Have you made your own photo book?

There seems to be more and more companies out there that will let you build and print your own photo books. With all the options out there, I'm wondering what kind of experiences you have had if you made a book with your photos. If you have printed your own photo book, who did you use, and how do you like the finished product? It's something that I would like to do this year, but there are so many options it's hard to even know where to start.

My wife made one with my photos from Shutterfly. She did a good job figuring out which shots I'd like in it and says it was a lot of fun.
It was a gift so don't know how much it cost.
Came out nice.

I used CostCo because they were on sale :)
Printed quality was excellent and the cat breeder I printed it for loved it.

I haven't received one yet but one of the Auto Racing sites I post on collaborated and we made a book of all our favourite shots from the year. They sent the images to Blurb for the printing. I don't know the quality yet as I don't have my copy but I will let you know when I get it.

http://www.blurb.com/home/1/

I've always wanted to as well, but the thought of organizing the pictures and writing a "story" is what has made me procrastinate. I think if I did go ahead with it, I'd go through whatever they offer at the Apple store, since I have a Mac and I trust *everything* that Apple offers. :)

I've used Blurb also. Great service!

I only have one done at the moment, but I'm working on two about Toronto. The first being about the "Big Three" Hearn, Malt Plant, and the Brickworks. Then one about the smaller places in the city.

Here's my one Blurb Book: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/73277 it's on Hamilton.

My photo group did one as part of our exhibit we did back in Ocotober.
Generations, By Salt Lake Seven
I had little to do with it, so I can only speak about the quality of the book.
They are well made books on good paper. They offer four different options for size and seem to be priced pretty resonably.
Brian

I've made several on Shutterfly but will be giving good old MPix a try soon with their MPress software. The Shutterfly books came out nicely but the templates they use are restrictive. MPress software will let you totally free form the design if you want to so that's attractive to me, plus I completely trust MPix's quality. The Blurb site looks really neat too.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I was thinking of giving Mpix a try, but Blurb looks pretty good too. It will take some time to get things organized and actually start working on a book, but it should be fun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjs1973

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I was thinking of giving Mpix a try, but Blurb looks pretty good too. It will take some time to get things organized and actually start working on a book, but it should be fun.

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Good Luck Mike!
Let us know how it comes along!
Brian
:thumbsup:

I have used Lulu link: http://www.lulu.com/en/?gclid=CNKAoa...FVB1OAodHg1vfQ

To make some calenders a couple years ago. I real was disappointed with the print quality at that time, but the quality was not that bad. The cost was on the high side, two high to make anything by selling them. The vendors wanted to get the calendars for about one third or less of what Lulu was charging.

For my wedding clients I use Asuka Book and WHCC. The Asuka is of better quality and includes your photo printed on the hard cover but the cost is about twice as much and the turn around is weeks not days.

Finally had my first book set up, and it was delivered today. I did it through blurb.com and I'm very happy with the finished product. I only wish I hadn't waited so long to do it. Link to the book in my signature.

Looks like they do a good job but of course the photographer made the nice photos.
Well, done, Mike. Well chosen photos.
We can only see the first 15 pages and I had to re-load the site. Did you do more pages?

Thanks Frok. The preview will only show the 1st 15 pages. I did the standard 20 page book.

I did a book a few weeks ago through Black River Imaging. Quality was great & 8x8 books aren't too expensive. Of course I got mine free when they had a special going. I'm working on two different books right now.

I have done three books with Blurb. The quality is outstanding and I can't recommend them highly enough (one general photography and two urban art collections). Currently we are working on a history of our church which is 75 years old this autumn - I imagine we will sell quite a lot of those.

Mike

Yes, Blurb is still awesome!

I'm currently working on my fourth book through them. And have my fifth waiting in the wings. The fourth is a general urban exploration bit, with histories of the locations displayed, titled "Dark Playgrounds"

The fifth, is tentatively titled "Operation: Northern Lights" (if some weird phrase or saying happens to come up on the trip, that'll be the title) and will be completed once I finish my road trip on the may long weekend, as it is what it will be based on. I'll be writing about the daily adventures while on the trip (by hand) then copy those notes and sketches and photos into the book.

A proofreader I am not. I found a mistake in my book that I missed. :( This was my mistake and not blurbs. I will have to correct it when I get home. Not a huge deal, but a little disappointing.

So my fifth, will probably become the fourth at this point.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3655/...5664b237d4.jpg

Cover photo details:
Nikon D300 /w Sigma DC 18-50mm 1:2.8 EX MACRO
1 SB-600 triggered via CLS (D300 acting as commander) - M 1/64 - Equipped with a Lumiquest Softbox