Hi Folks,
I'm about to start a book in Aperture that will hold images of a job I'm about to leave (flying an aeroplane).
I have a collection of both black and white and color images. Some are abstract, some show detail while others are wider shots.
In other words, a wide variation on a theme (EDFAT as Scott Bourne would say..)
I'm trying to work out some rules for laying out this book. I have read you should not have a subject pointing “out” of a page (say, a horse running toward the outer edge) and suchlike. I don't think I want both colour and mono images on the same spread.
What other guidance can the AE community offer?
This could be a fun thread we all could learn from, to create more professional books in Aperture?
Thanks and best regards
Darryn
Go to this B&H camera store web page (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/indepth/) and find Events Space in the pulldown menu under the Videos column. You’ll find two presentations on creating ebooks. One is given by an ebook company, which is long winded and boaring in parts but still provides some useful information. The other is by a guy who specializes in helping produce ephoto books and is packed full of the info you are looking for. There are over 100 of these “events” and many of them are incredibly useful and make it worthwhile to search through the dross.
Photo books are actually an extended photo essay. Photo essays are stories shared in a visual medium. There are some hard and fast rules that should never be broken like your example of subjects pointing out or moving out to the edges … the images should have a flow that draws the viewer through the storyline in a natural progression … most often from the top left to the bottom right … even if it is only a single image on a spread.
However, there are times when some rules are meant to be broken if it adds to the cause. Don’t be afraid to experiment by thinking outside the box if it adds more impact to the story you are sharing. Whatever you do in your layout design, all the elements have to “fit” in order for the viewer to get the most from your effort.
For example, it is neither entirely wrong or entirely right to mix color and B&W images on a spread … if it is used to tell the story effectively. Many times color images of a subject as it is today, is compared to vintage images from the past of the same subject when color capture did not exist or was not commonly used.
IMHO, there are many ways to tell a story … and sometimes you can write your own rules as you go … as long as those new rules you apply enhance the story told.