Working on a getting a sample album published from a recent wedding. What do you think? I'm a really big fan of white backgrounds and minimalist design, hence the design you see. This is basically a rough layout, I still need to tweak the photos, so I'm just wondering if there are any glaring flaws in the design that I need to tighten up. Appreciate any input!

Link is not bringing it up for me. Looks like... your Flash website

uh, yeah, you're right, my bad

www.fpereiraphoto.com/slideshows/testalbum

remember, i'm an idiot lol

Here, I'll make it an actual link for you.

www.fpereiraphoto.com/slideshows/testalbum

Awesome start, and here's my CC, hope it helps!


Spread 1: Maybe it's just me, but I don't like it when things are *almost* lined up and close, but a little off, as it seems more accidental than intentional. The top and bottom of the two smaller images almost line up with the large one, but not quite, and the spacing between the two smaller images is almost the same as the spacing between them and the larger one, but... not quite. Also think you can find a stronger large image, as the background elements (person looking in other direction, plastic hanging, and mirror) are pretty distracting.

Spread 2: Same thoughts on spacing between the smaller pics being different than the spacing between them and the larger. Think it will be much more pleasing once they are the same

Spread 3: Hot! Is the gutter between them or over his nose?

Spread 7: Repeat comments about spacing and lining up as in Spread 1.

Spread 8: Probably my favorite so far.... awesome!

Spread 9: Why are there black borders all the sudden?! Otherwise just measure and make sure all the photos on the left are the same size/spacing. Love the pics and layout here.

Spread 10: Is that another random black border I see?

hey lindsey, thanks for the comments. the borders, yeah they're not supposed to be there, the action set i use inserts them automatically, i forgot to turn it off on those.

i did the spacing somewhat haphazardly on a few of the spreads, i'll have to turn on the grids to line them up more carefully. i'd be smarter to just make a few templates, but i'm not smart. lol

thanks again!

Now my critique: In no particular order, I was clicking around the whole book.

In a minimalist approach, I like the design on spread 8. But on spread 9, all of a sudden, there's a keyline around the photos. Why the sudden design change? But the picture on spread 7 -- the kiss -- kind of needs SOMEthing to hold those edges, so I would consider giving the pages a background color, or using a thin keyline on all the pictures that don't bleed.

I'm not a big fan of mixing b/w and color on a page unless it REALLY works, and on spread 7, I don't really see a reason for it. The skin tones are orange. I'd make the whole thing b/w. Top left image seems overly dark.

Spread 6 -- groom's face is too dark. A little creative layer masking will fix that.

Spread 5 is the strongest in the book but I would try to think if it's possible to crop out groom's hand. After the page bleed trim, there's not going to be much left anyway, so I would just get the whole hand out.

Spread 4 -- white balance doesn't match. 2nd picture needs more contrast and crop out that weird thing in the ceiling. I don't see the point of the vertical wood panel in the 2 right pictures. What's the point of cropping it that way? If it stays in the book that way, the sliver on the left of the right-most picture needs to be cropped out.

Spread 3 -- nice.

Spread 2 -- why mix the b/w and color? Doesn't help the design, so just go for all b/w. Bottom left whites seem blown.

Spread 1 -- it bothers me that it's the same layout as 2 (and sort of 7) and yet the spacing is not at all the same. It also bothers me on Spread 1 that the pictures ALMOST align, but not quite, and so it either needs to clearly NOT align, or align perfectly, but the near miss is a design faux pas. Spread 2 does it almost correctly, except the space is not equally distributed, which bothers me, but probably wouldn't be noticed by most people.

Overall, be careful of trim edges.

Spread 10 -- why mix the b/w and color? Doesn't work here. Bottom right is too dark. That's a lot of ceiling. I might change that design to just be the backlight one of the couple and ditch the toss pictures completely, depending on what else is in the dance shot.


EDIT: Didn't see Lindsey's great post until just now -- I agree about that plastic thing in spread 1. Oooh, and I agree with her that Spread 8 is my favorite one in the design sense!

thanks jules! yeah, i totally agree with my consistency (or lack thereof), i didn't put a lot of attention into the color correction yet, but i shouldnt be afraid to do all b/w when i tend to prefer bw imagery to color anyway. i think i hold on to color images because someone once mentioned how many bw images i have in my portfolio. i just need to embrace it and go with it.

Hehe-- yeah, I agree with a lot of yours as well, though I left the photo comments alone since he said he still needed to tweak the images.

I don't personally have a problem with black and white and color images sharing a spread as long as it's got a good placement (example: large image color, all small ones b/w).


Phil: I do get REALLY tempted to do a lot of B/W too... especially when it's between struggling to get the color and skin tones right for 15 minutes or just pressing that "B/W" preset I have made and having a gorgeous piece of art-- aghh! Drives me crazy! But if you want it to be your style, embrace it. The Holritz's do a LOT of B/W with their weddings, for example

I think you already got the feedback I was going to give. I like a minimalist theme but I agree with most of the points brought up!