Photobooks - anyone made any, any you can recommend?

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sxz

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#96928 7-Feb-2012 21:04

We have heaps of photos from our holidays and wanted to have a go at a photobook, (i.e. hard cover book with our own photo's printed in it).

Has anyone made one before, and had any really good / bad experiences?

I was hoping for some pretty cool software that would let me customise it as much as I want, really personalise it if you know what I mean.

so... any recommendations?

Cheers!

Stu

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#578446 7-Feb-2012 21:35

A customer of mine says Kroma, Diamond (something like that) and Harvey Norman offer good products. Keep your eye on Grabone.co.nz for specials. Some Kroma options were on offer on grabone yesterday and the wife spent a few dollars to try them out for herself.

Jaxson

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#578462 7-Feb-2012 22:00

I've done this through digital max and the results were good. Only issue was that often you are restricted to layouts. 90% of the time this is fine, but sometimes they don't have an option for the layout you have in mind. I like the idea though, as in the digital age photos are often not as accessible/physical as they are when printed.

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#578542 8-Feb-2012 09:16

I used Snapfish about three years ago. It had a range of templates for layout, which you couldn't customise, but I found it to be pretty easy to assemble and didn't frustrate me too much. The upload process for photos was a bit iffy (I think I had to re-upload photos it seemed to forget about), but I suspect that may well have improved since then. The price was pretty good at the time - about $30 for a 20 page book I think. The quality was good, and looked semi-professional. Certainly good enough for the price.

itxtme

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#578550 8-Feb-2012 09:38

Jaxson: . I like the idea though, as in the digital age photos are often not as accessible/physical as they are when printed.

I totally agree, and I think having a hard copy is one of the easiest ways to "back" them up.

berrys

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#578554 8-Feb-2012 09:46

Used Harvey Normans for a couple of hardcover ones after getting a daily deal discount. I ended up creating a 'book' in InDesign matching the page size that the photobook would be ad arranging the photos myself then exporting to a single image to upload to the HN photo site.

Quite pleased with the result.

itxtme

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#578561 8-Feb-2012 09:59

HN have 40% off at the moment -> http://www.harveynormanphotos.co.nz/

You can make them online and submit. Of course it costs nothing to create them.

nicks

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#578569 8-Feb-2012 10:12

sxz: We have heaps of photos from our holidays and wanted to have a go at a photobook, (i.e. hard cover book with our own photo's printed in it).

Has anyone made one before, and had any really good / bad experiences?

I was hoping for some pretty cool software that would let me customise it as much as I want, really personalise it if you know what I mean.

so... any recommendations?

Cheers!

If you have a Mac you can make photo books in iPhoto. I have made a few and have always been very impressed with the final product.

Like the comment another person made, you are limited a little by the layout options the software has, but you do still have heaps of flexibility to do what you want and there are some great options for holiday photo books, like maps pages for example.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

timmmay

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#578570 8-Feb-2012 10:13

Momento are good. I got a Frogprints book a few years back and was unimpressed.

sxz

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#586864 26-Feb-2012 09:33

Went with Snapfish,

The web based software was pretty mint, easy to use, and three books arrived on Tuesday after being ordered on a Sunday afternoon. Pretty quick!

Am fairly pleased with the quality too

LookingUp

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#586880 26-Feb-2012 10:00

Blurb is well worth a look.

Just did a book on a holiday we went on last year and am really happy with it. Not only do you get lots of choice of format, you also get quite a few choices for paper quality etc. We have two books from them now (one from a previous trip compiled by another on the trip) and will certainly do more.

I'm not sure about the other providers, but the Blurb app that you use to build the book is very flexible. It may be a bit over the top for someone looking to quickly stitch something together, but if you've got the inclination or are creative it's worth the effort.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

freitasm

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#586883 26-Feb-2012 10:03

I was talking to HP this week, and it seems NZ is their better Snapfish operation in terms of uptake per capita. I wonder if this includes their HP photo kiosks at Warehouse Stationery...

(And moved this topic to other forum)

morrisk

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#586898 26-Feb-2012 11:19

I have used the book option that is a part of iPhoto and Aperture, 5 or 6 times The end product has always been great - they seem to be printed in Japan and the quality is excellent. The books that I have done have been hard cover but there are a number of options. The process of creating them is easy but it takes time to choose the photos you want to use and to decide the sequence, layout etc. The software does make it easy to move, change, add more pages etc. The time from sending the book off for publishing and it arriving has only been about 10 days.

ajbw

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#592868 9-Mar-2012 18:27

Has anyone got an overview of which services require you to download an application, and which are web-based?
I ask because we use linux here...

scotteffone

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#593154 10-Mar-2012 11:54

morrisk: I have used the book option that is a part of iPhoto and Aperture, 5 or 6 times The end product has always been great - they seem to be printed in Japan and the quality is excellent. The books that I have done have been hard cover but there are a number of options. The process of creating them is easy but it takes time to choose the photos you want to use and to decide the sequence, layout etc. The software does make it easy to move, change, add more pages etc. The time from sending the book off for publishing and it arriving has only been about 10 days.

Another vote for iPhoto. I have used it too and was very impressed.

gehenna

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#593165 10-Mar-2012 12:35

My fianc? made one through iPhoto a few years ago for her mum's birthday and it came out looking fantastic.