Hand-Made Books

Today we had a workshop on handmade books. This was very interesting as we were taught how to make a book professionally, from scratch. It was a good experience, as the final product did look more personal, and this would be great for a particular style or subject of book, but I do not think that it would be good for my project, because, as I stated in a very early post, I would like it to look quite sleek, and almost like a coffee table book, so the reader has to think about the subject harder.

Layouts

Front Cover Options

My original idea was to have just white text, but after some discussion, I have tried to incorporate some colour, or quirkiness to it, as it was giving more sleek impression, which was not right for this book.

The colours represent the sweetness of the foods used, for example, the skittles in the forth image down. I have tried it out using various orders to experiment. I would still like to use the grey, as it works well with the images inside the book.

The following images are spreads from the book. There will most likely be another spread with a piece of writing to explain the reasoning behind the book, and this will add extra couple of pages.

I have decided to put the number of calories in large text next to the image. I wanted to make a statement, when considering the packaging in which all the food came in. The calories are the last thing that any of the manufacturers want the customers to see, so I have displayed it in this way to create an opposition.

I have used this typeface because I think that it works well with the images, and it is classic and smooth.

Final Images

Blogger won't let me upload my images from the final shoot today.
Will get them up ASAP!!

Have been using the Blurb software to compare it to using InDesign. Haven't made my mind up just yet, but I've found Blurb to be quite constricting in comparison to InDesign, so I will be trying it out a little more this week.

Final Shoot Tomorrow!

All the preparation is done for my final shoot tomorrow. Hopefully, it will all go fine so I won't have to shoot again! I have selected all my food carefully, bought ONE appropriate dress, so no costume overload, and a new(ish) backdrop, so it should all go ok. Hopefully.

Feedback

After the crit today, I have feedback, and improvements to make.

Firstly, the generally consensus was that the longer, thinner images worked better, as they looked more like a peep hole into something that shouldn't be happening. It was also suggested that I shoot with one style of hair, make up and styling for continuity. I will definitely need to use a new/better backdrop as it is impossible to remove them in photoshop, and it is ruining all of my images.

I need to work on a piece of writing for the book, as it won't really make sense without it.

I also need to think about whether I use more than one model, but this is unlikely and I don't think it would give the same message.

I will also consider more carefully what food I shoot with, as all the different types of food I used in the last shoot, gave very different messages of what I was talking about.

Books

I have made a very scruffy mock-up of a potential book, just for demonstration purposes.

The first, second and forth images are the mock-up book, to see how the layout works. 

The third image is slightly different, with the image taking up the whole page, instead of taking up part of the page.

From the preliminary layouts, I prefer the set where the image takes up a while page, as I think this it looks much smarter, and clearer.

2nd Shoot

I have been busy in the studio again, with the 2nd shoot.

These are just a selection of the images because it's taking approximately 5 years to upload each of them. I am fairly happy with them, but I don't think they are suitable for my final book. The backdrop is even worse than the first set of images which is very annoying. I used a black backdrop this time, as I thought this might sort out the problem but it didn't. If I was to re-shoot, I will try a flat white wall instead.

I am happy with the sort of props that I used, but I would like them to be more co-ordinated with the styling, like the last image, as I think it works well.

I also still need to consider whether I want to use one model or a number of models, female and male.