Photography + Memory (Part 3) : Making A Great Photo Book

As mentioned in my last post I've made a Blurb photo book for the husband every xmas since 2007. I was so proud of my early attempts but now when I look back at them I do cringe a little - I made some pretty poor choices when it came to design, layout and photo quality. I've learnt a lot since then and I think each book is better than the last. 

(Although I do kinda think I may have peaked in 2012, a year in which we travelled a lot. The book was titled 'Home and Away', and I used a retro departure / arrivals board type of font called Flipboard throughout. The captions were made to look like flight information displays - a page of photos of Ferdi refusing to get out of bed was captioned 'ZZ101  Ferdi sleeps in  20:12  Delayed'; our trip to the US which kicked off in San Fran was captioned 'OZ214  San Francisco  12:01  Go To Gate' (OZ214 was our actual flight number and 12:01 represent January 2012). And so on. Clever, yes?)

Anyway. Here's what I've figured out:

Less is more. This is true in so many ways. Firstly, edit your photo selection and then edit it again (kind of like packing a suitcase). You want the best images, the ones that are most fit for purpose - just a few duds in the mix can bring your whole book down. Next, keep your page layouts clean and simple. And only use a few different page layouts across your entire book. Three at the most, I think. And the same goes for fonts too.

Negative is Positive. Don't be afraid of negative space. Don't feel the need to cram eight photos on every page, or use a heap of full page bleeds. Embrace that blank space, that emptiness will help each of your beautiful images tell the story they're meant to. 

The page from my 2007 book below is, frankly, terrible. The photos are too tiny and too dark, and the layout is far too busy. The story, the images, get lost in the messiness of it all. The 2009 page is a little better - at least the photos take centre stage here. But mainly I included this page because LOOK! There's Elfi in a life jacket! 

Tell a story. Before I sit down to make each book, I run through the year and jot down the big events for each month. Then I try to find a common thread across those events or pick out one really important / life-changing thing and use that as the theme for the book. 

Last year we moved from Seoul to Sydney (kind of a big deal...) so the book was called 'Hello Sydney'. I continued the theme through some of the captions - images taken during our Europe trip were introduced with 'Hello Venice', 'Hello Istanbul', and so on. The 2012 'Home and Away' book I've described above is another example of how a theme helps tie a book together. 

The same idea could apply to any kind of photo book - it might be about a specific trip or special birthday - whatever it is, try and find that hook, that thread running through things. Trying to find the theme and having fun with it is definitely one of my favourite things about putting the book together each year. 

Set the scene. Not every photo has to have someone's smiling face in it. This is about memory, right? So include some shots that trigger the memory of whatever it is you're trying to capture. Was it the smell of espresso at a coffee bar in Napoli? Then include that shot of the espresso machine. Was it the non-stop rain during your Hong Kong stopover? Then include that shot of all the umbrellas, dripping wet. It might be a shot of your feet, the landscape, the furniture, some balloons, a meal, a posy, a random goat (Italy, July 2013) - whatever it is that reminds you of that place, that time. 

Vary your shots. Include a mix of gorgeous close ups, zoomed right in, and big picture, scene setting shots. Mixing things up will help you set the scene. (Also, see this great post from Fat Mum Slim over on Kidspot about how to tell a story in photos.) 

I really love the page below from our 2012 book. It's a reminder of one of the loveliest afternoons we've had in recent times - a really amazing family meal at Pilu at Freshwater on a gorgeous Sydney winter's day. Note the simple, clean layout and the mix of shots I've used to capture the mood.

Light and bright. I always, always find that my photos print out a little darker than how they appear on my computer screen. You don't want to overexpose your shots, but don't be too stingy with the brightening when you're editing and be very wary of including any that are on the dark side. Be aware that when you're viewing your photos on a screen against a black background they will look much lighter than when they're actually printed on a page with a white background. 

High resolution. I'm very bad with pixels per inch and dpis and all those technical terms, they make my head spin a bit. But I do know that low resolution images might look okay on your phone screen but they're probably not going to cut it on the printed page. A good quick check is to zoom in on your image a little, if things start looking blurry straightaway chances are you're dealing with a low res image that may not survive the printing process. Some book producing software will also give you a warning if your image is too small for what you're trying to do.

Basically you don't want to spend your time and money on a photo book full of vague, blurry images. So, use the best camera you can get your hands on and be mindful of image size when you're shooting, editing and exporting. A few years ago I would have said don't use camera phone shots, but the technology has come a long way very quickly - you can pretty much get away with it these days.

See how light and bright the page below is, from my most recent book? See how large the photos are? How there's a scene setting shot and a close up? How it captures the city (Istanbul) and the thoughtful repose of my (stylish) teenage stepson? Such a difference to that awful layout from 2007, yes?

And lastly? Have fun! I include all kinds of silly jokes in my books - captions about places we've been that only make sense to us, turns of phrase that have become part of the family lingo for the year - all the little stuff that glues us together. In the page above the caption says 'Hello Istanbul - We will eat all your things'. I poke a lot of fun at myself along the way too. It amuses me greatly and, occasionally, I'll even get a laugh out of the rest of the family. I have so much fun putting these books together, it's almost unhealthy...

