Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
Hi Larry, It's a nice collection of photos, but I was surprised why you decided to make a book: was there a request from the organizers and/or participants? I wouldn't expect most people from the blues-dance community to buy $35+ book of photos (e.g., it is different from typical tango community). But I might be wrong, - if there is a demand for it, - do it, for all means. I do not know if I agree or disagree with others' comments on the order of the photos. Here is what caught my eye: 1. It's somewhat monotonous, and there are almost no captions. I don't know what to write as captions in this case, but if there were some, especially if you can come up with some humorous ones, - that definitely would make it more energetic. 2. Cropping of some photos. I typically would go for some tighter crop for some of them. Let me give just one example: 50-51. Both photos have some partial bodies and backs that do not add much to the photo, especially #51. For #51, I would probably even make it into a vertical format around that couple in the middle. On the right, I'd crop between the heads of the lead in the yellow t-shirt and the guys in a cross-striped shirt, and on the left, I would crop between the two ladies facing us. Yet another example is #29: I would cut off a large chunk on the left with a (possibly even somewhat overblown) shoulder and a partial couple behind it. A similar thing can be done for some one couple photos: #26, left photo: the right side edge can be cropped tighter to remove the person in a blue t-shirt. If the intent was to have the central guy's face centered left-right, then the corresponding crop can be done on the left, and possibly from the bottom - if the aspect ratio would benefit from that. There are a few more photos that I would subject to the same type of the therapy, - both group and one couple photos. I hope my examples illustrated the idea of my approach, but if you have more questions or want me to point out the same in other photos, let me know. 3. A few photos don't quite work for me compositionally, - and the cropping wouldn't help. E.g. #24 has a partial couple in fron on the left, not quite in front couple on the right, and a bunch of less distinctive couple in the background. I would try to focus either on the woman from the couple on the left, or on the couple on the right, but separately. (You can try to crop that drastically and see if it works.) 4. There are a bit too many grainy photos - that was bothering me somewhat, - but I recognize thhat it is a personal preference. Igor On Jun 9, 2012, at 6:17 PM, Larry Colen wrote: I'm putting together a blurb book of a dance weekend that I took photos at last April. Feedback solicited. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3308627?alt=I%27ve+got+the+blues...+and+then+some -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
Thanks everyone for your comments. I had uploaded my new version and just ordered my proof copy two minutes ago: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3312094 On Jun 11, 2012, at 10:27 AM, Igor Roshchin wrote: Hi Larry, It's a nice collection of photos, but I was surprised why you decided to make a book: was there a request from the organizers and/or participants? Nope, it's a proof of concept. I wanted to see how such a book would turn out. I wouldn't expect most people from the blues-dance community to buy $35+ book of photos (e.g., it is different from typical tango community). But I might be wrong, - if there is a demand for it, - do it, for all means. There is no demand yet. Whether seeing something like this will cause there to be a demand, is another question. I doubt it though. On the other hand, it's a fun way to show off my work to other dancers. If I were doing A book of photos I would definitely do it differently. This is mostly an attempt to do something showing off the event, and being as inclusive of as many of the dancers there as I could with the photos I had. I also used it as an exercise to learn the LR4 book module. So, now, every blurb book I've done, I've done with different software. The first one with the blurb software, which I downloaded. The second with InDesign, the third with Lightroom. Lightroom has some annoying limitations, but it's a lot easier to use, and learn, than InDesign, and still a lot more flexible than the blurb software. It also has the advantage of processing the photos directly into the book, rather than processing them into an intermediate stage. I do not know if I agree or disagree with others' comments on the order of the photos. Here is what caught my eye: 1. It's somewhat monotonous, and there are almost no captions. I don't know what to write as captions in this case, but if there were some, especially if you can come up with some humorous ones, - that definitely would make it more energetic. Good point. I agree with you there, and was considering that. Unfortunately I wasn't very good at coming up with captions. I did put a little more work into titles for each of the events. 