Tips for Album Design

I recently heard someone say that their motto is, “Less is more. {Insert long pause.} More is more.”

Both sentences apply to wedding album design—both in an affirming way and in a disagreeable way. Let me explain.

Less is not more when your photographer doesn’t offer a wedding album included in your paid collection. Less is more when you carefully curate the images your album will contain.

More is not more when decide to include every. single. image. in your wedding album. More is more when you make your wedding album with lots and lots of pages/spreads and tell a beautiful, concise story with lots of negative space!

A wedding album serves more than one purpose. Not only does it give you a tangible tool to help you fondly remember memories of your wedding day, it also serves as a tool to help preserve your legacy. A wedding album has the power to easily introduce you to the many generations that will follow in your family’s footsteps.

There was a time in our recent past, when many couples opted not to have a wedding album. They placed value in the digital image only. I think this is a mistake that they will some day come to regret. Computers crash, hard drives fail, phones get lost, stolen or outdated, and there is no guarantee that any social platform will be around forever. (Hello! MySpace just lost 12 years worth of user content!) Also, digital technology is rapidly advancing and it’s basically impossible for a family’s legacy to continue to constantly be reformatted into some new medium. A printed image can easily be transferred from one generation to the next simply by handing it over.

But, alas, I am happy! Trends are now indicating that the printed relic is making a comeback. Millennials and Generation Z are starting to put a real value on the printed image. They are starting to understand the importance of not hoarding all your photographic memories in a digital world. In a world where most people have a camera in their hand nearly all day and take pictures on a daily basis, digital photos have become so trivial. Printing photographs gives them a way to stand out and signify their importance.

Printing photographs gives them a way to stand out and signify their importance.

Tips for Album Design

Here are my best tips to help you design a wedding album you, your children, your nieces and nephews and all of your descendants will love!

• You want need an impeccable product. Use a photographer who offers true heirloom, fine art albums. Many photographers use the exact same labs that you have access to. If your photographer will not share the name of the lab who prints their albums, chances are they are using a consumer-level lab that you also have access to.
• Your photographer may offer to create the initial design for you. Although you may feel that you are giving up some control, a lot of times, this actually saves time in the design process. Remember, as professionals, we are experts at telling stories through imagery.
• Always include the couple’s names, date of marriage and venue location somewhere in the album, preferably on the cover or on the first spread. (This will help your descendants identify who you are 100 years from now.)
• Curate your images carefully and think of your album as a storybook without printed words.
• It’s perfect when you have a mixture of landscape and portrait images to design with.
• Although black and white images can be added in an album with color images, never mix the two on a single spread. The images on a spread should all be in color, or all in black and white.
• When color images are used on a spread, they should be the same tonal value.
• No matter the size of your album, each spread should always contain three to five images. You don’t select a bigger album to add more images, you select a bigger album to make your images bigger. (The only spreads that can break this rule are the spreads with details and family formals.
• You select more pages/spreads to add more images.
• Designing with too many photos on each spread makes it crowded, too busy, and cheapens the artistic value. Tip: You’re designing a fine art heirloom, NOT a high school year book!
• Know that not all of your favorite images have to go inside your album; some can be printed individually or purchased as wall art for your home.
• Use a lot of negative space.
• Ideally, your album should begin and end with a HERO shot. Think of this as an introduction and a conclusion to your book.
• In addition to the first and last spreads, a few spreads inside of your album should only contain one image. This is so impactful for storytelling!
• With the exception to the hero shots, your images should appear in chronological order.
• Don’t comingle spreads—the chapters of your album; for example, don’t place images from the ceremony on the same spread as images from your first dance.
• The story in your wedding album should be fluid, flowing, and graceful, not abrupt, jumpy and confusing.
• Always gift copies of your wedding album to your parents!

My best advice is to think of your wedding album like a storybook without words. Choose images that tell a story. If an image doesn’t tell a story, or contribute to telling the story of the spread, then don’t choose it. The album needs to be more like a work of art, because that’s what it is, and less like a high school yearbook. If you have strong emotional connections to images that don’t really lend to “your story” then print them elsewhere.

If you’d like a free download to my cheat sheet for wedding album design, click here.

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I am San Antonio’s most unique wedding photographer. I specialize in a 10-day turnaround, same-day prints, same-day slideshows and Italian handcrafted wedding albums.

I am an internationally-awarded and WPPI-C certified professional wedding and senior photographer based in South Texas near San Antonio. I pride my business in offering a premier and personal service coupled with an unforgettable photography experience. I cater to clients who appreciate quality photography and help them to create family heirlooms that will last for generations. As a full-time professional photographer, my sole purpose is to provide amazing, memorable and full-service photography.

I started Ata-Girl Photography Co., LLC in 2010. I firmly believe that the unique set of circumstances I have faced in life has prepared me to take a personal and genuine interest in my photography clients. I enjoy documenting the important milestones and captivating moments in people’s lives. I love being a part of people’s journey and consider myself privileged to document their legacies.

When I’m not photographing a wedding, family or high school senior, I love to spend my spare time hiking, camping, cycling, reading, listening to Elvis and Prince. The most important things in life are for me to see my two daughters happy and to create a family history my grandparents would be proud of!

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