Making a Wedding Album

Before you start

Photo albums are a time-honoured accompaniment to many happy occasions, and weddings are no exception. Barney Britton offers advice on planning an album, and takes a look at some of the best online photobook services currently available as well as two high-quality DIY options for the keen home printer



Everything in the right place

A photo album is like making a compilation tape – you have to get everything in the right order. The most obvious order for a wedding album might be chronological, but it isn’t necessarily the best way. Consider grouping: if you shot a photograph of the groom’s family in the morning, and the bride’s family in the afternoon, it makes sense to place the two images alongside each other. This might sound obvious, but all the online photobook services I tested for this article feature an ‘autofill’ option that places images in strict chronological order unless you intervene. Also, make sure that you are ruthless in your image selection, and exclude duplicates.

Find your best shot

Always file your best shot first – it’s a good rule of thumb for working photographers and worth keeping in mind when creating a wedding album. If there’s a particular image that you’re really proud of, make sure it gets the prominence it deserves. Some photobooks have an aperture in the cover for an image to be seen through, so if you’ve got a really good shot of the bride and groom together, don’t just trust autofill – put it on the first page. Alternatively, perhaps it would look really good spread over a couple of pages, or on the cover. If you do place the image over two pages, though, be aware that some of the picture may get lost in the ‘gutter’ along the spine.

Cropping and positioning

All the online photobook services that I’ve looked at in this article allow the pages to be edited to some extent, and usually include optional page formats including different aspect ratios. Before you begin creating your own photobook, consider which images will work well in different formats. Also, bear in mind that if you have cropped an image heavily prior to uploading it, you may not have adequate resolution to maintain quality once the photobook is printed. Finally, if you’re ordering online, it might be a good idea to convert your images into the sRGB colour space unless you’re specifically instructed to do otherwise. This should guarantee that the colours on your screen match the colours in the final print.

Top ten albums suitable for wedding photos

1. Pixum Easybook XL
   
   
2. Photobox Crystal Deluxe Photobook
   
   
3. Snapfish Signature 12x12in Photobook
   
   
4. Bonusprint Large Photobook
   
   
5. Myphotobook Maxi Photobook
   
   
6. Cewe XL Photobook
   
   
7. Kodak Gallery Simon+Kabuki Wedding Album
   
   
8. Bob Books
   
   
9. Ilford Photo Album Kit
   
   
10. Hahnemühle Fine Art Inkjet Photo Album

For more articles on wedding photography purchase a back issue of Amateur Photographer magazine dated 11 July 2009.