Customer Reviews

Photographer's Guide to Wedding Album Design and Sales

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book profiles a number of successful wedding photographers, how they got started, and their styles of work and selling. I did get some helpful tips out of it and got to see some lovely photographs and album pages, but I wanted more how-to tips about planning photographs for and designing wedding albums, with information about the various computer programs available and the companies that sell wedding albums.

This book was recommended to me by the photographer/designer that developed my website. As a wedding photographer I haven't seen a better book to determine and improve album design. Each segment is written by a different photographer with layout and supplier advice. Very well printed and an invaluable resource.

When I first turned the pages, the creative elegance in the photos and album designs grabbed me. Initially, I went through the whole book just gazing at all the amazing work from these top photographers. It's very inspiring. On the second pass, I studied the invaluable business tips they shared with Bob who tells us all about it in a very easy-to-read flow.

What it boils down to is, if you're a wedding photographer who wants to get ahead in your career, this is one of those must-have reference books.

I bought this book hoping to learn the approaches and theories to making great wedding albums. As it turns out, this book is mostly about various established photographers and their business history and methods- how they got started, how they book clients, what their routine is on the wedding day etc. That's fine, but very little emphasis was actually put on the album design!

The only photographer's profile that included any eye-catching contemporary designs were that of Martin Schembri. And he really didn't talk about his designs much!

Also, this book is really dated, even though its copyright says 2003. I assume these interviews were done years earlier.

For example, Michael Ayers encourages the reader to attend Winona Photography school in Chicago. Well, the Winona school moved to Atlanta in 1994. And changed its name to the PPA International School of Photography in 1999.

Just Bad.

The layouts are also very outdated. Some of the albums look like my grandparents' album.

This book was a horrible investment. It helped me very little. Unless you have just bought your first camera and are wide-eyed to shoot your first ever wedding, this book has very little to offer you.

WOW!! This book is full of GREAT information. I just got it yesterday and have read it from cover to cover. It is amazing the ideas for wedding albums that are in there - things sure have changed since I got married. My little white book of 4 x 6 photos just doesn't cut it anymore. After reading Bob's book and shooting my first wedding, I am going to use the book to be more creative at making a wedding album for my clients. I know they will love them!!

I'm the author of the book and the original concept was "place this image here", album design terminology and a list of album companies. When I started interviewing photographers for the book it seemed to take on a life of it's own. It grew into offering ways to promote your business and make more money using wedding albums as a base. I discovered that the album you sell your bride starts with how you market, talk to your bride, shoot the wedding and more. The photographers featured in the book are some of the best and most creative in the industry and I would like to thank them for sharing their ideas. Without them the book would not cover near as much information.

I bought this book, but I haven't had time to read it yet. However, the benefit of owning the book is client education. I've used it several times now to help clients figure out what style of pages they like and inform them about the latest in wedding album design. I think this will open many doors for my business.

If you don't have a clue about how to start marketing wedding albums, this book may help you. If you're already apt at marketing your albums or a pro at design just looking for new inspiration, this book will make a great make-shift mousepad or a coaster for your drink!

For designers: The first couple of chapters show nice album designs (including some designs by Yervant). The rest of the book shows lackluster designs, and boring, old fashioned matted albums or products that are not even albums (like boxes of matted prints. Who buys boxes of matted prints in lieu of a traditionally bound album??? Absolutely worthless.)

For marketers: The marketing "tips" were vague. The pros aren't selling their secrets here. The featured products are severly limited...ever heard of Leather Craftsman?? Of course you have! Well, you'll hear a lot more about it in this book! I really could have used help with introductions to other vendors and comparisons or reviews between them! Vendors who offer similar quality to Leather Craftsman but with lower prices and faster turnaround (like Zookbinders!). I don't need to read over and over again about Leather Craftsman with GraphiStudio thrown in once for good measure.

I give this book 2 stars flat.

This is book should be in your reference library. What it is a a book to provide you with some food for thought or another way of looking at it is.
Here is the way the photographer presents it, take this as a basis and create your OWN meal. But here are some ideas to get you started. Take these tips do you own product development, for your market and clientel.

We took a couple of princeicpals from the books and applied them to several brides. It helping us fine tune what we offer.

What it is not is going to spoon feed you step by step you still have to do the work. The book gave us insight from several different photographers perspective.

This book is just what the professional photographer or anyone in the album making profession needs to refine the art of designing and putting together brilliant wedding albums. Techniques and suggestions are given by numerous captains of the industry on areas such as creativity, appeal, marketing and profit stimulation. This vast array of examples means that anyone can easily formulate their own style that meets their own needs. You've spent much time and money becoming the best photographer you can, this book will allow you to display your work the way it deserves.