2. Cropping of some photos. I typically would go for some tighter crop for some of them. Let me give just one example: 50-51. Both photos have some partial bodies and backs that do not add much to the photo, especially #51. For #51, I would probably even make it into a vertical format around that couple in the middle. On the right, I'd crop between the heads of the lead in the yellow t-shirt and the guys in a cross-striped shirt, and on the left, I would crop between the two ladies facing us. That would have been better. Yet another example is #29: I would cut off a large chunk on the left with a (possibly even somewhat overblown) shoulder and a partial couple behind it. Good point. A similar thing can be done for some one couple photos: #26, left photo: the right side edge can be cropped tighter to remove the person in a blue t-shirt. If the intent was to have the central guy's face centered left-right, then the corresponding crop can be done on the left, and possibly from the bottom - if the aspect ratio would benefit from that. There are a few more photos that I would subject to the same type of the therapy, - both group and one couple photos. I hope my examples illustrated the idea of my approach, but if you have more questions or want me to point out the same in other photos, let me know. Your suggestions are all valid, and good points. 3. A few photos don't quite work for me compositionally, - and the cropping wouldn't help. E.g. #24 has a partial couple in fron on the left, not quite in front couple on the right, and a bunch of less distinctive couple in the background. I would try to focus either on the woman from the couple on the left, or on the couple on the right, but separately. (You can try to crop that drastically and see if it works.) 4. There are a bit too many grainy photos - that was bothering me somewhat, - but I recognize thhat it is a personal preference. Actually, that wasn't preference, that was physics. I was trying to get a few photos from each of the dances, and most of the dances had crappy light and I didn't want to use a flash. On Friday night, someone there used a flash a lot, even at late night, and people were complaining about him. Even to me. Igor Thanks for all of the feedback. I wish I had gotten this 12 hours earlier. I've got a couple of other topical books that I want to do, where I'm using my photos to illustrate a topic (our Dojo, some of my musician friends etc.) rather than just showing off my photos. I don't actually expect to make any money directly off such books. I suspect that some of the books might sell a few copies just because people may want a book that has a picture of them in it. It is possible
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
On Jun 11, 2012, at 2:02 PM, Larry Colen wrote: Thanks everyone for your comments. I had uploaded my new version and just ordered my proof copy two minutes ago: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3312094 . . . So, now, every blurb book I've done, I've done with different software. The first one with the blurb software, which I downloaded. The second with InDesign, the third with Lightroom. Lightroom has some annoying limitations, but it's a lot easier to use, and learn, than InDesign, and still a lot more flexible than the blurb software. It also has the advantage of processing the photos directly into the book, rather than processing them into an intermediate stage. In what respect(s) is LR more flexible than Blurb? stan -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
On Jun 11, 2012, at 4:35 PM, Stan Halpin wrote: On Jun 11, 2012, at 2:02 PM, Larry Colen wrote: Thanks everyone for your comments. I had uploaded my new version and just ordered my proof copy two minutes ago: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3312094 . . . So, now, every blurb book I've done, I've done with different software. The first one with the blurb software, which I downloaded. The second with InDesign, the third with Lightroom. Lightroom has some annoying limitations, but it's a lot easier to use, and learn, than InDesign, and still a lot more flexible than the blurb software. It also has the advantage of processing the photos directly into the book, rather than processing them into an intermediate stage. In what respect(s) is LR more flexible than Blurb? It's been about a year and a half since I did the book using the blurb software, but as I remember, the downloadable blurb software was a lot more limited in the page formats. It is entirely possible that: A) I didn't spend enough time to learn how to wring everything out of the blurb software B) My memory is broken C) They have added more functionality to the blurb software. D) All of the above -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
On Jun 11, 2012, at 7:47 PM, Larry Colen wrote: On Jun 11, 2012, at 4:35 PM, Stan Halpin wrote: On Jun 11, 2012, at 2:02 PM, Larry Colen wrote: Thanks everyone for your comments. I had uploaded my new version and just ordered my proof copy two minutes ago: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3312094 . . . So, now, every blurb book I've done, I've done with different software. The first one with the blurb software, which I downloaded. The second with InDesign, the third with Lightroom. Lightroom has some annoying limitations, but it's a lot easier to use, and learn, than InDesign, and still a lot more flexible than the blurb software. It also has the advantage of processing the photos directly into the book, rather than processing them into an intermediate stage. In what respect(s) is LR more flexible than Blurb? It's been about a year and a half since I did the