squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
Well. I decided it's time to put together a Blurb book, after listening to Brooks Jensen's terrific LensWork podcast today. I've been sort of planning this in the back of my head for more than a year, but I spent today making some selections, healing out dust, etc. in preparation for putting it all together. I downloaded the InDesign template and will start trying to lay it all out in the coming weeks...I figure I'll just put a free .pdf download on my website and a link to the Blurb page.
Anyway, I am thinking the book will be called Fifty Pictures. It'll be about half black and white and half color, and will consist mostly of shots that document personal solitude, or the unpeopled human environment--a few street shots, some man-made tableaus, some pictures in which people are evasive, or intimidated by their surroundings, or appear to have just stepped out for a moment. Basically the book will be about the way what we leave behind gets in the way of being what and who we are.
I don't expect to sell any, really--I just want it to be available. So, some questions.
1) black and white and color. Should I intersperse them according to whim, or should I separate the book into B&W and color sections? I'm leaning towards the former, even though just this afternoon I was leaning toward the latter. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. My suspicion is that this technical difference is more important to photographers than it is to actual viewers.
2) Using Blurb. Any caveats?
3) Is 50 too many pictures? I had no trouble winnowing down to this amount, but would have more trouble winnowing further. This is about 2 and a half years of photographs.
4) Titles. The pictures have titles, mostly, but I'm thinking of going with a more Egglestony approach and just putting the place and year, and perhaps a line of description for a few that might benefit from it. I'm feeling rather anti-title and anti-artist-statement--I figure if the pictures can't speak for themselves, they probably suck.
5) Statement. So yeah...should I bother? Should I have a friend write a little essay or poem or story or something? (I know a lot of good writers.) Should I ask somebody to interview me? I suppose that is kind of pretentious.
6) Layout--I'd like a photo every other page, with the facing page just the small amount of text referring to the photo. This is a huge waste of space and money, but since nobody's gonna buy it...also, I am considering doing the text as pencilled handwriting rather than an actual font. This could be cool but more likely would be really corny. but maybe not?
Thanks.
Anyway, I am thinking the book will be called Fifty Pictures. It'll be about half black and white and half color, and will consist mostly of shots that document personal solitude, or the unpeopled human environment--a few street shots, some man-made tableaus, some pictures in which people are evasive, or intimidated by their surroundings, or appear to have just stepped out for a moment. Basically the book will be about the way what we leave behind gets in the way of being what and who we are.
I don't expect to sell any, really--I just want it to be available. So, some questions.
1) black and white and color. Should I intersperse them according to whim, or should I separate the book into B&W and color sections? I'm leaning towards the former, even though just this afternoon I was leaning toward the latter. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. My suspicion is that this technical difference is more important to photographers than it is to actual viewers.
2) Using Blurb. Any caveats?
3) Is 50 too many pictures? I had no trouble winnowing down to this amount, but would have more trouble winnowing further. This is about 2 and a half years of photographs.
4) Titles. The pictures have titles, mostly, but I'm thinking of going with a more Egglestony approach and just putting the place and year, and perhaps a line of description for a few that might benefit from it. I'm feeling rather anti-title and anti-artist-statement--I figure if the pictures can't speak for themselves, they probably suck.
5) Statement. So yeah...should I bother? Should I have a friend write a little essay or poem or story or something? (I know a lot of good writers.) Should I ask somebody to interview me? I suppose that is kind of pretentious.
6) Layout--I'd like a photo every other page, with the facing page just the small amount of text referring to the photo. This is a huge waste of space and money, but since nobody's gonna buy it...also, I am considering doing the text as pencilled handwriting rather than an actual font. This could be cool but more likely would be really corny. but maybe not?
Thanks.
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squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
These are the kind of pictures that will be in the book.
(gotta back off on the clarity slider for that one...what was I thinking?!?)
(gotta back off on the clarity slider for that one...what was I thinking?!?)
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sleepyhead
Well-known
50 photos sounds alright to me, as long as they are all reasonably strong.
Regarding layout, I personally would make working prints of all of them before I even went near a computer, and would lay them all on the floor and play with different orders, and juxtapositions, etc.
Look at lots of other photobooks, preferably by well-known photographers, or at least ones that resonate with you.
There is an art to your pictures (obviously), but there is as big an art to effective photo layout and sequencing. You may want to consider getting input from a profesional layout person.
Good luck! Have fun!
Regarding layout, I personally would make working prints of all of them before I even went near a computer, and would lay them all on the floor and play with different orders, and juxtapositions, etc.
Look at lots of other photobooks, preferably by well-known photographers, or at least ones that resonate with you.
