a bit more but you’ll have more time to photograph and be with family; you’ll be able to handle more clients in an efficient manner; and, you’ll have wonderful album designs that your clients will rave about.

5 – Packaging. As beautiful as it is, don’t just hand over your client’s finished album alone. Wrap it in a special box or bag, include ribbon or a bow, include referral cards and include a complimentary portrait session to get your wedding clients back in the door for a future session and order.

Do you have design tips of your own you’d like to share? Let us know. Send us a message with your tips on making your albums unique.

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The color of money

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

One of the most important things you can do to make money in professional photography is to have an efficient and consistent workflow. Part of that workflow is knowing basic color management. By properly managing your digital files you’ll get better results, and actually save time and save money.

Zookbinders’ printers, as those within most labs, print in the sRGB color space. The key to good color, however, is consistency. Whether you choose to shoot and work in the sRGB or AdobeRGB color space, you should pick one and be consistent. In your camera as well as your computer, select your preferred color space. In Photoshop you’ll select it in Working Space under Color Settings. Also select Convert to Working RGB under Color Management Properties and uncheck Ask When Opening and Ask When Pasting if you’d like Photoshop to automatically convert your files. When saving your JPEG files, make sure to check the “Embed Color Profile” check box so that your printer will know your color space and you will have predictable results.

Now to help stay in the black with money that is green, you’ll also need to have a properly calibrated and profiled monitor. The easiest and most accurate way to do this is with a calibration device such as those available from Xrite, DataColor or GretagMacbeth. These devices, with their software, remove any color cast from your screen, optimize brightness and contrast and create a profile for your monitor. Photoshop uses this profile when displaying your images to give you the most accurate color display possible.

By taking control of your monitors and your images, you will be assured that what you send Zookbinders or your lab will look the way you expect. Sure a calibration device can require a $150-$200 investment, but in the end you’ll save much more in time, remakes, and lab fees as most labs to offer discounts for studio managed color prints.

Let us know what you think or your tips for color management and stay tuned for those next tips as you start the process of calibrating your monitor.

Scott Patrick, Zookbinders Marketing and Sales Staff

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An American Idol: 5 Tips to Make Your Albums Sing

Monday, November 9th, 2009

1. Find out what type of book your client wants

The first step in designing your client’s album is knowing what type of album they’d like. While the flush, coffee table book styled albums are all the rage these days, there is still a small demand for matted albums. Of course within each style there are a variety of options in manufacturing, size and format. Show and explain the differences to your clients and get them excited about the style they choose.

2. Pre-design

Initially it may sound counter intuitive, but pre-designing your clients’ albums, in the long run, will actually save you time. Who knows your images better, has the experience and has the creative vision to design your client’s wedding album? You do.While your clients are on their honeymoon, edit their images, create a folder of album favorites and create and album layout BEFORE they return and see the rest of their images. They will be wowed by your images and your design and it will be much easier for them to understand the final product. Sure they make a few changes for some images, but in general, your clients will trust your design talents and you will see completed album sales much quicker than waiting for them to pick out their favorite images. We recommend over designing the album with more images or more pages than included in their package. While it is best to show your layout in person in your studio, you can post your layout online as well, but be sure to explain why you created the layouts you did so that they don’t pick apart each individual page layout. They can always eliminate pages or you can upsell them on the additional pages or a multi-volume set.

3. Less is More

Some of the most beautifully designed albums actually use fewer images, or at least more sparsely laid out pages. These pages look less cluttered and truly highlight your images. On average, four to five images per two page spread offers some wonderful design options. One design approach is to feature a single image on one half of the page spread, the key image for that part of the story, with smaller, accompanying images on the opposite page. Less is more and simple is beautiful.

4. Tell a story

The most successful wedding albums tell a story. The success and beauty of this story not only depends on your album design and how you visually take the viewer through the album, but the images you take as well. Remember the five Ws of journalism – Who, What, When, Where and Why. Capturing all of the people, places, details, events and emotions of your client’s day will insure that they’ll be able to relive their entire day through your images.

5. Don’t forget the family

Not in an ominous way like Don Vito Corleone might have said it, “Never go against the family,” but in a joyous way, we suggest that you remember the bride and groom’s family when designing your albums. Once you’ve designed your main album, with just a click of your mouse you can order parent albums, grandparent albums and even wedding party albums that are clones of the original, a fraction of the cost. This can mean lots of happy people and great additional profits.

Time to vote for your “Idol Album Tips.” Share with us your favorite album tips so we can all vote on the best one.

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