We have had the pleasure of designing albums for New Brunswick Canada wedding photographer Holly Howe Photography for the past ten years. Holly's work is beautiful and you can see more of it on her Instagram profile here. 
 
Holly shared some really neat insight into this wedding with us: 
 
My time with Leslie & Ben was joyous and sweet. As stunning and as gorgeous as they both are - they are truly more beautiful on the inside. They were generous and kind and accommodating to me. You see... They are very French. And I am not. 
 
Leslie would translate for Ben to make sure he understood everything I said, and then again to me to explain everything that Ben was saying. It was heartwarming to witness, this back and forth. For a young, professional couple to want me to do their wedding even though I couldn't speak their language. I was blown away. 
 
I will always remember Ben on their wedding day, as he started his vows. Everything stopped. He was overcome with so much love and emotion, he had to pause. 
 
So much gratitude for this life. For his bride. For their families surrounding them. For the God Who brought them together. For the hopes and dreams of their future together. 
 
The tears flowed. 
 
As much as I didn't understand completely what was being said during their vows, I understood. There are no language barriers when it comes to love. Tears fell down my face too. 
 
Grateful for moments like these. 
 
Their album is filled with their favourites (they handpicked each image) and is my biggest (and probably favourite) book to date. 
 
The printed KISS album turned out SO beautifully and Holly was so kind to send us some photos of it:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Holly, for trusting us to be a part of your team! We love working with you and your beautiful images!

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Design by: Rachel (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

above photos by Caroline Logan Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
The longer I'm a photographer, the more I realize that shooting for the album is where it's at. Not only am I the founder of Align, I'm also a pro wedding photographer, and through both my experience as a photographer, and our experience here at Align designing thousands of albums, I've learned that shooting with the end product in mind is just plain smart. It makes our albums SO much prettier AND helps us as artists to better tell a cohesive, powerful story. Today I thought I'd share 10 tips for how to shoot with the album in mind. Some of these tips will only apply to wedding photographers, but most of them will also translate well for portrait photographers. The more we can keep these principles top of mind during a shoot or wedding day, the happier we will be with our albums, and the more they will sell themselves.  
 
1 -- Shoot both horizontal and vertical in each setting 
This is as basic as you get, but it's EXTREMELY helpful when you sit down to design an album or you order a design from Align. A combination of horizontal and vertical images from each setting will provide more possibilities and variety for each spread while keeping the design cohesive. I know for most photographers -- myself included -- we either favor horizontal or vertical images heavily (I end up shooting WAY more verticals), so if that's you, just make a conscious effort to ensure that you take a few of the other orientation at each location. Above and below are some examples from our clients of spreads that came together REALLY well as a result of this practice.

above photos by Caroline Logan Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
2 -- Take scene-setting photos of the location 
This is the #1 thing that helps fill out the story of a design, but that most photographers neglect to do. We take detail photos of bouquets, place settings, bridal details, but we forget to take detail photos of the location. And this is something EVERY photographer can do regardless of how high-end or detail-heavy the wedding you are shooting is. Since wedding days are usually a whirlwind of events, one thing that works well for me is to arrive a half hour early to the venue. As I scout for first look and portrait locations, I take my camera with me and take 10-15 scene-setting details that capture the aesthetic of the venue. These can include a wide shot of the building, a sign, close ups of the foliage, architecture, etc. The client picked their venue for a reason, and so it only makes sense to capture a few photos to show off what makes it unique. And these images really come in handy when filling out the story of a wedding day. Here are a few spreads that are great examples of this idea:

above photos by Tori Watson Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
3 -- Tell a color story when styling the bridal details 
We all love photographing the dress, shoes, rings and jewelry. Bridal details are a must-have for any wedding album design. These images usually appear early-on in a design, so it's a good idea to think of them as a first act -- a taste of what is to come. In order to keep a spread with bridal details cohesive in itself AND with the rest of the album, it's helpful to style them using consistent backgrounds and to keep in mind the color-story of the wedding. One easy way to do this is to use a bridesmaid dress as a shooting surface for smaller details. That way you are able to bring the wedding colors into the album early on. These next two spreads are a good example of superb bridal detail styling:

above photos by Anna Shackleford Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
4 -- Don't forget the groom! 
Unfortunately, many times, the groom gets less coverage in the design. As a photographer, I know the timeline doesn't always permit me to capture groom details, but whenever possible, it's a good idea to plan an opportunity to shoot them into the timeline. That way you can produce a spread that shows off the leading man in a way that is comparable in quality to the bride.

