Blurb

[dsalamena]

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Hi,

 

I've already printed a few books with Blurb, but sometimes I find the pictures from my M-E not as sharp as I can see them on the monitor. I'm sure it's my mistake, so I have some questions for those who know this software better than me:

 

- should I modify the size of the pictures and how? Currently I export my photos from Lightroom as Jpeg 100% quality, no changes on the size. I then try to fit them inside the frames of the book, again without modifying the size (I leave my pictures at 100%, no enlargements or compression of any sort) and just let the printer cut the part of the picture that doesn't fit in the book.

 

- do you suggest any specific sharpening? 

 

- do you suggest a bit of overexposure? I find that some photos that look ok on my macbook are a underexposed when printed on Blurb.

 

- what type of paper do you think has better quality?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

David

[elmars]

Nearly all providers of photo-books use a HP indigo digital printing machine. So does blurb. The resolution is not very high, lower than the print resolution of inkjet printers like Epson 3880 or good offset prints. With a slight enlargement You can see the printing pattern. There is a new Canon print machine for digital printing that has a higher resolution. But I don´t know, which providers of Photo books are printing with it.

 

Elmar

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[250swb]

You can get a pretty high quality book with Blurb but it sounds like you are randomly and letting Blurb resize and crop your pictures. You shouldn't need to over-expose or anything like that so I wonder if your own monitor is calibrated? Without a calibrated monitor you are wasting your time, and the tools aren't expensive if you are going to make other Blurb books. With a calibrated monitor you will be able to see what the printer will 'see', even though it is an automated process. But there are guides available from Blurb and a customer forum that answer all these questions about how the input image should be configured. And generally speaking the higher quality paper will be much better at accurate reproduction than thin paper, it holds the ink better and gives truer shadow and highlight detail.

 

So look at the guides, but the last time I did a Blurb book the parameters I used (for an M-E size file) were to make a JPEG from the master TIFF file that measured 2700x1797 pixels at 300ppi and saved it as an sRGB file. The image size corresponds to the size of the image on the page, so yours may vary, but Blurb print at 300ppi and need an sRGB file. I urge you to do some page layout and send them properly sized and sharpened images or you won't get the best quality, rubbish in = rubbish out, they can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, etc.

 

Steve

Edited May 16, 2015 by 250swb

[LocalHero1953]

I see you're using Lightroom; any reason why you're not using the Book module? That way you don't have to export as jpg, and you can lay the book out precisely as you wish, and see the final version in preview before sending to Blurb. The LR Blurb templates are more limited than the freestanding Blurb package, but are OK for most normal needs.

 

I've always selected the highest quality paper (I can't remember its name) and have been happy with the quality. I've wondered about lightening my images, but as time goes by and I revisit my books, I find I'm happy with the colour.

[robert blu]

I only made one Blurb book taking advantage of a special offer at reduced prize. I wanted to "test" the system and used images from my LR collection, already post processed in the develop module, in the LR book module without any additional modification.I selected the high quality paper and I am satisfied from the result.

As already said if you post process your photos a calibration of your  monitor is essential.

robert

[dsalamena]

Thanks everyone for the help! I'll give a try to the specific module on Lightroom even though I really like Blurb own software.

This time, when exporting the pictures, I'll set a compression to 300 ppi as suggested here and resize the picture to perfectly fit the frame of the book.

Let's see if this improves the output quality.

 

David 

[LocalHero1953]

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David - you may want to do some reading up on how it works. If your images are already stored and managed in LR, you shouldn't have to mess with exporting or compression. If your images are DNGs, then that is what LR uses (with all your edits). And once you've cropped your image in LR in the Develop module, that is what will appear in your book. You can choose whether you want the images to zoom to fit the frame (i.e. clipped) or as per your own crop (i.e. unclipped). Then you hit the Send Book to Blurb button, and you're done.

 

The only thing to watch for is that your images have enough resolution for the print size. If they are low res, you may need to resample in Photoshop, or pick a smaller image frame size on the page.

 

The LR book module actually is Blurb software, though with a more limited range of functionality but good enough for my needs. This started out as a Blurb book in LR, but as well as printing it as described above I exported it as a PDF for the Issuu platform

http://issuu.com/paulashley/docs/colours_of_iceland/0

Edited May 20, 2015 by LocalHero1953

[thebarnman]

http://issuu.com/paulashley/docs/colours_of_iceland/0

 

I really like your images and layout in the Issuu platform.  Though I do know it's a copy of your Blurb layout.  Really nice!  Regardless of screen calibration, did your Blurb book come back looking like it needed to be lightened to match the brightness of the computer screen?  Or did it match.  My problem is always my prints turning out darker than how it looks like on my calibrated computer screen.  I know everyone says prints brightness is all about how much and type of light you use to look at your prints.  Regardless, I simply want my prints to match the brightness of my screen when I normally look at it, so I brighten it before printing. 

 

Also another thing about Blurb, I can never see anyone's examples because when I click on their examples, I only get a blank area of space where the book should be.   

http://www.blurb.com/books/4396446-book-sample

http://www.blurb.com/books/910550-liquid-flowers-and-koi-dreams

http://www.blurb.com/books/879237-floral-theater

http://www.blurb.com/books/875351-adventure

 

On both Explorer and Chrome (I have the latest 64 bit versions,) I'm getting a simple blank page where the book should be.  I have both Flash and Java installed, but I do not know if I need one of those to make it work. 

I've been in contact with Blurb and have only been able to suggest to try looking at the samples on someone else's computer. 

Any suggestions? 

Edited May 22, 2015 by thebarnman

[LocalHero1953]

Thank you! I'm impressed by the Issuu platform and I'm surprised it doesn't have a higher profile.

 

A point to note about eBooks and Blurb. You can see I used an unusual font in my Iceland book. I tried to use Blurb's eBook conversion system, which is not only utterly cr4p as a software interface, but doesn't allow you to use anything but its own limited range of fonts, and replaces all your fonts with its own. As well as messing with my choices, it screwed up the text flow badly. I think this is supposedly a font copyright matter. Anyway, I gave up and simply used the PDF for Issuu.

 

The only disappointment in the printed book was the cover. I opted for the integral printed hardback, not a the separate paper dust cover, and it printed too dark and a bit mushy. Next time I'll go for a separate paper dust cover in the hope that it will be easier to print faithfully. Otherwise I would choose a simpler cover image where the fine detail and subtle colours are less critical. B&W covers I've chosen have not the same problem.

 

Printed images never are as bright as screen images, even if you keep your monitor brightness turned down. But I find that returning to my book without a memory of how it looks on screen, I am not disappointed (except with the cover).

 

If I click on the links in your post I can see the book samples, so I have no idea what the problem with your set up is. Security settings in your browser? Security or parental controls with your ISP? I agree, trying another PC from another location is one way to investigate.

 

I'm going to the Offprint show in London today to get some ideas!

Edited May 22, 2015 by LocalHero1953