Number three of the five part series on getting your photo book into print from my photographer friend Sara Frances. Start with Part One.
Limited Editions
Sometimes it’s just plain too scary to dive in with a 1,000 unit press run. Here are four kinds of limited edition printing, also called short run, appropriate for different needs. There will be fewer technical requirements, and turn around is generally very quick.
Totally handmade art books, perhaps an “edition” of just one to 10 that are highly original possibly with unconventional materials, just a few pages, often hand-sewn and assembled. This is mostly the province of fine art galleries or very personal projects. OK, this one depends totally on the photographer’s skills and inventiveness.
An immediate family history, portrait, event, or wedding book with as many as 50-100 pages, generally printed by a photo lab like Miller’s, a specialty house like Finao or Azura, or Shutterfly online (the most accurate of the consumer-oriented, but very professional printers—in my experienced opinion.)
Or Traditional Offset Printing
My one-off, personal project about rescued neon signs of Las Vegas. Shutterfly lay flat 10×10˝.
Photographers who don’t finance a typical run of 1,000 or more units, and instead choose “on demand” printing, (or minimum quantity initial purchase,) to sell in their galleries, studios, and to their mailing list of followers.
Cover of Marty Knapp’s gallery short run pre-paid order. BookMobile digital toner 8×8˝.
Pre-press proofing and review copies via a short run make it easy and cheap to take a last editorial dry run to revise minor faults in the complex printing concerns of precision color and content. This alone can save the heartache of simple errors discovered after the main print run is already in the warehouse and can’t be sold with confidence. I use this fail safe, intermediate step for all my books.
Big tip: Recommended examples of print houses that fulfill the last two needs are my favorite HFGroup.com (bookpartners.com) or BookMobile.com.
Money and relationship – full edition printing
When you’re ready to plunge into a full edition with a traditional offset printer, it’s about money and relationship. These two huge factors make it essential to choose a printer before you begin to design your book, seemingly putting the cart before the horse! It’s those niggling details that differ widely—the most costly error you could make is to design a 10×12” book only to find that 9.75×12” fits well with the printers equipment and would have cost $5,000 less. For me, the most important variant is the flavor of CMYK color space—the conversion to which may or may not mesh well with your original RGB files.
Time
The traditional route will take a good deal longer, but provide all sorts of quality controls along the way. Of course you’ll be footing the bill yourself for a large number of units, unless you can write a grant or raise Kickstarter-type funds. It’s true that the most economical book printers are off shore. Hong Kong, Peoples Republic, Turkey, Singapore, Korea, Canada. Fortunately there are many print brokers state side. Big advantage to deal locally, contract locally, and pay locally. You’ll easily save 60% or more and be confident that these companies are highly experienced in book printing. Of course you can also email with on-site tech to express your needs more fully—it’s been effective and prompt to ask questions of the actual factory. Totally exciting to partner and watch (even from a distance) the process unfold. For suggestions for getting bids, please email me at [email protected].
Sara Frances
Sara is a many-decades Master Photographic Craftsman out of Denver whose artistic focus has always been book making with images. Her albums won PPA merits starting well before digital capture, as well as for what is believed to be the first ever awarded portrait album. She has evolved from daily, shorter-term studio photography into exclusively special projects of long commitment. Her second hybrid photo/memoir art book, Fragments of Spirit, now published under her own mark, Photo Mirage Books, is available mid-December 2020.
Renewing her lifelong interest in creative writing, she was recently was accepted for Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s Poetry Collective, graduating a year later with a forthcoming hybrid work marrying over 275 manipulated iPhone images with 120 poems: What to Wear to Paradise.
Her three-year quest to learn all facets of the art book industry has influenced her to give back with hands-on publishing classes. She is a judge for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and for Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA.) She teaches for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Denver, for PPA Super One Day seminars, and also mentors hybrid image/text projects.
To find Sara on social media search SaraFrancesPhotographer or email – [email protected]
My photographer friend Sara Frances shared her trials and tribulations of self-publishing a photo book. This is part two of a five part series. Read on for some great ideas. (Editor) Start with Part One
Publishing Path Part Two
In this issue we’re tackling the conception of your book to the birth; the first three steps. Concept, audience and content. Most artists and photographers would incorrectly argue that their art is the first thing to be considered. At least not when a book is the concept.
Gary McLaughlin and longtime friend Glory Ann Penington teamed up in a self-published Blurb printing, now to be reissued with a commercial printer to get serious about selling.
What is your concept?
Ask what you have to say as an art photographer. Your theme, favorite subject, particular style, longtime project—what you believe in as an artist, what moves your soul. This is not a portfolio; nothing like what we do every day for our clients and to attract new ones. To be viable, a photo book cannot be a loose collection, but must tell a cohesive story—the story you are simply itching to tell!
