There is almost nothing more gratifying to a photographer than to see their work in print. Due to the cost of publication, prior to online digital publishing it was necessary to print a minimum of 2,000 books, and most photographers opted for an even lower cost/per book print run of 5,000, with an initial investment of $20-50K. Today it is easier than ever to publish your work, and more than that, it can be printed on demand.
I am going to introduce you to the rudiments of building a book using Adobe Lightroom (LR), one of the easiest programs I have found in which to create a photo book.
- Figure 2. Set your opening book preferences from Book>Preferences. The Book tab only appears when you are in the Book module.
The first thing every photographer should do before hitting the software layout program is to create a set of work prints for sequencing. These do not need to be more than 5×7″ or 8×10″. At this point don’t concern yourself with quality. These prints will only be used for the first round of sequencing.
Layout as many prints as possible at one time on an open area of floor. Once you have the images sequenced the way you think they should be, ask several people, one at a time, to view the sequence to see if they understand your message. What you are attempting to communicate should be apparent. If it is not, reorder the prints and try again. This is not meant to be a critique of your work, only if the order of presentation makes sense to the viewer/reader.
