From the first message
to the finished book.
Eight clear steps your story goes through — from the first conversation about your photographs to the print-ready files.
Eight steps to a finished book
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01
Consultation
We go through what the book should capture, who it is for and how long it should be. By phone or in writing, whichever suits you. Before any work starts we need answers to a few technical questions — format, binding, page count and the book manufacturer. Without them we cannot begin: every manufacturer has different page sizes and different rules for the spine.
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02
Sorting
A typical trip brings us around two thousand photographs. About a hundred and fifty make it into the book — many of them only as a crop. We choose according to the quality of the frame, its composition, and whether it carries emotion and captures the atmosphere of the place. We look at everything you send, including the shots you would have deleted yourself.
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03
Editing the selected photographs
Every selected frame is edited: cropping, exposure correction, white balance, saturation, retouching of distracting elements, sharpening, noise reduction and local adjustments wherever a face, a sky or a background needs them. The aim is not to make the photograph look different, but to make the whole book feel like a coherent whole.
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04
Layout design
We spend roughly a day on a single spread. Photographs do not go into a grid — we build a collage in which they overlap, complement each other and in places merge into one image through photomontage. What sits next to what is decided by the impression the whole set leaves, not by the order of files in a folder.
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05
Adding text
The text is usually written by the client — captions, dates, personal notes. If you prefer, we will draft it: a short line or a quotation that reflects the place and the mood of the spread. Text should complement the photograph, not compete with it.
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06
Approval
You receive the preview in the form that suits you best — always at reduced resolution and with a watermark. We can send individual spreads as they are finished, so you need not wait for the whole book. Allow one to two weeks from the deposit to the first complete preview.
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07
Revisions
We work through your comments and make the agreed changes. What changes most often is the composition of a spread — the order of the frames, their sizes and which one gets the main area. One round of revisions is included; further rounds are charged according to the price list.
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08
Handover
You receive print-ready files of full pages or spreads. If you would rather have the finished book, we will arrange printing with the manufacturer you choose — to the specification you approved: page count, binding, paper, cover, gift wrapping and delivery.
How to send us your photographs
Exactly as you took them
Do not resize or edit them. From an original we can crop a detail and run it across a full page — from a downsized copy we cannot. Feel free to include short videos from your phone as well; they often contain a moment the photographs have missed.
In two folders
Put every photograph from the event or trip in the first one. In the second, the ones you want in the book no matter what. We will handle the rest — and that is precisely why we need to see the frames you consider failures too.
Through any file transfer service
WeTransfer, Google Drive, Dropbox, or whichever service you already know. There is nothing to install and no account to create with us. Just email us the link.
Expect it to be large
Two thousand photographs with a few short videos come to about twelve gigabytes. Uploading takes a while — feel free to leave it running overnight.
We keep your photographs for 90 days after the work is delivered, then delete them permanently. Details in our Privacy Policy.
