Making a photobook/album, who to use?

[sunnyd]

I need to make a photobook of my bpics, and I don''t know who to use. I like mpix, but their software kept crashing my computer. It was not happy. I need something with a hard image cover and nice quality. No cheesy layout backgrounds!

Any ideas? If you''ve used someone, do you have a pic of how it turned out? Thanks!

 

[musincy]

Somebody on the Newlyweds forum just recently suggested mypublisher. I haven''t checked it out yet, but I think I''ve read other good reviews about it before.

 

[sunnyd]

Thanks musincy, do you know who it was? I tried looking and couldn''t find it.

 

[musincy]

Date: 8/4/2009 2:04:28 PM
Author: sunnyd
Thanks musincy, do you know who it was? I tried looking and couldn''t find it.

Yep, just found the link... I guess it was a few people that recommended it. Shutterfly is also a good choice apparently. I''m planning to do an album like this too, and I just got on the mypublisher website and they''re offering 2 for the price of 1 right now. Here''s the thread: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/who-did-you-buy-albums-for.120648/

 

[sunnyd]

Wow! Seems like everyone is using MP. Maybe I''ll jump on the bandwagon...

 

[jstarfireb]

For professional looking albums, I''ve heard MPix and MyPublisher are the best. For my photo guestbook, I used Shutterfly, but it wasn''t quite as customizable as I liked (for example, 2-page spreads were difficult to make), and it didn''t seem to be the same quality that would come from a professional photographer. It served my purposes well enough, but I would probably go with one of the others for a wedding album.

 

[CDNinNYC]

Has anyone used iPhoto to make their books/albums? They have a lot of options for customization and the preview looks great. I just don''t know about the quality of the finished product.

 

[sunnyd]

Hmmm does mypublisher.com only have soft pages? That''s why I liked mpix.

 

[brendaman]

Here''s my go-to link on the subject (see "Photobook Reviews" toward the end).

 

[andex23]

This may be a little tacky, but have you thought of Costco? www.CostcoPhotoCenter.com You do need to be a Costco member, but we printed all of our invite photos here and they were CHEAP!!! Not only that, they did all our prints (200 4x6 prints) in 2 hours and paid $32 plus tax. There was no shipping because I picked it up at my local store, had it right away, etc. I saw on their site they do books as well.

I''ve also been really happy with AdoramaPix.com (based in NYC). They''ve done my Xmas cards in the past and have EXCELLENT service. Don''t know if they have the "template" to make it super easy or not.

Hope this helps!

 

[katamari]

I love blurb. I have tried them, shutterfly, and mypublisher and find the blurb software to be the easiest and best with photoshop designed pages--had to go this route, as they ALL have cheesy layout backgrounds. But, the good news is that my books from all three look wonderful, so I feel like it is more personal preference instead of actual variation in quality.

 

[rainwood]

I haven''t used iPhoto for a wedding album (been married way too long!) but have used them for an anniversary album and other albums, both hard cover and soft. I''ve been really pleased with the quality and have given them as gifts as well. I thought their page layout was really flexible, and the books came out looking really professional. The colors on my screen were exactly the colors reproduced on the page.

I haven''t used other services so can''t compare them to iPhoto, and I haven''t looked to see what options they have that look "weddingy". And if this helps, I was not using the most recent version of iPhoto which probably has even more options.

 

[sunnyd]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I decided to go with blurb. I actually created the whole book last night, then decided I wanted a bigger one, so I''ll do that tonight if my computer didn''t in fact melt after last night. (Seriously, it got so hot the sticker underneath melted, now it won''t turn on...

)

 

[wannaBMrsH]

Hi Sunny!

I used blurb for a photo book of our engagement photos that I gave to our mom''s at the wedding shower and everyone LOVED them!

I am currently using them for a new album with all my B-Pics as well.

Good Luck on your book!

 

[jstarfireb]

Oh, I totally forgot about Blurb! My SIL made a photo guestbook with Blurb that looked really professional.

 

[EC Sparkler]

I have used Shutterfly to create some parent albums. They turned out great and everyone loved them! The price is right too plus they are always emailing offers for discounts or free shipping. I wish there was a little more variety with the layouts, but other than that they turned out great.

For a more professional looking album with thick, heavy pages, they have some gorgeous looking albums on MPix.com. I believe they are listed under "assembled albums". They look awesome, however, there are no layouts provided on the site for you. You must design your own pages on photoshop, etc and use them when designing your book.

Hope that helps!

 

[jcarlylew]

Date: 8/5/2009 12:33:01 PM
Author: EC Sparkler
I have used Shutterfly to create some parent albums. They turned out great and everyone loved them! The price is right too plus they are always emailing offers for discounts or free shipping. I wish there was a little more variety with the layouts, but other than that they turned out great.

For a more professional looking album with thick, heavy pages, they have some gorgeous looking albums on MPix.com. I believe they are listed under ''assembled albums''. They look awesome, however, there are no layouts provided on the site for you. You must design your own pages on photoshop, etc and use them when designing your book.

Hope that helps!

+1 for shutterfly - my FBIL''s fiance used them for our family trip two years ago and they looked amazing. i am thinking of doing the same for photo albums