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Printed Photo Books: Bringing Imagination to Your Work

When you make the choice to look into printed photo books for your business, one of the things that you’re likely to discover is that your photography work becomes a little bit less than work. When you use printed photo books, you’ll find that you are able to bring your imagination into things.

For example, when you use printed photo books, you’ll be able to tell a story. Even when you take photos of children, there are ways to use photo books to tell a story. Self-portraits can take shape into the form of a narrative, a story or an explanation of a theme.

Similarly, when you take photos of the natural world – whether travel photos or safari photos or simple wildlife near your home – you’ll find that you can tell the story, talk of preservation and share your passion and commitment with those who read the book or take the time to study the photos that are contained inside of it.

Photography isn’t just about light and capturing a moment: it’s about creating something that will last, something that will be there for a long time to come. Focus on that passion – the passion that brought you into the field of photography in the first place. With photo books, you’ll be able to use your work and your passion to tell your story and to share it with others.

Printed Photo Books: Why Clients Love Them

One of the reasons that your clients choose to work with professional photographers in the first place is that they know that there is more to photography than simply snapping photos. And, while many photos do captured just a moment in time, it is possible to do more; it’s possible to tell a story with printed photo books.

This is a big part of why photographers who offer their clients printed photo books are so successful: clients love seeing their story told.

What good is a fairy tale wedding when only a few still photos are left to tell the story? What happens when the background fades and only key moments are captured? When you use a printed photo book and tell the story – moments leading up to the wedding as well as shots from the wedding and the reception – the set up, the plot and the happily ever after?

When you offer printed photo books as an option for your clients, you’ll find that it’s a lot easier to draw them in – and keep them coming back for more. Sometimes, more than documentation of a moment, what you’ll find is that your clients want to see their stories play out time and time again – it keeps their dreams alive.

Printed Photo Books: Giving Photos New Life

When you use printed photo books as a part of your photography business, you’ll find that you have the opportunity to give your photos a bit of a new life.

What exactly do I mean by that?

When you use printed photo books, you’re able to take a very close look at the colors contained within your work and to create a collection of work around that foundation. Similarly, when you’re using printed photo books, you’ll find that you’re able to bring together photos from travels so that you can retell a story time and time again.

Of course, there are other ways in which pro photographers can give their work new life with printed photo books:

  • To create work based on a series of portraits that you’ve shot over time
  • To gather shots that you’ve taken for real estate agents as inspiration for the elements that you want your dream home to have; taking a printed photo book to an architect can help you to convey what you’d like your home to have.

Some of the reasons why you use printed photo books are clear; some of the ways in which photo books can give new life to your work will come to you once you are more accustomed to creating books of your own.

Photo Book Marketing: Showing Others What You Do

As a photographer, the whole “a picture is worth a thousand words” cliche often gets a bit tired. Still, there is some merit to it. When you put some time and effort into photo book marketing, you’ll be able to see this first hand.

Wedding photographers rarely will book gigs even during the most busy wedding seasons if they are unable to show examples of their work to the bride and groom. Real estate photographers who want to express to agents why professional photos are more beneficial than snapshots for selling a home need to be able to show the difference between a general shot and one that has been professionally set up. Fashion photographers need to be able to document that, during a shoot, they are able to capture the beauty of the model and the clothing that’s being worn.

Photo book marketing gives you – as a photographer – the chance to showcase your best work in a professional album. What could be better than having an example of your best work (and, in some cases a final product that you make available to your clients) that shows the ways in which you use light, the ways in which you frame shots and what you differently?

Photo book marketing gives you the chance to show people how you work, rather than telling them. Since photography is a visual art, this simply makes sense.

Professional Photo Books: Keeping Your Clients Involved in the Process

There are many photographers who, when you get right down to it, don’t want to have their clients overly involved in the process. Few of us want to have parents playing a major role in choosing the right pose for their child’s portrait because often it means that we need to rearrange the light, change angles and – unfortunately – create some conflict along the way.

However, when it comes to designing professional photo books for your clients, the story changes some. When you’re creating a professional photo book that will contain the best photos from a shoot, when you’re telling story about their lives, having them involved can help you to know that your clients will be getting what they are looking for.

What does getting and keeping your clients involved in the process of designing professional photo books mean?

  • It means narrowing down the options for included photos, but letting the clients have a say in which shots you use
  • It means taking the time to ask them about any text that they would like to have included
  • It means understanding that the more involved that your clients are in the process of creating the photo book with you, the more they are going to treasure the finished product

In other words, keeping your clients involved in the process of designing professional photo books creates an opportunity for you to do more to ensure their satisfaction – and that keeps them coming back for more.

Printed Photo Books Let You Approach Your Work in a New Way

There’s something about self-publishing printed photo books that can change the way in which you think about the work that you do with your photography. If you’ve never tried to create a printed photo book, chances are good that you have no idea what you’re missing.

