aparna_iyer Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 hi - I've enjoyed reading your posts and looking up the websites that many of you suggested for albums. I am a newlywed (not a photographer!) who is interested in getting a custom album made. My fiancee and I went to India to have a traditional Hindu ceremony. Our family hired a photographer in India, who we later found out had very limited experience in wedding photography. He managed to neglect to take photos of many of our important ceremonies - he was outside smoking, or socializing with other people. About 90% of the photos that he did take were posed ones (he kept interrupting our religious ceremony - in the middle of our vows - to tell us to "pose for the camera"). Later, we received the album he made for us - he simply pasted several copies of our photos (none of which were edited) into a plain white book, citing that this is our formal album. As you can imagine, we are less than thrilled - and every time that I think about the photos and the little album he gave us, I get completely heartbroken. Luckily I managed to compile several digital photos from both the photographer and from friends and family, and altogether, I think that I have a pretty good collection that covers most (but still, sadly, not all) of the important events. I have been searching and searching for a company that could put together my photos in a meaningful way - especially one who could capture all the unique aspects of such a colorful Hindu ceremony. I know that most of these companies will only work with professional photographers, so any sort of insight that I can get from your community would be really helpful. I am really wishing for an album that I can be proud of - one that I would enjoy looking at. Thank you so much in advance, Aparna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aparna_iyer Posted January 10, 2007 Author Share Posted January 10, 2007 One more thing I forgot to mention: the photos aren't entirely hopeless! Even though the photographer wasn't wonderful, the wedding itself was so colorful and many of our traditions are so beautiful (asthetically and symbolically) that the photos ended up okay. I have dabbled in photoshop and, with a tad bit of editing, managed to make many of them look stunning. What I wrote in my post definitely constitutes a difficult project, but I hope this consolation (of the photos being workable) will make it seem somewhat less daunting! Aparna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen dohring Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I am researching co's now but for you I would go to www.picaboo.com. Very inexpensive, the software is very easy to make an album. The turnaround for an album was about 10 days or so. The quality is good also. I ordered 1 book from them and was happy. I have also seen Apples ibook I think? You can use windows also and that came out ok for a friend of mine who made one. I would generally keep photos on the bright side as they seem to come out slightly darker, and I say that from two different photographers and monitors etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mariah_smith Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Hi Aparna, I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. My photograph's were heartbreaking also and I spent about a week crying...so I totally understand. I spent many hours editing and making an album and they all came together so nicely, now I cry for a better reason when I look at them :) I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but my local lab makes coffee table books for consumers (as well as pros). They're online at www.arts2001photo.com I haven't used this online feature but they've been doing my printing for years and do a great job! All my other suppliers are for pro's only. Also, you might look into hiring a local photographer that does album design. It won't be cheap (probably $500-$1000) but it might be worth it if you run out of options. I know I would be willing to do it but you might run into photog's not wanting to work with other photog's images. You can either search online or even go into your local photo shop and ask the employees. They may know of nice pro's that will help. If you get completely stuck, I'd be happy to do an album for you. Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_vincent2 Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I use Graphistudio albums for my own work in the UK. I design them myself and they are printed in Italy. I've had a number of people ask me to take their own wedding photos and produce a graphistudio album from them. If you are in the US I'm sure you'll find someone prepared to do it for you. But if it requires a lot of time it will be expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john at storybook pages Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Hi Aparna, We design, print, and bind high-end custom wedding albums for photographers and for brides with their own images. As you may discover as you shop for albums, the differences the more expensive albums offer are in the cover materials and options, the page stiffness and weight, the print quality, the range of sizes and capacities, the durability, and the design options and control. We use leading album companies and professional labs to print and bind our designs so you get the best and the widest choices. And since we custom-design each album based on your images(no templates or formats), you get complete control over the final page layouts. Sample designs we've done for other weddings are on our website. More details in the e-mail I sent. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn_mertz Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 try http://www.lensecousa.com/wedding.htm they have covers with your culture in mind. I have no idea what the insides are like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_sokal___dallas__tx Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Aparna, You don't say where you live, but if you are in the US, I'd contact a local wedding photographer (check out wpja.com which allows you to do a regional search of high quality photographers) and see if they would be willing to do it for you. Expect to spend between $1000-1500. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alec_myers Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Can I play devil's advocate here? I have to ask why a coterie of professional photographers are advocating and conspiring possibly to breach copyrights by reproducing without fee or permission what Aparna freely admits is a collection of photos including those of a fellow professional? Aparna, have you asked for (and got) permission to duplicate this fellow's pictures? Sure he may have been unprofessional, and the album he produced may suck big-time, but are you all aware of the line you might be crossing here? If one of your customers was unhappy with what you produced, would you like your colleagues from another country to offer to their professional services to 'fix' things, without your permission? I'm not saying it's the wrong thing to do, but it's a point, surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari douma Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 storybookpages.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aparna_iyer Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 Alec, I wasn't aware that printing these photos in an album - that would not be published but would be used as my own property - is considered illegal, if I don't have prior permission. This is news to me. If this is the case, then I don't see that I'll ever be able to make an album - I do not have a phone number for this gentleman and I do not foresee any possibility in obtaining any form of contact with him, as he was someone who came from a village in another part of India. Thank you all for your insight! Aparna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alec_myers Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Aparna: with due respect, if it were my wedding, I would just get on with it so I had a book of photos I liked. I think it's pretty unlikely (read: impossible) for you to get into any trouble over it, and as you say, it's not like you can email the guy to ask for reprints. I was just a little surprised that a group of photographers who normally are so protective of their work were quite so keen to ride all over someone else's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_barrett2 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Alec, Just wanted to chime in here to say that what we do at www.createmyalbum.com does in no way violate copyright law. The albums we produce are for brides and photographers that have the rights to their images. If a bride uploads us high resoltion images, then we can assume that they must have received them from the photographer. How else would they have gotten them? If they look as though they were scanned or we have any other reason to suspect violation of copyright law, we will require a release from the photographer. We also offer matted albums. In this case, there is no reason whatsoever that a client does not have a right to do whatever they like with the copies of the images they have purchased. Compiling an album from someone elses images is no different than having your images framed. Maybe I misunderstood Aparana. I did not get the impression from her post that she was asking anything unethical or illegal. My 2 cents. Just wanted to clarify. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aparna_iyer Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 Mike, In addition to that "album" he gave me, he also gave me a CD with the digital images on them. I guess I just assumed that this meant we both knew I was going to print them or do something creative with them. Thanks for your input. :) Aparna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cristy_lum Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Aparna, <br><br> <a href="www.storybookdesigns.net">www.StoryBookDesigns.net</a> <br><br> We work with brides to create custom designed and hand bounds albums for them at an affordable price. Albums start at just $290. Email me if you would like to see an album that was designed for a Hindu wedding ceremony, as well as a more complete price list. <br><br> Cristy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozammel Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Hi Aparna, Being a part time wedding photographer here in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I understand your situation. Coming to you point, have you tried picaboo? www.picaboo.com - Mozammel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maya_moonn Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Aparna- I often design digital albums for my friends for free. If you like I can design the album for you. I got to keep the copyright of my design though. Maya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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