Sonialena Photography Blog » books

Corn

Sonia — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:07:00 +0000

I’m always intrigued with what people can turn into a book.

Like photos of corn.

A Year of Corn. Yeah, it sounds weird. But the images are really beautiful.

Self-Published Photography Books

Sonia — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:31:00 +0000

I’ve been hunting around the internet looking for companies that produce albums for photographers. So far I’ve looked at materials from AsukaBook, Zookbinders, and Renaissance. All look promising. I’m mostly interested in albums that are like books, rather than more traditional matted or mounted styles, where actual prints are in the album.

Which is why I was especially interested to read “Turn Those Bytes into Books” in the New York Times. The article focuses on Blurb.com, but lists several other related websites, such as companies that sell templates and illustrations, or those that offer design services.

Price-wise, Blurb.com is very affordable. They also offer an on-line bookstore where you can sell your creations at whatever price you wish. All very intriguing.

Of course, my first thought with all of this is self-publishing my Project Blended book – once I have enough portraits to fill a book. But I also want to have album options for clients. I’m sure that for weddings, people will spring more for AsukaBook or Zookbinders. For more casual occasions, however, such as birthday parties or family portraits in the park, a Blurb book may better suit the occasion.

The Moment It Clicks

Sonia — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:48:00 +0000

I’ve seen this book recommended in various places, so I finally picked up a copy. It’s definitely interesting; there are a lot of great images and, for most of them, McNally gives a brief rundown of how it was lit and shot.

But that’s just what makes this book a little intimidating. Some techniques are good ideas that anyone can do. And others take a small army and a truck load of grip and lighting equipment to accomplish.

The most fascinating pages are the two shots that show all of the camera gear and lighting equipment that McNally uses. It’s quite impressive. I don’t even know what a lot of that stuff is, let alone what to do with it. Right now I’m just trying to conquer off-camera flash.

This is a fun book, great to flip through and fascinating to read. I’ll have plenty of ideas to add to my to-try list.