Friday, July 17, 2015

Photographs from Sicily



Finally I have it. My book about my trip to Sicily in May. It is a 137 page Blurb book designed via the book module in Adobe Lightroom. Now those of you who do not have Lightroom and don't plan to make a book with it, may want to jump right to the end of this blog entry if you just want to see the book and not clutter your mind with Lightroom stuff you are not going to use.

 If you have Lightroom, you really should explore making a book. I'm not saying that because it is easy because there is a learning curve. And the book module does have limitations. I would like more templates from which to choose. I would like an easier way to add pages of text that would flow from one page to the next. I would like that the text didn't disappear when you change the template. And, of course, I wish the cost of one Blurb book wasn't so expensive. On the other hand, I haven't found another source that is cheaper and offers the color management that I've had with Blurb.

I care a lot about color management. I want what I see on  my screen to be the same as what my printer produces or what shows up in my books. Blurb is pretty much spot on with color and I am always watching my histogram to be sure that I do not have any clipping of the whites or blacks so that I also control the contrast.

Another thing I like about using Lightroom is that I can work with my RAW images and if one image needs a bit of adjustment to make it work better with its  two-page spread partner, it is no problem. Just jump back to the develop module and make the adjustment. When you go back to the book module the image is there with the adjustment. It really does make it easier to not have to worry about making the image a certain size JPG to fit an image window, not to worry about margins, gutters and cut lines. I mean, you are aware of them but the module does a good job of managing them for you. I've done a couple of books as PDF's outside of Blurb and it was a lot of work figuring all those measurements out. They made nice e-books on Issuu but I have a lot of MB's on my hard disk with the RAW images, the PS layered images and then the flattened and sized images that finally went into the books.

The Lightroom book module has been working for me but I have a couple of more complex books in mind. Now that I've cut my teeth, so to speak, on making a book, I may be ready to take on a more sophisticated design program.

Here is the link, if you would like to see my book, Sicily.







18 comments:

  1. While admittedly most of what you said about the process didn't make sense to me I read it and enjoyed trying to follow along. The book is wonderful! Oh my. I started out saying to myself when I saw the photo of the yellow framed window that it was my favorite. Silly me to think I could declare favorites so early on. I rapidly lost any notion of that - they're all so beautifully done there is no way one could choose a favorite. Then when I saw the last one the water was so inviting, so liquid and right there, that I wanted to step in and keep going. So maybe that one? Or the food...now I want to go there to eat, to feast with my eyes. Oh this is wonderful. Thank you for sharing. You've certainly got the eye for framing an image and capturing it.

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    1. Thank you, Barbara. About that last image of the water, it is really beautiful when printed on 17x22 paper. The water is gorgeous. I'm redoing a bedroom and I'm trying to figure out how to make my bedroom "feel" like the colors of that water. LOL

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  2. I also looked at your Havana book. You are incredibly talented. My sombrero goes off to you.

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    1. Blush, blush, Thank you, Sr. Zapata. I'm having fun with book design but each one I do I realize how much I do not know. Typography is an mysterious land. I doubt I'll live long enough to understand it.

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    1. Really appreciate your comment, Jennifer. Thanks.

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  4. What a beautiful book! I love how you have made the facing pages similar in color tone, and there's one in particular where the left page is an orange life ring, and then the facing page has the boats from which it came, with touches of the same orange paint. I also very much like the photo of the windmill behind the bridge, with the two circular forms resonating with each other.

    You've made me think that perhaps I should try to do such a book from the images I took on my road trip last year. I'm still using PhotoShop CSII, but maybe this is what finally pushes me toward light room.

    Saludos,

    Kim G
    Boston, MA
    Where we have something like 17,000 image files on our hard drive, most of which have never seen the light of day.

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    1. Kim, Thank you for taking the time to look so closely at the book. It is funny how some things just seemed to fit together.

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  5. Gorgeous photos! Very impressive :)

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    1. Thank you, wetravelaround. Have you been to Sicily?

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    2. Hi Billie ,
      Yes, several years ago , Italy is such a beautiful place. We are heading to Rome , Greece & Turkey in a few weeks :)
      David

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    3. Hi Billie
      I have been to Sicily, although it's been a few years ... We will be in Rome, Greece & Turkey in Sept .
      Love the blog :)
      David
      Love the blog :)

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  6. hi billie,

    sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. i was so happy that you remembered me. i've read all your posts since i last commented. love the book on sicily. it brought back so many memories of when we lived there. hope to make it back sometime in t he next few years.

    heading to the states tomorrow for 3 1/2 weeks so have been busy preparing for that. i'll write again when i get back.

    take care and keep posting those gorgeous pix of your.

    teresa in nagoya

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  7. I could have sworn I had commented on this-perhaps I forgot to push submit. your pictures are amazing and they brought back lots of memories from when we used to live there. they make me want to live there again. well, that won't be happening but we will surely visit-probably in about 2 years.

    in florida now visiting family. I will try to find a Sicilian cookbook for you if you still don't have one. feel free to write to me at my e-mail address and send me your mailing address. then, if I find the book, I can mail it to you from here.

    I was happy to see that you remembered me.

    take care and have a nice week!

    teresa

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    1. Teresa, you can find my email address over in the right hand side bar. How kind of you to offer to get me a Sicilian cookbook. If you are poking around in a bookstore and see one you think I'll like just send me the name and I'll order via Amazon. They now deliver to my house in Mexico. Easy Peasy!

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  8. What beautiful photos, you have a great eye for composition and color! I have experimented with both PhotoShop and Lightroom and your work makes me want to get back into it. Very nice work!

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    1. Croft, thank you. I'm happy with LR but sometimes I have to jump over to PS when I need something with layers. I really don't know what I'd do with LR.

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    2. I looked at your Havana book as well. We are Canadians with no travel restrictions and have been there as well, both in Havana and Veradero. It is a beautiful country and the people so full of character, a photographer's paradise!

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