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Photo Albums When we take photos, what do we do with them? If you’re like me, you have gigage of data stored on any number of hard drives, waiting to find life permanently in print form. The hard drive has become the 21st Century equivalent of the shoebox, which, for many of us, was once the preferred way of storing prints and negatives J Every so often, I force myself to sort through the gigage of files and do some cursory edits to them in preparation for printing four images per letter-sized sheet of photo paper (usually matte for family pics). I print them off and then slip the sheets into archival sleeves for storing in a regular office binder; these would become the family photo albums. At this time, for family happy snaps, I’ll continue to do this; however, what if you needed a higher quality solution, i.e. people are paying you to do this, or you want to showcase your best images? Printing large prints such as 16x20 is awesome…actually, it’s eff’ing awesome, pardon my British. Unfortunately, 16x20 prints are not easily portable and viewable appropriately. There are now 13x19 sized albums or portfolios, which make it easier, but these may not be the most elegant of choices. Going smaller to A3 (approximately 12x16) or 11x17 allows for elegant portfolio albums, such as those made by Prat (the Pampa series) and the print size is still large enough for impact. However, portfolio style albums don’t have the look and feel of finality. Portfolio albums usually use spiral bound archival sleeves to allow for easy insertion and extraction of prints. They are also not what clients, especially wedding clients, typically think of when the talk of albums begins.
Creating an actual book album is what many desire and I’ve been looking for a solution that is relatively cost effective, while being elegant and permanent. My search led me to three products that I purchased to compare with and decide which one would be the long-term solution. There are other brands and options available, including custom made albums in which all you have to do is upload finished page designs to the company’s server and then wait for your album to be delivered. Unfortunately, most if not all of these services are in the US and I generally prefer made-in-Canada choices to minimize S&H and customs fees coming across the border. Ironically, one of the products I bought for sampling is, as of this writing, only available in the US, but this product is so interesting with great potential that it was worth my while to a seek a viable source to order it into Canada. The three products are from Stone Editions, Moab, and Unibind. I will describe each on its own further down, but first, a few words on how I designed a sample album to use with two of the products. Designing
Album Pages People’s lives being as busy as they are these days, I waited several months for her to make some choices for which photographs she would like included in her album. However, I ended up making the choices for her, because I grew tired of waiting for her life to settle down enough to give me her choices. I had bought the Moab Chinle album shortly after the wedding with the intention that this option would be the one to use. I chose the 12x12 inch version, as it is the largest size available and thus, my design parameter revolved around the square page. I had hoped to do some double page spreads, but the 35mm aspect ratio is not panoramic, so a 12x24 inch image would require significant cropping for it to fit. Looking through my files, I found some shots that could have worked after cropping, but for almost all of them, there was the problem of having subjects right in the middle of the frame where the binding would be. I nixed the idea of double-page spreads and just worked with each page individually, but in symmetry with its opposite page, as seen in the double-page examples below:
For editing the final images after selection, I used a couple of tools purchased last year from famed, but now retired wedding photographer, Gary Fong, as well as from a local Vancouver pro, Craig Minielly. Both of these tools are just sets of Photoshop Actions that automate a series of editing steps to make life easier for the album designer. You can see screen shots below of what kinds of actions come with each set. Of the two, the Gary Fong Digital Design Album Designer set is more useful for the production part of the album design, while Craig’s Actions are used for editing individual photos, mostly female subjects that I want to glamorize a little bit.
When I first looked into the Gary Fong set, for some reason, I was of the mind that what I would be buying would be some sort of standalone piece of software that I could use for designing the album. I was a bit surprised when what I received were just PS Action files, but after thinking about it, I suppose I should not have expected a slick and finished standalone application for only US $100. With hindsight, PS Actions make sense at this price level, because of the enormous flexibility and power available in Photoshop.
