Friday, July 20, 2012

Wedding Album Design/Artwork

A wedding album is the final product of pre-wedding photography. In previous post, we discussed about "Wedding Album Sizes". Here in this post, lets see how we present the album's design/artwork.

Color Adjustment & Special Effects


In this artwork, both contrast were arrange together. For underwater images, rays, flares and vignette were added to demonstrate mystery as enriching underwater atmosphere.


In this artwork, blue rays were to added to create a calm & cool indoor atmosphere.


In this artwork, images were converted black & white and smoke effect was implemented to demonstrates emotions.


In this artwork, high pass are implemented to strengthen the contrast of shadow, increasing solidity of objects, presenting sharper and stronger dimensional imaging. 


In this artwork, flares and color filter were added to strengthen sun flare and sunset atmosphere.

Artwork Composition


In this artwork, demonstrates a sample of picture combination. This requires carefully planning during photography. 


In this artwork, to present sceneries, a simple layout is always implemented. 



Similar to previous artwork, with a busy background, it is best presented using clean layout to demonstrate details of the image. 

Considerations of Designers
1. Designs should fit well, avoiding the middle/folding line and cropping line.
2. Using correct composition to draw focus on the subject.
3. Choosing the correct effect/adjustments to enrich/enhance photo.
4. Carefully plan layout to hide weaknesses of the photo and strengthen its presentation.
5. Avoid repetition of subject (same view, sceneries, object) in the same artwork. 
6. Must preserve originality of the photo. 

Why simple layout were always implemented?
We think that proper presentation of the picture is important. A simple layout is always good for large printing, like a photo album, viewers easily finds the focus. A good layout encourage people to view picture in a planned sequence.
When do we need special effects?
Depends on photos taken. Also depends on designers creativity but mostly needed to strengthen the photo's yet preserves it's originality.
Do you have other creatives/artwork?
Yes, sometimes we do use floral, textures, patterns or other sceneries images to decorate the artwork if it happens to be empty. It is a trend years ago and somehow everyone is still using it now. However, we are working more on lively effects. 
Can I ask you to design what I like?
Yes! We understand that most customer has different preference and we like to fulfill those desires. Show us some samples or reference you find and we will work around it to deliver new things. Overall it helps to invent new designs right?
What other things that we need to know about designs?
Selection of photo is important. Select photos that are similar color/same scene/a story line in a page. It looks neat together in a page and somehow, it is easier for the designer to plan their designs. 
Photo may be cropped in the design to avoid repetition of other object/sceneries/repeated elements. 
Cannot avoid photo presentation in square/box (thumbnails). Photos will be merge if they are suitable.

We hope that information we provide above are useful. If you have any enquiries, you may always consult us or simply drop us an email via admin@eminentfrancetaipei.com.my.

*Artwork used in this post are used to demonstrates ideas of designs and for references only. As respecting each of our customer, please do not misuse, edit or redistribute the images. 



Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Wedding Album Sizes

As when you are engaging a wedding package from a bridal house, we guess most people face the same problem, that is identifying album sizes. Here, in Eminent France Taipei, we offer range of sizes, where each serves different purpose. In this post, we will be sharing this information for your reference and how to select the best size.

Common Sizes 
8x12 album, smallest album among common album sizes. Usually used to present photo in full pages. In some cases, landscape album is use to present landscape pictures. 
12x15 album, medium album among common album sizes. Normally it is widely used and selected by customers. It is the normal range album.
12x18 album, largest album among common album sizes. Normally it is best to present large views and sceneries as in the same time, ensuring equal proportion of subject and sceneries.


Customized Size
15x30 premium album, largest album among all album sizes. Normally it is best to present large views and sceneries as in the same time, ensuring equal proportion of subject and sceneries far more better than 18x24. It is a special/customized size.


Choosing the Right Sizes 

Using Portrait Album:It is best to fit 25-40 pieces of pictures in page design. Portrait album artwork best work with both portrait and landscape pictures. The designing space here (width) has a little restriction. However, flipping and viewing portrait album is convenient.
Using Landscape Album:It is best to fit 25-40 pieces of pictures in page design. In some cases, customer chooses larger landscape album to fit more pictures. Landscape album's artwork best work with landscape pictures. The designing space here (width) is widely free and flexible. However, flipping and viewing landscape album is inconvenient. 
Using Customized Size Album:
It is best to fit 25-40 pieces of pictures in page design. In some cases, customer chooses larger size album to fit more pictures as in the same time, ensuring balance proportion of pictures (for example: the more picture it is, the smaller picture will be).  
15x30 album artwork best work with both portrait and landscape pictures. The designing space here (width) is widely free and flexible, allowing special arrangement of layout and maximizing creativity. However, flipping and viewing 15x15 album is far more inconvenient. 


