Options for Book Publishing

Blurb

www.blurb.co.uk

20 pages, Small Square 7x7 inches, premium paper, lustre or matt, softcover, £10.70
Shipping: Priority (8 days) £13.99, Standard (10 days) £4.99
Total: £24.69

Blurb is a good option but the shipping is a bit expensive... It's an option...

Epubli

www.epubli.co.uk

36 pages min., Little Square 15.6x14.8cm, 150gsm white glossy, colour, paperback, £8.27
Shipping: £2.95 (8-10 working days)
Total: £11.22

Epubli is the cheapest option but I don't think I will be able to fill 36 pages as I have not yet started putting the book together...


Vistaprint

www.vistaprint.co.uk

24 pages min., Medium landscape, laser etched on the front cover, glossy paper, £18.72
Shipping: Economy (10 days) £3.99 (ex.vat), express available
Total: £22.71

Having used vistaprint before, I know that they are reliable and good quality. If my book turns out to be 24 pages, I could use vistaprint. However, I don't think I can use a photo on the front cover...


Book Empire

www.bookempire.co.uk

25 pages, A5 landscape, colour, softback, 100gsm white silk, £21.25
Shipping: can't find info

My Photo Book

www.myphotobook.co.uk

12 pages, landscape 20.4x15cm, staple binding £9.95 (plus £4.95 for glossy finish),
24 pages, "", £14.95 (plus £4.95 for glossy finish)
Shipping: £4.95 (8-9 days), £15.95 (6 days)
Total: 12 pages £19.85
24 pages £24.85

My Photo Book isn't the cheapest but the standard delivery is the fastest and the minimum amount of pages is 12. If I only need 12 pages, I will use this website.

I think I will have to wait until I have done my book and all the pages before I decide which company to go with but these are my options.

Photoshop and Ink Paintings Experiments

I tried overlaying the ink paintings over the top of the original photograph in Photoshop using different layer blending modes.

Multiply

Overlay

 Linear Light

Hard Light

Divide

Difference

Overlay Opacity 47%

Multiply Opacity 47%

Linear Light Opacity 47%

Hard Light Opacity 47%

Divide

Difference

Overlay Opacity 55%

Multiply Opacity 55%

Linear Light Opacity 55%

Hard Light Opacity 55%

Divide Opacity 55%

Difference Opacity 55%

Overlay

Multiply

Linear Light

Hard Light

Divide

Difference

I think that overall, the best layer blending mode for all of the images is hard light, as overall, it gives the right amount of contrast and reveals the right amount of the original image underneath. I'm not sure what I could do with these images, I might develop them further and illustrate or manipulate the characters and more of the story into them.

Ink Paintings

I did four ink paintings (artist references in sketchbook) of my landscape shots that I have so far and really like them. I did them to develop the idea of painting on Photoshop, because I would like to maybe do, for my book, a photograph of the place of the story, then an illustration of the story on the opposite page. I will try to overlay them over the originals in Photoshop next.

Another Tim Marrs Inspired Image

I love this image as the text is very effective and sums up the legend of the mermaid at the pool. I'm not sure on the brush strokes on the top right corner though...

Experimenting With Painting in Photoshop

I like the effect of the painting in Photoshop layered over the original image, it reminds me of this image:

http://goblinhood.deviantart.com/art/Sir-Gawain-and-the-Green-Knight-360182123

This is what the painting layer looks like not over the original:

I tried to do the same painting effect with this image but I really don't like it, it looks awful, definitely not as effective as on the Lud's Church image.

More Eerie Landscapes Inspired by Matthias Heiderich

I really like the way these images turned out, I used the same techniques as the first ones I did, but I used layer masks to prevent the bench in both images from going too dark because I wanted the bench to be a focus point. I think this works really well as it creates a lonely eerie atmosphere.

Editing and HDR Toning Experiments

In these first two images, I brightened the foreground using layer masks and levels, i made the vibrance higher, and I really like the way they turned out, however, in the second image, I didn't realise at the time, that the sky at the top was completely burnt out...

In these next two images, I tried using the HDR Toning effect in Photoshop and I love it, especially the first one. It improves the whole image, the brightness and vibrance and overall effect. I will experiment more with this effect in the future.