Photo book recommendation?

[3rdGenCunarder]

I need to find somewhere new to make photo books. 

 

For years, I have used Walgreens photo services for calendars and books. I have been very happy with the results with books printed in a central lab and shipped to me or to a store. But they're changing their system. Most books, including the 8 1/2 x 11 that I make, are now printed in store. I've had some awful results with books printed in store. it all depends on who was working the night my book got printed and assembled. On top of that, there's a maximum of 30 pages. Are they kidding? I take long trips and a LOT of pictures. I have a book in "my projects" that I started 2 months ago. It's up to 86 pages, and I did the final touches last week, only to discover that they can't print it. 

 

CVS also prints in store, so they're out. Anyone have good results with Shutterfly? Another company? 

 

 

[auntmeg]

I used Journi for my Alaska cruise last year. I was VERY pleased with the results.

 

The application will produce maps of the places where your pictures were taken and place those within your photo pages. You can also delete them if you don't want those.

 

You can completely customize the colors and picture layout. It will by default put them in chronological order.

 

My book had 145 pages. And was 12"x8".

[Crew News]

For photo books (mainly youth basketball/soccer), I have been using Blurb (included in Adobe Lightroom software) for the past 8 years. I have also used Zazzle for giant calendars for many years.

[Airbear232]

We used Costco for recent trips 

[pghsteelerfan]

I've used Shutterfly for years, have done 7 cruise vacation photo books and always loved the quality.  I just started working on my 8th since we cruised this past October.  I'm curious to see if the quality is still the same since 2015 was the last time I did one.  I'm really hoping but saw this post to get some other ideas just in case, so will be following. 

[MacMadame]

10 hours ago, Airbear232 said:

We used Costco for recent trips 

FYI Costco is now using Shutterfly. (I've gotten 50 million emails from them telling me to transfer my (non-existent) Costco photos to Shutterfly or they will be lost forever!)

[Airbear232]

20 hours ago, MacMadame said:

FYI Costco is now using Shutterfly. (I've gotten 50 million emails from them telling me to transfer my (non-existent) Costco photos to Shutterfly or they will be lost forever!)

Yes, you’re right.  We used them in November, and were very pleased with the product. 

[Re-tired]

I used Blurb through Lightroom for a book on our UK cruise.  I used photos from all six of the people in our group and it became a 70 page coffee table book.  Blurb did an excellent job on the printing and binding.  It was a bit pricey but when you sign up with them the discount coupons start rolling in.  I printed a couple of small test books first to see how my images would appear.  That resulted in me learning how to calibrate my monitor.  The whole process was a good learning experience and the recipients were thrilled.  

 

tom

[pierces]

I have used Blurb since I started my Picture-A-Week project in 2012. I haven't really shopped around much because I have been extremely pleased with the quality of their books and I wanted year-over-year consistency. I didn't find a template that I liked but Blurb has full-page and two-page spreads that you can load with a photo. I made my own template to fit the two-page spread in Photoshop and have used it for all 12 years of the books (just ordered #12 for 2023).

 

 

 

There is one more shelf on this bookcase, so I'll have to figure something out in the next six years. 🙂

 

 

I have also used Blurb for the albums when I do family weddings. The large format books with the printed hardcover are very nice. 

 

 

Again, I used the full-page with my own template.

 

 

We even did a cookbook with all of our family favorite recipes to document them before they faded from memory, or the 70-year-old index card disintegrated.

 

 

Whatever service you end up choosing, making a book is a very satisfying project and beats the heck out of a shoebox full of prints!

 

Dave

 

 

Edited February 1 by pierces

[Mr. Click]

Another vote for Blurb.  The software is easy to use and the quality is really good.  I like people who make me look good.

[mskaufman]

I have been using Shutterfly and am happy with their quality and service.  I generally make books with a lot of pages and then wait for a couple for "unlimited" pages.

[den32837]

I have used Shutterfly since 2009. I always do hardback, generally do black page backgrounds, and always do it manually...positioning my own shots. I have done seven 8x8 books and nine 10x10s. For larger trips, I would wait for an unlimited pages offer and go up to 100 pages or more. I celebrated years ago when they improved their process to enable gorgeous two page spreads. Since then I have used a few in each book. One of the finest features is their 100% guarantee. I f you find they made a glitch, they do another one free.