Back to the Fong set; I don’t use every option available in the Fong set, with my most used items being the the thin white border, and background shadow actions. For convenience sake, I also used the B&W set for this particular album, which is just souping the RGB mix in Channel Mixer, but with a predominant bias for the Red channel (the Red channel, like a red filter with B&W film, will make human faces lighter and whiter; go overboard though and they’ll look ghostly). The files used were 16-bit TIFFs that I had already converted long ago from the original RAW files. I took around 2000 shots during the rehearsal and wedding and edited down to just over 1000 shots for my cousin, which probably explains why she was taking so long to make some choices – that and an old computer unable to handle the power requirements of my FlipAlbum proof CD or the actual full resolution printing files copied to DVD-Rs. I used Photoshop’s cropping tool the most for designing the album, as there were only a handful of shots that I left alone as full frame. Using the crop tool is liberating in being able to create completely new photographs instead of being tied to the 35mm aspect ratio – there’s really no magic to this ratio. It’s rather humorous that so many people (including me) desire a full frame D-SLR and yet here I am slicing and dicing my shots to fit into an album completely outside of the 1x1.5 ratio. Moreover, with the album only being 12x12 inches, a whole lotta the 10 and 12 MP resolution from my D200 and D2X cameras was flushed down the pixel toilet. Not that I’m complaining because I’m still planning to print a couple of 16x20 sized prints from my original TIFFs. Before slicing and dicing though and depending on the subject matter, I may use Craig’s Actions to glamorize the file. This is usually with female subjects whereas the male subjects are left alone to retain the crispness, and more often than not, converted to B&W to give the male subjects a classic look. With Craig’s Action, using the Porcelain Skin set, the entire image gets a soft, diffuse glowing look, but at the end of the action, the tool becomes a paintbrush that can be used to brush away the soft and diffused look to bring back some sharpness. I use this paintbrush to judiciously brush the faces so that the eyes are sharp, but leaving blemishes and wrinkles alone. See the example below, where you can see before and after versions (slightly different crop and size though).
Designing the album is an exercise in continuously going back and forth from Adobe Bridge to Photoshop. Bridge to view and choose which image to include and Photoshop to do the cropping and editing to fit it into the 12x12 inch canvas. The album designing made me decide that for the next computer upgrade, I will ensure that my motherboard can handle at least two video cards to allow me to run three monitors at the same time. The left-side monitor (ideally, another 30-inch LCD) for Adobe Bridge or other browser, the middle one for Photoshop, and the right side monitor for the Photoshop palettes. I grew weary of the constant flip-flopping between Bridge and Photoshop and it would be much easier and faster to drag a thumbnail instantly from Bridge into an open Photoshop workspace. Additionally, it’s nice to see what other images are available for incorporating into the template page at the same time as working in Photoshop. We’ll see what the boss lady says about buying another big-ass LCD J
Creating
Albums Stone
Editions
The Adamant paper itself is thin, like Epson Heavyweight Matte paper, and when I printed out color swatch charts to profile with the ColorVision PrintFIX PRO, I noticed that the colors lacked saturation compared to any other paper I’ve ever used. Because of this, I printed out another set of charts, except this time, using Epson Matte Heavyweight as my paper choice, but this sprayed too much ink on the paper and the difference in saturation wasn’t all that noticeable. I stuck with the Plain paper set of charts for profiling.
After profiling the paper, I thought about whether I really wanted to waste my time and money using the Adamant paper for creating an album. I decided not to and will eventually use it for printing out family snapshots.
Add it all up and buying the same parts as in the Vistek kit direct from Stone Editions would be US $104 before S&H and customs. Buying the Velvet pages would cost US $189 and the Lustre pages would cost US $129.
