Very Technical Photo Book Question

[pierces]

Update: I am miserable. I have spent hours and hours in CS4 and hours and hours and hours beyond in getting ready for sRGB for Blurb and I am not even done yet, and I think the family and friends would be happy with ordinary snap shots.

 

I am not happy... there has got to be a better way. :o

 

I probably had about 60 hours in my cruise book before it was ready to publish. I'm not sure there is an easy way...:(

 

Dave

[FinelyCruising]

*sigh*

 

Yes, it will be about that much for me too probably more because of the learning curve of Elements. I took just shy of 1,300 photos on the November cruise and I have about 200 selected that I am working with. I have run through the entire Elements portion for each and I am pretty happy with what I see on the screen, so that part is done.

 

I have one day batched for resolution and the color profile that Blurb requires with many more days of the cruise to go. I think I will start the book just to change up the process since its very time consuming and getting a little tiring. Before I go too much further I want to print out some photos I am using for the book even on my crummy printer just to make sure it seems OK. The logic is their printer has still got to be better than mine.;)

 

One thing that I did definitely did think about while I was doing all this work was how many brides get impatient with how long it takes to get their wedding photos, and my-oh-my, I sure know why it takes as long as it does to get them into their hands after doing this.

 

We had rain, rain and more rain the entire time in Rome the four days before we sailed, so I knew it was going to be tough for getting good photos and that I would need to take the time I am just to get them adjusted as best as I can.

 

It is what it is.:o

[FinelyCruising]

Blub book has been ordered!!! PSE crashed a few times on me, well more than a few times, but I forged through with some help from Elements Village. I can't wait to get the 'draft' book. I have a PDF download, but its too large for sharing. I ordered the Large Landscape book it ended up being 178 pages. I can't move it though my outbox:eek:

 

I'll update again once I get the book with my impressions of the end result. Our book was for our Rome to Ft Lauderdale Transatlantic. With three days pre-cruise in Rome and a pretty port intensive cruise until we were at sea exclusively, I think I might have already said about 1,300 photos were taken.

 

In the meantime until the book gets here and I finalize some details, I am not sure what I am going to do with all my new found free time! This was an intensive project for me and one I hope will bring me the results that are equal to the time I spent getting this book ready.

 

I do have a new appreciation for composition and quality as a result of this effort. I am pretty sure that I will spend more time in the future relaxing while taking photos rather than rushing and pointing and shooting because there is only so much time to stop and take a photograph. In the future I think I am going to use my time devoted to either photos or sights, its a hard effort to try to do both and get the photos done well...if any of that makes sense.:o

[Rosieo]

FinelyCruising thanks for the tip on Elements Village. I have the Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac book but this site will really help me out.

[Captain of the Seven Seas]

My Kodak photo book could not have been more perfect.

 

 

I've used Kodak Gallery and have been happy with the results too.

[Captain of the Seven Seas]

I have friends who has used this site: http://www.freezeframepublishing.com/

Haven't actually seen their book as of yet.

[FinelyCruising]

I got my blurb book today and I LOVE it!!!

[pierces]

.... In the future I think I am going to use my time devoted to either photos or sights, its a hard effort to try to do both and get the photos done well...if any of that makes sense.:o

 

1. See the sights and take photos when you can.

 

2. Take the photos and enjoy the sights forever!

 

I'll go for #2 every time!

 

I find that taking the time composing a shot forces me to really see what I'm looking at. I end up with a clearer memory of the location and a better photo!

 

BTW, glad the Blurb book worked for you. I'm guessing from the large font, caps and punctuation that all that extra layout time was worth it!

 

Dave

[FinelyCruising]

Hi Dave...YES it was!

 

I will happily use blurb again and I Thank You for pointing me in this direction, I had a great time with it. I like Elements a lot, I have downloaded a trial of Lightroom, so I want to spend a little bit of time seeing if I like that, and Apple just released Aperture 3 and since I already have v2 I will see what changes they made there when I take the tour.

 

Its kind of all over in the universe too with who takes what upload for books and who takes what formats for printing photos and so on. When I poke around on the internet I seem to find something new and something I might like to try. Not too much different than when I open a photo magazine.:o

 

Right now I am looking at Zenfolio for photo sharing, I like the printing capabilities with Mpix for a kind of one-stop shopping opportunity, so I will research this a bit more since I want to have some prints made.

