Let’s say you had your event previously photographed, but you weren’t happy with the album. From my personal experience, the album is the after-thought of the day. With the images already created, just throw them onto the page and move on is the general sentiment. I hate that. I would like to take your existing images and re-design for you the best album possible. That means customizing the flow of pages, and not just using some pre-designed template from prepaid software. But to properly customize an album, that means extending the backgrounds of some images to run off the page. It means retouching each image by hand. Not just on it’s own, but with awareness of the images around it. It means combining the elements and building into a cohesive product that flows from beginning to end without interruption.
When it comes to album creation, I’ve found that photographers will drop dozens of images into a program, and it will neatly place all of the images into it’s layout. The goal here is to make it fast for them, and affordable for the end client. But not every client needs the product to be placed into a cookie-cutter layout. Some clients are willing to pay for a more customized experience. That’s what I want to offer you.
Even if you type in “Customized Wedding Albums” into Google, it will give you nothing but generic albums from advertisers. I just looked. The entire first page was filled with paid ads and regular listings from those same exact companies. How, who do you think your photographer is using? A Graphic Designer with decades of experience? Another Photo Retoucher with several more decades under his belt? No. I’m sorry. You are getting previously designed templates.
Break the Mold
I am suggesting a different approach. When money is not the first subject, let’s design your family something wonderful together.
When I was starting out, I was told “crap in, crap out” was the best approach. I have always disagreed with this. So many photographers are uncomfortable with their own products. The longer I have been around, the more hidden mistakes I have seen.
