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Best place for photo books

sundanceimagesundanceimage Registered Users Posts: 17 Big grins
edited January 4, 2011 in The Big Picture
I just returned from a quick trip to Dubai and want to get a photo/coffee table book done. Any recommendations on where to get the best quality book at the best price?

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    BradfordBennBradfordBenn Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited January 2, 2011
    Have you looked at the SmugMug printing options? They do some great testing and stand behind the prints.http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/AB#More
    -=Bradford

    Pictures | Website | Blog | Twitter | Contact
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    sundanceimagesundanceimage Registered Users Posts: 17 Big grins
    edited January 2, 2011
    What do you mean by "They do some great testing"?
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    BradfordBennBradfordBenn Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited January 2, 2011
    SmugMug tests and reviews products before they start offering them. So they have made books using the services they are reselling and looked at them critically for quality. Having ordered through SmugMug and working with the support team to get great prints I feel more confident ordering from them sight unseen than from the local photography store.
    -=Bradford

    Pictures | Website | Blog | Twitter | Contact
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    DogdotsDogdots Registered Users Posts: 8,795 Major grins
    edited January 3, 2011
    I've ordered from mycanvas for the last 2 years. They do a wonderful job. Made a book this last Christmas .. perfect!!!! Wish they printed just regular photos .. they were that great.
    Mary
    www.Dogdotsphotography.com
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    aquaticvideographeraquaticvideographer Registered Users Posts: 278 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2011
    Blurb
    I've had really good luck with Blurb.

    They have a partnership with SmugMug. If you click on "Buy", then "Create a book", you will see Blurb listed as an option.thumb.gif
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    jmphotocraftjmphotocraft Registered Users Posts: 2,987 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2011
    I've used Blurb, Shutterfly, and MyCanvas. MyCanvas had the best user interface, allowing total creativity and flexibility. You can use their templates as-is, start with a template and alter it, or completely design a page on your own. Drag, drop, resize, crop, rotate, drop shadow, borders, all available on the fly. You can also use your own photo as a page background and change the opacity. Once I tried MyCanvas (about a year ago) I stopped looking elsewhere. Maybe Blurb and the others have caught up by now, and if so then you should shop on price. But the integration between your SM galleries and MyCanvas and Blurb is very convenient, so if you have SM I'd say only consider those two.
    -Jack

    An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
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    jrogersjrogers Registered Users Posts: 79 Big grins
    edited January 4, 2011
    Pop Photo magazine did a comparison a couple months ago...it was pretty informative, and gibed with my limited experience.

    I used Blurb a few months ago and didn't feel that the images were as sharp as they could have been. Curiously, the image on the dust cover was very sharp. A couple of pluses: their user interface is easy to work with, and the book quality (aside from the sharpness) is good.

    I've used mypublisher.com for calenders and they do a good job.
    John

    http://jrogers.smugmug.com
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    mercphotomercphoto Registered Users Posts: 4,550 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2011
    Blurb is great for the price and for easy to use software, but their print quality, even on premium paper, is far from the best.

    Consider instead:

    poundslabs.com
    blackriverimaging.com
    asukabook.com

    And read more about my thoughts here:
    http://mercphoto.blogspot.com/2010/06/review-blurb-premium-paper-photo-book.html
    Bill Jurasz - Mercury Photography - Cedar Park, TX
    A former sports shooter
    Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
    My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mercphoto?ref=hdr_shop_menu
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