 

I upgraded to a new laptop, I know there are ideas of no, not a laptop for photos, but I gave up the desk a long time ago and my life is in the kitchen and that is where I do all my work. I don't have the space for a tower but I really needed much more storage and RAM and graphics, and since I love my Mac, it was another one I took. I think that will assist in the frustration with Elements to some degree, my machine was not well matched for that program.

 

I enjoy this hobby and I agree a great photo will help the memories even more.

 

Thanks Again for Everything!

~Cheryl

[Cruiser Forever]

I got my blurb book today and I LOVE it!!!

 

So glad you like your book. They are really great way to remember your cruises and other special occasions. Can you share a link to your book. I'd love to see the end results. Thanks.:D

[FinelyCruising]

Sure! Here is the link....in blurb only a 15 page preview is available. My book ended up being 178 pages so there is a good bit that you can't see. But you should be able to get the idea about the book, its a chronology of all the ports we visited and what we saw there with some ship shots too. Not every single photo was a favorite of mine but the story got told.:)

 

http://www.blurb.com/books/1174114

[ballawana13]

Sure! Here is the link....in blurb only a 15 page preview is available. My book ended up being 178 pages so there is a good bit that you can't see. But you should be able to get the idea about the book, its a chronology of all the ports we visited and what we saw there with some ship shots too. Not every single photo was a favorite of mine but the story got told.:)

 

http://www.blurb.com/books/1174114

 

 

Cheryl,

Looking back on some of the posts from December it sounds like you were challenged by PhotoShop Elements. I just installed V8 on my Macbook and have been stumped by all of the features. I love the photos you posted from your book. Could you provide some commentary on how much work you put into all of the photos (I thought I read somewhere that it was 60+ hours over the past couple months) to get the end product. I plan to do something similar after our cruise in October.

 

thanks,

 

Kevin

[FinelyCruising]

Hi Kevin -

 

I worked every weekend and night on the book up until the time I uploaded it for printing, and that was about two weeks ago. So I started it in late December and finished it about 2/1. I can't hazard how many hours at this point, maybe three times more than the 60+. The computer had a bit to do with some snags that were lost nights due to lock ups, but I think with all the learning behind me I can and will do much better in the future now that I know what to expect. Its a hobby, and one I enjoy; I was anxious to complete this project to get the book in hand just to validate if the time I was spending was worthwhile, and it was. So with that behind me I am going to have much more confidence in what I am doing.

 

Do check out Elements Village. Its a great site and the people are eager to assist with all the questions you may have with the program, they have great experience with all the ins and outs.

 

For this book the key was the conversion to color profile and required minimum resolution. That part is easy and much of it can be done while doing other things while processing. The trick is how to adjust your photos to get them better, but if you let Elements do that for you, it does a good job. I purchased two books before I started and that made a big difference for me to understand what buttons to push in order to get a certain result. I can share those titles with you if you like.

[FinelyCruising]

Here are the books:

 

Photoshop Elements 8 for MAC OS X - Jeff Carlson

 

The Photoshop Elements 8 Book for Digital Photographers - Scott Kelby& Matt Koskowski

 

The Jeff Carlson book was the most benefit to learning the tools and setting up the program for use. I usually really enjoy Scott Kelby's books but this one was a miss for me on this topic and I am glad I read the other one first.

[dodger501]

I just created and ordered a softcover book from Mpix. The color and exposure reproduction were fine, no complaints. 24 pages, $31.

 

Here is my question to everyone: This book was just heavy paper, stapled twice in the middle and folded over to make a 'book' . . .

Are there any options out there for bound soft cover books?

[pierces]

I just created and ordered a softcover book from Mpix. The color and exposure reproduction were fine, no complaints. 24 pages, $31.

 

Here is my question to everyone: This book was just heavy paper, stapled twice in the middle and folded over to make a 'book' . . .

Are there any options out there for bound soft cover books?

 

Blurb.com does perfect-bound softcover (glued with a square spine). I have ordered one and it cost about $28 for a 48 page 8x10 photo book on premium paper. It looked like any quality softcover you would buy from Barnes & Noble.

 

Dave