Editing and sequencing for a format

PHOT-401 taught editing as authorship and introduced the main models of sequence: openings, pairs, rhythm and endings. This lesson applies those ideas to specific formats. The central idea is that you make one master edit of the project and then a separate format edit for each output. A 32-page zine, a 128-page monograph, a twenty-print exhibition and a ten-image online feature each impose different limits on how many images you can use, how they meet each other and how viewers move through them. Editing for a format means working within those limits deliberately. You will learn to calculate image counts from page extent, think in spreads rather than single pages, chart pacing, make dummies, and sequence for walls and screens as well as books.

The master edit and the format edits

The master edit is the set of images that represent the project at its fullest: every photograph you would be willing to show under your name, typically 40 to 120 images for a mature project. It is not tied to any output. Format edits are subsets and arrangements of the master edit, made for a particular book, exhibition or screen. A book might use 64 of the master edit's 90 images; an exhibition might use 18 of them, including two that do not appear in the book because they work only at large scale.

Keeping these separate prevents two common problems. The first is cutting good work from the project permanently just because one format had no room for it. The second is forcing an exhibition to follow a book sequence, or vice versa. Record the master edit in a catalogue or spreadsheet with a stable identifier for each image, such as a short code, and record each format edit as a list of those identifiers. This makes it easy to compare outputs, track which prints exist at which sizes, and update captions in one place.

From extent to image count

Book extents come in fixed multiples because pages are printed on large sheets that are folded into sections called signatures, commonly of 16 pages (lesson 3 explains imposition). Not every page carries a picture. Front matter (half-title, title page, copyright page, contents) and back matter (captions, essays, acknowledgements, colophon) take pages, and many photobooks leave the left page of a spread blank or use white space to slow the pace. A useful planning formula is:

where \( E \) is the extent, \( F \) and \( B \) are front and back matter pages, and \( d \) is the average number of images per page across the picture section. A book with one image per spread and every left page blank has \( d = 0.5 \); a book with one image on every page has \( d = 1 \); a book mixing full spreads, singles and occasional grids might have \( d \) between 0.6 and 1.2.

Thinking in spreads

Readers experience an open book as a spread: the left page (verso) and right page (recto) seen together. The spread, not the page, is the basic unit of photobook design. Every image you place affects the image facing it, and the gutter, the fold in the middle, divides the spread physically. Some practical consequences follow.

• Facing images form pairs whether you intend them to or not. Decide consciously whether each spread is a single image, a pair, or an image with a blank or text page.
• The recto is the stronger position. Readers' eyes land first on the right page as they turn, so an image alone on a recto with a blank verso gets particular emphasis.
• Images that cross the gutter lose detail in the fold, especially in tightly bound books. Never place a face or key detail in the centre of a full-spread image.
• Turning the page is a cut, like a cut in film. What disappears and what appears next create rhythm and surprise.
• Orientation matters. A landscape-format image on a portrait-format page is smaller than a vertical one, which changes its weight.

A good exercise is to print small copies of the format edit and lay them out in spreads on a table or wall, paying attention to what each pair says. Pairs can rhyme through shape, colour or gesture; contrast through scale, light or subject; or create a third meaning that neither image carries alone. PHOT-401 introduced pairing; here you apply it under the constraint that every page in the book will be seen alongside another.

Pacing and the pacing chart

Pacing is how intensity, density and rhythm change across the length of a book. A book that is uniformly intense becomes exhausting; one that is uniformly quiet becomes flat. Designers often draw a pacing chart: a simple graph with spreads along the horizontal axis and a subjective intensity score on the vertical axis. Intensity might combine visual energy, emotional weight and density. Peaks are strong, dense or dramatic spreads; valleys are quiet images, white space or text. A well-paced book usually opens with a clear invitation, builds through rising and falling waves, has one or more climaxes, and ends with a resolving or open image.

scores = [2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 2]
run, longest = 1, 1
for a, b in zip(scores, scores[1:]):
    run = run + 1 if (a >= 4 and b >= 4) else 1
    longest = max(longest, run)
jumps = [abs(b - a) for a, b in zip(scores, scores[1:])]
print("average intensity:", round(sum(scores) / len(scores), 2))
print("longest run of spreads scoring 4 or more:", longest)
print("largest jump between adjacent spreads:", max(jumps))
print("spreads scoring 5:", [i + 1 for i, s in enumerate(scores) if s == 5])

average intensity: 3.83
longest run of spreads scoring 4 or more: 8
largest jump between adjacent spreads: 3
spreads scoring 5: [7, 8, 10, 11]

A few lines of code can check a sequence plan for long plateaus, abrupt jumps and crowded peaks. The scores are subjective, but recording them makes your intentions explicit and helps when you discuss the sequence with a designer or editor.