Yes these artists know each other well; fitting images to the words and vice versa is a powerful combination.
Define your audience
Then the next question is to define the audience for that specific story. The scope of potential audience determines quantity print run as well as whether a specific topic will gain traction. Call it market research, or just plain search, for salability. This means going to book stores, photo book stores, and internet. But that’s not all: gift stores, museums, art galleries that offer photography are the next rung of outlets where you book might find a welcoming audience. How about new age or inspirational stores, even hospital gift shops! How about non-profit schools or nature institutions (that’s called special sales)?
Control your sales
Do you want to capitalize on a current trend or do you want to strike out to fill a topic niche that you feel is under-represented? Here are three approaches for controlling costs and expanding audience.
• Since the documented sales of most limited edition art photo books is 80 copies or less, you may choose a very limited run that you are sure you can see to family and friends—say 50 copies. Many art and poetry book printers require a commitment of this quantity as a pre-condition. Not a wrong answer.
Master Photographer Lisa Hill teamed up with three non-profits she is passionate about to offer calendars of her art work, entirely for their benefit—and no up-front cost to her
• If you want to scale your potential sale numbers, the collaborative route will open doors. Team up with an author, and your mail list more than doubles: yours, the author’s, and people interested in hybrid works. Added value.
• Teaming with a special interest non-profit that is involved in the subject of your images has potential, assuming the product is something the charity’s public will get behind. Be prepared to provide significant percent of monetary return as well as doing a significant part of the marketing and all of the fulfillment.
Lisa is a demon social media self promoter. Her line of art prints, calendars, cards and commercial work all feed off each other. Note her lovely logo and signature.
Sara Frances
Sara is a many-decades Master Photographic Craftsman out of Denver whose artistic focus has always been book making with images. Her albums won PPA merits starting well before digital capture, as well as for what is believed to be the first ever awarded portrait album. She has evolved from daily, shorter-term studio photography into exclusively special projects of long commitment. Her second hybrid photo/memoir art book, Fragments of Spirit, now published under her own mark, Photo Mirage Books, is available mid-December 2020.
Renewing her lifelong interest in creative writing, she was recently was accepted for Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s Poetry Collective, graduating a year later with a forthcoming hybrid work marrying over 275 manipulated iPhone images with 120 poems: What to Wear to Paradise.
Her three-year quest to learn all facets of the art book industry has influenced her to give back with hands-on publishing classes. She is a judge for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and for Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA.) She teaches for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Denver, for PPA Super One Day seminars, and also mentors hybrid image/text projects.
To find Sara on social media search SaraFrancesPhotographer or email – [email protected]
If you have been following my Instagram feed you have seen I’ve been making the most of my Platypod camera support system. The Platypod people saw what I was doing and hired me to supply them with some images for their marketing. Here are some Platypod Black Friday deals they shared with me.
My Platypod story
I bought a Platypod at a convention. Used it once or twice then kinda forgot about it. It was a bit of a pain because I was using a tripod head from my other tripods rather than having one dedicated to it tending to use it only for special needs. I broke it out again and started using it and just kept finding new ways to put it to use. Getting super low angles was now really easy especially since my cameras have a tilting or flip screen. Not having to be on your belly to see your camera view is an awesome feature.
I finally got a dedicated tripod head for my Platypod and that has made a huge difference in my usage rates.
Thinking of it as a second tripod
When I stopped thinking of the Platy as a stand alone camera support I started using it even more. It now hangs from my bag all the time. It can be the single tripod I have with me. Or, more often, I use it as a second support and carry my Fotopro Eagle E6L as well. I set the Platypod up with a camera to make time-lapse images and the Fotopro gets another camera body for different compositions while the time-lapse images are being gathered.
Platypod in the middle of the creek for a low angle. The flip screen makes seeing what’s in the camera a piece of cake.
Fotopro Eagle E6L tripod. Light, versatile and works well in conjunction with my Platy when I want to have two camera supports while hiking.
Having time-lapse photos to work with allows for creative image making I call ‘compressed time’ photos. An image from the beginning of the session can be the foreground while the sky might some from a later image from the sequence.
Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 20 with Platypod Tripod. Now I have camera support with me at all times on the trail and can take a second tripod as well.
I’ve found the number of keepers I get from a photo session on a hike is probably three times as many with a second support. I get to tell a lot more stories from a single session.
Studio work
I’ve found uses for the Platypod in the studio as well. You can mount it on your tripod and add Goose-necks by using the threads made for the removable feet. That allows you to position LED lights for creative lighting. Especially good for macro shooting. If you think about it a little the well machined plate makes it easy to add all kinds of accessories to your gear.
