Thanks everyone for your comments. I had uploaded my new version and just ordered my proof copy two minutes ago: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3312094
On Jun 11, 2012, at 10:27 AM, Igor Roshchin wrote: > > Hi Larry, > > It's a nice collection of photos, but I was surprised why you decided to make > a book: was there a request from the organizers and/or participants? Nope, it's a proof of concept. I wanted to see how such a book would turn out. > I wouldn't expect most people from the blues-dance community to buy > $35+ book of photos (e.g., it is different from typical tango > community). But I might be wrong, - if there is a demand for it, - > do it, for all means. There is no demand.... yet. Whether seeing something like this will cause there to be a demand, is another question. I doubt it though. On the other hand, it's a fun way to show off my work to other dancers. If I were doing "A book of photos" I would definitely do it differently. This is mostly an attempt to do something showing off the event, and being as inclusive of as many of the dancers there as I could with the photos I had. I also used it as an exercise to learn the LR4 book module. So, now, every blurb book I've done, I've done with different software. The first one with the blurb software, which I downloaded. The second with InDesign, the third with Lightroom. Lightroom has some annoying limitations, but it's a lot easier to use, and learn, than InDesign, and still a lot more flexible than the blurb software. It also has the advantage of processing the photos directly into the book, rather than processing them into an intermediate stage. > > I do not know if I agree or disagree with others' comments on the > order of the photos. > Here is what caught my eye: > 1. It's somewhat monotonous, and there are almost no captions. > I don't know what to write as captions in this case, but if there were > some, especially if you can come up with some humorous ones, - that > definitely would make it more energetic. Good point. I agree with you there, and was considering that. Unfortunately I wasn't very good at coming up with captions. I did put a little more work into titles for each of the events. > > 2. Cropping of some photos. > I typically would go for some tighter crop for some of them. > Let me give just one example: 50-51. > Both photos have some partial bodies and backs that do not add much > to the photo, especially #51. > For #51, I would probably even make it into a vertical format around > that couple in the middle. On the right, I'd crop between the heads of > the lead in the yellow t-shirt and the guys in a cross-striped shirt, > and on the left, I would crop between the two ladies facing us. That would have been better. > Yet another example is #29: I would cut off a large chunk on the left > with a (possibly even somewhat overblown) shoulder and a partial couple > behind it. Good point. > A similar thing can be done for some "one couple" photos: > #26, left photo: the right side edge can be cropped tighter to remove > the person in a blue t-shirt. If the intent was to have the central > guy's face centered left-right, then the corresponding crop can > be done on the left, and possibly from the bottom - if the aspect ratio > would benefit from that. > > There are a few more photos that I would subject to the same type of the > therapy, - both "group" and "one couple" photos. > I hope my examples illustrated the idea of my approach, but if you have > more questions or want me to point out the same in other photos, let me > know. Your suggestions are all valid, and good points. > > 3. A few photos don't quite work for me compositionally, - and the > cropping wouldn't help. E.g. #24 has a partial couple in fron on the > left, not quite in front couple on the right, and a bunch of less > distinctive couple in the background. I would try to focus either > on the woman from the couple on the left, or on the couple on the right, > but separately. (You can try to crop that drastically and see if it > works.) > > 4. There are a bit too many grainy photos - that was bothering me somewhat, > - but I recognize thhat it is a personal preference. Actually, that wasn't preference, that was physics. I was trying to get a few photos from each of the dances, and most of the dances had crappy light and I didn't want to use a flash. On Friday night, someone there used a flash a lot, even at late night, and people were complaining about him. Even to me. > > Igor Thanks for all of the feedback. I wish I had gotten this 12 hours earlier. I've got a couple of other topical books that I want to do, where I'm using my photos to illustrate a topic (our Dojo, some of my musician friends etc.) rather than just showing off my photos. I don't actually expect to make any money directly off such books. I suspect that some of the books might sell a few copies just because people may want a book that has a picture of them in it. It is possible that people seeing one may consider hiring me for more profitable photography jobs. Although, I think that far more people would be interested in pdf versions of the books. If I decide that I want to try to make some money, I could try selling those for a buck or two each, though more likely, I'd offer putting one together as a service to people who are thinking of hiring me for an event. The only book that I would expect to have any sort of commercial appeal would be one of my more adult oriented work. However, realistically, while blurb is great for printing off a few copies for yourself and friends, it certainly isn't viable for something you actually want to make money on. > > > On Jun 9, 2012, at 6:17 PM, Larry Colen wrote: > >> I'm putting together a blurb book of a dance weekend that I took >> photos at last April. >> Feedback solicited. >> >> http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3308627?alt=I%27ve+got+the+blues...+and+then+some >> > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
