Favorite Album Vendors and Albums

Jeremy Winterberg · December 3, 2009

I tried searching through the site a bit, but after 10 pages of no solid info I gave up.

I am just getting started in wedding photography and need to come to a decision as to which Album Vendor I want to go with.

I want to know what album vendors you Dgrinners prefer, as well as what album style, covers/finishes, page corners/thicknesses, etc... How many pages the album should be... Basically EVERYTHING you and your clients look for in a quality album. Sort of an Album FAQ.

I'm looking at $100-$500 per album

Also, I'm thinking about offering senior portrait clients an album as a coffee table book for the parents with the session. Obviously it would be a lesser quality than the finao albums because my senior clients wouldn't be open to spending $500 for senior pictures from me. (I'm not that good yet! haha)

I was thinking either BayPhoto or Blurb for these albums... Again, what do you prefer for sizes, finishes, etc...

Mods: If this would be better suited in a different forum feel free to move it, I just figured wedding photographers are the main ones that deal with albums.

Mox · December 3, 2009

Great questions - there are so many choices out there. I'm looking forward to the responses. I just ordered a Blurb book (not a wedding album), and can comment when it comes in, but I think for wedding albums I'd like to go a bit higher end. I'm new, too, though.

I will say, going by a recent thread, stay away from ArtCraft!

One question - when you mention your preferred price point, do you mean your cost or what you'd like to charge?

Jeremy Winterberg · December 3, 2009

Mox wrote:

Great questions - there are so many choices out there. I'm looking forward to the responses. I just ordered a Blurb book (not a wedding album), and can comment when it comes in, but I think for wedding albums I'd like to go a bit higher end. I'm new, too, though.

I will say, going by a recent thread, stay away from ArtCraft!

One question - when you mention your preferred price point, do you mean your cost or what you'd like to charge?

Yeah, I read that thread too... definitely staying away from Art Leather!
The price I listed was for the cost of the album.

cmason · December 3, 2009

I am no wedding photog, but I ordered several Blurb books and loved them. Gave them as gifts and they were very well received. I will order more.

I make hardcover 7x7 (i think that is the size) and they were great. Recommended.

Jeremy Winterberg · December 3, 2009

cmason wrote:

I am no wedding photog, but I ordered several Blurb books and loved them. Gave them as gifts and they were very well received. I will order more.

I make hardcover 7x7 (i think that is the size) and they were great. Recommended.

Did you think these are an ok size? I like the price of those, but feel like they would be too small for collage type designs...

urbanaries · December 4, 2009

I've tried 'em all, but I really like Miller's. Awesome customer service, turnaround times and simple options. The flush mount panoramas for the big wedding book and the AWESOMELY CHEAP layflat companions for portrait clients and parent wedding albums.

Mishka · December 4, 2009

I really like Finao...they have an incredible amount of options and very reasonable prices. Customer service has always been great, and hey, they're all made in the good ol' US of A.

mercphoto · December 4, 2009

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

I'm looking at $100-$500 per album

You have a lot of choices with a cost-point like that. And at that price I think its safe to say you are looking for a top-quality book, better than you'd get from a Blurb or Shutterfly. I would say you definitely need to look at these three vendors:

www.poundslabs.com
www.asukabook.com
www.forbeyon.com

When it comes to "press books", which is the style you get from someone like Blurb, Pounds Labs has more options when it comes to book sizes and page counts, but Auska has nicer presentation. By that I mean with Asuka you have different options for sleeves and presentation boxes.

When it comes to flush mount books I really like the Pounds Labs "superior" album. Its also very reasonably priced. The best though for this style is the Forbeyon book. It is pricey though.

Agnieszka · December 4, 2009

Yeah, I would say, stay faaar away from Art Leather (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=152094)

I'm currently looking into Finao & Graphi Studio. I got my last year's portfolio from Graphi last year, and was really happy with he turnaround time & quality. Don't have much experience with them, but you might want to try putting together a portfolio for yourself and see if you like their program & their customer service. They give a discount for first time orders (I think most album companies do), so it's a great way to try them out!

Good luck & keep us posted!

mercphoto · December 4, 2009

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

Did you think these are an ok size? I like the price of those, but feel like they would be too small for collage type designs...

