Photo Books

LRussoPhoto

Not sure if this is the right section for this question. Some of the moms on my daughters basketball team asked if I would make a photo book of the girls after the season is over. Has anyone had experience with either of the 2 companies smugmug works with on treating books? Any suggestions?

mercphoto

Which companies are those (for those of us who do not have SM accounts).

perroneford

I've printed with Blurb in the past and been happy with it. They aren't cheap, but it was nice for personal printed books.

mercphoto

I consider Blurb cheap. But they are nice, especially if you get their better papers. Not as good as a high end like Asuka or McKenna Pro, but better than a Shutterfly. Who else does SM use?

jmphotocraft

The other integrated choice is mycanvas.com. Misleading name, but whatever. The quality is at least on par with Blurb, but I find the designer application to be much easier to use if the point of the book is primarily photos. If you want to write a storybook with a lot of text, use Blurb. MyCanvas allows drag-n-drop image placement, and custom resizing, cropping, and rotating/tilting. You can layout your own custom pages easily, or use templates. You can use your own images for page backgrounds, or you can use a stock graphic, or just a solid color that you can choose from a palette or with an eyedropper. Last time I checked (fall 2013) Blurb did not allow you to make your own page layout, you had to choose from their templates.

I have used MyCanvas to create several photobooks as annual gifts for my parents and inlaws, and I have done a couple albums for my own family. They are great as gifts, and will be perfect for a sports team yearbook. For a true high quality archive album, I'd like to try the ones Bill mentioned next.

esheato

I have used mycanvas.com and liked it.

Simple interface, easy to customize nearly every aspect. I bought two copies....one for my Mother for Christmas and one for my bookshelf. I had assembled our favorite shots of my son into an annual album keepsake. She loved it and I'm happy...what's not to like?

LRussoPhoto

I will check them out, thank you.

johng

I actually like shutterfly. They have a good quality to price ratio. Let's be honest - this isn't a wedding album we're talking about. The nice thing about shutterfly is there is almost always a sale. The stock is good quality, the binding decent and the color reproduction is accurate. And, their tool is easy to use. While I wouldn't use them for wedding albums, I think you'll find them more than good enough for the product you're making.

LRussoPhoto

Thanks John

Mitchell

I've used Mypublisher for years and have made over 50 books with good results. Very easy interface to produce the books and the quality is excellent. They were voted #1 when the Wall St Journal reviewed these products a few years ago.

LRussoPhoto

I wound up getting the books through shutter fly. They came out great and the girls on the team as well as their parents loved them.