Asuka Books, Photoshop, etc.

Hi, everyone: I've been spending the past week researching all the different wedding/portrait albums that

are available right now and I'm overwhelmed! After reviewing all of them, Asuka Book is the one I'm most

interested in.

 

Here's my problem - I don't know Photoshop (yet); at least not well enough to truly use it correctly.

 

I am probably going to be moving to digital in the next year, but in the meantime am shooting film. In the

past, I have created albums the traditional way (selecting photos and sending them and my template to

Leather Crafstmen).

 

Now I want to be able to upload my images (I always get my negatives scanned onto a CD) and design the

album online. I'd like to offer the coffee-table style books Asuka produces - I love them!

 

The reason I'm overwhelmed is that there are so many products out there ( Aperture, which I have but

mainly use for image management), Lightroom, Photoshop, etc. It's hard to know which one is worthwhile

to really learn and use on a daily basis.

 

Obviously, Photoshop is what I will have to learn to use Asuka Books, but here's my question - how hard is

it to learn, and is it worth all the trouble? Sometimes it seems easier to just stick with the traditional way

of designing albums, but then I think it seems really excitingly creative to design these albums and run

with them!!

 

Thanks.

I personally find Photoshop fairly intuitive, and it is an absolutely amazing tool! I learned all I needed to know right here on photo.net as well as on a few other fora. I've tried lightroom, capture NX, aperture, the GIMP and none of them even starts to rival PS IMO...

Photoshop is absolutely, unequivocably NOT intuitive. I firmly believe that. If you intend

to use Photoshop AT ALL you need to take a class or two. If you intend to use Photoshop

to lay out your album designs, you will need to delve into it even deeper. You MIGHT be

able to learn all you need to know online, but I would really STRONGLY recommend a

class. Check out your local universities and colleges.

 

Lightroom is not a design program, period.

 

Aperture is not a very good design program.

 

Many people swear by InDesign for album layouts. I never learned to use it, and am more

comfortable with Photoshop, so that's what I use. But I understand that InDesign has a

similar learning curve as Photoshop.

 

Since you're still figuring all this out, you might consider paying an album design company

to handle your designs for the time being. Red Boot is the company Asuka is partnered

with, and they do nice work. You should check them out!

Regardless of what program you use for image editing, you pretty much have to use Photoshop for creating the album layout. You may be able to use Elements, but I don't know.) Asuka also has very specific requirements for the dpi of your images, because of their printing method. There aren't a whole load of things that you have to learn how to do in Photoshop to do an Asuka album, but you do have to get those things right.

For most photographers what you really need to know in manipulating Photoshop is pretty straightforward: you need to know how to use levels and curves to adjust exposure and color , and you need t oknow about something about color correction. It's also good to know about how to use layers as well to apply these corrections.

 

And you need a calibrated and accurately profiled monitor so you can see what you are doing (hence the recommendations you see for the X-Rite /Gretag-Macbeth Eye One Display 2).

 

It helps to know something about color spaces (like why Adobe RGB(1998) or ProPhoto are better choices than sRGB ) and bit depth (why 16 bits per channel is better than 8 bit -- if you'll be doing color and tonal corrections, or rotating, or sharpening ) and some sense of what color management does.

 

And it helps to know something about why and then how and when to sharpen.

 

And to speed things up it really helps to know about creating and usin actions.

 

Learning all of this isn't that difficult although some people would like to turn it into some obscure and arcane practice and others are just plain scared.

 

I agree with Anne, taking a class helps if for no other reason than it helps structure the learning curve and keeps things in perspective - if you have a good teacher and a good curriculum. If the teacher or the curriculum isn't good the online tutorials from Lynda.com are also very good.

Lynda.com is a great place to start as mentioned above. You learn at your own pace. Also, consider a membership to NAPP at http://www.photoshopuser.com. Good info there.

Everything Ellis mentioned can be done in Lightroom - 100 times faster than photoshop, far easier to learn and only $300.00. You will need PS but Ann is 100% right (usually with everything thing she types) Photo Shop is a world of hurt on your learning time and takes books, videos, or classes and lots of dedication. I suppose it is possible for someone to buy an album creation program and also get into actions to learn less PS. I once admired the skills and still do of people who really mastered the program. I know a lot and can do just about anything in PS yet there is a ton still left to learn. Now I admire people who spend less time in PS using actions and time saving tricks instead of being on the computer all day. Lightroom is a must for workflow, color correcting and adjusting, sharpening multiple files at a blink. Going digital I would master LR which will not take long at all. A few classes on PS would be ideal or if you have higher end clients you could outsource everything. Note: Asuka books are great quality and I offer them but you might also check into flushmount digital albums. The asukas do not have the stiff pages with the flat laying panoramics. They are a high quality lower end digital album I guess you could say. A nice flushmount album would be good to offer also.

Thanks, everyone - you've given me a lot to think about! Right now, until I learn PS, paying

someone else to design the albums sounds like a good route to go, thanks Anne.

 

Steve - do you know a place to recommend for a flushmount digital album? I was just looking

at the Leather Craftsmen one...

<i>Everything Ellis mentioned can be done in Lightroom - 100 times faster than photoshop,</i><p>Lightroom has layers? When did that happen?

Jeff everything Ellis "mentioned" you don't layers to apply those corrections in LR.

 

Katie heavy manipulation like removing trees - changing sky's, adding in people etc is done in PS. All color correcting, white balance, sharpening, black and white conversions, cropping along with many other adjustments can be done in LR so much faster than PS it is an absoulute no brainer. Once you watch a few free tutorials out there you will be on your way.

 

There are so many Albums where to start - LC is as good as any - Graphi is popular, Art Leather. Search them and there are a ton. It would be great if someone made a huge comparision chart or something on all of them. Asuka is my starter album and I try to upsell to a flushmount by Albums Unlimited. I like their albums but have no idea if there is a better deal out there. At WPPI I looked at so many my head started to spin. I am new so I needed to get something set up to get rolling. When there is time I can play around with some samples elswhere but I am very happy with my two choices now.

Thanks, Steve!

Dodge and burn, which is basic manipulation, is done in Photoshop. Best done with layers (and Ellis did mention layers), and not possible in Lighroom. The absence of layers and layer masks is a major deficiency in Lightroom, and one that limits what one can do to more or less what an automated machine in the lab can do.

Katie, let me keep it simple, and answer all your question. Listen up, it gonna be short. Craftsmen, it don't get any better, so stick with them. Photoshop, Just use it, and learn. As far as how to layout for Asuka. go to Kubota Imaging, they have an Album Action, that will solve all your problems. Easy to use, an very professional. You will amaze yourself. By the way, Kubota has an intrest in Asuka, so you know it's gonna work. Trust Me

We use Lightroom for 99% of our post-production. Photoshop is used only a little for

more intensive retouching or toning, which we do very little of.

 

However, I do design all of our albums in Photoshop. I prefer it to any template program

I've used, including Kubota's design software and PhotoJunction.

 

AsukaBooks are lovely. They are BOOKS though, and not every client loves them. We offer

them, along with PictoBooks, which are a higher-end digital album and my favorite hard-

page digital album on the market.

 

If you're just getting started and you have lower prices, Asuka is a GREAT solution.

Jeff and Ellis are absolutely correct. You can not dodge or burn, or work specifically in areas of a photo in Lightroom, that's why PS is so important. You can not adjustments to specific areas in Lightroom or Aperture.

 

I just put together a simple little book in Aperture and sent it to Apple. I don't expect great printing results, but its relatively cheap and I want to see how they come out.

 

I also am interested in self-publishing books.