Vanessa Dewson is a wedding photographer from Ottawa, Ontario. Not only is she an great photographer, she also has a background in graphic design and infuses that into her work.

I asked Vanessa a few questions about her work, and why she thinks that albums are such an important part of her business.

Why do you love selling wedding albums to clients? Why are they important to your couples?
Albums are a part of all my wedding packages because I truly believe they are the best way to preserve memories of such an important day. They are the classic keeper of time. I also knew too many friends who only got a disc with the files and never did anything with them until 2 or 3 years later and in one case, I still don’t think they made an album and have been married for over 10 years and have two kids! All have talked about not getting an album right away with regret. It’s much harder to choose images you want to include when a lot of time had passed and you have come down from the wedding high. It becomes a daunting chore rather than something that should be exciting to create. I think it’s a disservice for photographers not to offer albums as it’s an important end result. DVDs can get scratched or lost and will probably go the way of floppy discs one day. And we all know hard drives can not always be trusted to keep your memories safe. Albums are tactile and with the amazing choice of styles, custom designed layouts, print quality and page finishes that are available to professional photographers, they can be real works of art in themselves.

Nikon or Canon?
Nikon. My Dad had a Nikon FE that he gave me when I was a teen. I’ve been loyal to the brand ever since!

What is your favourite lens?
Favourite lens? Hmmm… It’s always the latest one I bought. lol Seriously, I couldn’t live without my 50mm and my 70-200 VR II.

Favourite kind of candy:
I don’t eat a lot of candy – dark chocolate is my weakness – but I wouldn’t turn away a handful of Sour Kids…or M&Ms, or Reese’s Pieces…

Vanessa chose a mixed layout of full bleed and white space for her clients’ hardcover album from AsukaBook.

Nat Bertrand is a wedding photographer from Ottawa, Ontario. Her images are bright and vibrant with a truly honest feel to them.

I asked Nat a few questions about her work, and how she uses albums in her photography business.

Why do you love selling wedding albums to clients? Why are they important to your couples?
To me the wedding album is like a story book, without words. It tells the story of the wedding day. As the old saying goes a picture is worth a million words. It is so true!!! For my couple, I hope I am creating heirloom that will be passed down from generation to generation. Evoking joy and excitement for all that view it for years to come.

Nikon or Canon?
Canon

What is your favourite lens?
It’s a toss up between my 50mm 1.4 and 70-200 L2.

Favourite kind of candy:
Rockets, each year around Halloween time I treat myself with a big bag of Rockets. 

Nat chose to have a mixed layout of full bleed and white space for her clients’ Original Album from Vision Art.

1. First and foremost you need to remember that shooting for the album means that you are telling a story. This means that you will need to have the story flow and make sense as it’s presented in an album. Images shouldn’t be all random. More than one image should be taken in each location, allowing for a spread to be created of that location. ie: a large image and 2 smaller ones – therefore you’d need at least 3 images for that part of the story.


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

2. Shoot a landscape oriented shot of the couple or family for the cover. This shot should ideally have the couple or family framed in the right hand side of the image so you have the option of wrapping the image around the spine to the back. The image does not have to have the subjects looking at the camera – I usually save the couple or family looking at the camera shot for the inside of the book.


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

3. Make sure to get at least one 3-5 image sequence shot. These shots work best when some action is happening. Weddings: Bride and groom dancing or twirling etc. Portraits: Kids jumping, playing, running etc.


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

4. A wide shot of the location is important for establishing where everything is happening (Wedding: please allow for ceremony AND reception venues, if they are different)


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

5. Details shots are a nice way to lead into different parts of the story. Weddings: I like to featured details such as the dress, shoes, rings, bouquet first, then leading into the ceremony it is nice to have details shots of the location, same with the reception. Portraits: you can photograph closeups of the child’s hands, shoes or clothing or even around the family’s home etc.


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

6. Weddings: At least one individual shot of the bride AND the groom separately (you would be surprised at how many photographers forget to take an individual shot of the groom and yet have about 20 bridals – don’t forget your groomals!). Portraits: an individual shot of each child, as well as at least one shot of the parents together, without the kids – the last time they probably had a shot like that was likely at their wedding!


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

7. An ending shot. Weddings: Usually this is the couple walking away in the evening, the first dance or a night portrait of the couple. Portraits: this is best as a great family shot – ones walking away are fantastic but not necessary.


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

8. Be conscious when editing your images. If you make only one image black and white, and the rest are colour, when putting that image in a design with all colour images, it will look out of place. It’s best to make a few black and white in that series so that there isn’t just one that is a different tone. This also applies to any effects that change the tone of the image – it’s best to keep everything as consistent as possible.


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

9. When preparing your files to put them in the album, make sure you have them in the proper sequential order – this is more important for wedding albums than portrait albums. This will save you from headaches later when the bride asks you to move an image to the proper order as to when the event took place. (I have totally had this happen to me and I just about cried because it meant redesigning the spreads!)


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

10. Albums always look better when there are less images rather than more. Cramming 200 images into a 40 page album makes it look very cluttered and would look more streamlined with around 80-100 images.


Portraits by elizabeth&jane photography

I want to give a special thank you shout out to Jeremy Sale Photography for giving me the idea for this post!

Trish Roberts is a wedding and portrait photographer in London, Canada who sent in a gorgeous destination wedding to be created into a stunning 40 spread layout! Half of the album was dedicated to the actual wedding and the other half was the day after session which is really something to see.

I asked Trish a few questions about her work, and her love for albums.

Why do you love selling wedding albums to clients? Why are they important to your couples?
When someone looks at a wedding album, I want them to feel like they were at the wedding, even if they weren’t …to experience the sights, the smells and so much more of the day…it needs to tell the story…fully.

Nikon or Canon?
Canon

What is your favourite lens?
Canon 70-200mm 2.8

Favourite kind of candy:
Dark chocolate makes me weak in the knees. <3

Trish chose to have a mixed layout of full bleed and white space for her clients’ Alba Album from Willow Paper Works.

In this video, I describe the differences between a press-printed book, a flushmount album and a fine art museum paper book.

I’d like to note that I made some errors while blabbing on – the VisionArt Original book can accommodate 90 PAGES, which is 45 spreads (I said 90 spreads). Also, I mentioned that the flushmount albums are mounted to masonite – I cannot confirm this for all companies but it is what came out of my mouth so I apologize if the material I mentioned is wrong.

Also, please disregard the not-so-good sound quality of this video. I don’t claim to be a videographer in any respect (which is why I hired one for my own profile video). This video is just done with my super awesome Flip camera.

And without further ado, the feature presentation!

For some technical info about the different printing processes, please follow these links:
Press Printed Process
Vision Art’s fine art, museum quality paper with archival inks. Also a more in depth review of VisionArt books specifically can be found here.
Flushmount Albums

A special thank you to Julie Butler for allowing me to use three of her sample albums as well as her beautiful studio.

The seminar is a four day lecture series with some amazing speakers as well as a small trade show and some great opportunities to network and just hang out and have a great time with other photographers.

It takes place the second weekend in January and is in Mystic, Connecticut. Photographers come from all over to attend this great event.

Check out this awesomesauce highlight video that Switzerfilm put together while at the seminar. Not only are these guys amazingly talented, they are such great people and I had a chance to hang out with them on the last night of the seminar.

Social Studio was also there with a photo booth and of course, lots of fun was had with that!

See the rest of the photo booth set here.

If you have been searching for a workshop or seminar to be inspired and learn a ton, I HIGHLY recommend Mystic Seminars. I will definitely be there again next year!

The Halftone Media Launch Party took place on a warm evening in July and was such a great success! So much so that I’ve been busy designing some fantastic albums and haven’t even had a chance to post images from the amazing event!

I want to say thank you so much to everyone who came out and made the evening a lot of fun.

A special huge thank you goes to Amy from Splendid Events, who planned this event so well that I didn’t have to do anything but make decisions – she was such a pleasure to work with and I highly (very very very highly) recommend her to anyone needing help with event co-ordination of any kind (wedding, corporate, parties – whatever!). Amy, I really honestly couldn’t have done it without you!

My second thank you goes to the amazing ladies at Luxe Bridal Boutique who opened their doors, and the store to us for the evening. What beautiful wedding dresses that Luxe has – it made me want to go and try them all on even though I’m already married!

Third, thank you to Geek Sweets for the delicious cupcakes that, get this, had the Halftone logo on them! Say What???? Jenny is so very talented.

And last, but definitely NOT least, thank you to the official photographers of the evening, Melanie Rebane of M Photography and Amna Hakim of Amna Hakim photography. You did such an amazing job thank you!!! Additionally, I’d like to thank Amy Symes who also snapped some pics of the event that are below as well.

Also, special thanks to my hubby, Thomas, who helped out and filmed some of the event for me.

Halftone Media Launch Party from Halftone Media on Vimeo.

Images by Melanie Rebane of M Photography.

Images by Amna Hakim of Amna Hakim photography.

Images by Amy Symes

Laureen Carruthers is a portrait and wedding photographer in Williams Lake, BC. Laureen sent in a gorgeous wedding to be created into a stunning 24 page album with a custom cover.

I asked Laureen a few questions about her work, and her love for albums.

Why do you love selling wedding albums to clients? Why are they important to your couples?
I love selling wedding albums, because they are a way of remembering the beautiful day…and showcasing all of the most important moments. I imagine my clients looking through the album with their own children years down the road…I love that thought!

Nikon or Canon?
Canon right now…but I feel I may be pulled to the dark side in the near future…

What is your favourite lens?
I have two at the moment, my 50mm 1.2, and my 100L macro – the bokeh on both of these lenses is out of this world!

Favourite kind of candy:
Sours all the way – is there anything else? I do like to mix them with gummy bears.

I just love the way the cover turned out for this album – Laureen’s portrait sets off the design so well and the book just flows with the mix of white space and full bleed images.

Julie Butler is a wedding photographer in Ottawa, Canada who sent in an amazing wedding to be created into a 15 spread layout. Julie has a talent for getting her couples to relax in front of the camera and just be themselves and it really shows in her work.

I asked Julie a few questions about her work, and her love for albums.

Why do you love selling wedding albums to clients? Why are they important to your couples?
I love selling albums to my clients – in fact I’m hoping to sell albums to all my 2012 clients!! It tells their story .. what better way to sit down at the end of the day and remember your wedding with this lasting heirloom that can be passed down from generation to generation .. PRICELESS!!!!

Nikon or Canon?
CANON for sure!!! LOL

What is your favourite lens?
Canon 70-200mm 2.8 by far – it’s my baby. It hardly ever comes off my camera!!

Favourite kind of candy:
Sweedish Berries & Nibs .. YUMMY!!!

Julie chose to have a mixed layout of full bleed and white space for her clients’ Alba Album from Willow Paper Works.

I am so excited to officially announce the launch of Halftone Media! This company grew out of a conversation I had with Laurie from Studio 1948 about how much I love designing albums. She and I were talking about workflow and in talking I realized that I would really love to help professional photographers have more time to shoot and work on their businesses by offering custom album designs, and so the idea for Halftone Media was born.

Fast forward quite a few months and I brought the idea up to Jenn Stark Photographers who gave me that extra little push to really get this thing going. Before I knew it, I announced my intentions on Facebook and took two orders within the first week – amazing! I had such fun designing these two albums that I knew that starting this was a great idea. Also a special thank you shout out goes to Ewan and Brianna Phelan for their words of wisdom and encouragement regarding Halftone Media.

Photos of Liz by Ewan Phelan of the Last Forty Percent Photography.

I am Liz, a pet and wedding photographer in Ottawa, Canada under the name elizabeth&jane photography. I am a trained graphic designer with a degree from York University and a post-graduat certificate from Algonquin College – both in Interactive Multimedia. I am a self proclaimed nerd who loves cheesy pop music and editing while watching bad movies on Netflix. I am head over heels for my amazing husband Thomas (who built this website – awesome isn’t it??) – he is the Han Solo to my Leia. I am pretty much obsessed with our three dogs, Paddington, Corduroy and Wellington and I also run the Ottawa Dog Blog. I can pretty much talk about dogs for hours (I’m not kidding). Oh and I am an extreme exclamation point over-user.

Now that we’ve met, please like the Halftone Media Facebook page and follow on Twitter for updates and random awesomeness. Also, be sure to check back to this blog for posts featuring amazing photographers, tips and tricks and maybe even some freebies! Who knows what could happen??

It’s so nice to meet you and I hope to design an album layout for you soon!
Liz