If I was shopping for a wedding album the 7x7 would indeed be too small. You're wanting something like a 10x10. Maybe a 10x13 or 11x14 (but that gets to be big!).

Jeremy Winterberg · December 4, 2009

mercphoto wrote:

If I was shopping for a wedding album the 7x7 would indeed be too small. You're wanting something like a 10x10. Maybe a 10x13 or 11x14 (but that gets to be big!).

I would use the 7x7 for the portrait clients not the wedding clients... I agree that it would be too small for a wedding album. I was planning on going with 10X10 or larger for wedding albums. but then again... I would like to know what others like.

I am currently designing a portfolio album to test out the album vendor's before settling with one. But, I don't have the budget to test them all out, so I need to get feedback from you guys.

I know Finao offers a sample album for like $50... Which would be GREAT! Does anyone know what the other's "Sample" album costs, or as one of you said, first time orders are cheaper?

Keep the info coming! Size of albums, average page count, etc... This is all helping out a ton.

mercphoto · December 4, 2009

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

I would use the 7x7 for the portrait clients not the wedding clients... I agree that it would be too small for a wedding album. I was planning on going with 10X10 or larger for wedding albums. but then again... I would like to know what others like.

I am currently designing a portfolio album to test out the album vendor's before settling with one. But, I don't have the budget to test them all out, so I need to get feedback from you guys.

I know Finao offers a sample album for like $50... Which would be GREAT! Does anyone know what the other's "Sample" album costs, or as one of you said, first time orders are cheaper?

Keep the info coming! Size of albums, average page count, etc... This is all helping out a ton.

Pounds Photo Labs (poundslabs.com) will give you a free 5x5 sample book. Its enough to give you an idea of the build quality and reproduction quality, plus samples all the various paper types they offer. I think they will give you a discount on your first order, but check with them on that.

Asuka gives you a discount on studio samples, but they will also loan you a sample set for free.

Unsure about Forbeyon.

And I agree. For a wedding you want a 10x10 or larger.

ssimmonsphoto · December 4, 2009

I'm signed up with Memdor right now, which won a couple awards at WPPI this year. Their pricing is very straight forward and they have a ton of options. I'm getting a large and medium album at their cost this winter (once I've officially wrapped up 2009) and will then be able to give a better review. But so far they have been very helpful and understanding. Much easier to work with than another publisher I tried. I never ordered from them because just pricing one out from them made my head spin. At least with Memador I don't need to be a CPA. Oh, and their albums have a lifetime guarantee, which I really like to be able to provide for my clients.

Qarik · December 4, 2009

I have ordered a couple books with Finao...their "One" series. I orderd 10 pages which seemed enough. I fit about 60 images on to those pages and cost was $270-$330 depending on the cover options. This is flush mount book (meaning you can open the pages up all the way so that a image can cross the "crease"). I would say the book quality ranks in the lower rungs of the top tier biooks..not quite ferrari but BMW at least.

One thing I relly liked about it is the distinctive case/cover that it comes with. It has serious wow factor when you open the box.

http://strawdawg.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/finao1.jpg?w=600&h=900

I plan to continue with them

Danspage · December 5, 2009

ssimmonsphoto wrote:

I'm signed up with Memdor right now, which won a couple awards at WPPI this year. Their pricing is very straight forward and they have a ton of options. I'm getting a large and medium album at their cost this winter (once I've officially wrapped up 2009) and will then be able to give a better review. But so far they have been very helpful and understanding. Much easier to work with than another publisher I tried. I never ordered from them because just pricing one out from them made my head spin. At least with Memador I don't need to be a CPA. Oh, and their albums have a lifetime guarantee, which I really like to be able to provide for my clients.

can we get a link to Memdor

Jeremy Winterberg · December 5, 2009

Danspage wrote:

can we get a link to Memdor

www.Memador.com

Jeremy Winterberg · December 5, 2009

Qarik wrote:

I have ordered a couple books with Finao...their "One" series. I orderd 10 pages which seemed enough. I fit about 60 images on to those pages and cost was $270-$330 depending on the cover options. This is flush mount book (meaning you can open the pages up all the way so that a image can cross the "crease"). I would say the book quality ranks in the lower rungs of the top tier biooks..not quite ferrari but BMW at least.

