We have designed over 50 albums for Wyoming-based wedding photographer Cassie Madden over the past 7 years. I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to have long-term clients like Cassie. We've never met in person, but it's amazing how you can develop a genuine relationship through years of emails and engaging through social media. She is a true gem! 
 
Cassie is one of our beloved Client Advocates and she has such a great story about how she started out offering albums to her clients. Click here to watch her share it! 
 
Today's featured design is a gorgeous example of Cassie's grounded and emotional style. Her work definitely has a look to it that is instantly recognizable. And she does an incredible job capturing every. single. client. Cassie was so kind to take a few photos of the printed Miller's album.  
 
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Cassie, for allowing us to work with your beautiful images!

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

We typically recommend NOT waiting on your clients to pick their album images. But in this case, Michigan-based wedding photographer Jessica Jenkins with Copper Twig Collective supplied us with a folder of 100 images that her clients selected for the design and then a folder of additional images to be used at the designer's discretion. The results were a stunning design that was approved with NO revisions. Now, if you can do this and somehow get your clients to select their images quickly, we are all for it! And it worked out well in this case! 
 
Elizondo & Adrienne's wedding took place on a beautiful September day at Shepherd's Hollow Golf Club in Clarkston, Michigan. The styling was classy and modern with a touch of sass! The couple value family above all else and it truly showed in the way they enjoyed the day with those dearest to them.  
 
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this lovely design:

Click through the slideshow to see the full design: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Jessica, for allowing us to work with your beautiful images!

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

Hey guys! Melissa Jill here, owner of Align. We've talked in the past about the importance of sharing your passion for albums -- EVERYWHERE. You can't sell albums effectively and get them into the hands of all of your clients unless you are sharing your heart for this product and putting examples in front of them again and again. One of the most effective ways you can do this is through putting beautiful images of albums consistently out there on every channel that your clients might browse or interact with: your website, Instagram, Instagram Stories (Instagram Story highlights is one of our favorite places to showcase albums because you can flip through them in a video while you talk about them and really give your clients a good look at an album in action!!), etc.  
 
So taking a moment to photograph each and every beautiful album that comes through your studio is SO valuable. Then you will have a slew of stunning examples to share! But photographing albums in a way that shows off their quality and value can be tricky. Today we are going to share some tips for photographing albums effectively! 
 
There are a few different things to consider when approaching the task of photographing albums. First, as a photographer myself, I know your time is limited and valuable. Photographing albums, while worthwhile and beneficial, is not something that should take up a ton of your time. In an effort to demystify the process of photographing albums, I am excited to share a short video that Abby Grace was kind enough to create for us on her album photographing strategy. It is both simple and efficient.  
 
 
 
 
 
We LOVE how Abby has systematized the process of photographing each of her client albums!  
 
By way of review -- here is a list of Abby's 5 Steps to an Efficient Album Photo Shoot: 
 
1 -- Set-up 
Set up your tripod with camera pointed straight down at a 90 degree angle. This tripod works great!  
 
2 -- Lighting 
Make sure you are in an area with plenty of natural light! Create a make-shift reflector. Use 3 white foam poster boards taped together to make a 3/4 reflector. This helps to lessen those pesky shadows.  
 
3 -- Background 
Place a cheap, flimsy white poster board directly underneath the camera and lay the album on top of it for a clean backdrop.  
 
4 -- Frame 
Put your camera on "live preview" mode to make sure everything is lined up evenly and completely flat. This will minimize the post-production cropping/editing. 
 
5 -- Shoot 
Once everything is nailed into focus, turn the camera to manual focus to take the first photo. Without moving the camera at all, turn the page and take the next photo. Move through the entire album this way. Since everything is composed exactly the same way, you can batch the images and apply edits to the entire batch. Everything is super automated and easy with this system, which makes it possible for you to shoot 3-4 albums within 20 minutes! 
 