book using the blurb software, but as I remember, the downloadable blurb software was a lot more limited in the page formats. It is entirely possible that: A) I didn't spend enough time to learn how to wring everything out of the blurb software B) My memory is broken C) They have added more functionality to the blurb software. D) All of the above -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est Thanks Larry. Recently (for values of recent ranging from 6 months to 18 months) Blurb added a button that allows for editing their page layouts. The editing is very straightforward and the resulting page layout can be saved and reused in that book and/or in later books. In fact this was my major issue with the pre-release first version of LR-4 - i.e., the only way to change or add page layouts was to go off into the print module, create something, export it, then re-import it into Book module. Which is why I haven't upgraded to LR-4 yet. stan -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
Interesting book idea, Larry. I've flipped through about two-thirds of it, most of the photos look good. The subject matter isn't my interest, generally speaking, so I can't comment on the aesthetics of it in the eyes of dance enthusiasts who might be interested. My photo book workshop is coming to a close. I decided to use the Lightroom 4.1 book tool rather than the Blurb BookSmart tool both to test out the book making capabilities and because it simplifies my workflow by some amount (in a time period when I really have very little time to spare for the effort, so it was important). Responding to someone's query up-thread: The current cut of the Lightroom book module is pretty young and does not support all the capabilities of BookSmart yet. That said, it provides quite a lot of options and allows a seamless integration between your image libraries and the book design/production process in a way that isn't possible with BookSmart. My book is more content driven than layout and design oriented, so it's proven to be satisfactory just as it is on this effort. (I am preparing announcements and invitations to the reception and book-signing event for the workshop, which is scheduled for Thursday, August 2, 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Modernbook Gallery at 49 Geary Ave in San Francisco. It should be a hoot, there are some fascinating books going to be presented by our little troupe of 12. My book, Ways Together, is based on the Communicating series I showed in PESOs through 2011. I'll email a formal announcement to the list in a week or two. :-) On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 6:08 PM, Stan Halpin s...@stans-photography.info wrote: On Jun 11, 2012, at 7:47 PM, Larry Colen wrote: On Jun 11, 2012, at 4:35 PM, Stan Halpin wrote: On Jun 11, 2012, at 2:02 PM, Larry Colen wrote: Thanks everyone for your comments. I had uploaded my new version and just ordered my proof copy two minutes ago: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3312094 . . . So, now, every blurb book I've done, I've done with different software. The first one with the blurb software, which I downloaded. The second with InDesign, the third with Lightroom. Lightroom has some annoying limitations, but it's a lot easier to use, and learn, than InDesign, and still a lot more flexible than the blurb software. It also has the advantage of processing the photos directly into the book, rather than processing them into an intermediate stage. In what respect(s) is LR more flexible than Blurb? It's been about a year and a half since I did the book using the blurb software, but as I remember, the downloadable blurb software was a lot more limited in the page formats. It is entirely possible that: A) I didn't spend enough time to learn how to wring everything out of the blurb software B) My memory is broken C) They have added more functionality to the blurb software. D) All of the above -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est Thanks Larry. Recently (for values of recent ranging from 6 months to 18 months) Blurb added a button that allows for editing their page layouts. The editing is very straightforward and the resulting page layout can be saved and reused in that book and/or in later books. In fact this was my major issue with the pre-release first version of LR-4 - i.e., the only way to change or add page layouts was to go off into the print module, create something, export it, then re-import it into Book module. Which is why I haven't upgraded to LR-4 yet. stan -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- Godfrey godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
Quoting Larry Colen l...@red4est.com: I'm putting together a blurb book of a dance weekend that I took photos at last April. Feedback solicited. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3308627?alt=I%27ve+got+the+blues...+and+then+some Hmmm Well, I tried but Blurb is giving me a message that I require a newer version of Adobe Flash Player. Which is odd because I had upgraded Flash about an hour previously via Adobe's automatic update message. I wonder if the upgrade has broken Blurb's preview. -- Cheers Brian ++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