above photos by Kaitlyn Phipps Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
5 -- Take wide and tight shots in each location 
Album designs are most beautiful when each spread is made up of photos from the same location, with the same colors and lighting. So make sure that you take your time at each spot and change it up! If you are photographing a group portrait of the bridesmaids in their getting-ready robes, make sure that's not the only photo with those robes in it. And when shooting a couple, make sure you get some wide shots in each setting and then get in tight to capture a detail of how they are holding hands, or an accessory the bride is wearing. These close-ups really add variety and interest to portrait spreads and when taken in the same location as the wide shots, they make for beautiful, cohesive spreads that tell a story.

above photos by Tori Watson Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
6 -- Mind the gutter 
Not all photographers love a powerful spread with one full-bleed horizontal image. But if you're like me and you DO, make sure you are intentional during your portrait time and take a number of wide shots with the couple off to one side so that the gutter won't cut through them in the design. I just love the drama that a spread like this adds to an album design!

above photo by Julie Wilhite Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
7 -- Shoot bridal party portraits and family portraits all in one location. 
Typically bridal party portraits are grouped together in 1-3 spreads in an album design and family portraits take up 1-2 spreads. You don't need to shoot the bridal party in the same location as the family, but it's helpful if you stay in one spot for the entirety of the bridal party photos and then another spot for family. Doing this makes for gorgeous, cohesive spreads like these:

above photos by Rebekah J Murray Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
8 -- Look for simple backgrounds 
We don't always get the chance to choose our backgrounds as photographers, but when we do, it's helpful to keep them simple. The more images you put on a spread, the busier it becomes. And if you have many photos all with busy backgrounds, it will confuse the viewer's eye and make the spread look messy and muddled. So whenever possible, choose simple over busy. And if you do have a busy background, shoot at a lower aperture whenever possible to blur out the background and allow your subject to pop.

above photo by Anna Shackleford Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
9 -- Shoot for the story 
Each spread in an album design should tell an individual story, much like a chapter in a book. So for example, when you are shooting the toasts during a wedding reception, try to photograph not only the individuals giving the toast, but the reactions on the faces of the bride and groom, reactions from guests, and a close up of clinking glasses. It's a lot to cover, so making a game-plan with your 2nd shooter to decide who is going to cover what ahead of time can be helpful. But having a wide variety of images to tell the story for each part of the day is so powerful when it comes to putting together the album design.

above photos by Rebekah J Murray Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
10 -- Keep the end in mind 
Every book needs a powerful conclusion -- a cathartic note that wraps everything up and makes you feel that all is right with the world. If your album ends with a single page (or half-spread), it is especially important to think through the ending when you are shooting since you will only have a limited amount of space with which to conclude the story. If you are shooting an exit or fireworks, those are obvious end notes to a wedding day story. But if you aren't staying for the exit, make sure you have a good portrait of the couple with which to end. Portrait images that work well for a last page of an album design include the couple walking away, a silhouette image, or some type of night shot with ambient or back lighting. This is SO crucial because you can have a GORGEOUS design, but if you don't have a powerful image to end with, it can feel unfinished.

above photo by Caroline Talbot Photography / Click here to view full design. 
 
 
Approaching your weddings and portrait shoots with the album in mind can take a paradigm shift of sorts, but when you begin to think in these terms, it becomes easier and easier, and soon it's second nature. It is definitely worth the extra effort to implement a few of these tips because the finished albums that result will make you more proud of your finished product, make your clients fall even more in love with you and your work, and serve as powerful examples of the stories you can tell for future clients.

If you found this post helpful and would like to receive tips like this straight to your inbox, click here to sign up!

And exciting news! If you're a photographer who wants to start offering albums without investing hours of guesswork and trial and error -- we have a solution for you! Check out the Album Start-Up Kit and start maximizing your profit today! 

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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

It's always a good day when we see an album order come through from our long-time client -- Wyoming wedding photographer Cassie Madden Photography! We have had the pleasure of being Cassie's chosen album design company for nine years now and have collaborated on close to 60 designs in that time.  
 
Cassie has a very specific design style that she likes for us to follow. She likes clean designs with many collage spreads that showcase focal point images. Her documentary photography style lends itself so well to laying out albums in this way and each one ends up being a favorite of ours as a result!  
 
Today's featured design was finalized quickly after just one revision round in less than one month's time! We love being able to help streamline what can sometimes be a long drawn-out process!  
 
Cassie is one of our Client Advocates and she shares some valuable information here on how she made the leap to serving high end clients through albums. Definitely check out this short video here! 
 
We adore this Colorado Mountain Wedding Album design! Here are a few of our favorite spreads:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Cassie, for trusting us to be a part of your team!

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Design by: Shannon (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

We have been working with the fabulous Audrey Grace Photo for 5 years now. Audrey is based out of Atlanta and has a classic and clean fine art eye. We love working with her and her gorgeous images! 
 
Today's featured design is a beauty! Audrey prefers to limit white space in her designs, so we make sure to do so while still keeping the spreads very clean and uncluttered. Audrey opted to use our Hands-off Service so that we could communicate directly with her clients throughout the revision process. This really streamlined things and allowed us to grab any additional images needed throughout the process directly from the online gallery without having to bother Aubrey.  
 
