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Creating and printing a Photo Book [Merged]


photolandscape

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Forget Blurb. This is better.

 

Home | ubyu Bespoke books for you by you

 

Thanks for the link, the prices are interesting - as in a lot cheaper than Blurb. Although they don't seem geared up for something like the forum book - they don't appear to have somewhere where 3rd parties can buy the books - they seem a good choce for a personal project.

 

Have you used them? I assume they use the same HP Indigo printer as Blurb - all I could find was a reference to "HP" printers - do you know if that's the case?

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I just published two photo books on Blurb. The images are all high resolution scans from black and white film and were resized to Blurb's 4000 pixel maximum limit for jpegs. I specified premium luster paper (a worthwhile upgrade). The several copies I have handled in both softcover and Imagewrap hardcover were excellent. Great binding and no issues. I did notice a slight variation in tone between some copies, with the images in some copies appearing slightly warmer than others, but within each individual book the look is consistent from first photo to last. For a free self-publishing service the results are more than acceptable to me. The only thing I was not impressed with was the hard cover dust jacket. It was a poor fit and the corners roll. As a result, the jacket easily falls off when handling the book. The Imagewrap option is the way to go for hardcover books from Blurb. It is very nice, IMO.

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I'm part of a group that has published three books with Blurb, volume 3 just came out a few days ago and volume 4 is planned for spring. We're quite happy with it, for the most part. Details at f-eleven books - photography - art - charity and there are at least three of us shooting with Leica among the 20 or so people in there.

 

The editor has done these three with the Blurb software, he says it works well enough once one gets accustomed to a couple of minor glitches. I've just recently tried out the Blurb templates for InDesign since I already have that on my main computer, and I'm happier doing it that way, more creative control. I will probably do a personal book that way soon.

 

We've seen some variation in print quality depending on where the book is printed, although this latest run seems to be consistently of good quality.

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Forget Blurb. This is better.

 

Home | ubyu Bespoke books for you by you

 

Can't comment on quality of output - have not seen any.

 

The downloadable software is good but there is a learning curve. It is a bit more basic and freeform than Blurb, and the templates are less useful to me and my eye. There is too much flexibility for my liking. You start with more of a blank slate than with Blurb, and have to build more from "scratch". It would certainly suit some people. I am happier working within the more than ample templates from Blurb. The ubyu binding and cover options are very nice.

 

And the price is very good (assuming the quality is top notch).

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An addendum to my earlier post: I just received two hardcover copies of my books and the print quality was not as good as previous samples. The photos had a sort or fine "cross-hatch" pattern to them that I found annoying, although a less critical viewer might not notice. All earlier samples looked great. Hopefully, their printer was just having a bad day.

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