I tried looking too, and after several minutes of loading I finally got to be book cover. Then when I tried to open the book the first page showed for a split-second then the whole thing went back to a blurb page asking if I wanted to preview the book. When answered in the affirmative the whole loading process started again. Tried several times but could get no farther than the cover then that first page for a split-second. Kind of like a Kafka novel. Except there were no computers back then. Mind you all this was happening on my Android. Hopefully when I get on my laptop things will go a bit smoother. Damn nice cover photo though, Larry! ;-) cheers, frank What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. -- Christopher Hitchens --- Original Message --- From: Brian Walters apathy...@lyons-ryan.org Sent: June 10, 2012 6/10/12 To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List pdml@pdml.net Subject: Re: Rough draft of book; CC? Quoting Larry Colen l...@red4est.com: I'm putting together a blurb book of a dance weekend that I took photos at last April. Feedback solicited. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3308627?alt=I%27ve+got+the+blues...+and+then+some Hmmm Well, I tried but Blurb is giving me a message that I require a newer version of Adobe Flash Player. Which is odd because I had upgraded Flash about an hour previously via Adobe's automatic update message. I wonder if the upgrade has broken Blurb's preview. -- Cheers Brian ++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
On Jun 10, 2012, at 6:12 PM, knarftheria...@gmail.com wrote: Kind of like a Kafka novel. Except there were no computers back then. There was one, but one morning it turned into a cockroach. Mind you all this was happening on my Android. Hopefully when I get on my laptop things will go a bit smoother. That could have a lot to do with it. Damn nice cover photo though, Larry! Thanks. Hafsa is one of those women with a kilowatt smile. -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
Larry Colen wrote: On Jun 10, 2012, at 6:12 PM, knarftheria...@gmail.com wrote: Kind of like a Kafka novel. Except there were no computers back then. Actually there were a lot of computers back then, it was a job title. People sitting at desks day in and day out grinding out tables of numbers that the simplest digital electronic computer can produce in minutes or seconds and a powerful machine can calculate in fractions of a second. . There was one, but one morning it turned into a cockroach. Mind you all this was happening on my Android. Hopefully when I get on my laptop things will go a bit smoother. That could have a lot to do with it. Damn nice cover photo though, Larry! Thanks. Hafsa is one of those women with a kilowatt smile. -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
Quoting Larry Colen l...@red4est.com: I'm putting together a blurb book of a dance weekend that I took photos at last April. Feedback solicited. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3308627?alt=I%27ve+got+the+blues...+and+then+some Well, having dumped the latest Flash Player upgrade and re-installed an earlier version, I can now see the preview. As to content, my view is pretty much the same as Stan's. The book will obviously appeal more to those who were at the event than to a general audience. As a non-dancer, the photos became a bit monotonous to me. That said, there are some fine photos there, especially those of some of the musicians. The only comment I have regarding layout is that the section captions seem a little subtle and in a couple of cases they seem a bit too close to an image (eg page 21). On Page 2, I thought that the caption at the bottom (which sets the context of the book) could have been in a larger font and maybe centred under the image. On the cover, I thought that the sub-heading could be in a slightly smaller font than the main title, maybe even re-locate the sub heading under the cover photo - that cover image fits the title well and is very well chosen. The back cover photo is great as well. -- Cheers Brian ++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Rough draft of book; CC?
I'm putting together a blurb book of a dance weekend that I took photos at last April. Feedback solicited. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3308627?alt=I%27ve+got+the+blues...+and+then+some -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Re: Rough draft of book; CC?
Page 4 and page 19 IIRC use a duplicate image. As a non-dancer, my impression is of a whole bunch of photos of people dancing, either focused on one couple or on a group. Then after a while you switch to a whole bunch of photos of people (dancing). I.e., now for many pages you show head shots or head and shoulder shots rather than 3/4 shots. That was a pleasant relief for me, as a non-dancer, but I would think that for any audience it might work better if you had more of a mix of style throughout rather than predominantly one with an abrupt switch to predominantly another. As for technical quality, I saw no problem in my quick pass through via Preview. Overall I think this is something that your dancer friends will greatly appreciate. stan On Jun 9, 2012, at 6:17 PM, Larry Colen wrote: I'm putting together a blurb book of a dance weekend that I took photos at last April. Feedback solicited. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3308627?alt=I%27ve+got+the+blues...+and+then+some -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