One thing I relly liked about it is the distinctive case/cover that it comes with. It has serious wow factor when you open the box.

http://strawdawg.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/finao1.jpg?w=600&h=900

I plan to continue with them

What size did you go with? Also, what cover options did you use?

captnemo · December 7, 2009

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

I would use the 7x7 for the portrait clients not the wedding clients... I agree that it would be too small for a wedding album. I was planning on going with 10X10 or larger for wedding albums. but then again... I would like to know what others like.

I am currently designing a portfolio album to test out the album vendor's before settling with one. But, I don't have the budget to test them all out, so I need to get feedback from you guys.

I know Finao offers a sample album for like $50... Which would be GREAT! Does anyone know what the other's "Sample" album costs, or as one of you said, first time orders are cheaper?

Keep the info coming! Size of albums, average page count, etc... This is all helping out a ton.

When I shot a wedding last year I was happy to see smugmug had joined up with mycanvas as they offered 11x14 books (A much more appropriate size for a wedding album) starting at only $54.95
I ordered one and am happy to say the clients liked it so much they ordered more. I also liked that the website created a flash animation/demo of how the finished album would look so I could send them a link and get there approval for corrections etc before I ordered it printed. I just shot another wedding weekend before last and when I'm done editing I'm planning on using them again.
Here's a link to a demo album I'm thinking of having printed to show potential clients so you can see what I mean: demo link

Jeremy Winterberg · December 18, 2009

Ok, I think I'm going to go with Miller's... Because their website is easy to understand, and its more professional looking than finao. And they sent me sample prints with a catalog... I like free stuff.

Also, when I called Finao during business hours... the answering machine said they were closed.

seems to me like poor customer service. All I wanted to know is how long it would take to have a sample album made, but no one would answer the phone... 2 hours before they were supposed to close.

Anyways... I have another question... How many pages would an album with 50-100 pictures in it be? collage style... I know if would depend on how I design it... but on average.... how many pages are your albums? (trying to figure out the cost of an album)

BlueSkyPhotos · December 19, 2009

When I started offering albums I sold Blurb and MyCanvas books. They were decent quality, but did not stand out much if you compared to Shutterfly books. They do not look like a pro wedding albums, but they could be an OK option if someone is on very low budget.

WHCC offers great press printed books that lay flat. Their prices, turnaround time and free shipment is tough to beat. They only go up to 40 pages though. I use Black River Imaging press printed books for anything above 40 pages. These albuns also lay flat. Their finish quality is slightly below WHCC, but not much below. They do have a great customer service and technical help. Their turnaround is amazing and shipping is free.

For under $500 you can also get their new flash mount albums called Mosaic. You would need to go with 10x10 probably, but you have a tremendous number of leather choices and they all came with very impressive presentation box. I just got my first studio sample and immediately sold to my client a 58 pages Mosaic album.
Black River offers 50% off on studio samples.

Both WHCC and Black River are based in Midwest.

Jacek

BlueSkyPhotos · December 19, 2009

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

Anyways... I have another question... How many pages would an album with 50-100 pictures in it be? collage style... I know if would depend on how I design it... but on average.... how many pages are your albums? (trying to figure out the cost of an album)

Jeremy,
Number of images in album it will depend on your design. In general, the fewer images on the page or spread, the more striking impact album has. Quite often I use 1 to 3 images per spread. There are spreads with more than 3, but I try to limit any crowding.

My starting base for number of pages in the wedding album is 40. I tend to stay between 40 and 60 pages (20 to 30 spreads). HS Senior album are generally 20 pages (10 spreads).

This is just my experience. You need to go through the design process a few times to figure out what really works for you.

Good luck,

Jacek

katrinaelena · February 8, 2011

Jeremy Winterberg wrote: »

I tried searching through the site a bit, but after 10 pages of no solid info I gave up.

I am just getting started in wedding photography and need to come to a decision as to which Album Vendor I want to go with.

