So, here is my first digital design. All of my other customers have chosen traditional albums. So, what do you think?

http://karidouma.com/userfiles/Slideshows/PalmbosAlbum/

I had the bride pick out the images, and I put them into the design. There are probably more images per page than I would like, ...

Either no one likes it, and doesn't want to comment,
or you are all so in awe of it, you don't know what to say!

I loved it... I watched it twice. I also love all your little sayings. Where do you get those from?

Great work, it looks beautiful.

Melissa O

Great work... I loved it. Maybe noone answered cause its friday... its hard to get online on the weekends sometimes. I really enjoyed it. What software did you use. and if you don't mind me asking you had awesome lighting... what did you use?
I think you did very well in putting the photos together. My brides end up always asking to have more photos in their albums and I am always having to re do some pages because of that. I like the minimalistic authentic coffee able style of an album (if that even exists) I like the albums to look simple and showcase the detail in certain photos. Brides however want to get the most out of their investment and think more is better.
I'd like to know if everyone else has the same response from brides?

Thanks Melissa! I got the sayings from a variety of places... one was from my wedding invitation, a few I saw in a friends album, and one I got from a book. I went to a scrapbooking store and bought a book with love quotes in it. It is a good place to get some quotes from!

I used photoshop CS2 to create it. I am considering checking out Kevin's tutorial on In Design, but I haven't done too much of this yet. So, I'm not sure if I want to sink money into the In Design program.

I agree about asking for more photos. I told her to give me a list of 80 images for a 28 page album. She did end up buying an extra 2 pages, so she could get all 100 pictures that she picked out in, but they are too crowded for my taste. I think it is easier to design with less on a page...

Which lighting did you like? The getting ready are mostly natural light (I think one had a flash). The formals inside are studio strobes with umbrellas, but I dragged the shutter to get some of the glow on the christmas tree lights. The processional is flash (If you couldn't tell!) and the ceremony is ambient light only. The reception is flash with lightsphere. A few of the dancing images had a second flash synced with a pocket wizzard on the side. Thanks for the compliments!

I think it's pretty good! I'm not a fan of any wording in albums as it tends to date the book and overpower the images. When I WOULD use it is if they are specific to the couple (on their announcement, program or if they gave you a favorite line) but would use a font that's timeless.

WOW... Do you use an assistant? What lens(aperature) did you use for your group shot, everyone looks great. I am not a fan of formals or big group shots.

This bride had asked for the wording. She had seen something similar somewhere else, and spacifically asked for it. I think I like it, but not a lot of it. The passage on the ceremony page was the passage from their wedding.

So, what fonts do you think are timeless?

Yes, I do use an assistant. Last year was the first year that I used one. I have been shooting wedings for 4 years. I will never go back! On this wedding I used a Tamron 28-105 2.8 lens for the indoor formals. I like that range, because I can zoom on the couple, and still do wide angle for the groups without changing lenses. Sometimes I use my Nikon 17-55. I do have to be careful with the Nikon lens, that I don't shoot too wide and get distortion. This particual wedding I was shooting at ISO 400, at F8 at 1/20 shutter. I typically do 100 ISO and 1/90, unless I am trying to let in some ambient light like in the case of the christmas tree lights, or if there is a deep alter. I am not too fond of formals on the alter either, but most of my customers do request some. This was a winter wedding, so we didn't do family formals outside at all.