I still think that Stone Editions is worth a look, because of the larger album size they offer (12x15 inches), but just stay away from their Adamant paper. The ivory color cover set looks elegant with its linen cover and the pages look easier to deal with than from Moab. The Stone Editions albums are also available in a variety of colors and sizes from 8x8, to letter size, to 12x12, and 12x15. The sample paper pack I ordered directly from Stone Editions revealed that the company's Velvet and Lustre papers are good quality. Unfortunately, Stone Editions cheaps out with the sampler and just packages a couple of 8x8 page sheets, which (to me) is a rather useless size. Also, custom printer profiles available from their website are limited to only Epson 2200 and 4000 printers. Moab Chinle “Special order” soon became dirty words to me and after four-months, I finally gave up and requested Vistek to cancel the order for the Natural sheets and replace them with the Bright versions. The reason why I wanted the Natural sheets in the first place is that the Bright sheets, as the name implies, use optical brighteners to produce a whiter sheet than Natural. However, over time, the Bright will likely fade to Natural anyway, so I figured I’d save my cousin the hassle of that change by using Natural from the get go. I
don’t know why
The Chinle page package comes with an instruction sheet on how to print with the pages. The instructions suggest using 13x19 as the sheet size in the printer driver to accommodate the unusual size of the sheets. While the printing surface is 12x12, the actual page is 12 inches tall and 13 inches wide, with the extra inch being for the binding holes. My first go around with printing on the sheet ended up being a waste because I didn’t set the margins correctly. I thought I’d just create my own custom sized 12x13 inch sheet, but as I was using the Epson R2400 printer, I noticed that it had a 12x12 inch choice included in the paper sizes. How convenient!
I chose that paper size, fed the sheet through the manual feeder at the back of the printer (Moab recommends the Watercolor paper for printing on Entrada paper, which automatically switches the R2400 into manual roll feeding mode) and then crossed my fingers in anticipation. Success! My second try gave me exactly what I desired, a perfectly centered (on the available print space) 11.75x11.75 image. I chose not to print full bleed because I’m anal and I don’t like the idea of ink slopping over the edges inside the printer, even though there are pads to absorb the excess ink from the edges. These pads eventually have to be replaced, but that could be years down the road, depending on how often you do full bleed printing. One of the main reasons for choosing the Moab Chinle option is the ability to print on both sides of the Moab papers. Moab is one of the few brands that offer papers with double-sided print capability. However, printing on matte paper is a tedious process. I had originally wanted to use Moab’s Kokopelli, which has a lustre, or semi gloss finish and gives the prints a photo lab-like feel. Unfortunately, Moab is no longer able to source Kokopelli and thus no Chinle page versions are available. The remaining stock left of the regular sheets is likely all that will be available. I bought some 11x17 packages of Kokopelli to use with the Unibind system, but who knows how much stock Vistek actually has left. With no Kokopelli for the Chinle albums, I could only choose between Entrada 190 or Kayenta. It would have been very interesting if Moab made Chinle pages from Entrada 300, a nicely thick paper that I would not have concerns about for printing on both sides of a sheet. However, after giving my first sheet of Entrada 190 a few days to dry, I fed it through the R2400 a second time to print on the other side and it’s actually all right. My concern was that the Entrada 190 would be too thin and buckle or ripple from all the ink sprayed on both sides, but my fears were allayed. I printed all the odd number pages first then allowed them to dry for a couple of days before printing on them again on the other side with the even numbered pages. I give these sheets extra time to dry because of the matte surface, whereas glossy and lustre papers generally dry quicker. Because Moab recommends feeding the pages with the binding holes at the top, you need to rotate your image correctly to create an album. Images for odd numbered pages are turned counter clockwise and images for even numbered pages are turned clockwise, as seen in the example below.
Once
all the pages had been printed out on both sides and allowed
to dry, I sprayed them with
At right, a kitchen table covered with 15 Chinle sheets, drying after being sprayed with Desert Varnish >> Spraying aerosols indoors is never a good idea, so I did the spraying outside, but even so, I think I killed a few of my brain cells catching a whiff of the noxious fumes – and I didn’t even get high for my troubles. It took me about two hours to finish the spraying, as I sprayed one side first; waited 15 minutes; sprayed again except at a 90-degree angle to the first coat; waited about an hour for the first side to dry then sprayed the other side; waited 15 minutes; sprayed again at a 90-degree angle to the first coat; left the prints to dry overnight. My left thumb nail, which bore the brunt of the spraying, as I held the prints with my left hand, had a coating of Desert Varnish on it for about a week, despite numerous washings and scrubbings. My four-year old daughter caught a whiff of one of the prints and said it smelled like nail polish, which is exactly right so far as what the two products attempt to do: protection of a surface.
