When I moved to my new market last year, I was surprised to find people that had never seen a flush mount leather album before. Wait, WHAT!?! Never seen a flush mount leather album before? In this digital age? It’s sort of THE thing to have when it comes to pictures and albums. But it’s true. After participating in two bridal shows and meeting with prospective clients, I was finding that what I thought was a popular, well-liked product that pretty much everyone knew about was actually a foreign concept to some in the southwest PA and Morgantown, WV areas.

And it’s not their fault. It seems like a lot of photographers in this area are still enjoying the more traditional leather album where actual prints and mat inserts are assembled. But I’m here to introduce people to the “new age” of leather albums. An age where images are printed flush to the page and there’s no assembly required. An age where albums are sleek with a clean style and high-end paper is used to showcase quality images. My fellow photogs might think I’m silly for “introducing” this product, but it’s important to share the goods and educate others!

FLUSH MOUNT LEATHER ALBUMS: THINGS TO KNOW

1. They are made with beautiful leather covers! The leathers used to make the album covers are simply beautiful. They are soft and smooth to the touch and present very well. I offer the solid, plain leather options to my clients because I think it helps to keep things clean and classic. There’s no fuss, no distractions. Just a beautiful book with even more beautiful images inside.

2. They are fully assembled! Bound and ready to go! Unlike the traditional leather albums with prints and mat inserts, there’s no assembly required by the photographer, which means the professional photo lab does everything! Personally, I feel more comfortable knowing the experts are putting these high-end products together for my clients. The binding is seamless and strong, adding to the beauty of the album and ensuring the pages will stay in place.

3. The pages are thick! The actual album pages are thick and sturdy…basically, a thick matboard-like material. This not only adds to the digital and clean style of the album, but also the longevity. Instead of paper materials that are tear-able and more prone to fingerprint and finger oil effects, these pages are built for strength! You can’t tear the pages and they are super easy to keep clean.

4. Customize-ability! Of course all albums, no matter what materials are used, are customize-able. But with the flush printing and digital designing, the possibilities are endless! When custom-designing these albums for my clients, I’m not restricted by mats. I can put one image on a page or I can put 200 on a page…and I can put them wherever I want. There’s no mat that says you have to put a vertical image in this corner and a circle image in that corner. Instead of the mats choosing how many images are used and where they are placed, I decide all of that based on what my clients want. (The digital age is so great for creativity!)

5. Small gutters! These leather albums have super tiny or low-profile gutters (the middle area where the pages are bound together), which allows for panoramic printing and viewability, and certainly adds to the clean style. Small gutter = very minimal distractions and nearly no separation between images/spreads.

Because of the small gutter feature, I like to design spreads like the one below. Single-image, panoramic spreads are always a HUGE favorite!

If you haven’t seen a flush mount leather album in-person yet, please do! These albums offer an absolutely beautiful way to display your images and they are a great alternative to the traditional leather album. Still classic and high-end quality, but with a cleaner style and more attractive features.