Why heuristics beat brute force

It is tempting to think a computer could try every possible order and pick the best. The number of possible sequences is far too large. Twenty images can be arranged in \( 20! \), roughly \( 2.4 \times 10^{18} \), different orders. Even if a computer could evaluate a billion sequences a second, checking them all would take about 77 years. More importantly, there is no reliable formula for what makes a sequence good. Sequencing is done with heuristics: fix the opening and closing images, build pairs and small groups, arrange groups into chapters or movements, then test and refine. Tools that sort images by colour or similarity can suggest groupings, but the final order depends on meaning, which only you and your readers can judge.

Dummies and maquettes

A dummy is a physical mock-up of the book used to test the edit, sequence, size and feel before printing. Photographers and designers usually make several, increasing in fidelity.

Do not skip the rough dummy. It is quick, cheap and reveals problems that screens hide: pairs that clash, page turns that fall flat, images that are too small at book size. A working dummy then tests design. Many photographers send a final dummy to publishers, festivals' dummy awards and portfolio reviews; a well-made maquette is often more persuasive than a PDF. Ask printers for a blank dummy on your chosen paper as soon as you have a provisional specification. Holding the real weight and thickness of the book often changes decisions about paper and binding.

Sequencing for walls

An exhibition is experienced in space, not on pages. Visitors enter, scan the room, choose where to walk and see several works at once. Sequencing for walls involves different decisions.

• The entry or key image: the first work visible from the entrance sets expectations. Many curators place a strong, representative work on the wall facing the entrance.
• Groupings: works hung close together read as a group; larger gaps separate groups. Walls and rooms act like chapters.
• Sightlines: visitors see works across the room and through doorways. Images seen together across space create pairs just as facing pages do.
• Direction of travel: in many Western galleries visitors tend to move clockwise or follow the reading direction, but layout, doors and lighting strongly influence movement.
• Scale and spacing: large prints need viewing distance; small prints draw people close. Mixing sizes changes pace in the same way that full-bleed spreads and small images do in a book.
• Rest points: benches, text panels and empty wall act like blank pages.

Because visitors do not move in a fixed order, a wall sequence should work in several directions. Test it by printing small versions of each work at a consistent scale and arranging them on a scale drawing of the walls. Lesson 10 develops wall layout in detail, including hanging heights and spacing calculations.

Sequencing for screens

Online sequences are usually experienced on phones, scrolling vertically, often with sound and notifications competing for attention. Short sequences of eight to twelve images usually work better than long ones. Vertical and square images fill a phone screen; horizontal images appear small. Pairs are rarely seen together on a phone, so the meaning a pair carries in a book may be lost. Captions and short text between images can provide context that a book or wall would give through design and space. Treat the screen as its own format rather than a reduced copy of the book; VIS-410 covers websites and online portfolios in more detail.

Testing a sequence

Test sequences with real viewers before committing to print or production. Hand someone the rough dummy and watch silently: where do they slow down, where do they flip back, where do they skip? Ask afterward what they remember and what the book seemed to be about. Compare their answers with your stated intention. For exhibitions, walk a colleague through a scale model or a mock hang in a studio. Repeat with several people, including someone unfamiliar with your work. Record changes to the sequence and why you made them; that record helps when you defend choices to publishers or curators and when you plan later projects.

Working with editors and curators

Many books and exhibitions are shaped by collaboration. A book editor or a publisher's art director may propose cuts and changes; a curator may select works and determine the hang. Collaboration can greatly improve a project, because an experienced outside eye sees what you cannot. It also requires clear agreements about who decides what. Discuss early whether you have final approval of the sequence, cover and text, and record the answer in the publishing or exhibition agreement. Prepare for meetings with a dummy, a list of essential images and a clear statement of intent, and be willing to try suggestions in a dummy before rejecting them.