Design my own album, due to very poor photographer

<p>Hi ALL</p>

<p>I was in search of some advice / help maybe.</p>

<p>I have another thread here on how poor my photographer was and was asking for help with photo edit (have raw files)</p>

<p>But this thread is i think im going to undertake the task of trying to put the album together myself. I was just hoping for some guidance and tips maybe from the forum to help me along the way.</p>

<p>Are they are good websites i can use that have like design it yourself album templates? Or does anyone have any recommendations of how i go about creating a decent wedding photo album? Or would anyone be interested in putting aan album together for me?</p>

<p>Many thanks in advance</p>

<p>Paul</p>

I have used Adorama, in NYC to put together a photo book for an event. Their online software worked well and they use real continuous tone photo paper to make hard covered books instead of a print process similar to a magazine. Cost was reasonable for a 12" x 12" book.

<p>Paul,</p>

<p>I've seen some pretty nice albums from Costco, though not specifically for a wedding. Might want to give them a try if you have one near.</p>

<p>Bill</p>

<p>Not sure what you mean by "decent" photo album. Album design's like everything else in life: harder than it looks. And the quality of album production varies quite widely. That said, you certainly CAN do it yourself and get something you'll be happy with.</p>

<p>And there are LOTS of options.</p>

<p>•</p>

<p>I'm assuming you aren't thinking about the ultra-deluxe Italian custom-printed option. The high-end, really nice wedding albums that many pro wedding photographers sell to their clients will start at around $300 for a small album and rise in price rapidly from there. It's not unusual for the photographer's "wholesale" cost for such an album to be $1000 or more, which is why the bride's going to pay $2000 or $3000 (or in the case of the superstar photographers like Jerry Ghionis, Yervant and others) $10,000+ for the product that is delivered to them. But if you're going to spend this kind of money, the images better be really really good to start with.</p>

<p>I assume instead that you are interested in an attractive, reasonably-well printed consumer book. I've used Blurb, Snapfish, Picaboo and Apple, all with pretty good results. These services provide software (with, if I recall, both standalone apps and web apps). If you're a Mac user, you can use Aperture, iPhoto or (now, in the latest update to Yosemite) the Photos app to design and publish your book. Of all of these options, I've liked the books I ordered from Apple the best. This surprises me, because Blurb has the biggest reputation in this self-published book market. I do think Blurb's software provides a lot more options (more templates, text options, etc) than Apple's.</p>

<p>A page-printed book from one of these consumer services will cost $50, or $100 or maybe more, depending on the number of pages in the book and a couple other options.</p>

<p>•</p>

<p>But I would suggest you also at least consider an alternative.</p>

<p>After making lots of printed books over the years I've come to the conclusion that the best approach overall — the best way to get high quality at an affordable price — is not to make a page-printed book at all, but rather, to do it the "old-fashioned" way. That is, order prints from a pro lab, then arrange the prints carefully in an attractive photo album — one of those with plastic page covers that hold the photos in place.</p>

<p>If you order a page-printed book from Blurb, Apple etc you may have some trouble getting the color and/or brightness/darkness of certain images just right — and you might not realize that the bride's face is too pink in a certain photo until you get delivery of the book. I don't think these services provide much in the way of custom color correction.</p>

<p>And it's also the case that these products provide good printing — but not the best. A 40 page book from Blurb or Apple can easily cost $100 or more. Now, these are perfectly okay books. A book from Apple or Blurb isn't just better than no book at all; it can be a treasure. I have here one of the first books I made from my digital photos, in 2001. It's attractive, sturdy, and because of its content, the book is personally important to me. But I don't expect it to look as good in 50 years. And even today, the quality of the printed pages simply isn't as good as the quality of prints of the same images that I've made myself with my Canon Pro printers or the prints I ordered from labs like Bay Photo, Mpix Pro, Pounds, BWC, etc.</p>

<p>So if you order really good prints from a lab and one or two prints of the prints don't come out quite as you hoped, you can figure out what you did wrong, fix the problems and order reprints of just those images. And in any case you'll end up with better prints — more vibrant colors, better detail, etc — than you'll get from a consumer page-printed book. And then, you can arrange the photos in the album any way you like, and rearrange later as the fancy hits you. Indeed, an advantage of this approach for do-it-yourselfers is that you can assemble the album on any schedule you like. Buy an album that allows you to add pages later, and start making prints and arranging them. You'll learn as you go along.</p>

<p>Remember to handle the prints carefully, and have clean hands, or better, wear gloves.</p>

<p>If you go this route, you can just order (say) 5"x7" prints of everything and stick 'em in the album. But you'll make a better album if you plan its design out before you order the prints, so you can order a mix of 4"x6" prints (for less important shots), 5"x7", and a few 8"x10" prints for key photos.</p>

<p>Whether you order a page-printed book or order prints and arrange them in an album, you'll want to process the images as well as possible on the computer first. Do as much as you can to get the colors right on your computer (big subject, that) and then order from a lab that will do custom color correction for you. Ordering from a pro lab doesn't cost that much more than ordering from the local drugstore: the problem is mainly that it's more work to place the order. But it's worth it.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Will</p>

I will need to make another hard cover photo book in the next few months, so I checked out Adorama's current offerings. They now have leather bound flush mount photo albums, again using real photo paper, at a higher price than their regular photo books. Before making a book, I generated 4" x 6" proofs from Adorama, and make some brightness adjustments to a number of files before producing the book. Having a calibrated monitor does help of course.

<p>I've purchased equipment from Adorama for years without a single problem. On the other hand, although I have heard nothing but good things about their print services, for some reason (don't know why) I've never used them. Well, Kenneth K.'s posts in this thread have made me want to try. I just been looking at this area of their website. Their options are quite good—and their prices are excellent.</p>

<p>Will</p>

<p>Shutterfly, Adorama and just about any other place that prints photo books have templates and automated systems for choosing your photos and rearranging them if you don't like what you get, then printing them out as a book.</p>