Photography comes to us in all shapes and forms – large and bold on billboards in the cities, bright and glossy in magazines, or intimate and tactile on the gallery wall. But my absolute favourite way of looking at photography must be through books. Carefully curated, the photograph suddenly evokes a new meaning, it becomes part of a story, part of something bigger than itself. Creating a photography book is a great way of pushing your creativity and it can also breathe new life into old work. Not to mention how a book could work wonders as your portfolio. In this blog post we will go through how to create a photography book from start to finish using Adobe InDesign.
Research
The very first thing you need to do when creating a book is research. Start off by looking at other photography books, take a note of the layout and see how the photographer or designer has chosen to present the photographs on the pages. Take a peek at and this to get your creative wheels spinning.
It’s important to choose a layout that speaks the same language as the content of your images as this affects how the viewer will interpret your story. If your photos have subtle colour tones and details, you might want to go for a smaller format and give your images a lot of white space. This will make the viewer look at your images from a closer distance and take the time to study them. If you are a landscape or architecture photographer you might choose a larger format that speaks the same majestic language. You might want to incorporate a few different styles as part of your design, but keep in mind these two golden rules to achieve the best result:
- Give your images a little bit more white space in the bottom part of the page compared to the top and sides. This has to do with our perception and it follows the same rules as framing an image.
- Keep it simple and never mix more than three different designs in your layout. It will create a messy look that is difficult for the reader to follow and understand.
Now you have chosen the layout of your book it is time to prepare all your files. It can be wise at this point to choose who you would like to print your book as they might have special instructions on how you should prepare your photos and InDesign document. Here is some general advice; make sure your photos are uniform by checking they are all 300 dpi (the industry standard for print) and saved in CMYK. Check with your printing house what ICC profile you should use.
Save all of your images in the same folder, you will not regret this later.
With all the preparations done and dusted there is one more thing you should do before you start properly… It’s a fun exercise that will help your editing process. Print out all the images on normal paper (make them small and place them close together so as not to waste too much paper), then arrange them around on a big table or the floor to start curating your final selection. Choose only the best; move them around plenty of times to see how different images work together. Then ask for other people’s opinions, listen and kill your darlings. No, not your human darlings, but your favourite images that perhaps don’t add the same value to the book as you would like them to. Being blinded by the greatness of a singular image is normal and it can be very tough for any photographer to let go of them…
Preparing your book file
If you don’t have InDesign installed on your computer, get a
- Create a new document, not a book. This is the better option when working with less complicated layouts.
- Add number of pages. You can also add and remove pages as you go so this number doesn’t need to be accurate. Make sure you have the “facing pages” box ticked.
- Choose size and how many columns you would like on your page. These are just guides so just go for a number that will match the layout you have gone for. If you choose two columns you will get a purple vertical line indicating the middle of your page. Chose 1 column for a clean page.
- Set your margins. Half an inch will do. As mentioned earlier leave a bit more space in the bottom. You can do this by unlinking the components with the chain symbol. Set it to 0.75 inches.
If this is the first time you are using Adobe InDesign you will have noticed by now that your measurement units look strange. It will be set to measure in points or picas as a lot of designers prefer it this way, but as a photographer you will probably want to swim in better known waters and use millimeters or inches.
Change the default setting with InDesign open but with no document open under Preferences > Units & Increments and set the drop down menus to your preferred unit.
- Add bleed: All printed products need a bleed. It’s a safety line that allows you to print images all the way out to the edge. You will need to tick “more options” to add a bleed. Set it to ⅛ of an inch (3 mm) and you are now ready to start designing your book.
Inserting text and images to your book
There are a few ways to insert your images into an InDesign document; I will take you through the most common route which allows you more control and options.
Have a look at the above screenshot. To the left hand side you have a tool bar. The rectangle frame tool with a cross is for inserting images and the empty rectangle tool below is for graphic objects. Draw the rectangle frame tool where you want to insert your image, go to File > Place.
The image will be inserted full size rather than proportional to your image frame, so you will need to re-size the image accordingly to fit. Use the black selection tool from your tool bar and by double clicking on the image you will notice that the blue lines around it turn yellow. When blue lines are showing you can adjust the image box, when yellow lines are showing you can adjust the content of the box. Re-size by holding the shift key and drag the yellow lines or go to Object > Fitting > Fit content proportionally.
Don’t worry if the quality of your image is looking poor, it is only a preview of your image at this point.
To insert text use the type tool and draw a new box. Highlight your text and use the top control panel to choose font and size. In the right hand side toolbar you will find the colour palette where you will be able to change the colour of your text.
If you ever see a warning sign in the bottom corner of your text boxes it means not all of the content is visible within the lines. You will need to resize the box in order to retain all of your content.
Preparing for print
Now that all your pages are finished and you are completely happy with the layout of your book there are a few final things to check before packaging up and sending it off to print.
Double check that there is no border around your image frames. You might think why will there be a border if I haven’t added it? This can happen and sometimes it is small enough not to be noticed on the screen, but big enough to be noticed on print. You will be able to check this by selecting your images one by one and seeing if the “stroke” option in the control panel above has a red line going across it. This indicates that stroke is turned off.
Next to your pages there is a palette called links. These are all the different files you have added to your book. It’s really important at this point to go through the list and check that none of them are missing. A missing link could be an image you had to re-edit and then saved it with a different file name or somewhere outside your image folder.
Finally, create a PDF of your book by going to File > Export > Adobe PDF (print).
The front cover of your book will need to be created as a separate file and saved as a PDF as well. Remember to add a spine that corresponds with the number of images in your book. Continue over to this blog post for some excellent tips on how to choose images for book covers.
Slightly overwhelmed by this tutorial? Don’t be; as soon as you’ve started creating your very first photography book you will realise how fun and inspiring it can be. And when you browse through your printed book for the first time, then you’ll also appreciate how rewarding it feels.
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