Platypod mounted on tripod in the studio. Allows for hands free lighting support by adding Goose-necks.
A deal
It’s Black Friday and Platypod asked me to share some deals with you. Check them out. There is a limited supply so you might want to check them out right away. If you have any questions let me know!
MacGyver would be proud of what you can rig up with the Platypod!
Fellow photographer Sara Francis has published photo books and asked to share the trials and tribulations of getting them into print. Please welcome Sara with these guest posts as she shares this five-part series on getting a photo book into print.
Your Photographic Forever; a five-part series that will make you want to put your images into print. Why Print a photo book now?
In spite of distancing and upheaval, it’s a great time to publish a photo book—your photographic art in book form. My personal experience on the road to publish my retrospective and photo-memoir kickstarts this series. Here’s the good news.
All book sales, including art and photo books, are up more than 100%. As photographers, we already own and work with many of the tools needed to conceive and design an attractive, salable book—without paying for costly designers and editors. Printing costs are now much less than you’d expect.
The concept of a book, a stunning, coffee table book, hard cover, with a wide-ranging folio of our own work, well, that’s a goal that most of us have fostered for some time. I tried all sorts of avenues, including university presses for my 60-year photo project and memoir of the Taos Native American Pueblo, the artists of Taos I have known and the wonder of the region. Yes, strong regional interest and potential audience. I discovered four major roadblocks.
A great title, and also an informative, attractive contents page must grab attention. Note that most books are filed with only the spine showing, so be sure to have title, author and publisher name or mark showing.
Choose your publisher
Institutional presses, if they accept you at all, take at least two years to come to print, and you have little say in the design and presentation. Exclusively photo and art book printers have limited funds and take a handful of projects a year. Many say they approach only photographers they themselves name. No chance to submit. More mainstream publishers are so genre-conscious that images, especially images with text or poetry are simply not a fit they consider. Worse, publishers who claim support for new or regional artists mostly just want to sell you their design and editing services, so you still have little input.
Image and text, both poetry and memoir, tell the story of why I photographed this child.
This the bad news I encountered, and it was a deal breaker. I’ve spent more than three years figuring out how to do it myself, my way. I set out to work through the entire process from concept to design to print to distribute and promote. I wanted my book to look just like I wanted, not someone else’s design. At this point I can give you more good news. Over 50% of all books published are now independently or self published. And this trend continues to increase.
Ceremonial color proves a good foil for the sepia duo-tones in telling the regional story.
Steps forward
Classic rule of thirds composition in a grab shot, again unfolds the story.
Here’s the breakdown of steps to make the process financially feasible and technically manageable. In this series I hope I can coach you to think seriously about publishing and start the process toward reward under you own hand.
Concept
Audience
Content
Printer choice
Design
Edit
Warehouse
Distribution
Promotion
Bob is the first one to tell you that you don’t get rich on a book. My job is to show you steps to publish that won’t break the bank. And the riches! The satisfaction of a beautiful book is worth everything.
Sara is a many-decades Master Photographic Craftsman out of Denver whose artistic focus has always been book making with images. Her albums won PPA merits starting well before digital capture, as well as for what is believed to be the first ever awarded portrait album. She has evolved from daily, shorter-term studio photography into exclusively special projects of long commitment. Her second hybrid photo/memoir art book, Fragments of Spirit, now published under her own mark, Photo Mirage Books, is available mid-December 2020.
Renewing her lifelong interest in creative writing, she was recently was accepted for Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s Poetry Collective, graduating a year later with a forthcoming hybrid work marrying over 275 manipulated iPhone images with 120 poems: What to Wear to Paradise.
Her three-year quest to learn all facets of the art book industry has influenced her to give back with hands-on publishing classes. She is a judge for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and for Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA.) She teaches for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Denver, for PPA Super One Day seminars, and also mentors hybrid image/text projects.
To find Sara on social media search SaraFrancesPhotographer or email – [email protected]
Professional Photographers of America (PPA) hold the International Photographic Competition (IPC) each year. My results.
The Jury
A panel of 36 eminent jurors from across the United States selected the top photographs from over 5,000 total submitted entries at PPA headquarters in Atlanta. Judged against a standard of excellence, 1,706 images were selected for the General Collection and 865 (roughly 17 percent) were selected for the esteemed Loan Collection—the best of the best. The Loan Collection images will all be published in the much-anticipated “Loan Collection” book by Marathon Press.
“I’m thankful that these challenges exist through PPA. Having your work reviewed and judged by top industry professionals helps keep my image making from becoming static. I get feedback on new techniques which is priceless in keeping me growing my image creation skills.”
