One of my absolute favorite photography products are albums. Even before I was a professional photographer – I had a love for books and photographs. So combine the two, and I’m an incredibly happy camper. For the past several years, I have put together albums of our little family using the professional images we’ve had taken, and I love nothing more than flipping through those pages, soaking up the memories and love captured within each spread. There’s just something about albums… maybe it’s as simple as the combination of photographs telling stories in a format we are so accustomed to reading stories in.

Anyway… because I love albums so much, it makes sense that this is a product that I want every client to own and cherish. In the past few years I’ve learned a lot about the art of album design. And yes – it truly is an art. There is so much that goes into designing those albums you and I cherish. From creating the imagery to laying out the book to the final printed product – the finished pieces is truly a luxury item! So today I thought I’d talk a little about the process of creating these beautiful, one of a kind pieces.

Album design really does start with your session. When I ask my clients at their consultation what products they are interested in – it’s because I shoot differently depending on what you want to buy. If what you want are some portraits for your walls – I will most likely shoot a lot of beautiful, centered images that showcase your loved ones like in the image below of the Stock family. But if you’re wanting an album – I’m more likely to shoot more creatively and with more variety to better visually portray your story when I am designing your album like in Lauren’s album design below. You’ll notice I shoot a lot off centered images so I can create these beautiful, seamless, one image spreads. And it also creates more visual variety in a lay out when some are close up and some are zoomed out. It’s just a different method of shooting to create the right imagery for an album design.

Once you’ve placed an order for one of my albums, that’s when the detailed work begins. This year, I decided to provide some different options in the album department so that you can choose the level of artistry and investment you want to make. So this year my albums range from 5×7 basic layouts all the way up to a 10×10 high end luxury album.

One of the most basic albums I am offering this year is called the Bonsai Book. This 20 page album is a simple 5×7 size that accommodates horizontal images only. There is minimal design time involved in one of these books since it’s a simply one 5×7 per page. However, design expertise is still important in creating consistently lit and colored images that flow seamlessly from one to the next.

The real artistry and craftsmanship come into play on our two top album designs: the Evergreen and Sequoia Albums. These two albums are the style that our Green Tree Media clients have come to love and value over the past five years. Each of these albums are custom designed with unique imagery and layouts to tell your story most beautifully. The Sequoia Album even comes with the option to include your own handwritten text – a unique touch that will give your album that extra personal detail to more beautifully portray your story.

Now clearly the difference between the Bonsai Book and the Sequoia Album is pretty dramatic. The Bonsai Book is just a simple small book with individual portraits per page. Whereas the Sequoia Album is a one-of-a-kind custom designed artwork album. The amount of time that goes into a Sequoia Album design is obviously far greater. Time is spent carefully selecting the images, determining which images to combine on a spread to tell the story best, how to arrange them to best tell the story, what details to add to lead your eye around the page, and how to incorporate any text you might want. There’s a lot of knowledge, skill, and time that goes into creating one of these beautifully crafted, custom albums albums. They truly are a luxury art piece!

When I flip through one of our own portrait albums, I find myself getting lost in the images, the moments, and memories in a very similar way to how I get lost in the words of a really great story. That’s what great album design should do for you – it will provide you with a window to your past where you can hop in and sit with the beautiful memories for a while. And for me, I honestly believe that is worth an awful lot! It’s a priceless gift to be able to see my stories in print and relive some of my favorite memories time and time again, and I hope you feel that way too!