Album information listed above are for your reference. If you have any question, you may always consult the professions. Most wedding package comes with suitable album sizes, allowing customers to purchase without worries. Else, in some cases, customer purchases and request to include additional pictures (more than the offered amount in the packages), changing album size or adding pages will be necessary to ensure best presentation. Designers will work around with the amount of pictures and the chosen album size to ensure clean and clear artwork. 


We hope this information will help. If there are any question, may comment here where we will reach you shortly. In the next post, we will be sharing wedding album artwork and design technique. Stay tuned!



Sunday, July 15, 2012

Photography Golden Ratio

If you are looking for professional photographers for pre-wedding photography, you sure though of what makes you decide whether these people are experience photographers? Many couple will face this question because it is the first time and also their only time approaching those photographer. However, it is better we understand some photography knowledge.


In previous post, we discussed about emotions and message in photos (Concept Photography). It is an important element that captures beautiful photos but yet, composition is another important element behind great photos. Some says beauty is very abstract but to determine one, you may refer to the "golden" rules of composition.


It is challenging because to have real good composition, it comes with a series of practice and understanding. However, lets see how "Golden Ratio" works in photos.



Pictures above demonstrates two implementation of Golden ratio. 


The Rule of Thirds (picture on the right)


If you have a SLR camera, you would have seen this before. Yes, it is widely implemented in cameras. The concept here is putting the object on the intersection point, creating a different angle of the photo. In this picture, the focus point is the eyes and nose.


*Consideration of composition: main object should lie on one of the four lines or four intersections. 


Golden Spiral (picture on the left)


Here, the focus is the left eye. Golden spiral explains that there must be something leading our eye to the center of the composition.  It could be a line or several subjects. Using the body curve and posing of the hand, it helps direct attention to the face expressions. In this photo, vignette is also used to draw attention on the focus. 


*Consideration of composition: draw the attentions to main subject.


Pictures above only demonstrates two of the ways photographers practice in photography. In real, photos will more or less (similar but not 100%) turn out like such ratios. Photographer shall practice and always experiment based on those ratios in order to deliver the best. However, not all compositions should or will follow this pattern. Photographers may change their composition as they considerate further processing of the photo such as wedding album design, more space / view / other subject taken to ease up / complete designing process. Careful consideration of the composition before photography will contribute to the success of the last product either for professional photo-shooting or personal practice.


Remember, simply viewing their sample photos are not enough! Analyze them and understand briefly on the purpose and technique behind. Who knows who is really working hard at the back or those pretty pictures they took are some sort of coincidence? Before really engaging one, you may talk to friends that have experience photo-shooting with the photographer or best, simply talk to the photographer. If one really experience photographer, he will demonstrates a series of knowledge of photography in his conversation. It may not be very factual like what we learn from articles but he will be able to explain lighting, composition or his way to make you photogenic and of course beautiful photos just like what he is showing you (the sample photos). Shortly, he will let you understand, why this & why not that, how is this & what makes that, should do this or not do that and most important, what he believes.


We hope that information provide in this post will help you when engaging one photographer. It is an important event, lets ensure nothing less than perfect.



Dusun Garden Fairies

Have you been to the Fairies Garden? We visited this amazing place lately. It is an ambience that provides a quick escape from the stressful city life, garden fairies allows all nature lovers to appreciate the green atmosphere whilst being right in the heart of a cosmopolitan city. 

Here's some photo we took in this amazing place:







It is special and unique. People there, experienced artists produce almost-magical works of art, from floral creations to individually crafted poetic pots, precious gifts and home crafts. It's definitely a cool place to hang out and of course, a beautiful place for pre-wedding photography! If you are planning for an outdoor photography with nature theme, why not this place!

Locate this place:



For more pictures, please visit our Facebook page. Here is the direct link to the Facebook Album.