Bay Area Album Binding

[ken_leung2]

Hi, I've hired a couple of photographers to photograph my wedding but their pricing on wedding photo

album is outrageous ($1100 on 30 page w/ Leather cover?). So I've decided to use the digital negatives to

design my own book and out source a book binding company to flush mount an album. So my question

is.. does anyone know a reasonable binding company that prints and binds wedding albums for individual

needs? Or can any photographer offer this service even if they are not the ones to photograph my

wedding?

 

Thanx a million!

[bdp]

Are you putting together an album in which the page itself is the image, or one where photos are inserted into a matte? In either case, almost all of the companies that put out great quality books only deal with Pro Photographers and/or Studios. BTW: $1100 is pretty inexpensive actually. 40page 8x12 book would easily be $1300 or more depending on the book manufacturer.

[buckry]

The companies that print and bind the albums I design only deal with pro's they won't deal with consumers. The only places I can think of that will deal with consumers is online photo labs, Shutterfly, Snapfish, Picaboo, etc. You can design your book and have it printed for $39.99. Of course, the difference between a $39.99 album and a profesional one is very obvious, in most cases the extra $1000 is money well spent.

[wally_yau]

Albums Unlimited - http://www.albumsunlimited.com/. You can drop by

their show room and talk to them.

[jamie_thomas]

Do you want to know the truth? Itﾒs the album companies that drive our prices up. A GOOD album is going to cost a pretty penny. As far as lying it out your self good for you. You might have a new fond respect for us photographers and how much work goes into an album. Because taken the photo on the day of a wedding is half the work, the rest is after. Why does $1100 seem like a lot to you? After your done making your that price might not seem so high. Any way I'm not trying to be mean, I will help you, try http://www.mckennapro.com they offer a Zook Book you will love it Just keep in mind it more than just gluing your photos to a page.

[colleendonovan]

$1100 is absolutely NOT outrageous for a leather album with 30 pages. If anything it's underpriced. You'll see why when you try to do your own. I don't know any album companies that will do them for consumers, if you do find one make sure they are of a high enough quality that you won't regret your decision in 5 years.

[ken_leung2]

Thank you for all your replies everyone, great help!

Understand this forum is full of pro photographers, and I don't want to anger anyone, I

have a great appreciation for the work that they do, that's why I'm willing to pay thousands

of dollars just to hire them for my wedding photos and post retouches. I am a graphic/

fashion designer myself, I know how hard it is to do creative work everyday. However, no

offense, a great photographer might not be a great page layout artist, this is the case of

my photographer's portfolio, and I hesitate to pay that amount of money when I have

experience in designing books and feel I know how I want my book to look best. If my

photographer's albums WOWs me, I would pay up every cent! mmm... hopefully my

photographer isn't reading this! haha

[jamie_thomas]

You're right on the fact she might not be a good layout artist. I myself feel that flush mount album's have a lot to do with graphic design. I know graphic design is the study of type, but I did major in both graphic design and photography, I feel that, those style of album do lean more toward Graphic design. Maybe talk to her, tell her how you feel, I sure she will understand and will give you control over designing your album. I always include my B&G in the process. By the way did you check out McKenna, I'm not sure if they will print for a non pro, but I think they do. Sorry if I seemed a bit sharp in my last post. Its just, I somtime feel people think were over payed. But you being a graphic designer I know you do have a understanding, how mush work can go into a album, and how all artist are under paid and over looked.

[picturesque]

Have you asked your photographer whether you can do the layouts yourself while he or she takes care of the binding? If it were me, I would be open to that, and give you a discount, considering that designing the pages is a big part of the labor involved in producing such a book. Any professional would not want to step on another pro's toes re handling album production of that pro's images. And most of the album companies work with professional photographers only. It's possible, if you are a graphic designer yourself, to possibly find a source locally to do the binding, using your own contacts.

[merle_white]

Do a search on E-bay for Professional photo albums. That is one of the few ways I know of, for a consumer to get accress to Professional wedding albums. There seems to be a couple of distributors that sell on e-bay.

[steve_newberry___northern_]

Try Rick Taylor at www.albumart.com

[michael_lipkin]

Tabblo.com!

[Brad_]

If you can cosnider doing your own printing to loose pages, check out Cardoza-James

Binding on 3rd St., close to Mariposa. Also contact pn member Jeff Spirer who I went with to

Cardoza for binding an album of photos a couple years ago. First class job, and IIRC, it was

less than $200 in lambskin. Not sure if they print, but suspect they can recommend.

[Spearhead]

<a href="http://www.cardozajames.com/">Cardoza-James</a> did a terrific job. The price was actually around $125, perfectly done. They are a bindery only, but their work is spectacular - they do hand-crafted work, the best at what they do. I would get it printed somewhere else and go to Cardoza James if you want really high quality.<p>

 

Only one of the recommendations above was Bay Area. Try going to Cardoza-James and see who they recommend for printing. You will get something far more unique, appropriate, and hand-crafted than at the other sources above.