There are a lot of factors that influence good wedding album design. The process of Album Design actually beings with photographers first shot. The moment a photographer takes his first shot, he should start thinking about album design. That’s right, any photographer, no matter who he/she is, must shoot with album design in mind. I am sure there are times when a photographer will have to shoot that extra unrelated something, but more or less wedding day photography must be for the wedding album in mind.
Editing Wedding Photos
when you sit for editing your wedding pictures, you must at least have 70-100 shots per hour of your coverage time. More album spreads sold simply translates to more profit. Therefore, I would always design my wedding album spreads as if there was no budget constraint, & I will assume that I have already sold all my spreads. The moment I think that, I am giving my 100% to each and every wedding photo and each and every album spread. All this can be very time consuming and this is where hiring a professional wedding album designer helps. It frees up your time to go out there and shoot even more weddings and other events, rather than spending time with your desktop.
Then through my creative thought process, I would bring everything together on the wedding album spread, producing one of a kind layout, which is only good for that particular wedding and for that particular album spread. I would also suggest presenting this to clients as soon as they are back from their honeymoon, because it’s still fresh in their mind. Moreover, the longer you let it go, the lesser number of album spreads you will be able to sell. Again if you are really busy with shooting weddings, in order to maximise your sales, you must hire a wedding album designer, who is busying putting together album spreads that you can sell, while you are out there shooting more weddings. Being on time means more business & when your clients see the complete laid out album with maximum number of wedding photos, it’s hard for them to say no to their wedding memories.
You must invest in album design and make yourself different from other photographers and most importantly, be ready to sell when your couple is back from their honeymoon.
Evolution of Wedding Album Design
Just like any art form, Wedding Album Design has evolved overtime. The evolution of album design in recent times is unprecedented. The really high-end quality of wedding photos by photographers today has elevated them from mere photographers to true artists. In the earliest days of photography, photography styles were very straight forward. Shot 1, bride with groom, Shot 2 Bride with parents, Shot 3 Groom with brides parents and so on. These styles always captured bride and groom in stiff formal poses. With the emergence of contemporary wedding albums, which incorporate mood shots, portraits, full photo spreads and candid wedding photos, the variety in wedding photography progressed. These days wedding album photos have spontaneity & joy of flawless portraits. In earlier days, photographers use to check off a list of poses and prearrange wedding photo shots. Today, photographers, rather than formally posing and lighting portraits for the wedding party, family and couple, strive to document the true story of the day without interfering, as the event unfolds. These photographers believe that capturing the emotion of the moment is the most important aspect of a good wedding photo. It should also be noted that, today, there are a growing number of new photographers who don’t particularly care if they are “purists,” in the photo-journalistic sense.
While they tend to work unobtrusively, they will sometimes set up moments between the couple or the members of the wedding party, pose images, or ask their subjects to repeat an appealing expression or gesture. Another aspect of traditional photography that is making a return to contemporary coverage is the formal group portrait. The main reason for this is that groups sell. In most cases, these portraits are still less formal than a true “traditional” group image, preserving the carefree, relaxed attitude found in the rest of the wedding album. Still, these images display greater attention to posing fundamentals than a purely photo-journalistic image.
Honestly speaking, this is where style fits in as well. A strong belief is that if there is no magic at the wedding, it’s the photographer’s duty to create that magic and capture that magic. Obviously, the photographer must first understand his/her client if they are from the same school of thought as well. Creating magic at the wedding and capturing those wedding photos is paramount to a great wedding album. When you have such wedding photos, its further easier to create beautiful wedding albums. Each spread of the wedding album should be laid out to tell a story of that day.