(source)That book was really aimed at a small audience of friends and contacts who seemed to like some of the stuff I had the most fun doing. I never really intended it to be a money making venture. I was surprised how many people actually wanted a copy of it though – really surprised.

It was a fun experience putting it together and I’ll definitely do it again in future – very differently though – I don’t know how yet – but it would have to be completely different from this one.

One of the benefits of using printed photo books – whether you plan to eventually offer them as a service to your clients, you are focusing on using them as gifts for close friends or family members, or you have a story that you’d like to tell – is that it gives you a chance to look at your work differently.

With printed photo books, you will be able to look at the ways in which your photos go together. You’ll be able to choose the right arrangement, angles and – in general – the perfect look. And the best part about self publishing is this: if you choose to go in another direction with your next project no one will try to stand in your way.

Professional Photo Books Are a Cut Above the Rest

When you’re ready to capture your photography work into book form, why should you turn to professional photo books? Simply put, while there are other books out there that you can print on your own, they often don’t live up to the photographers’ expectations:

(source)If there is one goal that more and more contemporary photographers crave it is to see the fruition of their work in a photography book. This increasingly popular desire has fueled companies like Lulu, My Publisher, Blurb and even Apple to offer customizable self-publishing options that cater towards the dreams of an artist’s subjective vision. However, the results are often disappointing not only in terms of picture quality, but the overall cost that is placed on a single book. Of course, this opportunity to “do-it-yourself” has only recently only become possible due to the reduced cost in printing techniques by way of cheaper technology.

With professional photo books, you’re able to avoid the “cheaper technology” and printing by knowing that you will be able to get high quality printing. Rather than worrying about “cheap bindings” you’ll be able to know that your photo books will be professionally bound with library quality.

Particularly when you are looking for the ideal option to showcase your work for clients, to market yourself as a photographer or to take your business to the next level, it’s essential to strive for quality. That quality is waiting to be discovered with professional photo books.

Photo Book Layout: Using the Right Images

When it comes to choosing the right photo book layout for your projects, it’s important to know that you’re choosing the right images for the right spots.

Before you make an effort to create a full, two-page spread with an image, you’ll want to be sure that you look at your options. Laying out a full spread isn’t something that you will want to use a vertical image for (at least without a fair amount of cropping). There’s also the need to consider page bleeds and margins.

Rather than simply choosing an image because it’s something that you want to include, it’s important to consider the overall layout and the theme: not every photo that you’ve taken or that you want to use in the project is going to fit or be a match.

Because choosing the right images is an essential part of laying out your photo book, it’s a good idea to try a few different layout options before finalizing your plans: explore your options.

Whether you are creating photo books to market your work, to tell your story or to present to your clients, it’s important to put thought into both using the right images and placing those images in the best way possible.

Printed Photo Books: Why Quality Matters

When you offer printed photo books to your clients, it’s essential that you pay attention to the quality of the book. On one hand, that means paying close attention to your images and ensuring that your professional work lives up to your own standards.

On the other hand, it means taking the time to make sure that the printed photo books that you create are of a quality that is satisfying to you; when you test out printed photo books, are they they same quality as a book that you would choose to buy in a bookstore or from one of your mentors?

Ultimately, that’s the key to why quality matters when it comes to choosing printed photo books: the books that you distribute should be of a quality that you would expect them to have. It’s with the printed photo books that you present your clients that you establish yourself as a professional.

Shouldn’t you make an effort to ensure that the printed photo books that you provide your clients are of a higher quality than those that they could order for themselves?

Professional Photos Let You Document a Childhood

When one of the primary focuses of your photography business involves taking photos of kids, it’s a great idea to offer your clients the option of having a professional photo book created – despite the fact that they can print out their own photos or design their own books. Why?

Well, here’s one explanation, one that’s similar to the reasons why parents take their kids for professional photos:

 

(source)I’ve never forgotten an invaluable piece of advice that I heard from an older friend right after my first child was born. She told me, “One of my greatest regrets about my children’s childhoods was that I didn’t have more professional pictures taken.” “You didn’t take many pictures?” I asked. “I took tons of pictures,” she said, “but the fact is, professional photographs are so much better than even the best snapshots.” I absolutely agree—professional photos are better. And keeping her advice in mind, ever since my daughters were born, I’ve been zealous about getting their photos taken professionally at least once a year.

 

With professional photo books, your clients will be able to hold onto the best photos that they have of their children; with pro photo books, they’ll also be able to purchase gifts for out of town family members and friends who want to share in the child’s life.

Of course, when you offer professional photo books, you’ll find that there are ways to sweeten the deal. Consider letting your clients bring in some digital snapshots that they’d like included, or allow them to contribute stories for the book.

Documenting a childhood is important to parents; as a photographer, professional photo books allow you to make sure that you’re doing more than your part.