by Stacey Wiseman | Sep 7, 2012 | Cover Series, Family Photographs
This is a fantastic cover to pair with the handwritten photo book design. It seems personal, casual, yet real. Provide a fun title, select a photo to match and you have created a cover that showcases your family’s personality. Underneath the photo, I created a sub-title to indicate the year and your family name. One final note, you will see that I have a faint color to the background. This would extend on the back and the side flaps for consistency. This is a nice option to include if you want something a little different from the typical white background.
[divider]If you love this example or if it gives you some ideas for your photo book, pin it!
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by Stacey Wiseman | Sep 3, 2012 | Family Photographs, Photo Book Design Layout, Photograph
My family knows I am not big on shopping. Rarely do I buy clothing for my kids (even more rarely do I purchase clothes for myself) but recently I met a wonderful woman in Lexington who owns a maternity and children’s clothing store in Lexington. Blossom is the store and anyone located in Lexington should definitely check them out. I realize most of the back-to-school shopping has passed, but if you need clothing for the fall, going to Keeneland, a special occasion, or a Christmas gift, I suggest you head there first.
I still have to get my boy out in his new shirt, but I spent an afternoon photographing my little girl in her dress. It is a little big on her…but this will give her plenty of time to wear it! I really love the colors of the dress. Of course she added the beads. She did get a little messy during dinner but I made sure to soak it water at the end of the evening and all it good!
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[divider]I thought you would enjoy seeing how these photographs translated into the pages for my annual family photo book. I love her smiles and her cries. Whenever I photograph her, I always work with her running away or looking away from the camera. We kept playing this game where I would get her looking toward setting sun and then I would run a couple of steps in front of her, turn quickly and then try to capture her as she was running back towards me.
Since I adore several of the photographs, I decided to dedicated four pages – or – two spreads to this set. The first page features the black and white photographs and the second page features a variety of photo at different scales, features and colors. Each pages features a page number and the date. The pink dashed line represents the fold of the pages and will not be included in the actual book.
[divider]Let me know what you think of her dress, the photographs and the layouts in the comments below!
If you love this example or if it gives you some ideas for your photo book, pin it!
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by Stacey Wiseman | Aug 24, 2012 | Cover Series, Family Photographs
There is not a better way to describe the love you have for your family, than selecting an everyday full of life photograph and making a bold statement on the cover. The text on this photograph is slightly transparent to reveal a bit of the photograph. This cover is easy to complete. Select a familyphotograph and a statement or quote. Imagine how beautiful this would be on your coffee table?
[divider]If you love this example or if it gives you some ideas for your photo book, make sure you pin it!
[divider]Plus, sign up for the Book This Project weekly newsletter. I have a free download of 50 things to photograph this year when you sign up!
by Stacey Wiseman | Aug 17, 2012 | Cover Series, Family Photographs
This photo book cover design features a light-hearted font, a fun color, and three photographs full of energy. This cover design announces to the family member or friend who picks up this book that it is going to be entertaining and a joy to flip through.
[divider]If you love this example or if it gives you some ideas for your photo book, make sure you pin it!
[divider]Plus, sign up for the Book This Project weekly newsletter. I have a free download of 50 things to photograph this year when you sign up!
by Stacey Wiseman | Aug 10, 2012 | Cover Series, Family Photographs
Oh, I love this one! The detail of her outfit, the color, the font, the spacing. It all really comes together in this simple photo book cover. Imagine a detail that really captures your family life. Maybe it is a favorite outfit. Or a detail of a favorite activity. With this as your cover, you could imagine starting each month off with a detail encapsulating the activities.
[divider]If you love this example or if it gives you some ideas for your photo book, pin it!
[divider]Make sure you sign up for the Book This Project weekly newsletter. I have a free download when you sign up!
by Stacey Wiseman | Jul 27, 2012 | Cover Series, Description, Family Photographs
For this example of a family photo book cover, I use a vibrant background graphic to provide some visual interest and then float two boxes in the center. The top box announces the family name or the title of the book in a bold font to stand out. The lower box features a black and white photograph of my two kids together. This combination provides a great way to provide a little more visual punch without becoming too busy. Plus it is one simple way to show a singular family photograph without it taking the entire cover or floating in a sea of white space.
