Does anyone have recent experience with this. Have the consistency issues been straightened out? A magazine client of mine is looking at venturing in this direction.
Does anyone have recent experience with this. Have the consistency issues been straightened out? A magazine client of mine is looking at venturing in this direction.
Thanks,
Kirk
at age 73:
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep"
I moaned pretty loud before but I've seen some recent Blurb B3 books that are quite nice so I am going to blow time and money again experimenting... cautiously. Color still looks better than B&W but the toned B&W (sepia or whatever) isn't bad.
My buddy just self-published a book of his bridge photography via Blurb, and he got a copy for himself, and I am surprised at how good it looks. Of course he shoots digial, and the images are mostly color, but he did include some b/w and b/w infrared shots, and they look just fine. As good as magazine reproduction at the least, and the paper is good.
In setting up the book, they say to configure your b/w shots as RGB, not grayscale.
i recently produced a book for the 10th aniversary of my wifes restoration studio on a xerox digital printer, then sent the paper to a quality binder and had it cloth bound, dry stamped and a presentation box made.
we made 200 copies, and sent them to clients, museums, people who are very used to high quality reproductions, no one - no one could tell the difference between this edition and an offset printed edition.
obviously i would not have done this mail-order, look for a local printer, a local binder, do some samples, get them interested, the technology is as good as offset but as with offset you need to find someone who knows how to do it right.
dwnload the book here:
http://www.rigatino.com/2009/03/ciencia-esencia.html
A friend recently did an iPhoto book, and I was very surprised at the quality. Hardcover with image on front and dustjacket for only $40.
van Huyck Photography
"Searching for the moral justification for selfishness" JK Galbraith
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
same here ..Originally Posted by Doug Howk
the images made with a little point and shoot
and the book looked beautiful!
john
This is the place to go when you have extra $ burning a hole in your pocket:
http://site.booksmartstudio.com/
Fairly good luck with VioVio on hardcover and softcover books. There was one issue on the PDF and jumbled text, but they reprinted and shipped at no extra charge. The hardcover cover seemed to have a slight colour shift compared to the softcover, despite using the same file.
At low volume levels, these books make sense. Unfortunately there are issues with colour, due to the nature of the machines that all on-demand printing companies use. Some adjustment is possible if you are willing to control CMYK output, and have the time to adjust based upon a short test run. Turn-around time is not that great when done that way, but it works better at quality consistency than simply relying upon templates.
The price premium of Lulu and Blurb over VioVio is something I feel is not reflected in the output quality. If you just want low cost, then it is tough to beat VioVio. However, if you want even better quality, there are even better choices, but they will cost a great deal more.
Ciao!
Gordon Moat Photography
A&I in LA is doing them as well, indigo press, good quality, soft or hardcover.
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