Any recommended photobook software / service?

[Hero_X]

Hey everyone,

I have a lot of family photographs from different events that i would like turned into photobooks. Though this is very new to me.

I've found some websites on google but I'm not sure what's good.

Do you have any suggestions on websites or software?

Also, if using software, how/where can I get photobook printed?

Thanks for your help.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I've ordered several photo books from Photobook Canada and Artisan State.

Photobook Canada uses a press print (like most normal books/magazines) and the quality is average at best, but they have 70% off all the time. I used their most premium photo paper quality option and was very underwhelmed. The pages also curl into the center like a normal book so your panoramas look bad. Their bigger books also warped big time in our climate, with the pages going wavy and the hard cover curling a lot (come from Malaysia so I think when they dry out here in Canada they curl). Customer service was average. If you use these guys, don't even consider paying anything more than 70% off, they would be an enormous rip off at full price.

http://www.photobookcanada.com/

Artisan State is what I use now and I highly recommend them. The pages are rigid, and every page set opens flat for perfect panoramas. They print your photos properly on real photo paper and mount them to foam core (or PVC), and coat it with a protective coating. Colors matched my calibrated monitor exactly. These are heirloom quality books as far as I can tell, and should last a long time. Customer service was excellent and shipping is super fast. They come out of China and let you order a trial book for very cheap. Design software is dead simple to use, and it saves your projects. You can try them out for $5 USD:

http://www.artisanstate.com


One more company to check out is Blurb:

http://www.blurb.ca/

They do some cheaper books similar to Photobook Canada, made with a print press as well.

Disclaimer: I'm probably more picky than the average person just wanting to make books to show parents, grandparents, etc.

[taemo]

I've printed 3 books with Blurb and always been satisfied with the print, mind you I'm not very picky but the quality is very similar to the photobooks that I also collect.

You can use Lightroom to design your photobooks then it syncs to Blurb, however I do the lazy way and use the free software that you can download from Blurbs website

[Hero_X]

I'm very picky about quality. I don't mind paying a bit extra but I want these photobooks to be excellent.

You can use lightroom to design photobooks? That's pretty neat, i didn't know that.

Question (general): Can i design my own photobook in lightroom and have it printed by someone? If so, who does printing?


Thanks for your inputs.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Hero_X
I'm very picky about quality. I don't mind paying a bit extra but I want these photobooks to be excellent.

You can use lightroom to design photobooks? That's pretty neat, i didn't know that.

Question (general): Can i design my own photobook in lightroom and have it printed by someone? If so, who does printing?


Thanks for your inputs.

If you want quality, do not get anything press-printed, which is what most of these Photobook services use because it's cheap (same as mass produced books or magazines). That is a big reason why I liked my Artisan State books so much, with them being printed properly on archival grade photo paper.

I don't know about lightroom designs, but honestly the software could not be easier. You upload the photos and then drag & drop. You can add words, crop, rotate pictures, choose from dozens of pre-set layouts, etc. I wouldn't let the design side of things be a big factor. All these companies have really good design applications that anyone can figure out in 2 minutes.