Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I have read the 'Resources Section' of the forums but before I get started on this project, I had a couple of questions about publishing my own book. Do you have a recommendation for a company? I wanted to make a family album.

I am planning to combine scanned and non scanned images. How did the colour management issue work? I usually shoot in RAW and use aRGB. Do i have to edit my photos in CMYK?

Thanks

I used photobookcanada. Tend to be one of the more expensive companies, but they have sales often that reduce their price to a more competitive price point. I upgraded to their highest quality paper and the final result is one of the most highest I've seen. I submitted the photos from my calibrated system in aRGB and the final result looks extremely close to my screen.

I just used apple , if you have a mac it's very esay but I think it can be done cheaper . Stay away from pikto .
Rob

Thanks for the suggestions so far I am looking at a 50 - 100 page book, hard cover, high quality material. Still have not put it all together.

ooops double post.

this should help.

http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news ... 676/0/1/15

thanks for posting that review.

care to elaborate about the warning to avoid pikto?

Pikto is way overpriced.

I use blurb.com for my books - nice quality paper and binding and lotsmof options for printing. Also they have a canadian printing operation now so shipments are quicker and cheaper than before.

Photobook Canada has a depot in Markham so if you decide that you would prefer going to pick up your order, it's possible.

I tried Blurb and thought it was good quality. And then I tried Photobook Canada and was overwhelmed with the final result.

My suggestion would be to sign up for their mailing list and wait for a discount code or coupon. I really think that the quality and the service are excellent.

Good luck.

thanks for the tip about the option. Looks like it may be the right choice.

Blurb

I am submitting my first book via Photobookcanada this week. I picked up a great deal via a Groupon.

I'll be sure to provide some feedback.

I'm working on my first book and was involved in the publishing of a book, a couple of years ago. In both cases it was done via Blurb's Booksmart software. They have a variety of bindings for the final product; from soft cover to image-wrapped hard cover.

I've used MyPublisher.com a few times. While I wasn't completely happy with the result (so used to photographic quality paper), they were easy to create (using their template software), service was super fast (initial order was done on a Friday rec'd it the next Tuesday) and has been pretty cheap for a decent size book. Only ordered one for my daughter, and 3 versions for clients. I only thought the print quality was ok since I'm so critical of my own output when printing. However, the clients LOVED them, to the point where other family members asked me to order more.

So, I would categorize it as, great for clients and allows you to make a reasonable additional profit. But for me, I wouldn't use them for a portfolio style. I like what I've seen from Silvano's Photo Lab, where they print on a roll of photopaper, and fold the pages together to make the book.

Thanks for all the feedback.

I am also very particular about the quality of the paper and images. This will be a family album and not a prof. portfolio. I also think I am going to go for the softcover with wrap around image. The first instinct is to go for the hard cover, but I don't like the way the look at the edges so far. They look a little bit 'crinkled' and too glossy sometimes.

The other option I read about is to do your own printing, on your own paper and then give the papers to a good quality book binder. But I would have to do more research about this. I would need to speak to the book binder doing the work to figure out which paper would be best to use and then ask to see their options and prices. Then I would have to do all the printing myself. I am not sure about the total cost but the binding itself would cost about the same as getting a completed book on line. Depending on what type of book and number of pages of course.

I've used Apple (through iphoto)
and mypublisher.com

the apple book was better quality and the price was reasonable. Choices are kinda limited though in layout and other options

mypublisher.com was super fast.. I got the book within a week. But I found the price a bit high (especially the shipping cost) for the small book I made, and the quality was just 'ok' not great.
Their software kinda annoyed me though the way it worked. Didn't make sense at times. The way it imports the photos was redundant and confusing

Sounds complicated for what is not a professional portfolio. Have you already got access to archival-quality inks, papers etc?

For my own family albums I've used Blurb 3 times now - 2 hardbacks with wraparound covers & 1 softback. Very pleased with all 3. I might perhaps try one of the others mentioned in this thread for comparison at some point, but I'd be happy to stick with Blurb in the future too.

I've been pretty happy with the Blurb wedding book I've put together. Software was fairly simple to use, I pretty much custom designed each page on its own to have complete control over it.

Did 2 separate orders of the books and noticed a noticeable colour shift in the books that came as part of the second ordered. I contact Blurb regarding the issue and after providing some photos showing the differences they reprinted the 2nd order at no cost. Thankfully, the colour shift was gone.

It did make me wonder though how I would have reacted if that colour shift was present as part of the first order. It was clearly a printing issue, but I might have written it off as colour management on my end had I not known how it could come out.

I would would think a place that gives you instructions on colour management is going to be better quality than one that doesn't mention anything about colour management at all.

Maybe when there is another group meet-up, people can bring books that they've made so people can judge for themselves.

Yes I do.

just got back a set of books from photobook canada.

The prints appear a tinge too red on some of the pictures, and much darker than I expect.

My screen is calibrated and all. I know prints are never as bright as RGB monitors, but these prints look darker than usual.

I think I'll try another printer the next time.

Thats a bit unfortunate Mike. Do you remember if photobook canada tells you what colour profile to use for your images or do you just send them jpegs ?

Thanks

I've done 9 or 10 different Blurb books over the last 3 seasons and am happy as can be with the price and quality. I've ordered numerous copies as I sell them and any issues I have had have been taken care of super quick.

And the issues have been pretty rare for myself. I have had runs of 20 books, and they all looked the same. As they should.

I highly recommend them and already have this seasons book laid out. Just need some racing photos to install and some results and I can add another pair to my "Been there, done that" list.

Hi Boss, thanks for your comments. the review (link way above at digital home thoughts) said that there was a white line along the bottom of every single page of the book they got back- soft cover only. did you have this white line?

I still haven't figured out how to use ICC profiles in PS, so what I did was to work with my own profile (profoto), and made sure that images were exported as tagged sRGB jpegs.

Last time I sent a job to photobook canada, they had no problems with that.

So I don't know. Maybe their printers need calibration?

Nope, but then I have only done hardcover dust jacket books over the years.

I always do a test run of a book, and make any changes from there. I find that the QC has improved by leaps and bounds over the 3 years I have been making books through Blurb.

I watched most of the videos on the review sight linked above. I am narrowing down my choices. I have about 4 copies of a book i want and it just so happens that mypublisher has a buy one book , get one free, buy two books, get 2 free.....This is highly tempting. I still want to find out which book maker tells you what ICC profiles to use when sending your prints. If you just send jpegs, your photos might not return the way you saw them on your monitor. Even though my monitor is calibrated.

Talking about photobooks,

Groupon has a photobook deal: http://www.groupon.com/greater-toronto-area