Click on any phrase to play the video from that point.
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[Lightroom for Travel Photography]
Lightroom 4 has added a new Book module
that makes it remarkably easy to create photo books that you can have printed by Blurb.
Let’s go ahead and take a look at the process
for creating a photo book of our favorite images from a trip.
I’ve applied pick flags to my favorite photos from this trip,
and I’ve turned on the filmstrip filter so that I’m only able to see images
that have a pick flag assigned to them.
I’ll go ahead now and switch to the Book module
where I can design the book so that I can have it printed.
The first step is to establish the book settings.
For example, I think I'll choose the small square option. That’s a 7x7 inch book.
Lightroom lets me know that I’m changing the size
and therefore the layout will need to be changed.
That’s no problem in this case
because I’ve not yet added any images to the book.
I want a hardcover book with an image wrap,
and I also want to print on the Premium Lustre paper.
You can see that as I work I get an estimate of the price,
so this helps me make some decisions about the particular paper, for example,
or the number of pages that I want to include in the book.
I could manually add individual pages
and then adjust the layout and the images for those pages,
but I’m going to create an automatic layout.
I’ll set the preset to one photo per page and then click the Auto Layout button,
and Lightroom will create a basic layout for me automatically.
So now I have a basic book layout that includes a single image on every single page.
But I can, of course, refine the appearance of the book if I’d like to.
For starters, I’ll change the images that appear on the front cover and the back cover.
I’ll drag a different image from the filmstrip onto the front cover,
and then I can also adjust the zoom setting for that photo.
I can zoom in or out.
In this case, I think I do want the image to fill the available space,
and so I’ll keep it zoomed in a little bit and then also adjust the position of that photo
just by dragging it around.
For the back cover I’ll also use a different image.
I can scroll through and make a decision about which particular image I might like to include.
In this case, I’ll drag an image from Hallstatt in Austria
and adjust the position for that photo as well
in addition to the zoom setting if I decide to do that.
So that gives me a good starting point for the cover of the book.
I can also change the layout of any of the individual pages if I’d like to.
For example, maybe I want to include a couple of flower photos on this page.
So I’ll click on the page itself and then click the popup,
and I can choose a different layout.
I’ll go ahead and choose the option for 2 photos to the page,
and then I’ll scroll through the available layouts and find something that I think will work well.
I think for this particular page I will use one large and one small.
I’ll also adjust the zoom setting for the photo here
so that we can see more or perhaps even all of this particular photo.
And then I’ll drag another photo.
Let’s find another horizontal image
that might fit in well with that particular photo that I’ve already used.
I think maybe the photo of the person drawing with chalk on the sidewalk might work well.
Of course you can see that I now have that photo included twice,
so I would likely want to replace that image as well.
But of course the key here is that I have tremendous flexibility
in adjusting the overall layout.
If I decide that perhaps I’d like to change this layout back to 1 photo per page, for example,
I can very easily switch back
and in this particular case perhaps use a layout that will allow me to see the entire image there.
I might also adjust the zoom for this neighboring page
so that I can see the entire photo,
even though that means there will be some blank space on the left and right.
Now, these are just a few examples of some of the options that are available.
If you scroll down on the right panel, you’ll also find additional settings
allowing you to add captions for your photos, for example,
or adjust the type settings if you’d like to add text to some of the pages, for example.
And of course you can also adjust the background--
for example, adding a color to the background.
For this particular book I think I’ll leave the options set to white.
I’ll leave the Background Color option turned off.
I can also switch among some of the various views--
for example, seeing a full spread at a time
so I can get a better idea of the preview of this particular book
or looking at individual pages at a time, if preferred.
But in most cases I prefer to work with the spreads view
so that I can get a better sense of the overall book layout.
I think I’ll spend a little bit more time working on this book,
but I want to save my work now
just so that I make sure not to lose this particular book layout.
I’ll click the Create Saved Book button, and I’ll call this Austria Book, and I’ll click Create.
And now we can see over on the left panel under Collections
we have the Austria Book collections.
If I switch back to the Library module, though,
you’ll see that that collection is indeed there.
I can click on the collection to see all of the images that are included in that book project,
but I can also go directly to that book project
by clicking the arrow button at the right of that saved collection.
And that will take me back to my book so that I can continue refining it to perfection.
Once I am finished preparing my book, I can send it to Blurb automatically
simply by clicking the Send Book to Blurb button at the bottom of the right panel,
entering my email and password for my Blurb account,
and then clicking the Upload Book button.
Lightroom will then process all of the images and all of the page layouts
and send that data to Blurb automatically
so that you can order copies of your book to share with friends or maybe even to sell.
If you’d like to use a printer other then Blurb, you can also create a pdf,
and that enables you not only to print with a different printer by submitting that pdf to them
but also to share the book on digital devices, for example.
To get started with a pdf document, all you have to do once you’ve laid out your book
is click the Export Book to PDF button at the bottom of the left panel in the Book module.
You can then type a name for the pdf document.
I’ll just call this Austria Book and choose a location
and then click the Save button, and Lightroom will generate a pdf document.
Keep in mind that it will generate separate documents for the cover
because that’s a spread that includes the front and back cover
as well as for the interior of the book.
So you’ll end up with 2 individual pdf documents--
1 for the cover and 1 for the interior of the book.
But as you can see, with the Book module in Lightroom
there is quite a bit of flexibility both in terms of how you lay out the book
as well as how you share that book with others.
[Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4]
