Thread: Any year end Photo Books?

Thanks Ray, I appreciate your words. I actually didn't think I was apologizing in the above post.....you should see how I usually feel...LOL.

And thanks Antonio (and to your wife who obviously has excellent taste...she married you), 2012 was the year I started getting decent at photography. Hopefully 2013 will see continued growth. I have a few photographs that are whole and complete that I am proud of and am starting to see what separates those from the rest. Most of the others I consider snapshots that are enhanced (or made more eye-catching...not necessarily better) with adventurous processing.

Originally Posted by Ray

Although my discipline was flagging, I finally got it together to assemble of book of my favorite work from this year. Seems to be an end-of-year project in lieu of photo albums so I'll have an easily browsable record of my year in photography. I'd already done a book in the Spring of the loads of shooting I did during the month I spent in NYC in April. That was my major photo project of the year, so another book seemed almost beside the point, but I did a lot of other shooting this year as well that I wanted on paper, so I took a day and pulled this together.

The book can be viewed here: 2012 - In Photos by Ray Sachs: Arts & Photography | Blurb Books

You can view it online, but the quality is pretty iffy depending on the size of monitor you're using. There's a PDF version that can be downloaded for $5, but I'm not trying to make any money here, so if anyone would like a copy of the PDF to browse, I think you should be able to download it for free here in Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYb...JpV3ppN1U/edit. The quality of the PDF is quite good and extremely scalable - I can open the images up as single images on my 27" monitor and they still look great, even though that's far larger than the published prints will be in the hard copy of the book.

Anyway, have a look if you'd like. And if anyone else puts together anything like this, feel free to add links to this thread. I love seeing people's work on the site as it comes along, but there's something about a year end retrospective that's can be really fun to look through.

-Ray

Ray,

What a treat it was to look through your book. Impressive both for the outstanding quality of the photographs, but also for the volume, given that it only spans one year. I enjoyed all the photos but particularly liked your family shots. They show such closeness and joy!

Very well done. Bravo, Ray.

Cheers,

Antonio

Originally Posted by ajramirez

Ray,

What a treat it was to look through your book. Impressive both for the outstanding quality of the photographs, but also for the volume, given that it only spans one year. I enjoyed all the photos but particularly liked your family shots. They show such closeness and joy!

Very well done. Bravo, Ray.

Cheers,

Antonio

Thanks so much Antonio. As much as I enjoy the street and other types of photography I do, I understand that in the long run, the family shots will mean FAR more to me than all of the other stuff put together. I used to go really light on the family shots in my books, but now I realize they're probably the most important part, given that the books are intended pretty much for my family and I. I'm happy to have other folks check them out too, but we're the only long term audience...

-Ray

Ray, your idea of your discipline flagging makes me feel like a nincompoop when it comes to this stuff. That said, I'm always glad you post about your books and give us links and not only share your reasons for printing but these threads encourage the rest of us.

"I do solemnly swear....", she says like the broken record she is.... I am going to do this. Now to upgrade to the new Lightroom!

I'll be checking your book and your link, Luke.

Originally Posted by BBW

Ray, your idea of your discipline flagging makes me feel like a nincompoop when it comes to this stuff. That said, I'm always glad you post about your books and give us links and not only share your reasons for printing but these threads encourage the rest of us.

"I do solemnly swear....", she says like the broken record she is.... I am going to do this. Now to upgrade to the new Lightroom!

I'll be checking your book and your link, Luke.

I'll expect you to get right on top of that BB, because you obviously don't have anything ELSE taking up your time these days!

I have the time and enjoy the process, but if either wasn't the case, I wouldn't do 'em either...

-Ray

OK, so next year it is - the end of the year.

Ray, if you don't mind my asking did you have to do any extra work to process your images for Blurb printing? I just downloaded their ICC profile from their website and when I soft-proof on my computer the images are quite a bit less contrasty and saturated compared to the generic sRGB profile I use as a "default" soft-proof. I've printed some of these same images from Mpix and they turned out fine, but I suppose that may be due to the difference between press and photo printing.

Ray, thanks for inspiration to get off my rear and put together a project to get a book together of this year's work. It may take me a month or more to cull through my images but you've set me on the right path....Thank you!

Originally Posted by fin azvandi

Ray, if you don't mind my asking did you have to do any extra work to process your images for Blurb printing? I just downloaded their ICC profile from their website and when I soft-proof on my computer the images are quite a bit less contrasty and saturated compared to the generic sRGB profile I use as a "default" soft-proof. I've printed some of these same images from Mpix and they turned out fine, but I suppose that may be due to the difference between press and photo printing.

Fin,

I hate to say it, but I have no idea what you're talking about, except generally. I'm really just not terribly concerned nor even aware of the technical details of how to ready my photographs for the most accurate reproduction. Maybe because I don't process in a way that has anything to do with accuracy to begin with, I don't even really notice if the printer adds small amounts of their own degradation to the process. If I got something back that I didn't like, I'd notice, but that hasn't happened. But that might just be my low standards!

So, no, I don't do anything extra except make sure the files are of adequate resolution (they'll alert you if you try to stick a file into a book if it doesn't have enough pixels to print well at the size selected). But as much as I hate to admit it, I've never given a moment's thought to ICC profiles or different color spaces or any of that. So I guess I went by trial and error and when I did my first book in 2010, I sent if off and ended up being really happy with the printed result (unlike the online preview, which sometimes looks horrible and pixelated on a computer display). So since then I haven't worried about it at all. But, frankly, it would have probably had to have been pretty bad for me to notice.

So, you should double check all of this stuff before you do a big print run. Or maybe do a very small "test" book from them and just get one copy to see if it meets your standards. I think Christina or Karen (Briar) did that with their first effort to see if it printed to their standards. I've been happy with the results of just dropping the files in there, but that doesn't mean a more discerning eye would be...

Sorry to not be of more help...

-Ray

Thanks Ray, that is actually quite helpful. From looking at your work I feel like you have a pretty clear style for how you want your images to look in terms of colors and strong contrast. So if you are happy with how your books have turned out that's reassuring.