The f8 Group: Photography and Occasional Commentary: Cuba Photo Trip Reunion

It was the most prolific book-making photo group I have ever had the fun to lead. Cuba 2012 took a group of budding photographers from Sydney to Havana, Santiago, Las Terrazas, Cienfuegos, La Trinidad and Cameguey among other places in this exciting and photogenic Caribbean island. Along the way my group shot tens of thousands of images and created more than 10 books on their trip - with a few still to come. All were published through Blurb. Last week we got together for a reunion and general catch up to see the books 'in the flesh'. You can of course check the digital versions of the book online but actually holding one in your hands is a far better experience. Well done every one, I was most impressed.

Havana icon, by Charles Jaggers

If this is your first experience with bookmaking you'll no doubt have a few pages that did not come out quite the way you thought they might. Best lesson to learn is to open the original Booksmart document on your computer and take a good look at the printed version to get a clearer idea of how close your screen versions is to the printed version. This will stand you in good stead for your next book.

Best practice is to calibrate your monitor using a device like a Huey or a Colorvision Spyder and then download the special profile supplied by Blurb. This is then imported into Photoshop [CS] and used to preview how your image looks if printed using Blurb's presses. You have to switch it on and off in CS but it gives you a remarkably accurate preview of how the finished article will appear. Unfortunately it's not available for Photoshop Elements...