I’m back! Picking up this blog where I left off with the posts that were part of my artist residency at the Flower City Arts Center.

For this first post of my new site, I figured I would end the suspense and tell you about where we are with the Photo Book!

On Feb 8, I submitted my ‘first draft’ and ordered a proof, something which is recommended by Blurb, and which you have to pay for (it’s not free). It was expected to be delivered by Feb 25, but actually arrived on Feb 19.

I was so excited to open it! And then so totally disappointed as I thumbed through the pages full of dark, muddy and yellowish images. Just to be sure I wasn’t overreacting, I showed the book to several friends, and all agreed with my assessment. This version wasn’t good enough.

The problem was most likely personal user error: I didn’t pay attention to the fact that the images I used were all RGB color profile, while Blurb uses the CMYK profile (which can be warmer with different representation of blacks and grays); and even though the brightness looked OK on the screen, I didn’t compensate for the luminosity that would be lost when the images were printed on paper.

So I had to do some editing. When I compared the physical book to the digital book on the computer it actually looked really close. This was both a pro and a con. Pro: this meant the screen calibration was pretty close to the real thing; Con: this meant that what I was seeing on the screen, which looked OK to my eye, would be really hard to adjust.

I spent approximately 4 more hours and did the best I could: first, converted all the images from RGB to  CMYK; second, cooled the images off by reducing the yellow tones; third, reduced the saturation of the images in the Vegetation series; fourth, increased the image brightness for all the images. I also reduced the text size of my artist statement, added some content to the insides of the book jacket, and changed the color of some of the pages (from a straw-yellow to white).

I uploaded the updated version and ordered proof #2 on Feb 25. It is expected to be delivered by March 12, but fingers crossed it will come a little earlier. And that this one will be good.

I’ll make another post when I receive it, and assuming it is good to go, will start taking pre-orders. The Blurb bulk discount varies based on the number of units: between 4 and 9 books is 30% off; between 10 and 19  books is 35% off; and 20 or more books is 40% off.  So far I have 10 pre-orders….but I’m still not sure what the price will be.

Stay tuned !

 

PS Click here to see my older blog posts which were written during my Artist Residency at the Flower City Arts Center