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Our technology for creating photo books is based on the notion of spread, which is printed as one photograph and then bent in half. Therefore, any one file in the makeup always equals two pages of the completed Fotoproekt book. To avoid confusion, the term "page" is not used in Fotoproekt. Please note that our technology allows you to use the whole space of the spread without the limitations usually associated with binding.

Files

Files in TIFF format (RGB, 8 bits per channel, with no layers or alpha channels; LZW compression is acceptable) and JPEG (RGB, 8 bits per channel) are accepted for printing photo books. Valid characters for file names are letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores. You should not use Russian or any other nonstandard characters in file names. The name of each file must contain the serial number of the spread in the book. The cover is set in a separate file. Given below is an example of file naming:

Programmes for Photo Book Making Up

You can make up photo books in any programme you wish. Currently, the most common tools are:

• Adobe Photoshop (Windows, Mac)
• Adobe Photoshop Elements (Windows)
• Adobe InDesign (Windows, Mac)
• Apple iPhoto (Mac)
• Apple Aperture (Mac)
• Apple Pages (Mac)
• Scribus (Windows, Mac, Linux) is a free programme.

Most publishing systems allow publishers to create a book only in PDF format. To use such a makeup, you should open your files, for instance, in Adobe Photoshop and resave each spread in TIFF and JPEG formats.

Dimensions of Spreads

You can use our templates for layouts in PSD format for Adobe Photoshop, or set the required dimensions in other programmes. Ruler guides in PSD files indicate the minimum indentation for placing of important elements of the composition (faces, frames, captions and so on).

Dimensions of Images for Covers

The parameter w stands for the number of spreads (the thickness of one spread is 1 mm) and is used for solid photo books in the table given above. Graphical explanations can be found below.

Indentation

Pay attention to the space at the edge of the photo book's sheets, it will be used when combining the sheets. The size of the area which is to be cut is 3-5 mm on each side of the spread. In addition, the positional accuracy of mounting is + / - 3 mm. To avoid cutting any important elements of the image (faces, frames, captions, and so on), we recommend placing them no closer than 10 mm to the trim size, that is no closer than 15 mm to the file edges of the composition. Furthermore, in order to avoid any white margins, you should fill the entire compositional field with the image.

An example of placing an important element (a caption) on the photo book spread.

Combined Photo Cover

The minimum indentation for combined photobook covers in PSD files is 20 mm from the edges of the printing format. This space is used for photo cover mounting; it should be regarded as a wrapped cover. You should avoid placing the important compositional elements there (faces, frames, captions, and so on). At the same time, this space should be filled to avoid white margins on the cover. Besides, we strongly recommend not using such compsitional elements as frames for photo covers. The positional accuracy of the photograph on the cover has an error of + / - 3 mm, that is why frames (especially narrow ones) look inaccurate, as a rule.

Given below are examples of photo covers made up incorrectly.

The caption is placed too close to the edge of the file in the first example; the greater part of this caption will be wrapped under the flyleaf (it will appear on the reverse side of the cover) when mounted. The second example shows a common mistake; frames should not be used when making up a photo cover, otherwise, the borders being the same colour as the frame are sure to appear on a fold line. The space should be filled completely with the image itself rather than using a frame.

Given below is an example of photo covers made up correctly.

Solid Photo Cover

When making up solid photo covers, it is necessary to take into account, that 2 cm on each side of the dimensions indicated in the table above is a wrapped space. This space should be filled by the image, but should not contain important elements of the composition (frames, captions, and others).

Number of Spreads

The following table lists the physical limits on the minimum and maximum number of spreads, which are defined by the thickness of the covers back.

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