About

Premium Albums for Pet Photography

September 15th, 2015

Today’s blog post is a bit different – I’d like to show you one of my favorite products! It’s my premium album!

Listen, I don’t kid myself: I know that my clients can make their own photo books and get them printed at a bunch of online labs. And really, that’s fine with me, if they enjoy the process of making it themselves and they expect & acknowledge that a book of that caliber (anything you pay $20-40 for) isn’t going to last terribly long. I know that option exists – heck, in college, I made those kinds of books myself! – and so that’s why I set out to provide my clients with something so entirely different, there couldn’t possibly be any way to describe it in the same category. And thus, my premium albums were born! You’ve never seen books like these – let alone such high-quality albums for pet photography!

 

Here are a few qualities my clients have come to expect in their premium album:

~ 100% custom design. I create the entire photographic story & handle all the design work, from start to finish. I welcome my clients’ input & preferences, of course, but don’t worry: I do all the work.

~ Heirloom-quality construction. An amazing company called Madera creates my albums entirely by hand – you can see their process here in this awesome one-minute video if you’re curious.

~ Gorgeous leather finish with custom embossing. The kind that makes you say “wow” when you runs your hands over it.

~ Pages so thick, you’d never accidentally tear them. Reinforced backing gives the pages (which are real photographic prints!) substantial weight.

 

So take a look at the most recent premium album to arrive at my studio – Yuma‘s!

san diego pet photo album

 

 

 

San Diego pet photo albums

 

 

Yuma’s name is embossed on the front cover, a subtle yet unmistakable custom touch.

dog photo album

 

 

My logo is foil-printed on the inside front cover! Yay!

pet photography albums

 

 

Lay-flat binding & page construction. You don’t see this every day.

dog photography albums

 

 

Here are close-up images of a few pages in Yuma’s book…

pet photo album

 

 

 

premium albums for pet photography

 

 

 

dog photo album

 

 

I adore quotes alongside images. I have my favorites, and I include my clients’ faves too… they help tell the story even more beautifully.

dog photography album

 

 

 

And just for fun, here’s a screenshot of my album design software! I love it because it gives me total freedom to arrange images & quotes however I want… and I’ll be honest, designing a whole album is an intensive process, but I find it quite fun!

san diego pet photo album

 

Of course, if you’re interested in a custom premium album with your pets, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes blog post! :)

 

Premium Album Sample: Beckham the Labrador

September 10th, 2012

Another premium album came in, and I actually had enough time to photograph it before delivering it to my client! She was super-patient in waiting for it, since premium albums take a bare minimum of two weeks for the printing & binding process, plus the shipping time, plus the time I need to do a thorough quality check… so I was thrilled to finally hand this off to its rightful owner! It features Beckham the labrador, a super-sweet big ball of happy.

 

Beckham’s mom opted for the photo cover album. Here’s the box this album came in:

 

The cover is incredibly smooth and slightly soft to the touch. I love it!

 

Vellum paper aside, you can see Beckham’s handsome face!

Vellum paper and a photo album.

 

One of the most colorful spreads in the book; I love this one!

A professionally-design album page spread of a happy labrador.

 

This spread contains a wonderful, wonderful quote. It says:

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”    – Unknown

A dog quote in a premium album.

 

Zoomed out so you can see the whole spread:

A professionally-designed spread of album pages.

 

 Thick pages!

A side view of the pages of a high-quality professional photo album featuring a black labrador.

 

That’s it for now… thanks for reading & have a great Monday!

 

Premium Album Sample: Marcel the Poodle

July 26th, 2012

I wanted to feature another premium album here on the blog, because since the last time I featured a premium album, THREE more clients’ albums have come and gone! Without me taking ANY photos of them! I’m sad I didn’t get the chance to photograph those, but honestly, if I can receive the album, do a full quality check, and deliver it to my client all in the same day, I will! I’m not going to delay delivering their album just so I can take a few photos. So that’s what’s happened a few times now, but this time, I finally had a bit of time after receiving this one to show off its features!

 

This is the silk-cover album, which comes in my favorite carrying case: a padded leather box with velvet interior lining.

Dog photography album leather carrying case.

 

I literally gasped when I first saw this silk shantung cover. The red is STUNNING.

Dog photography album showing beautiful red silk shantung cover material.

 

Dog photography album spine binding.

 

The pages are quite thick – they’d be impossible to accidentally tear.

Dog photography album thick pages.

 

There’s always the option to place a photo as a cover inset, and it’s something for which I don’t charge extra – the look of the album with or without the cover photo can be gorgeous either way. But in this case, I love the family photo my clients chose for their cover! I think it starts off the album really well.

