Welcome to a weekly column about Albums!

I’ve been crazy about albums from the moment I saw my first flush mount. In layman’s terms, my head exploded with ideas. Both Flush Mount and Self Mount albums are an integral part of our business at Left Turn Studio. Being the lead album designer, I’m always looking for ways to improve our product line and design style for our clients.

Today we’ll just be covering the basics.  Basically, you have three choices: flush mounts, self-mounts and press printed books.  In the weeks ahead, I’m looking forward to learning here as much as sharing. We already have a few guests lined up, so it should be exciting.

Flush Mounts – Flush Mount albums are called this because the prints are flush to the edge of the page. They are printed on photographic paper and usually adhered to a thick paperboard to make the pages stiff. They are the most expensive to produce but also are the most expensive in a photographers lineup. We use Finao flush mount albums for our wedding albums.

Self-Mount Albums - Self Mount albums arrive at your studio completely blank with adhesive on the pages. You peel back the plastic covers and place your photos on the adhesive yourself. They cost much less than flush mount albums and are one of the few options where you can have fewer than 20 pages. We use Finao Elements (link www.finaoonline.com) self-mount albums for high school seniors and families. 10 page albums are a very nice option for these clients.

Press Printed Books – Press printing is the same technology that is used to print magazines. If you’ve ever made an iPhoto book or a book at your local lab for your grandmother, then that is a press printed book. In the past there was a large discrepancy between the quality of the print form a press printed book and a photographically printed flush mount album. But recently there have been large strides forward in the quality of press printed books. With the recent introduction of 6 color press (versus 4 color press) we are nearing print quality. That said we don’t currently offer press printed books at Left Turn Studio.

Going forward in this blog post we’ll be discussing all aspects of album design, album types and companies and album pricing and selling. Additionally, we’ll be sharing out exclusive design tips and walking you step by step through the album design process.