[divider] If you love this example or if it gives you some ideas for your photo book, pin it!
[divider]Make sure you sign up for the Book This Project weekly newsletter. I have a free download when you sign up!
by Stacey Wiseman | Jul 20, 2012 | Cover Series, Description, Family Photographs
[divider] If you love this example or if it gives you some ideas for your photo book, pin it!
[divider]Make sure you sign up for the Book This Project weekly newsletter. I have a free download when you sign up!
by Stacey Wiseman | Jul 4, 2012 | Family Photographs, Photo Book Design Layout
I hope everyone is having a fantastic fourth! Usually the Fourth of July is a busy holiday for us. They have an annual road race with the route right next to our house. So we wake up early and watch the runners…with our coffees! And for dinner we had to my in-laws for a grilled feast.
I thought I would share my spread from the 4th in my 2011 photo book. The layout was prepared in Adobe InDesign. Because there were so many events that occurred, I wanted a layout that allowed a lot of photos in one spread.
I want to hear from you in the comments below. What is one thing you will definitely do on the Fourth of July? Picnic? Pool? Movie? What are your traditions?
by Stacey Wiseman | Jul 2, 2012 | Family Photographs, Inspiration, Photo Book Design Layout
Last week, I wrote about my daughter’s favorite blanket. But let’s be honest, sleeping – even waking up photos – are adorable and a must every year for your kids. I took several photos, maybe 30 and selected my favorites to include in my annual family photo book.
To make it easier to select which photos, I had my layout in mind. I knew I wanted four photos on the left hand side of the layout and one photo on the right.
For the left page, I wanted four different facial expressions of my daughter waking up.
For the right page, a detail of the blanket would keep the layout simple and to the point. About my daughter – her sleeping, waking up, and her blanket.
This layout was prepared in Adobe InDesign and has the signature design elements of my photo book, page numbers and a date to document when these photos were taken.
by Stacey Wiseman | Jun 28, 2012 | Description, Family Photographs, Inspiration, Photography Tip
One of the essential categories to photograph every year are favorites. Since this can change every year (maybe even every month or week!), I love the idea of photographing your child’s favorite objects in life. Perhaps for most kids, their favorite of their favorites deals with sleeping. This could be their favorite blanket or stuffed animal. This is the thing you are scared to lose…even scared to wash. For any night trip away, you have to make sure you have included their favorite blankey, softie, or whatever terms of affection it goes by in your household.
For my oldest, he never really had one of these objects. The closest thing was a stuffed pillow-like dog that he like to curl up with. But if it happened to not be in the bed, he usually didn’t notice. My youngest on the other hand, has a small softie that she looks for every time. And you can trick her with something that looks and feels like it…she knows which one is hers. This small, pink blanket gets extremely dirty. She loves to chew on the corners and keep it close to her cheek. So it is really important to make sure it is always near by for any nap or bed time!
I wanted to photograph her with her blanket one day during her nap time.
Here are some simple tips for photographing sleeping children:
1. Set my camera to quiet mode (yes! my camera has one of these!).
2. Got my settings close to what I thought would be necessary for a slightly dark room.
3. Snuck in close to the time I thought she would be waking up.
I was hoping to get some of her sleeping but she woke up as soon as I opened the door. How it goes sometimes! Even though I couldn’t capture sleepy, closed-eye photos, this is the perfect time to capture an awesome yawn! Plus her favorite sleep blanket.
Take action! Capture your child’s favorite toy, object, or stuffed animal sometime this weekend. Have a goal, to photograph them while they are interacting with it. But…if not, you can always isolate the object. Your child will love having a photograph of their favorite thing!
Check out the blog on Monday to see how I transform these photos into a design layout!
And with this post, I have marked off two items on my 50 Essential Ways to Photograph your Family in a year. Do you have your copy yet? If not, make sure to sign up for the newsletter by clicking this image:
