who produces good photo books?

[DanK]

We have had several threads over the years about quality photo books. Several times, I recommended Adoramapix, which uses real, heavy photo paper. I'll have to withdraw that recommendation and hunt elsewhere, and I would appreciate recommendations. The reason is that they no longer offer an ICC profile for soft proofing. When I saw that on their website, I had a hard time believing it, so I wrote a note asking how one can get a profile for soft-proofing. This was the reply I received:

We will recommend that you submit the file in the Srgb color space.

I sent a reply explaining why this doesn't answer the question but had not received an answer, so I just called them. The bottom line: the second rep told me that they don't support softproofing and that one can only see the results by having the prints made. She said that one can order samples.

So, it's time for me to move on.

Do I recall correctly that Blurb produces high-quality books? They do support soft proofing, but not in Lightroom, because they work in a CMYK environment. However, they offer free software into which you can import photos that has their profile built in.

The only other books I have seen have been by Shutterfly, and those don't reach a standard I would find acceptable.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

[Donald]

I take it your looking at a US company for ease of shipment, Dan?

I use Loxley here in Scotland. They are upmarket from Blurb etc and do print for the international market (https://www.loxleycolour.com/Home/About)

[pnodrog]

Years ago I used Blurb to produce a book and was pleased with the results. I wanted to retain as much control as possible using free software and used Scribus to produce PDF file to upload. Blurb had templates for Publisher but not for Scribus so I had to figure it all out from the info Blurb provided. Hopefully it is a bit easier 14 years latter...

The main reason I wanted to do it that way was to retain full control of the source and be able to send it to other book producers if I deemed it necessary or print it myself. Using Blurb and many others layout software resulted in watermarks over each page if you printed it yourself.

[DanK]

Thanks. I'll check Loxley, but I suspect that shipping will make it expensive.

The books I make aren't for commercial use, and they are pretty simple, just arrangements of photos. One is a collection of a few of my relatively early macro photographs, but all of the others have been for family and friends--e.g., collections of photos from the first year of a child's life. So, I don't need fancy text layouts, etc.

I just ordered a set of Blurb paper swatches. At least that part I can be certain of.

Blurb's software now integrates with Lightroom. It appears that it works like a complex plug-in. It has their ICC profile built-in. I assume that what it produces for them is sRGB JPEGs, but I haven't checked that yet. If the papers are good, I may download the software just to see what it does. If I create a restore point just before, I can be sure of returning the system to what it was beforehand if I don't like the software.

It's really too bad that Adoramapix has made this change. I have 5 of their books, and they came out very well. They were printed on heavy luster paper, back to back, and they have lie-flat bindings.

thanks again

Dan

[Manfred M]

Dan - I think the important thing to remember is that Adorama (and possibly Blurb, especially outside of the USA) don't do their own work and contract it out.

Change of suppliers means the services that are offered change. I'm told that in Canada, Blurb uses one supplier and this supplier uses HP Digital Printing machines (nicely said, these are large, fast laser printers). These Indigo machines were developed by an Israeli company of that name that HP bought some 20 years ago.

I've heard some people like Shutterfly (who are out of the USA) and one pro I know uses a company called Photobook Canada. They have contracted out their print work to a company in Malaysia and both the shipping costs and turnaround times are good and the prices are better than Blurb in Canada. I have no personal experience with any of these companies. I ordered some sample papers from Blurb a number of years ago, but never actually got around to making a book.

One suggestion that a couple of regular photo book makers suggested is to order a small book first as the manufacturers often print either darker or lighter than you want and you have to adjust your work to suit.

[Helly123]

Dan - I think the important thing to remember is that Adorama (and possibly Blurb, especially outside of the USA) don't do their own work and contract it out.

Change of suppliers means the services that are offered change. I'm told that in Canada, Blurb uses one supplier and this supplier uses HP Digital Printing machines (nicely said, these are large, fast laser printers). These Indigo machines were developed by an Israeli company of that name that HP bought some 20 years ago.

I've heard some people like Shutterfly (who are out of the USA) and one pro I know uses a company called Photobook Canada. They have contracted out their print work to a company in Malaysia and both the shipping costs and turnaround times are good and the prices are better than Blurb in Canada. I have no personal experience with any of these companies. I ordered some sample papers from Blurb a number of years ago, but never actually got around to making a book.

One suggestion that a couple of regular photo book makers suggested is to order a small book first as the manufacturers often print either darker or lighter than you want and you have to adjust your work to suit.

Thanks I didn't know that about Adorama. Many companies are outsourcing to save money on production. I wrote about this with https://writix.co.uk/write-my-dissertation-for-me and when I found out how many companies outsourcing their production I was very surprised. But outsourcing can be different. Some companies will control the process of the production remotely to get great products while others put all the responsibility to the partner company. And then we have photobooks with corresponding quality.