Picture Page Tutorial by Bob

Bob's picture page of the Little Arlington Cemetery ran in yesterday's Sunday Dominion Post.  Bob not only is a great photographer, he can design a layout that draws the reader in and then leads you around the entire page.  Here's his page proof with tips on design:

" This is a picture heavy layout.  Keep in mind, I'm locked into a vertical page layout.  For a picture page, I need at least four photos.  I generally like to do 5 or 6.  You can't go real small with newspaper reproduction.  

First choose a dominant picture twice as big as any other pictures on the page.  Look for pictures that support each other.  Size down the supporting photos.  On this page you see the bottom picture pulls the eye upward to the other photos.  The crosses and shadow in the center photos are almost diagonal, drawing the eye across the page.  The flag in the dominant photo flies to the left drawing your eye over the rest of the photo and likewise the side photos in the center draw your eyes inward.

Keeping the space between the photos even and at a minimum holds the layout together.  The white space and text is pushed to the outside."

This is the layout I made inspired by Bob's design.  Since I was only making 1 print, (unlike the newspaper that was printing thousands), I kept my photos in color.  The format is 8 1/2 X 11.

I added a fill color, black "stroke" outlines to each photo, a border and 2 brushes to the finished image.

My journaling:  "The Kissing Circle holds fond memories for many Ohio University alumni and now for Bob and I too.  It wasn't the campus we met on but was a place we could feel young while celebrating our 36th anniversary."  September 2012