Creating Storybook Album

jfh

Hi All,
just wondering if anyone on here tried to create a storybook on their own.
i've got our wedding photos on Disc and was hoping to try my hand at it.

any suggestions welcome.

thanks

Bride2012

My cousin used www.blurb.com.

You upload your photos and design it all. You get discounts for multiples so can give your parents etc a copy. They looked great, really professional and the shipping was reasonable as far as I remember.

Acoshla

I've used photobox for lots of storybooks and find it really great.

artyeva

+1 for photobox. i got some books made up for our parents, the quality is the best i've seen for within that price range. my only other experience has been with blurb and shakespeare though, but imo photobox trumps them. they also have a 35% off deal at the moment. i *think* i also have a discount code for 50 free 4*6 prints if i refer a friend so if you want that just throw me a PM, op.

BC

I used Blurb.com, it allows you to play around with the page layouts much more than other of the other sites i tried.

Kasycas

I heard MyPublisher was good and I was going to use it after my wedding! My friend recommended it and I saw her book and it was great, she even preferred it to a professional one she had done.

POKERKING

whats the average price of one these to create?

Acoshla

Mine were €25-€40, I added in a lot of pages and I thought it was still quite reasonable.

Ballyman

I've used MyPublisher and Blurb. MyPublisher is better than Blurb but to be honest it's not great either.

The print quality isn't the best - all the B&W's had a blue colour cast on them - and the cover isn't very hard wearing as after a month or so the colours had turned to white where the cover bent open due to use. The text on the pages was also a little pixellated.

It cost me about €70 for the book and as it was for myself I can live with the problems but the quality is very poor compared to professional book products that I deal with for customers.

It was a book I did for my wife about our son so obviously she was delighted with it but when I put it beside a professional wedding book the difference is like night and day.

jfh

thanks for all the reply's. neck and neck between photobox and blurb and then mypublisher gets thrown into the mix.

i know the quality isn't going to be as good and we spent enough on a good photographer so in time i want to spend and get quality, this will be just to tide us over till them.
i'm going to check out all 3 and see which is best as a small experiment.

Acoshla

The quality of my books is brilliant, I printed some of them as portable portfolios for work, everyone always asks where I got them printed, or assume I had them professionally done, love them.

jfh

Hi Acoshla, how did you make them?
thanks

Ballyman

Acoshla wrote: »

The quality of my books is brilliant, I printed some of them as portable portfolios for work, everyone always asks where I got them printed, or assume I had them professionally done, love them.

I'm sure the quality is fine. I was only pointing out that if you put it beside a professionally designed/printed product that the difference is like night and day. And it should be as the cost difference is also like night and day!!!


jfh - If you go to the website of each of the book manufacturer you can download their software which will giude you through the design using their templates.
If you have InDesign then you can do it yourself whatever way you like and upload the files to the book manufacturer.
Another manufacturer is Shakespeare Books and they are based in Waterford while all the others are based in the US.

jfh

ballyman, thanks for taking the effort to respond, very insightful.
now all i need is a free weekend to play around with these

inquisitive one

just another for your consideration, haven't got my photobook back yet but have had several recommendations for http://www.bobbooks.co.uk/, found the design process great, really user friendly, can't wait to see results

price is dependant on no of pages, size of book, finish of book

Acoshla

Ballyman wrote: »

I'm sure the quality is fine. I was only pointing out that if you put it beside a professionally designed/printed product that the difference is like night and day. And it should be as the cost difference is also like night and day!!!

Sorry I wasn't replying to your post or questioning it, was just giving OP more info if he couldn't decide

jfh how do you mean how did I make them?

TommyGun

If you want pro standard photo book, try one of the following :


www.graphistudio.com very professional and high quality. The Crystal Glance cover is very nice although more traditional and printed covers are available.


Or

http://www.sim2000imaging.com/

Ballyman

Those two suppliers are for working photographers only and generally do not deal with the public and will require proof of your status as a professional.