Photo book website recommendation?

carlaspeed · December 2011

Hi ladies,

It's been a while, 1 year and 2 months since we got married and still no photo book. Can anyone recomment a good professional website where I can do them myself? Anyone has experience with Mpix?

Thank you!

GolfChick78 · December 2011

I've used Mpix for personal things. They're much better than Blurb or some others. That said, I'm sure they're not nearly as good as what your photographer probably offers.

Geri510 · December 2011

We got married on 11/11/11 & just got photobooks for our parents from Shuttlefly, they were beautiful & very professional looking. We still have to do our own book & we will definitely be getting from them. The process is easy (as my husband designed them all, lol) & the delivery was extremely fast, even in this holiday season. The price was also fantastic with their own coupon of 30% off. You should review their site.

Phoenixashes · December 2011

I second Shutterfly. My aunt uses it for our family gatherings and such and the quality is outstanding. I mean it helps that she is semi professional, but still it's pretty good and I will most likely be using them for our photobook.

irishangel0413 · December 2011

I used mixbook.com - very easy to use &reasonably priced.

carlaspeed · December 2011

Thank you!

cindyn9178 · December 2011

We ordered a few books for our parents from My Publisher, and the quality is amazing.. we had ordered our guest book from Mixbook, so I've seen their quality as well and it just doesn't compare to My Publisher.
Also, I've been seeing A LOT of complaints about Mixbook on Facebook lately.

mariasemail86 · December 2011

I second Kodak gallery. Also Costco online photo. They have awesome picture quality. I'm going to make a photbook with my engagement pics from Costco I will let you know how they come out! They are also reasonably priced.

USER876 · December 2011

I have tried them all, and just about all of them print on cardstock, not photo paper, so you won't get the saturation, clarity, and contrast of a true photograph. Adoramapix is the only consumer lab that I am aware of that actually uses real photo paper. Print quality is very good, album quality is so so, but that holds true for all of them.

Professional flush mount albums are built to last, and are printed on high quality photopaper and are freeze dried to a backing board for a thick flush mount page. Archival inks are used for the printing that include protective coatings against fingerprints, and UV light. The bindings are typically hand sewn like real books and are very durable. This is why they cost what they do.

Besides the card stock pages, consumer albums have thin pages that tend to be delicate and show wear with increased use. Also, the bindings are usually glued.

Another possible concern is the image prep/editing. The images your photographer has given you are color corrected to a certain standard, which may be different than the lab you are using. Most consumer labs have an auto color correct feature, but the lightness / darkness of the photo in print may be an issue. For a single print, it's not that costly to get it redone, but to have to get an entire album reprinted can turn into a very costly product.

The closest consumer product to a professional album is made by a company called somerset. It is a spin off of a professional lab and the albums are very high quality. Expect to pay a bit more than what can be had from snapfish, blurb, etc.

Hope this helps.

cindyn9178 · December 2011

As long as you understand that a book you make yourself is not going to be the same quality as a professionally made album as User said, you will not be disappointed with My Publisher.
They print on #115 Archival , acid-free Text stock and you can get the super glossy pages which look amazing. I've seen a lot of photo books over the years and honestly, I've never seen anything like this that you can make yourself.
I had used a groupon that I paid $25 for, and was able to get a Deluxe Hardcover book with super gloss pages and a photo finish cover (a $99 value including shipping), for 25 bucks.
It is hard to convey the quality of the book in a picture or online, but trust me - it is amazing.

Photo book website recommendation?

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