I want to know what album vendors you Dgrinners prefer

Steer clear of Zookbinders. They have a design service called ZookiePro. Supposedly color correction is included in the album design fee. When I received my client's wedding album there was too much red in the prints. The cover shot was the worst. My bride and groom were literally lobster red. I returned everything and Zookbinders disagreed that the skin tones looked red and told me that they couldn’t correct what they couldn’t see and flat out refused to reprint. They also refused to send back the album (probably because they didn’t want me showing other photographers the crappy job they did). The woman I spoke with was a total b****. I was shaking when I got off the phone. They are supposed to give me a credit (which I’m still waiting for). I may have to report them to the BBB. So right now I’m also researching other album companies.

dawssvt · February 8, 2011

I absolutely love Back River Imaging! The best customer service I have ever experienced, great turn around time, great quality, and they have great deals when you first sign up. www.blackriverimaging.com

Shima · February 8, 2011

I use Bay Photo myself and love their flush mount albums, plus price is very reasonable. They're also awesome at customer service. I ordered a 10x10 and 2 5x5 clones once and requested to have the imprinting in the lower right corner for all, they called me because on the 5x5's the imprinting took up almost the whole bottom and they thought it would look better on those to center them, to which I said "yes, sure!" it was great that they thought about something like that for the smaller ones and called to suggest a quick fix to me before they printed it and I ate the cost and they were looking odd

ShepsMom · February 9, 2011

I'm in love with Loktah, i have not tried their albums yet, but they look delicious. Currently i use Black River, Bayphots, Millers and WHCC, but, none of these albums are anything that bride can get herself, really, if you aware of Somerset albums (http://www.somersetalbums.com), they are open to the public and brides can make very decent flush mount albums. So how do you sell your album? I need to find someone who can make album that NO bride can get Anywhere else: Loktah looks good for that and maybe Finao.

Bsimon · February 9, 2011

After a quick review here I dont believe, and forgive me if I am wrong, but I havent seen anyone mention Leather Craftsman. Their products are exceptional and they have a new template based system which works hand in hand with aperture 3 to build any 3500 based album. Super easy design and great prices / quality. Just another to toss in the mix!

ShepsMom · February 9, 2011

Bsimon wrote: »

After a quick review here I dont believe, and forgive me if I am wrong, but I havent seen anyone mention Leather Craftsman. Their products are exceptional and they have a new template based system which works hand in hand with aperture 3 to build any 3500 based album. Super easy design and great prices / quality. Just another to toss in the mix!

Do they offer studio samples? I didn't see any info on that, and if they do what is the discount?

Thanks!

dahn8 · February 9, 2011

Has anyone tried Picaboo (http://www.picaboo.com/products-pricing/photo-books-overview.html) at all?

They seem to have a wide variety of books starting from the cheapo $10 books (obviously not for weddings) to a flush mount that is $350+.

Just wondering as I just picked up a groupon for them kind of impulsively and was thinking about using them for a wedding i did recently.

IIIxtremeIII · February 9, 2011

I'll throw in Kiss Wedding Books

http://www.kissweddingbooks.com/

My clients haven't complained about the quality of their books.

ShepsMom · February 9, 2011

dahn8 wrote: »

Has anyone tried Picaboo (http://www.picaboo.com/products-pricing/photo-books-overview.html) at all?

They seem to have a wide variety of books starting from the cheapo $10 books (obviously not for weddings) to a flush mount that is $350+.

Just wondering as I just picked up a groupon for them kind of impulsively and was thinking about using them for a wedding i did recently.

Modern brides are very savy, they look everywhere and know everything. If she finds out you're using Picaboo and charging her double/triple/whatever you charge for something she can do herself, she might be unpleasantly surprised.

Just visit any bridal message board, I tell ya, there are "wealth" of info on what your typical bride think, want and look for..... You've got to give a lot more to WOW them these days.

dahn8 · February 10, 2011

ShepsMom wrote: »

Modern brides are very savy, they look everywhere and know everything. If she finds out you're using Picaboo and charging her double/triple/whatever you charge for something she can do herself, she might be unpleasantly surprised.

Just visit any bridal message board, I tell ya, there are "wealth" of info on what your typical bride think, want and look for..... You've got to give a lot more to WOW them these days.

:wow Thanks for the heads up--I'm a bit of a newbie still! I'm a little embarrassed having asked that question but I suppose its better finding that out here than in the real world i suppose

Fortunately, the wedding wasn't a professional gig by any means (it was more of a favor to some friends who were really on a tight budget) but it's good to know for future reference if I were to keep doing more weddings!

Favorite Album Vendors and Albums

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