CREATE A PHOTO BOOK
Creating a photo book that feels high-end when you have scant design skills can be tricky, but with help from Saal Digital, Tracy Calder has risen to the challenge
IN ASSOCIATION WITH SAAL DIGITAL
Getting your images off the computer and into a book is a wonderful way to share the past with the future. At some point, most of us will have looked at pictures of ourselves in family albums and marvelled at the outfits, décor and situations we once found ourselves in. Most of the time we look at these pictures with those we love, recalling the day we went to the beach and buried dad’s car keys or the time our sister entered the room with a cake, tripped over the doormat and delivered sponge onto the birthday girl’s lap. Printing pictures is important because it allows us to share stories and memories while strengthening our connection to the past. It also allows us to communicate with future generations so they may understand where they came from and (looking at Uncle Bob’s crooked teeth) where they might be headed!
For professional photographers, a high-end photo book is a wonderful way to showcase your talents (in the form of a portfolio) and a great addition to premium packages where clients can choose from multiple products to help preserve special moments. A photo book is the ideal way to share pictures but, and there’s always a but, creating something that looks and feels high-end – especially when you have limited time (and limited design skills) is challenging. As I fall into all of these categories (especially the ‘limited design skills’ bracket) I decided to see what could be achieved in just one evening using the services of Saal Digital.
Saal Digital enables photographers to create high-end photo products ranging from books to wall décor, posters and calendars. I’ve been meaning to create a plant-themed portfolio for a long time, so I decided to bite the bullet, dig out my garden-related images and design a photo book. Installing the Saal Design Software was easy, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how quickly I could import images from my computer desktop to the program. Just as cameras offer three main user ‘modes’: auto, semi auto and manual – each requiring different degrees of input from the photographer – Saal Digital offers three design modes: One Minute Photo Book, Comfort Designer and Empty Template, each requiring different levels of input. To my make life easy, I selected the One Minute Photo Book option.
With a few of the key decisions already behind me (I’d already chosen the size, pagination and cover material before launching th