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Have you made a photo book? Do you have any tips you'd like to share? Or do you have any questions for me about making photo books? Ask away!

Handmade Holidays : Pom Pom Wreath

Over the past few weeks, whenever I've had a spare moment, I've been making pom poms. Whether it's those minutes at the end of the day, when everything is kind of organised and the dogs and I are hanging for the husband to get home from work; or while I'm waiting for a bunch of photos to upload to Lightroom or Flickr or this blog; or when I just can't face the to do list - it's been pom pom time! And the end result is this wreath, which is now proudly hanging on our front door. 

Here's how you can make one too:

Step One : Make Your Pom Poms! 

Fairly obvious really. If you make them in stolen moments across a few weeks you'll have a pile of pom poms before you know it, and without the pain and cramps that can come from going pom pom crazy. My wreath was about 24 cm in diameter, and I needed 40 pom poms to cover it (a mix of big and small). I used these nifty Clover tools to make mine. They do speed the process up a bit, a wise investment if you've caught the pom pom fever.

Step Two : Attach Ribbon and Centrepiece 

The first thing I did was attach a ribbon, for hanging the wreath. Then I used very, very thin and bendy wire to attach the centrepiece, the star. You might want to use ribbon or wool for your centrepiece if you want it to be a bit more dangly. If you don't do these bits now don't fret, it would be easy to add them in later too...

Step Three : Plan Your Wreath 

Before I started assembling my wreath, I found it helpful to lay everything out - planning out the colour clusters and placement of the extra bits. I used some baubles in mine, I like the contrast of textures and the extra sparkle it gives the wreath.

Step Four : Beverage

Make yourself a beverage. Macchiatto was my drink of choice for this project (can you spot it?), but maybe you prefer a herbal tea? Or a smoothie? Or something a bit more 'medicinal'?

Step Five : Assembly 

Working your way around the wreath, tie each pom pom in place. Slot your baubles in the appropriate spots - I used very, very thin wire to attach my baubles, it holds them firmly in place.

Step Six (Optional) : Make Emergency Pom Poms 

You might find as you start attaching everything that you have a few little gaps. I did, so I had to go back to Step One for a while...

Step Seven : Ta Da! Step back and bask in your lovely pom pom workmanship!

ps. As I type this the youngest step-son is beside me making more pom poms - the virus is spreading! Huzzah! 

ps. Hi again...crass market research question - would you buy something like this? And if so, what's the most you'd be prepared to pay? (Please be honest, I won't be offended!)

Handmade Holidays : Embroidery Hoop Ornaments

Oh my goodness - twitter and instagram is simply AWASH with gorgeous lovely festive photos of people putting up their xmas tree (see here and here for example). I have to wait till the step sons arrive to put up ours because xmas isn't really xmas without the kids, right? 

However, the nice thing this year is that I've bascially had a two month lead up to xmas where I've been at home! No planes, no suitcases, no trips - just hanging out in Seoul with the husband and the hounds! This is pretty unusual and also pretty awesome. It means I've actually sent my xmas cards before xmas this year, I'm almost ready to put all the presents in the post and I've had time for a spot of festive crafting.

The embroidery hoop ornaments above are going to my parents-in-law. I'm rather pleased with how they've turned out. I especially like the cardboard backing with stamp and message. These ones are in little 5" hoops. I've also made one in a 6" hoop, which you can get a sneak peak of if you scroll all the way down (I can't show you the whole thing because it's for someone who reads this blog!). Next I want to make one in a blue/turquoise theme for us (we're having a white, silver and blue xmas), and after that I think I might make some non-festive ones for the shop (I'm thinking rainbow and monochrome). 

Here's a little bit about how I put them together.

I used a stamp as my pattern, and just stamped directly on the fabric. If you've got a decent stamp collection like me, you'll be getting excited about all the stamping/embroidering possibilities. I've found a soft grey ink strikes the right balance between providing enough of an outline and not showing through in the finish (or you can match your ink to the thread like I've done for the blue one). The key is not to have too much ink on your stamp, otherwise the lines will bleed a little and you won't get a nice neat end product. Next - stitch away! I used a simple back stitch. Just make sure you keep your stitches nice and even and your lines fairly straight. I used a small length stitch for these.

Get some sturdy card stock and trace around the inside of your hoop. Cut it out so you have a circle that will fit neatly in the back. Next, centre your embroidery in the hoop and make sure the fabric is stretched nice and tight. This takes much longer than you think it will. Trust me. I used a ruler to double check the star was actually centred.

Cut off the excess fabric, leaving a 1" to 2" overhang. Then start stitching around the edge to gather up the excess and pull it tightly together. You are kind of 'pleating' the fabric. It's at this stage that you should put your circle of card stock in the back of the hoop. It's tricky to slot it in after you've stitched up the back. I know because I've tried. I tried because I'm an idiot.

Once you've stitched around the whole circle, gently pull the thread so that the fabric gathers together in a nice tight circle. Tie a knot. I also like to dribble a tiny little drop of glue on the edge of the cardboard so that it sticks to the wooden hoop at a point of two, to hold the card stock in place. Lastly, add your message to the back and voila! You're done!