I had to print out the sheet again, adding to the delay. For matte papers, I’d suggest brushing the surface of the paper with a fine cosmetics brush to remove residue before printing. Finally, once the sheets were ready, creating the actual album would be merely a matter of inserting the sheets into the cover and then tightening three screws. Or, so I thought. The Chinle pages are pre-bored with holes to allegedly match the holes of the cover set, but what if the holes aren’t exactly in line? You take out your MacGyver knife and start doing some surgery to the offending hole of the cover set. For those of you who did not take partake of 1980s era television, MacGyver is a secret agent (not government, but a private foundation), who eschews the use of guns, preferring his brain (and duct tape) to get out of various James Bond-like predicaments. The MacGyver knife is what I call my Leatherman multi-tool, but if I recall correctly, MacGyver used a Swiss Army knife.
The Chinle cover is wide enough to handle one-inch worth of pages, which would be some 60 individual sheets for a potential 120-page book, which is a heckuva lot of pages. It’s also suppose to be able to handle books as small as ¼ inch, which seems ridiculous to spend so much money on such a small album. My album is about ½ inch thick and for those interested in this album option, I recommend using protective front and end pages to buffer your prints from meeting with the leather inside covers. It also looks more elegant. The Chinle cover is a bit stiff to compress when ready to tighten the screws, so I recommend using the bolts inserted from the back of the album then the pages then the screw to put it all together from the front side. It took me about ½ an hour to figure out the best way to put the album together, including the minor surgery required to remedy the mis-matched holes.
Voila, a custom leather-covered album with its own sleeve, ready for presenting to the client. Before presenting to the client though, clean the leather cover, because it has a tendency to keep greasy finger markings. You might even want to supply a pair of white, cotton gloves - actually, I know of one bride (not one of mine) that did insist on visitors looking at her wedding album, to wear gloves J
While the end product is nice, the price is pretty damn high to create this custom album. Unibind
PhotoBook Creator Unibind only sells their professional-level binding machines directly and they start at US $450, which to me is a lot of money to take a chance on something that might not pan out. For whatever reason, the much cheaper $120 PhotoBook Creator binding machine is not available for purchase directly from Unibind, so I had to find another source. The PhotoBook Creator is available primarily as mail order products from Best Buy or Lexjet. Walking into a Best Buy and asking about the PhotoBook Creator would likely get blank stares back at you. Moreover, ordering from Best Buy or Lexjet was not going to work for me because neither ships to Canada – the Canadian Best Buy chain does not carry the PhotoBook Creator. I thought I would have to do a roundabout trick to get the PhotoBook Creator in my grubby paws, which is to have someone in the US purchase the products and then forward to me in Canada. I even posted such a request on this website for a few brief hours before, ironically, a Canadian reader sent me a tip about ScrapDish, as a source for exactly what I desired. ScrapDish also carry more album cover choices than Best Buy or Lexjet and the owner of ScrapDish shares
my low opinion of UPS fees, as she told me that in the past,
when she first enquired about the fees for shipping to
So, Unibind won’t sell me the PhotoBook Creator, but they will sell to ScrapDish, which in turn sold and shipped it to me within two-weeks of making the order (ScrapDish had to order from Unibind first, hence the extra week it took for delivery). Update: ScrapDish no longer sells Unibind products (neither does Best Buy in the USA). Anyway…enough of me uncorking my whine, back to the Unibind albums.
The Unibind system allows you to use whatever paper you like as pages inside the Unibind covers. I bought a package of 10 12x12 inch covers without windows to get myself started.
