Preserving your Photographs – My journey through Self-Publishing ‘BLACK and LIGHT’ books

I am a long-time photo enthusiast, and I have amassed a lifetime of 35mm black and white photos. These 250,000 photos are stored on my computer and Cloud services. It recently occurred to me that I didn’t have many prints of my photographs. In addition, my computer was aging (my photos could be lost) and my Cloud services continued to increase in price (not practical to continue storing them there forever). I realized I needed to take action or my photos could be lost. I hit on the idea of getting my best photographs professionally printed into some kind of photobook. After researching several potential photo printing services, I ended up choosing Blurb. I chose Blurb because they have a great reputation for high quality printing, fast turnaround, and various book sizes to choose from. I also liked the idea that all my best work could be printed in just a few books.

I followed Blurb’s step-by-step advice on their website and began the process. For additional control of format and placement of photos, I chose to use their free plug-in utility located within Adobe’s Lightroom “Book” section. I chose Lightroom as I already had most of my best images in there, and they were fully edited. Using the plug-in was straightforward. It asks what size book you want and your preferred paper quality. I picked 10×8 inches (landscape) with hardcover and thick-weight paper. Blurb gives you a general price to start. You begin by moving your collection of photographs into blank page templates. The software judges each photo to determine if the resolution is good enough for printing. If not, the program will warn you (some of mine were digitized years ago and did not measure up, so I couldn’t use them). The minimum resolution is around 240 pixels per inch. I preferred using a black background as it looked much better for my black and white work. After several hours I edited (trimmed, cropped, positioned) around 300 images. Once the book is fully edited, you upload it to Blurb, where it gives you the final printing cost. You then purchase the book to be printed. After you buy the book, Blurb gives you the option to make your book available for online sales, which I didn’t originally intend to do, but I liked the idea and chose it because it gave me the opportunity to share my work.

Lessons Learned

I contacted the Blurb help desk to find out if there might be a reduced price for printing additional books. I found out that the price of Blurb’s Photobooks are higher than their “Trade” books. Trade books are less expensive to print than Photobooks. I learned that Trade books are standardized sized books (8×10 portrait orientation) with slightly thinner-weight paper. I used Trade books for printing my four-book series to keep the price per book down. Trade books are also very good for printing black and white photographs. My four volumes series total over 500 pages of my best photographs. If you are interested in creating a permanent collection of your work, consider Blurb’s Trade books, their quality is great and at a reasonable cost per book.

BLACK & LIGHT series of fine art photography books:

Black and Light is my signature photographic series. It is an ongoing body of work that represents my artistic vision. I favor black-and-white imagery because it removes the noise of color and forces the viewer to engage more deeply with the subject. Each edition is meant to be experienced, page by page, allowing the reader to engage with the work in a personal way.

Ultimately, Black and Light is a reflection of how I see the world and how I express myself artistically via highlights, shadows, and contrasts. I have published six books in total. There are four volumes numbered one through four. I also have a Standard edition and a Special edition that are both printed in larger books with thick-weight paper.

For more information on previewing the books and purchasing them, google “Tony Roman Photography,” or go to my e-commerce website, or you can search your favorite online booksellers for “BLACK & LIGHT by Tony Roman.” I am currently on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Thanks to Hamish and 35mmc for allowing me to introduce these books to you.

Kind regards,
Tony

Tony Roman Photography
Tony Roman’s BLACK & LIGHT series
Books by Tony Roman
What is an artist without tools?
Recent Interview with SilverGrainClassics Magazine (my perspectives and additional details on self-publishing surprises)

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