There is an art to your pictures (obviously), but there is as big an art to effective photo layout and sequencing. You may want to consider getting input from a profesional layout person.
Good luck! Have fun!
squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
Definitely! I'm getting all the photo books out and looking them over again. And I like the working prints idea...perhaps I'll take a USB drive down to the supermarket and get some.
Pablito
coco frío
Read carefully the bit about color management and color space on the Blurb website.
squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
Will do. I wouldn't have read it, actually.
Bob Michaels
nobody special
do check out some books by Duane Michals. I especially recommend Real Dreams and his book of portraits. Real Dreams is a bit hard to find but well worth it IMHO. Try an interlibrary loan. Caution to others, he is not for everyone.
He does quite a bit of writing about his photos, all in pen and all first draft kind of stuff. You will see his corrections. Now he has meaningful things to say but you should as well. 99% of us don't.
filmfan
Well-known
I suggest showing fewer (than 50) photos which are the best. The difference between a good photographer and a great photographer is that the great ones only show their great photos...
I also recommend choosing either color or black and white. Allows the viewer of the book to rely on your style's presence.
Also, emit the van photo. The others are nice though.
I also recommend choosing either color or black and white. Allows the viewer of the book to rely on your style's presence.
Also, emit the van photo. The others are nice though.
mervynyan
Mervyn Yan
I am also working on a personal project using Blurb, haven't gotten my head around it yet but I am still in the process of developing and scanning films.
snausages
Well-known
Have you considered Adorama's books? Blurb may have improved in the last couple years, but the book I ordered in 2008 was disappointing in terms of the paper stock. Someone brought an Adorama book to the last NYC RFF meet-up and the stock was really impressive. I haven't researched it much, but if I were to make a book now I'd probably not use Blurb.
squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
I had no idea they even did this kind of thing...perhaps I will. If they have InDesign templates, I'll check them out later today.
Bob, I'm pretty excited by the idea of handwritten notes on each photo...I'm going in to work today (I can't believe I start teaching again Monday, the horror!) and will order up those books. The art library may actually have them, though they are kind of lame when it comes to photography monographs.
Don't know what to say about the van picture. It's one of my favorites I've ever taken--nobody agrees with me that it's any good. I just love those dog legs under there. There are a handful of people fishing behind it.
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
I would stick to either B&W or color. I've looked at a lot of photo books, and switching from one to the other within the same book is jarring. B&W and color are just too different to work together, IMHO.
Sparrow
Veteran
Blurb’s colour management is a bit … err, rudimentary and you may well have to make changes when you see the first copy.
I agree about the van, the line and composition is spot on, people get uneasy if there is no content or narrative in an image .. I like them
I agree about the van, the line and composition is spot on, people get uneasy if there is no content or narrative in an image .. I like them
Sparrow
Veteran
I’ve mixed colour and monotone, I just used a different presentations the colour as part of the narrative and the monotone as the “art”
like this
like this
Pablito
coco frío
Van photo is strong, IMO, but agree completely that mixing color and b&w is really problematic. For what it's worth.
Dreading Monday for the same reason.
Dreading Monday for the same reason.
Frank Petronio
Well-known
- Do as may pages as possible using the better quality paper. Nothing beats a thick book.
- Mix color and B&W with abandon as long as the subject/theme flows. Same with formats, mix 8x10 w cellphone pix. Pull that stick out of your a$$. What is a bit of an issue with me is that I have 5x more B&W than Color, so I try to mix in the color sort of evenly so it isn't all clumped in a couple patches.
- Use the PDF workflow.
- Have nice contrasty snappy photos, flat moody stuff won't translate as well.
- Search and install the Blurb CMYK profile -- it is the same as the B3 program prolfile, if you are in the B3 program. I haven't looked lately at changes to B3, idk what they are doing with it.
- I design the book using InDesign, package the images, then "convert to profile" using the Blurb CMYK profile. If you have Greyscale or RGB images that changes them to the proper CMYK versions. Have your InDesign doc use the sRGB profile. Update your InDesign document and export a PDF using the Blurb Spec for PDFs.
- As long as I went Greyscale to the CMYK Blurb profile, I've finally gotten pleasing B&W images printing CMYK from a POD publisher. FINALLY AFTER YEARS AND $$$.
- Make a lower res PDF for your website, try to keep it under 10mb
- Nothing beats a test book, think of it as an organic experimental process. Give the almosts and failures to understanding friends.
- The imagewrap covers are really nice.
- I work as a graphic designer. If you're not, start by following an existing book you like. Lay stuff out BY THE NUMBERS not by feel, don't be too much of an emo artist with InDesign.