You can see just how clean and lovely the outcome of this process is by visiting some of Abby's finished work that we've featured here on our blog in the past!

above image by Abby Grace Photography  

above image by Abby Grace Photography  
 
While the above method is super-efficient and simple, there are also other ways to creatively style your albums that can really show off their unique features and personalities. Here are just a few that we love: 
 
1 -- Use a textured background to add depth and character to the image. An album placed upon something that has its own shadows and light can really enhance the beauty and simplicity of the album. Some great materials to utilize are wood, tulle or textured fabric.

above image by Melissa Jill Photography  
 
2 -- Try posing the album! Photograph the details at different angles. Take some shots of the album standing up, where the pages are showcased. Take some close ups of the cover, and the fine details of various pages. Get creative with perspectives! Sometimes just showing portions of the spreads along with a textured background creates a lot of interest.

above image by Brittany Thomas Photography  
 
3 -- Add props to make it more interesting. Try setting up the album within the box it came in, along with some tissue paper and ribbon. Some other ideas would be to use cover fabric swatches, flowers, leaves, pine cones, etc to style the image. Using an actual detail from the wedding is also a way to help tell the story held within its pages.

above image by Caroline Logan Photography  
 
4 -- Photograph the album fulfilling its purpose. Which means, take pictures of someone sitting down with the album and pouring over the pages. You can add texture with a blanket or some kind of fabric within the shot. This not only adds depth and dimension to the image but also personalizes it and invites the viewer to imagine themselves cozied up with their very own album, soaking in the memories they will treasure for life!

above image by Melissa Jill Photography  
 
5 -- Use blank space and the rule of thirds. The album doesn't need to be centered perfectly and doesn't need much more than it's own beautiful face! Try holding the album up against a white wall where you include the hands of a nearby willing person as props! This creates a very clean and simple image, where the album is the star of the show.

above image by Melissa Jill Photography  
 
Photographing albums doesn't have to be an overwhelming or time consuming task. In fact, with a little bit of intention and creative thought, it can be kind of fun! Plus, the benefits of featuring a gorgeous album in a truly appealing way can be huge! Just like sharing sample albums with our clients during an initial client meeting, consistently sharing each clients' album through visually stunning images can be so helpful for getting clients to value them as much as we do!

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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

We have had the pleasure of designing 70 albums for DC-based wedding photographer Eli Turner in the last 5 years. He is so kind and great to work with and his images are documentary perfection! Eli has really streamlined his album workflow. He has us complete the design for his clients and send him the InDesign files after design approval. He then retouches all the images in the design and swaps them out himself (FYI if you want to send us retouched images after design approval, we are happy to swap them out for you ourselves!) before placing the album order with his preferred vendor -- Sage Wedding Albums. 
 
Today's featured album design is an outdoor garden-themed wedding DREAM. The tent reception with the overhead floral chandelier really sent it over the top for us!  
 
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Eli, for allowing us to work with your beautiful images!

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

Ninety-five percent of the album designs we do are our Classic Design Style -- all white background, no image border, no overlapping images. Ranging from 1-14 images per spread. Today's featured album design for Indiana based wedding photographer Erika Aileen is a cross between our Classic and Simple Design styles. Our Simple style is similar to Classic in all ways except it is only 1-4 images per spread. You will see that MOST of the spreads in this design fall into the Simple category. To tell a wedding story using the Simple design style well, we really need to use a minimum of 20 spreads. Today's featured album is a STUNNING example of the Simple Design style done well. It really shows off Erika's VERY BEST IMAGES from this wedding day and feels like a delicious piece of fine art. 
 
Before we share this design with you, here is a note from the photographer about this special day: "Diana and Elijah wanted their winter wedding to feel cozy and warm. The words that continued to surface as we talked about their day were British winter whimsy. This was so fitting since after their wedding they started their marriage together in snowy Alaska. Diana wore her grandmother's pearls and handmade silk shoes. The traditional and the modern married so well. An intimate family-only bridal party in emerald velvet for the ladies and tweed for the men were pulled together by gorgeous florals (and a floral pocket square for the groom)! I was aiming to achieve the same stylistic look in their album since I desire for the vision, values, and style of my couples to be consistent throughout their experience. And I think this design did just that!" 
 
We couldn't agree more!  
 
Erika was so kind to take a few photos of the printed KISS album. Here they are along with a few of our favorite spreads from this beautiful design:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Erika, for allowing us to work with your beautiful images!

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