Posts tagged ‘blurb. blurb.com’
Blurb Photo Book Review
Recently I have been working on a wedding album that I am looking to have printed online. My first instinct was to use Apple’s Aperture to design and print a photo book, I had heard mixed reviews concerning the quality of Apples Photo Books, so I decided to look for another company that would offer similar services.
Blurb.com offers a wide range of book sizes and styles. The book sizes start from 7x7inch and go to as large as 12x12inch. There not just for photo albums, you can print out b&w text books, (so you can finally print out that novel you’ve been working on) and give you the option of uploading your blogs content so you can design and print a record of your blog.
The first step in designing a photo book in blurb is to download there BookSmart software that is available for both Mac and Windows. Once installed your asked what size book you would like to design and whether you will be making a hard back with a dust cover, or a soft cover. Next your asked to import any pictures you will be working with. The BookSmart interface is easy to use and offers more features then Apple’s Aperture photo book. It comes with theme templates and styles already installed, but Blurbs BookSmart also gives you the freedom to design the style and layout however you would like.
So far I am very impressed with Blurbs photobook application, it makes it easy to navigate and customize your books design. The next step is the printing, I will be ordering six photobooks in total, but will start out with just one so i can see the quality for myself.
The Finished Product
Blurb delivered my order promptly and without any problems. I had ordered a hard cover book with a dust jacket, I skimped out and did not purches the premium paper which would have been around an extra $4 (yes I’m cheep)
The quality was good, although the first thing I noticed is that the book didn’t have much weight to it, as a traditional wedding album might.
Although the book still looks great, the photos had a graininess to them (which makes me wish I had paid the $4 extra for the premium paper).
Although I wouldn’t personally use these books for a wedding album, unless I was making some albums for the guests or family. I think there great for just about anything else, family photos, holidays, a personal portfolio.
Overall I have been very pleased with Blurbs services and product. I will definetly be useing them in the future and highly recommend them to anyone looking at printing a photobook.
Head over to their website and check out their products.