At right, a close-up of the inside of the cover with a strip of glue for the binding >> Covers are available in a variety of sizes (up to 12x12 inches) and colors when ordered directly from Unibind. Unibind also appears to be readying a future leather cover for a more upscale look. The Unibind system does not use screws or need pre-scored pages. The Unibind method uses glue heated by the binding machine to create the book. While the Moab and Stone Editions albums allow for easy altering of the contents, the Unibind system is more or less a permanent product. However, I did read one review that indicates that some Unibind users are reusing their covers with new pages by reheating the covers to melt the glue again. Once the pages have been printed and ready for binding, the Unibind process is the simplest and easiest way to create a book. A child could create a book, but of course, I do recommend adult supervision because of the heat used to bind the book.
For my first albums, I used some Chinle pages cropped down to 11x12 to act as my cover and end sheets to buffer the real album pages from the linen cover.
I placed the sheets in the middle of the spine and then in the binding machine. The binding machine is activated by pressure from the weight of the book; there is no on or off switch. Place the book in the machine and let it just sit with just the two plastic walls as support. The binding machine turns on and a little LED blows red to indicate that the machine is heating the binding. Less than two-minutes later, the red LED turns green to indicate the cooling phase of the process. After about another minute and a half, the green LED turns off, indicating that the book is ready for handling.
Straight from the binding machine, you can still feel the heat from the book, but it’s not hot and is quite safe to handle. Looking over my first try, I noticed that two or three of the last pages were not properly bound to the cover and my mistake was not in settling the pages square in the spine. For my second book, I banged the spine against a hard surface to get the pages settled into the spine and this one had no problems. For the first album, I banged it too and then redid the heating process and the second time around resulted in success. Banging the spine is a similar motion and concept as taking a pile of loose paper and banging against a table to settle the sheets nice and neat.
The
end result is compact, yet elegant album solution; however,
up against the
Conclusion I
can use whatever paper I desire instead of having to buy the
pre-scored sheets from Stone Editions or
If a more upscale look is desired, the leather-covered Moab Chinle is larger and weightier, but at significantly higher cost. I would love to see the heavier Moab Entrada 300 papers become available as Chinle pages to really give the album some weight J Using matte papers is a slower process due to longer drying times, but there is a classic feel to the pages once the printing and album creation is completed. The more I look at the Moab Chinle album with the Entrada 190 pages, the more I like it. I went into this project with a bias for lustre and semi glossy papers. While I still prefer this type of finish for individual prints, for albums, I'm beginning to see the benefits of using matte paper. While there can be issues with flecking and flaking with certain matte papers, over the long run, they may be more durable than glossy papers. You don't have to worry about finger prints as much and I noticed that the Moab Kokopelli paper can become scuffed if not handle properly and somewhat delicately. You can't beat the weight of the best matte papers that add to the viewing enjoyment and add to the feel of quality, and finally, comparing the Entrada 190 to Kokopelli, I felt the matte paper had a warmer presentation. Even
though the Stone Editions album was not actually created for
this article, I still think this option is worth a look due
to the availability of a larger size. Because of the
For myself, I’ll happily use the Unibind albums for personal portfolios and sample albums, but for wedding clients, I’ll offer the Moab Chinle with matte paper as the preferred option.
Reader's comment:
Most of Moab's products are easily available from Vistek in Toronto. It was only the Chinle Entrada 190 Natural pages that were special order. And, if you like the idea of double-sided Kokopelli paper for your album, better buy some from Vistek now before they're all gone forever ;^) Scrapdish is actually in the US, so all prices quoted on their website are US $. The shipping charges calculated by their online shopping cart will not be correct for Canadian delivery, despite being able to select Canada as a destination. For my order of the PhotoBook Creator binding machine and 10 12x12 inch covers, I had to pay another US $25 for S&H, which made the total something like US $40 or so for the S&H. The products themselves were in the US $200 range. Don't forget the 6% GST charged by Canada Customs too (I had to pay 13% because of provincial sales taxes, whereas you do not in Alberta). Since Scrapdish was the only reasonable way for a Canuck to order in the Unibind system, I found the S&H to be reasonable and their turnaround is relatively quick considering they have to order the items first from Unibind before shipping it up (two weeks). |
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Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
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I
bought the 7 mm wide covers; there are different widths available
from Unibind to accommodate the number of pages you wish to
use, from 1 mm to 36 mm. However, at 