Dog photography album showing inset cover photo example.

 

Dog photography album photos of the cover and an inside image.

 

True lay-flat binding.

Dog photography album showing spine binding.

 

Full-spread photos are my favorite. :)

Dog photography album full-bleed spread of a photo.

 

Choosing the quotes for premium albums can be almost as challenging as selecting the images! I love this quote by John Grogan.

Dog photography album interior quote about dogs.

 

I looooooove my premium albums – and if you’re one of my clients with your own album, you know exactly why they’re so wonderful! Thanks for reading! :)

Real Premium Album Sample: Razzie & Cherry

May 30th, 2012

I was so excited when the FedEx man knocked on my door yesterday! He was carrying the first-ever (first-ever!) premium album for one of my clients! I’ve only been carrying these incredible products since April, after I attended a photography convention and couldn’t bear to walk away without sharing such beautiful works of art with my clients. They really are amazing – the craftsmanship, the attention to detail that my printers give – it’s flat-out incredible. And when they’re filled with artfully-arranged images of members of your family, jaw-dropping doesn’t even begin to describe them! (I should know – one of my samples features Bailey!)

 

So here’s the premium album that Razzie & Cherry’s mom ordered. I took a bunch of photos of it today, and hopefully this post gives you a good idea of the beautiful details it includes! She decided on the silk cover album option. It arrives in a plush, padded leather carrying case…

A photo of the leather carrying case of a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

She opted for a silk brocade cover material in black, which has a beautiful mix of texture and silky smoothness.

A photo of the side and box of a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

She also chose to put her dogs’ names on the cover (instead of a photo). For simplicity’s sake, it’s a great choice! A favorite photo could be placed there just as easily.

A photo of the cover of a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

A photo of the cover fabric of a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

The pages are wonderfully thick; you’d never rip or tear them.

A photo of the side of a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

One of my favorite features about premium albums? We can work quotes into the design! There are SO many wonderful (and touching) quotes about dogs out there, and I already have a small library-size compilation of them to choose from!

A photo of a quote on the title page of a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

A photo of a quote inside a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

We have a little more creative freedom to mix color and black & white photos in premium albums, than compared to a wall gallery. It can be tricky, but done right, the correct photos really POP.

A photo of a spread inside a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

As you can see, the photo stretches across the entire spread. The line you see down the middle is the glare from my office window, not a seam or gutter.

A photo of a spread inside a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

A close-up of the way the photo encompasses the entire spread. There’s no gutter!

A photo of a partial spread inside a premium dog photography album featuring two black miniature poodles.

 

Tomorrow I get to hand off this album to its rightful owner… but it was so fun to see it myself and take a few pictures :)  Thanks so much for letting me play with (and design) your pooches, Christel!

 

Premium Albums: The Leather Cover

March 29th, 2012

Ahhhh, we’re here. This post reveals the last Premium Album that I offer, from one more totally separate album provider. This is the album I’ve been most excited about all along, for two reasons. First of all, it’s leather, and leather is always what I’ve envisioned as being a huge characteristic of a top-of-the-line photography album. I suppose I have a soft spot for it. Secondly, this album features my favorite dog in the world: my girl Bailey.

 

The box it comes in is leather, and has a small magnetic closure.

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

Oh. Oh yes. Take in that leather.

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

And the imprinting of Bailey’s name on the cover…

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

I hope you can see the texture of the leather. It’s top-of-the-line, and I could tell you the technical qualifications a quality guarantees surrounding it… but suffice to say, it’s NICE. And not just “nice”… I mean NICE.

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

The pages have a substrate in-between them that’s actually a different color than the prints. I think it gives the album’s side view a really distinctive look!

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A black spread to start…

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

With my embossed logo on the inside cover!

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

Could these pages be any flatter? They’re so flat they’re bending back with the cover! I love that they lay directly against it like that.

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

Sigh. I know I’m a nerd for swooning over an album… but that’s okay with me.

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

Oh hey Bailey! Here’s an example of a spread – you can see that there’s a seam in the middle (not really a gutter, per se) but it’s so thin that in the 24-inch span of this book (it measures 12×12 when closed) I think it hardly makes any difference in the overall layout.

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A closer look at the pages…

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

More leather texture. Man I wish you could feel this through your screen…

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

A premium album with a leather cover, featuring a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, dog photography by Allison Shamrell.

 

I know these photos haven’t done this album (or the photo-cover one, or the silk one) justice. But I hope you can see a small part of why I’ve been so, so excited for a very long time to introduce these products. They are at the very top of the line, the best of the best in the photography industry, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to offer them to my clients!

Thanks for taking a look!

 

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