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TIPS + TRICKS
Lightning Fast Album Design
BY ANDREW FUNDERBURG
1. Shoot for design concepts.
Start thinking about the design well before
you begin the album. As you shoot the
wedding day, you should grab images for
three main design concepts: wow images,
important moments and details. First, the
double-spread design concept should
feature a “wow” photo, which can be taken
at any moment of the day. Look at the scene,
the poses and the background, and decide
whether this image would be perfect for the
double-spread. Second, pay attention to
whether the shot is of an important moment
of the day, such as the bride walking down
the aisle, the ceremony or the first dance.
Although you should always shoot for
“wow” images, not every moment can be a
standalone. In this instance, shoot for the
main image with supplementary images from
the same situation. For example, when the
bride is getting ready with her bridesmaids,
Third, shoot the detail shots of the day,
keeping in mind the storytelling aspect of
each of the important details. When you
shoot for the design during the wedding
day, the album selection process becomes
much simpler.
2. Pre-design the album.
When you first meet with your client, share
your pre-designed album templates with
them. Not only does this give them fewer
decisions to make, it creates less work for
you during your post-wedding workflow. If
the client chooses a pre-designed album
from you, there will be less changes in
regard to the album’s concept. Since you are
the vision behind the story of the images, it
is best that you choose and design the entire
album without any input from your clients.
You can allow them to make changes, but
if you force them to pick the images, your
design time will suffer. Your post-wedding
workflow will benefit from pre-designing the
album because your clients may only have
minimal requests for changes or updates to
your product.
3. Select storytelling photos.
After the wedding day is over and you have
your images back, carefully select the images
for your client’s album. Even if you shot
thousands of images you think they would
love, there are only certain photos that should
be a part of the design. Keep in mind the
storytelling aspect of creating a wedding
album during your selection. Much of the
wedding day can be a part of the album,
but how you select and organize the photos
creates something special for your clients. Start
the story of the wedding day by choosing the
cover image at the very beginning of your
selection process. Once you choose a “wow”
photo for the cover, which may be the bride
and groom during their portrait, select the
photo for the last page and then design the
rest of the pages. Setting up the beginning of
the story and the end gives you the chance to
fill in the body of the story.
4. Design the album efficiently.
Although the process of actually designing
the album may only take you a few minutes,
ensure you give yourself time to make the
best decisions possible for the layout. Think
about the time it takes to go back and forth
with your clients if you have to make multiple
changes to the image choices or design
decisions, and use this as you select image
size and orientation in the album design.
As you design the album, remember why
you chose the photos in the first place. The
images you are featuring in the album should
tell a story from the beginning of the wedding
day to the end, which is how your design
should display them.
Look for Rf tech editor Greg Scoblete’s
review of Fundy Designer v7 (“Automation
Redefined”) in our July/August issue as well
as at rangefinderonline.com.
For many wedding photographers, the album is the perfect place to both showcase their work and give their clients a timeless heirloom. That said, the album design process can
often be cumbersome and slow. Fortunately, speedy album design is something Andrew
Funderburg, owner of Fundy Designer, specializes in. His recent webinar with ShootDotEdit
showed photographers how to quickly streamline and speed up their album design process
with an efficient, time-saving workflow. Here are four key points from Funderburg’s presentation
(listen to the whole webinar at: bit.ly/1nKhQHm).