‘Another World’ was captured at the Toadstools in Southern Utah.
‘Great Blue’ was captured in Page Springs, AZ at the Bubbling Ponds.
Loan Collection
Three of my images were accepted into the Loan Collection.
‘Orange Outburst’ is a water droplet photo.
Another water droplet capture in the PPA Loan Collection.
Two were made of experimental photography involving falling water droplets. Orange Outburst and Twice Nice show the result of specialty lighting of three water drops crashing at intervals which are done by very specific timing of the drops, plus a bit of endurance. Many images need to be captured to find some that create these patterns. The other Loan image was from a composite image titled ‘Blessing Place. Bob worked with images of animals photographed at the Phoenix Zoo some northern Arizona landscape features and and clouds photographed from above. In addition two more photographs were named to the General Collection. I rendered a watercolor of a great blue heron in flight over the Bubbling Ponds in Page Springs. ‘Another World’ was a night sky photograph of the Milky Way made while in Southern Utah of the Toadstools. It has a very prehistoric feel.
‘Blessing Place’ is a bit of a departure from my normal work.
Images will be in the International Photographic Exhibition alongside other top photographic works from the competition and traveling and special invitational displays. These images constitute one of the world’s largest annual exhibits of professional photography gathered simultaneously in one place.
About PPA
Founded in 1868, Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is the largest and longest-standing nonprofit photography trade association. It currently helps 30,000 professionals elevate their craft and grow their business with resources, protection, and education, all under PPA’s core guiding principle of bridging the gap between photographers and consumers. See more of my artwork at coatesart.net or at the Gallery of Modern Masters in Hillside, Sedona, AZ.
Coming soon
Above you can see the images that were favored by the judges. Soon I’ll share those that did not make it into the General Collection.
Today’s post is by a guest photographer from Argentina. He says they are running into many of the same issues we photographers have here in the US. Here is NIcholas Tinelli’s take on the longevity of still image creation.
Let me know what you think after you have read the post.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
We will never stop photographing!
Nowadays, video seems to be more popular on a commercial level, with websites and social networks invaded by ads of all kinds, photography sometimes remains on the sidelines. The fact is that although modern cameras also make video, it is difficult for many professional photographers to keep up with the times and offer this type of service to be more competitive in the market. I also believe that the photographer and the videographer are two very distinct figures, or you do one thing or the other. Few people can handle both things well.
So? Is photography in its last days?
I would say definitely no.
First of all there is always a need for new images and if, as a photographer, you can adapt to new technologies and specialize in a niche using the marketing tools available today, you still have a chance to live on your passion full time. Presenting your work well as a professional will not miss the opportunities to grow and create lasting business relationships over time.
Nothing Stops Photography – Graphic by Nicholas Tinelli
It must also be said that photography has undergone a great evolution over the years, not only technological, but also cultural, and is increasingly consolidated among the visual and communicative arts. Many photographers find space as artists and have the opportunity to show their projects to the public. It is extraordinary to be able to see many more photographic works printed in high museum-quality than in the past. In addition to the impact they have on the public, sometimes decisive for environmental and social issues. Just think of a photographer like the Canadian Paul Nicklen, who puts photography at the service of the environment.
Documentary Photography
Let’s not forget photography as a means of documentation. It has allowed us to record our recent past and continues to do so today, faster and with more and more people connected to each other who can show their little reality. It is a story, ours, that is also written in pictures and we will always need it. Just think how many photos we accumulate every day with our smartphones to document intimate family moments.
It’s something we can’t live without. And if it will not be by profession, we will continue to carry it on even just as a passion.
For this reason, I believe, we will never stop photographing.
Nicholas Tinelli
Bio: Nicholas Tinelli is a Travel and Portrait Photographer based in Buenos Aires. He runs photography courses and workshops in Argentina and is passionate about writing. Check out Nicholas’s work here. https://nicholastinelli.com
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
Cameras Get Smarter -
A High Speed Smart Camera Remote
Best embroidery ever. Give Queensboro a try, get a $20 instant credit to get started by clicking on the logo! They specialize in great quality custom logo apparel and promotional products with the best customer service.
Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
Sara is a many-decades Master Photographic Craftsman out of Denver whose artistic focus has always been book making with images. Her albums won PPA merits starting well before digital capture, as well as for what is believed to be the first ever awarded portrait album. She has evolved from daily, shorter-term studio photography into exclusively special projects of long commitment. Her second hybrid photo/memoir art book, Fragments of Spirit, now published under her own mark, Photo Mirage Books, is available mid-December 2020.
