One of our brides’ favorite shots in the album is the dance floor fade to black. Focht is a big advocate of using flash as a main light and darken the background of the reception. It brings out a much deeper emotion and cleans up the background, which is usually messy at a reception anyway.

There is always at least one shot of either the groom and the bride or the father of the bride and the bride that works well with this layout. We usually do a double page spread with just one shot, but sometimes the bride wants to add a couple of complementary images. Either way, it is a very emotional spread and sells well in the album.

I’m going to show you how to quickly design such a spread in Photoshop.

1. You’ll want to get the image on the page. It is best if the bride is facing into the middle of the album, as it is ‘comforting’ to the viewer.

2. Select the gradient tool (on the left of this screen shot). Make sure your foreground color is black. On the top of the toolbar, select the gradient type (foreground color to transparent), the second from the left on the top in this screen shot. And make sure the “Reverse” is ticked.

3. Holding down the shift key, click on the image and drag to the edge of the image (where the white begins). Be careful not to drag into the white, as this will give you a line.

4. And that’s it. After you do this process a couple of times, you’ll be able to do it in just a few seconds.

Here is the final layout.

I hope you give it a try.

Fundy

Fundy is the creator of the popular Photoshop Album Design Plugin, Fundy Album Builder and Mobile Fotographer. Free Trials available here.

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