#photographyforpage

A couple of things to note down in order to vision the physical copy:

Hardback Cover - Matt Lamination

Paper Type - Matte

End paper colour - Black

A4 Landscape

I was going to create the book online and use this company

https://mixam.co.uk/books

The reason for this is because I wanted to fully invest into my photobook & make it very professional as it is my portfolio work for my future. I didn’t want to create the book myself (like sew the book) as it doesn’t represent my photos in the best way. I wanted to make it look processed and polished so people can take me seriously and I look professional myself. 

For my inspiration I was looking at this particular video on Youtube. This video showed me how to make a panoramic image. The reason why I liked this so much is because it looks very artsy and expression of self & photos. I liked the idea of having my images jumbled up on the pages and then I blend in the images with the different effects on the brush tool. I was then thinking of handwriting the words on a piece of paper and then scanning them in so it makes it more personal to me that I created everything in this book. However, once I was creating this in photoshop it started to look more of a CD cover I did in primary school then an actual book. I started to think about the bleed of the book and if I decided to carry on this layout I would lose some of my images. So, I stopped doing this approach and then went onto something different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti9sm3a0HWk

The white page was tooooooo distracting and looked really awkward on the page. So, I decided to try this out. I have so many images that have three images that need to compliment each other so then I placed two mini images on the left hand side of the page and then used the best one as the main subject. Again, I started to think about the bleed and how this wouldn’t work. The layout also wasn’t settling with me again. I hate the harsh lines of the photograph. You shouldn’t see this in a book as it looks really unprofessional. The reason for bleeds is to hide the ending of the image.

Here is me experimenting more. I don’t know why I was missing the point. My advice in my work review was to make it full bleed and I just don’t understand why I did the opposite when creating these layouts. I need to stop experimenting with layouts that are not benefiting me at all and just experiment with full bleed. I need to start thinking what size the book I would want it to be, portrait, horizontal? I need to have a hard think and just keep on practising.

After making a book, I placed a book into a plastic box to give it objectness. Although the size of the box is bigger than the book, the book is hold in the center by the magnet  attached on the back of the book and the back of box. This makes the book it self a floating matter. 

Angelika Loderer, 2017. Published by Secession / Revolver Publishing. Cover designed by Studio Claus Due. Accessed from http://studioclausdue.dk/angelina-loderer-secession/ [15 April, 2020]

Also, I placed a plastic sheet giving a formula of the buoyancy of an umbrella in the front cover image. This gives the theme of this book,  which is to figure out the riddle of the objects. 

I tried to print the formula on a clear sticky seat and placed on top but applying it on the plastic surface without any bubbles and dust was very hard. So I changed a plan. I printed it on one side of the laminate film, coated with a hairspray to prevent ink bleed, and dried with hair dryer. Then, I layered the other side of the laminate film on the printed one and laminated them together. With these attempt, I was able to get a result I wanted to see. 

In order to come up with an alternative layout and binding style, I decided to rethink what I really want to represent in this work. When I saw the objects in water, I was astonished by its beauty in the way it is not noticed by anyone, in the way it is too quite that time seems stopped, and in the way it is very isolated from human. What I want to present is not only  the object and its environment but also the extraordinary energy they emit. Thus, transparent papers don’t present energy appropriately. It might even soften the sense of extraordinary with its soft and weak tactility.

Instead of transparent papers, I decided to print  the background images on a semi-glossy paper to demonstrate the shininess of water. I made them dark and mysterious as if the universe. 

The difference between tracing paper and semi-glossy paper ↓

I printed images of objects on a separated small inkjet photo paper and used magnets to attach them onto the background. With the magnets, their weight; their presence and energy are indicated. Also, by making them separable from the book, I tried to show their liquidity and independency. The image is double sided.

The tone reversal post-processed on the images of objects reminds of the CT scan, which is the process of photographing things indirectly, leaving a riddle. This effect suggest the sense of extraordinary and astonishment. 

In terms of binding, instead of spread pages forming one book, I made one sequence of images by applying the format of concertina. It was able to present a vast space and the flow of objects.  

This is the second layout I made.

Printing 

I attempted to print the images on transparent paper, which I planned in an early stage. The aim was to express the transparency and the mystery of submerged objects. To enhance the tactility the papers, I was planning to use paper with different weights, 40g and 75 g.  

I had difficulties with a few points in terms of printing.

First, when printed on transparent paper especially the 40g one, the curl of the paper made it very hard to bind a s book.  I tried to put it weight and leave it for a while, but it didn't work. Then I tried to do ironing it as it curls when there is humidity, then it work out.

Before ironing

After ironing

Second, with a inkjet printer, the ink bleed on the paper which gave a bad look. Using the dye ink instead of pigment ink was one of the solution, but as shown on the paper below the ink bleed on the edge of the paper. I tried to solve this by adjusting the darkness, but the result was the same. However, when I tried it on 75g, the bleeding was not seen anymore. Considering the compatibility of each paper, I decided to only use paper with 75g.

Bleeding seen on the left edge.　↓

Thirdly, my inkjet printer only allowed to use pigment ink for color printing, it used several color inks to print to print black and white image. As result, the color of the print leaned to warm or cool tone, as seen in the photos below. I had to adjust the CMYK, the darkness, and the contrast in printer setting. 

The black color made with pigment ink ↓

Layout

Initially, I made a layout of pages with different sizes, full bleed for background image and small size for images of objects. The way to do it was either by cutting the paper into a small size or print cropped image leave the paper size. I tried both but did not like the way it looks. I felt like I am not getting the most out of transparency of the paper, so I changed the layout. I made all the images full bleed and made a sequence that represent the depth of water. I placed the lighter color images of waves,  light reflection, and  bubbles seen on the surface of water in the beginning and in the second part, inverted image of objects and background images are placed alternately. 

Layout

(From Left, 1→2) To express the transparency, the lighter images are layered on background image.

1.

2.

Mock print ↓

After printing a test with regular paper, I attempted to print on transparent paper. The problem I had was the lack of transparency of 75 g transparent paper. The image on the back was hardly seen through the front paper even though the front paper was inverted image, meaning the color is very light. 

when a light color image layered on a dark image ↓

My inspiration for my layouts was Anya Schiller book “FLAMBOYANT” & Irina Yulieva “Tender Age”. 

Throughout my work review, Gavin, Rachael and Andre suggested that I make my book full bleed if I want that “immersive experience” that I spoke about. I began to realise that they were right as I thought about my favourite book “Out of Order” & her rave pictures were in a full bleed layout. She had a number of portrait and landscape photographs just like me so I have inspiration right in front of me here. The text was too distracting as well and placed really awkwardly so I think I am going to scrap that idea and instead at the end have a page of text where I talk about the rave and the characters inside of it.