So, I’d like to talk about albums. But first a little story. Earlier this year I decided to go with KISS Wedding Books as my album vendor. I think they are fabulous for a multitude of reasons and I’ve shown you a couple of them in the past (here and here). Well, this week I went to an SEO Workshop (PS. you won’t see me in the video of testimonials from the day because I got horrible video fright, still pictures are just fine, video is terrifying) with about 30 of my industry peers, and the last person to enter the room was one of the owners of KISS, Shaun Austin. I didn’t know who he was, but once he identified that he was the owner of this fabulous company I couldn’t help but yell “I love you!” like some kind of groupie!

Ok. Weddings. Photography. Albums. All topics of discussion. This last weekend I got my latest package from KISS (perfect timing by the way, it came just before a meeting with a prospective client and I think she liked it ) and I decided the next topic of Education Nation will be albums. I was originally thinking I would end this series with albums because the album is the final phase of the wedding photography experience but because it’s my series and I can do whatever I want, I’m skipping ahead a little.

When you are planning a wedding, it’s overwhelming to say the least. There are so many decisions to make and details to oversee. Once you’ve decided who your wedding photographer is going to be, you typically then have to decide which of their “packages” is right for you. For the most part you are deciding how many hours of coverage you need, how many photographers you need, and then which finished products you want after all is said and done. The way I structure my photography collections you can say “hey I’m completely overwhelmed right now, can you just show up and shoot and we’ll make the decision about what we want later?” and that’s totally fine. Or you can choose a package that has an album built into it.

The wedding photography album is the ultimate final product from your wedding. Within your wedding album contains the dress, the shoes, the I do’s, the kiss, the intimate moments, the fun, the cake, the food, the bouquet toss, the love. In one neat little package you have all the memories from your day in an album that will last your lifetime and can be passed down through generations. This one place is the only place where your wedding lasts once the day is over and everyone has gone home. I think it’s obvious how important I think the album is to telling and re-living the story of your special day. Having the wedding album to store these moments for you is much more presentable (and impressive!) than keeping them on the CD of images that get hardly any play. So when planning your wedding think about the photography and think about what you will do with the photographs once the day is over.

This sample album is 12×12 inches square in lime green! You can also get 8×8 or 10×10. And now introducing 4×4 “brag books.” These little 4×4 albums are an exact duplicate of your larger album but small enough to keep in your purse or pocket. And they are seriously so incredible! You can get your albums in several different colors I just like green.

Please enjoy Aundrea and Doug’s (engagement, wedding, day after) wedding album. You can see the full album design slideshow here: THE ALBUM.

How cute are those little albums?!

Here’s the full ALBUM again in case you missed it.

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Below is an image from Erika & JPs engagement session. This image is STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA! Nothing has been done to it. Showing an image like this makes me feel a little bit like I’m bending over in a short dress (ie: showing a liiiittle too much) but I got nothing to hide so here it is.

The original image is a little dark. I don’t mind all the hair in her face, I think it’s very real and shows movement.

Below is the proof. So if Erika and JP were to get a disc of proofs from this session the color would be corrected to what you see below and a little bit of contrast is added to the image so that it doesn’t look so flat.

A little better, if Erika wanted to take her disc to Costco and get a 19 cent print to put in the visor of her car, there would be nothing wrong with this file. But if Erika wanted to make this picture large to greet guests as they come into her home or if she wanted this image in her Yearbook-Style Guest Sign in Book, then it needs a little bit more work.

Ah, much better! Their skin is nice and smooth and the color pops. Let’s take a look at all of this in one neat little box so you don’t have to scroll back and forth between each image.

Let’s see another one.

Aundrea and Doug. Original.

Not a bad looking image if you ask me! I still would never hand it over as is, so let’s see the proof.

Looking good.

Side by side comparison:

I think this series shows that it’s all about the subtle differences. Skin is smoothed out a little in the final version. There was a mark on his suit that was difficult to see while we were shooting. And you can see how his suit gets a little bit darker from frame to frame. For me, the biggest difference here is the background. My mom once called this a “watercolor” look and it just looks so much better with the punchier colors.

Let’s do one last image. This image is a good example of a lot of distracting elements. Just a sidenote, the first two images aren’t EXACTLY the same picture as the final, but I did a lot of final editing to the original file.

Like we were finding before, the original is a little dark and a little flat.

The proof has better color and a little bit of contrast. But hopefully you see what I mean by distracting elements. Well the movie theater in the background kind of kills the moment for me! And all the pipes in the planter and the gunk in the gutter. Obviously the main attraction of this photo is the exit sign, but the back of the other sign is not necessary to tell the story here. I want it all GONE!

So much better! Right? It’s pretty rare that a photo needs that much removed from it. Typically it will be an electrical outlet or a leaf on the ground. I never go so far as to remove people, or otherwise make the photo something that wasn’t there to begin with. I can’t imagine printing this photo on a 30×40 canvas or put it in an album without giving it that kind of attention.

Recap:

Original = Straight Out of The Camera (SOOTC) = never to be seen by the client.

Proof = Minimal color correction and contrast. This is the photo that will go on a disc if one was purchased or included in your package.

Final = Fully edited photo. This is the care that goes into a picture that is purchased through my studio for printing or to go in an album.

Hopefully you found this little tutorial helpful. That was kind of fun…I’ll try to do something like this once a quarter. Please ask any questions if you have them!