We love how this design turned out! Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design:  

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Audrey, for trusting us to be a part of your team!

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Design by: Sarah (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

above images by Megan Travis Photography 
 
 
Hey guys! Melissa Jill here! I remember the first album I designed myself. It was 2004 and my client had asked for an album. I had never even created a sample album at that point so EVERYTHING was new to me. But I figured, how hard could it be? I'll just whip one up. Haha! Poor little naive me. Three months, ten headaches, and a dozen workflow issues later, I had my first album done. It turned out to be much more challenging than I had initially anticipated. And being that I was new to albums, I was dealing with a HUGE learning curve. Since then I have learned so much about the album design and sales process, and that's one of the main reasons I'm sharing this series of tips -- to help others who may be facing this learning curve for the first time themselves. 
 
I remember looking back at that very first album years later in my client's home and cringing at a few of my choices. Namely, I thought it would be fun to make a collage of overlapping and tilted images for a reception spread. You know...because receptions are wild and crazy, the design should be as well? Yikes! Major regret on that design choice. There were a number of other design trends that I succumbed to in that first design that are SO entirely outdated now. Which makes me sad, because wedding albums need to last generations without looking outdated. Of all things, a wedding album should be timeless.  
Today I'm going to share some timeless design tips that we at Align adhere to, and that I would recommend to any of you out there who are designing your albums in house. I hope I don't step on any toes or hurt any feelings, but there are also a few outdated trends that I'd like to call out as well. I learned my lesson the hard way by regretting my design choices, and I want to encourage you all to keep your designs clean and timeless so you don't experience this same sense of regret years from now.  
 
So let's start by ripping the bandaid off first. The outdated trends to steer clear of are: 
 
1. Using images as backgrounds 
2. Making images opaque 
3. Excessive overlapping of images 
 
All of these trends clutter up your design and don't allow your images to stand apart and be appreciated as art. Your images themselves are interesting. You don't need to make your design overly complex to create a beautiful album. Let the images shine and tell the story for you. As a side note, even though we don't recommend any of the above design choices as being ideal, Align can absolutely design albums with these specifications. The most important thing to us is that you and your clients are happy. And we strive to customize our designs to fit your unique preferences. Just select the "Styled" design option and put your preferences in the comments section of your order form. 
 
Now for the positive tips. Here is what TO DO if you want your albums to be beautiful and remain timeless for generations to come.  
 
#1 -- Use restraint and don't clutter up your spreads with too many images. The fewer images per spread, the more importance you give them.

above images by Candace Berry Photography 
 
 
#2 -- If you do use a lot of images on a given page, make sure to use a structured layout that makes it easy for your eye to "read" what is going on.

above images by Maggie Harkov Photography 
 
 
#3 -- We prefer white backgrounds, but if you'd like to use some color on your album spreads, makes sure to pull the color from the photographs that are used on the spread to keep everything cohesive.

above images by Amelia Soper Photography 
 
 
#4 -- Much like matting for a framed photo, using negative space is a great way to draw attention and importance to an image. Don't feel the need to fill every white space.

above images by Hello Love Photography 
 
 
#5 -- Make your favorite image the focal point of the spread. Duh, the best images should be given the most real estate.

above images by Megan Alvarez Photography 
 
 
#6 -- Group your images by location so that each spread tells a cohesive story. This is a great thing to keep in mind when you are shooting too. Taking a number of different photos in each location will make for a great album design!

above images by Leezett Photography 
 
 
#7 -- Think about the color story you are telling on each spread. If there is too much going on color-wise, think about separating competing images onto separate spreads, or putting some of the images in black and white.

above images by Katelyn James Photography 
 
 
#8 -- Help your design to tell a story by including a number of scene-setting spreads that set the scene for what is to come. This is another great tip to keep in mind for when you are shooting! It's not only wedding detail photographs that help make a design beautiful, think about how you can take detail shots of the location and venue to help tell the story of the day.

above images by Leezett Photography 
 
 
I hope you've found these tips and examples helpful!  
 
----------> If you are overwhelmed with design and want to give outsourcing a try, click here to find out more about the design styles that Align offers. We have 3 standard design styles but can definitely customize to meet most needs, so don't hesitate to send us examples of designs you like and let us know what your preferences are, and we will design to those specifications. After you take a look at our design styles to find out which one would work best for you, click here to sign up for an account with Align. When you do so, we'll send you a free welcome gift -- our "Top 10 Most Popular Album Companies" Resource List. That way you can find out which album printing & binding companies are the most popular among photographers who use Align, and more importantly, WHY.

If you already have an existing Align account and want a copy of this resource guide, you're welcome to email us for a copy.

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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill