Photographic Books

Today, photographic books have become one of the most accessible means of distributing photographic work. They may be in the from of art books, portfolio books as well as catalogues for exhibitions. You can self-published books economically. Several companies offer services to print books on-demand, one or hundreds of copies at a time . These books are printed with industrial ink-jet printers that provide much higher resolution and colour control than conventional offset printing.

Visual Narrative

In this course, will learn how to develop and produce photographic books that present a visual narrative in an effective manner. You will learn how to select images and arrange them in sequences that constitute aesthetic and dramatic units with visual continuity and flow. This course involves concepts of visual narrative and scenography to produce books that effectively communicate an author's personal vision and style.

The following subjects and techniques will be covered: selection of images, book structure, page architecture, graphic design, typography, maquettes, selection and use of production software, selection of and working with book printing companies, book templates, colour management, image resolution, obtaining and using ISBN numbers and Cataloguing in Publication indexing, copyright notices, proofing, PDF creation, file transmission, test printing and adjustments, production runs and marketing – essentially everything from the initial concept to the finished product.

Requirements

Although you will explore and use concepts of sequencing in this course, this subject will not be treated in depth. It is recommended that you take the course on Sequencing: Portfolios, Exhibitions, Books before taking this course.

You are expected to have mastered the basic craft of photography, have a working knowledge and experience with computers and Photoshop or other image editing software. You must have at your disposition a suitable computer and a printer, in order to print small draft prints of your images for creation of the printed maquette. Demo software for image editing and production of the your book layout will be provided where required. If you wish to use conventional photographs, they must be scanned into a digital format.

Course Outline

	Course Content
Session 1	Defining the Book Project    Goal    Audience    Market    Content    Structure    Presentation
Session 2	Personal Vision The Message Personal Style Definition of your Book Style
Session 3	Developing the Visual Narrative Scenography    Story Line    Flow    Harmony Layout - Sequencing    Drama    Unity and continuity
Session 4	Hands-on analysis and selection of images and     development of the book concept.
Session 5	Maquettes    Tools    Methods Production Software Construction    Templates, Master Pages. etc.
Session 6	Hands-on development of a printed maquette
Session 7	Design - Book Structure    Essential Pages    Cataloguing in Publication Design - Page Architecture    Space    Shape, Size, Proportions    Positioning, Balance, Spacing    Colour    Unity
Session 8	Image quality control    Colour Management    Image Resolution Hands-on preparation of images on computer
Session 9	Typography    Forms Styles    Headings, Pagination    Typography & Images    Consistency/Unity
Session 10	Hands-on book layout on computer     including graphic design and typography.
Session 11	Production and quality control    Output Colour Management    Proofing Test Printing - adjustments    Production runs Marketing In class development of book projects     with individual tutoring.
Session 12	Group appeciation and discussion of finished book projects.