- Selling the book makes no sense, what costs $80 would be a $20 book in a retail space.
- Don't bother with their stupid book contests.
- Mix color and B&W with abandon as long as the subject/theme flows. Same with formats, mix 8x10 w cellphone pix. Pull that stick out of your a$$. What is a bit of an issue with me is that I have 5x more B&W than Color, so I try to mix in the color sort of evenly so it isn't all clumped in a couple patches.
- Use the PDF workflow.
- Have nice contrasty snappy photos, flat moody stuff won't translate as well.
- Search and install the Blurb CMYK profile -- it is the same as the B3 program prolfile, if you are in the B3 program. I haven't looked lately at changes to B3, idk what they are doing with it.
- I design the book using InDesign, package the images, then "convert to profile" using the Blurb CMYK profile. If you have Greyscale or RGB images that changes them to the proper CMYK versions. Have your InDesign doc use the sRGB profile. Update your InDesign document and export a PDF using the Blurb Spec for PDFs.
- As long as I went Greyscale to the CMYK Blurb profile, I've finally gotten pleasing B&W images printing CMYK from a POD publisher. FINALLY AFTER YEARS AND $$$.
- Make a lower res PDF for your website, try to keep it under 10mb
- Nothing beats a test book, think of it as an organic experimental process. Give the almosts and failures to understanding friends.
- The imagewrap covers are really nice.
- I work as a graphic designer. If you're not, start by following an existing book you like. Lay stuff out BY THE NUMBERS not by feel, don't be too much of an emo artist with InDesign.
- Selling the book makes no sense, what costs $80 would be a $20 book in a retail space.
- Don't bother with their stupid book contests.
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Pickett Wilson
Veteran
Frank - solid, real world, specific advice. You've saved folks a lot of wasted time and effort.
squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
THANK YOU. This thread was, to be honest, Petronio bait.
Forgive me but I am definitely mixing color and black and white. I just don't see any real problem with it--it has never bothered me when looking at other people's work. But I am curious about whether people think it would be better separated or intermixed. I'm on Frank's side of the argument at the moment.
Agreed, the whole selling-books thing is ridiculous--nobody will buy one, period. Except me. And maybe my mom. But I do want it to be available--or rather, it's an excuse for making me put this work together and consider it as a whole.
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
I think doing a book just for yourself is worthwhile. It represents "completion." Puts a period at the end of a project. And, honestly, lets you look at a collection of work more objectively. Even if you don't plan to sell a single one.
djonesii
Well-known
I print all my things with blurb. A key bit for me is keeping up to date on the current version. They now allow you to customize page layouts.
I do the family summer book, special books, and my figure shooting book with blurb. I find the paper stock in the full size books good, I have compared this with friends 7x7 books. The printing process and the paper is much inferior on the 7x7s.
I have done image wrap, paper dust jacket, and paper cover, depending on how the books will be used. For gifts I choose the image wrap or paper dust jacket, it's just nicer to me. For proofs and things that kids will get their hands on, I choose paper cover. If you are doing something important, I find a proof book cheap enough to make sure that the layout is really correct.
I recall reading somewhere that sRGB profile works better than adobe RBG,and I have lightroom export the photos that way.
As to using the PDF method, I was just about to try that when the added the change the layout feature to book smart, and that saved me a bunch of time. I set the layout to the one that I will use most often in the book, add that as the first page, and then let autolayout run. Wham!, a few seconds, and most of my pages are correct. Then I go in an move the few remaining ones around.
One thing that often catches me out is that if you are not careful, the page captions wind up running through out the book when you really want them on one page ( only in bookSmart.)
Hope that helps.
Dave
I do the family summer book, special books, and my figure shooting book with blurb. I find the paper stock in the full size books good, I have compared this with friends 7x7 books. The printing process and the paper is much inferior on the 7x7s.
I have done image wrap, paper dust jacket, and paper cover, depending on how the books will be used. For gifts I choose the image wrap or paper dust jacket, it's just nicer to me. For proofs and things that kids will get their hands on, I choose paper cover. If you are doing something important, I find a proof book cheap enough to make sure that the layout is really correct.
I recall reading somewhere that sRGB profile works better than adobe RBG,and I have lightroom export the photos that way.
As to using the PDF method, I was just about to try that when the added the change the layout feature to book smart, and that saved me a bunch of time. I set the layout to the one that I will use most often in the book, add that as the first page, and then let autolayout run. Wham!, a few seconds, and most of my pages are correct. Then I go in an move the few remaining ones around.
One thing that often catches me out is that if you are not careful, the page captions wind up running through out the book when you really want them on one page ( only in bookSmart.)
Hope that helps.
Dave