What's The Ideal Orientation For Your Book?

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Horizontal, vertical, or square? It can be challenging to decide what orientation is ideal for your photo book.
In cases where all images share the same orientation, choose the same orientation for your book; a horizontal book for horizontal images, a vertical book for vertical images, a square book for square images. (If you’re concerned about how a book fits on shelves at book stores, use square formats cautiously and choose size accordingly.)
If the orientation of the images in a book is mixed, consider two approaches.
If a majority of the images in a book share a common orientation, choose that orientation.
Or, if you want to give all images equal opportunity for size and surrounding space, choose square for the most orientation neutral format.
When in doubt, remember that vertical books generally fit in people’s hands more easily.
Find more Bookmaking resources here.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing workshops.
Catch my Making Your Own Photo Book seminar today at 12 at Photoshop World Las Vegas.

Photo Books – How Many Images Is Enough?

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How many images is optimum for a photo book? Of course, the answer depends on the kind of book being produced and its purpose. There’s no set number; extreme lengths for books vary between as few as 12 to more than 300 images.
There are number of things to keep in mind when making a photo book.
Most photo books contain between 50 and 100 images.
Shorter books can work well if the images they contain are very concentrated, being both graphically strong and thematically related. Short books can leave and audience feeling hungry for more, which is a good thing – but if they don’t create strong presence rapidly they’ll lack both impact and staying power.
Longer books work well if a subject is complex and/or portrays a substantial duration of time. Long books may tire an audience and if not carefully edited and sequenced can seem unfocussed and rambling.
Be careful. It’s tempting to show all of your work. Instead, show only your best work. Avoid including weaker images to make a book seem larger and more important; they just dilute the average quality. And, include only images that relate to one another. Avoid including more images simply because they’re graphically strong; instead, select images that are related to each other. The form of a book will imply and create relationships between the separate items included in it. Make sure a viewer’s attempts to find and understand those relationships don’t go unrewarded. The more interesting and rewarding you can make this search, the stronger your book will be.
One way to find out if a book is too short or too long is to create a prototype and then observe how people interact with it. Do they put a short book down quickly without giving it a second or third look? Do they suddenly increase their viewing speed in a long book or not finish at all? After someone looks at a book, ask them if the book seems too short or too long.
Find more Bookmaking resources here.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing workshops.

You're Invited ! – Annual Open Studio Exhibit – 7/31-8/1

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You’re invited! Come visit my annual open studio event July 31 – August 1 from 10-5. Gallery talks are at 2.
It’s been one of my most prolific years to date. Producing more than one hundred new images, four bodies of work, in progress for ten years, have been brought to completion. The results are surprising, even for me.
Three new books featuring this work have been released – Reflection, Condensation, and Correspondence – which you can preview and purchase online.
Also on hand will be my playful iPhone photo sketches, some of which are featured in my column on the Huffington Post. I’ll even take, process, and transmit some during my daily artist’s talks at 2 pm.
Come enjoy prints, books, web galleries, performances and conversations during this very special event.
Click here for more information including directions, previews, reviews, statements, audio, video, and press kit.

Blurb's Return Policy

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If your Blurb book was damaged in shipping or has a production defect (like banding or improper binding) Blurb will replace it. Simple email them a picture of your problem to start the process.
There are a number of things that can go wrong that Blurb can’t cover, which you can control by carefully checking a file before you upload it.
Here’s Blurb’s Return Policy.
Blurb guarantees your satisfaction with the workmanship of your book. On the off chance your book arrives damaged or with a manufacturing defect, contact us via Blurb’s Customer Support within 14 days of receipt. We’ll make things right. Please understand that Blurb does not provide refunds or cancel orders, and except for the cases expressly described in this return policy (i.e., your book arrives damaged, with a manufacturing defect or a defect in workmanship), Blurb cannot otherwise accept returns.
Please note that each book you order from us is individually made by one of Blurb’s top-notch professional book-printing partners. There may be minor differences across different prints of the same books and/or across books printed by our different book-printing partners, including, but not limited to, slight variances in color fidelity and binding type. While we work very hard to keep our product as consistent as possible, this variation is a normal occurrence and is not considered a manufacturing defect or a defect in workmanship and does not qualify for a reprint.
When Purchasing Your Own Book
Your book is all yours: Blurb does not proof, edit, or change your content in any way. This means it’s your responsibility to review your book before you publish, and fix:
– Typos, grammar, unfinished text, or other text errors
– Low-resolution images that may appear blurry in print
– Dark images that appear dark on screen (Blurb doesn’t lighten your images to match what you see on a backlit screen)
– Design issues, including book format, organization, style, color, and page layout
– Any other creative choices you made in Blurb BookSmart® or PDF to Book you want to revisit
We strongly recommend printing a hard copy of your book on your local printer for a final once-over. (You might ask a friend to look it over, too.) If you find changes you’d like to make, no problem. Just make them in Blurb BookSmart® or your original PDF to Book file, upload the revised book, and then order as many copies as you’d like.
When Purchasing a Book From the Blurb Bookstore
Blurb is not responsible for the quality of the content of any book in the Blurb Bookstore. Each book you purchase from the Blurb Bookstore is custom printed only upon your order, and we don’t warehouse books, therefore we do not accept returns or process refunds for any reason, except to the extent we guarantee your satisfaction with the workmanship of our books, as described above.
Learn more with my Bookmaking Lessons.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

Get Great Color in Blurb Books!

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X-Rite and Joe Brady offer this free 52 minute webinar on how to get great color in Blurb books.
video Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Book (37 Minutes)
Learn how to: create your book; work with photos, text, and layouts; upload your book; and more.
video Blurb BookSmart® Design Tips and Techniques (26 minutes)
For those who already know the basics of BookSmart, this intermediate session explores several design ideas you can use in your books.
video Using InDesign® to Make a Blurb Book (3:33)
A short three-minute introduction to using Adobe InDesign® to create compliant PDF files by using the Blurb PDF/X-3 Export Preset and the Blurb Templates.
Learn more with my Bookmaking Lessons.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

20% Off Books In Blurb's "Digital Photo Liberation" Month

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Make a Blurb book by July 31 and get 20% off. Blurb is declaring July “Digital Photo Liberation”. Liberate all those holiday/wedding/baby/you-name it photos locked away in your camera and on your computer. Set them free – get them out of the digital world and into the physical world – in a book made by you.
Simply type in the appropriate promo code at checkout.
–  USD $ coupon code: LIBERATION
–  GBP £ coupon code: LIBERATION1
–  EUR € coupon code: LIBERATION2
–  AUD $ coupon code: LIBERATION3
–  CAD $ coupon code: LIBERATION4
Learn more with my Bookmaking Lessons.
Learn more in my Bookmaking Workshop.

Blurb Volume Discounts

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With Blurb you can order one copy of your book or many. Volume order discounts begin on orders of ten or more copies of the same book. For orders of 1,000 or more, Blurb offers offset printing for better economies of scale. Your discount grows along with the size of your order.
What are the discounts?
10    – 199     10%
200 – 400    15%
401 – 999     Request a POD price quote here.
1000+          Request an Offset price quote here.
Find out more and get answers to these frequently asked questions here.
–  Do I need to order a proof book before I submit a volume order?
– Will my volume order books look like my proof book?
– How much is shipping?
– How can I get a price quote for a volume order?
– What is the total turnaround time for volume orders?
– Why do volume orders take longer to process?
– What are my payment options for a volume order?
Learn more with my Bookmaking Lessons.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.