iBook - a great way to show off and share your photos

I did a search here and couldn't find any mention of this before, so please excuse me if this has come up previously.

I just created my first iBook. I upgraded my iLife software to get iPhoto 6 (sorry, Mac only) and was surprised by how easy it was to put together a portfolio of my favorite images. I sent the book in online just a couple days ago. I got the book delivered to my doorstep today and was blown away by how gorgeous it turned out. It wasn't cheap, but I went right for the best 30-page hardcover they had. They do have smaller soft cover options too and they are just as nice. The color was much better than I ever expected and the quality was over the top.

I've already given away my first book which was personalized for a friend but am already ordering more copies.

You can see what's available for Macintosh at http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/features/books.html.

Some other great book companies are:

blurg.com

asukabook.com

mpix.com

The Mpix software is a free download and very easy to use.

Cheers

James

Bonnie,

I haven't done that yet (despite being a Mac / Apple user) but agree this is Soooooo easy a feature to use from iPhoto.

I've also researched many online book companies, including the ones James mentioned. So they're out there....

The Apple pricing isn't too outrageous and even sometimes better on the soft cover books which make great show pieces for your work AND as gifts as you mention.

I'm on a tight time frame with barely two weeks before my Shearwater Shark Expedition, so maybe when I return I'll try creating one or more of the books directly from some of my images in iPhoto 6

dhaas

Thanks James, for those other companies. I've been doing more research on this for a presentation I've got coming up and Mpix.com is a real good alternative for Windows users. Asukabook.com is very, very expensive, although I haven't seen the quality and they don't provide any themes like Mpix and iPhoto do. They do have a lot of different sizes but even with the discount they offer for signing up, I wouldn't spend that much money. They were about three to four times the price of iPhoto.

I couldn't find anything about books at blurg.com. Do you have a direct link to the books they provide?

Do you know any companies that print books from iPhoto/Aperture in Europe?

I agree that when the iPhoto books through iPhoto and Aperture are done well they are a nice product with good quality reproduction.

I just want to warn everyone - in case you plan to give the books away for presents, etc - leave a lot of time between ordering and the "give date" because the quality of the iPhoto books varies from rather spectacular to absolutely horrible.

My experience is the first iPhoto book I ordered was several years ago and it turned out extremely nice. Then I ordered about a dozen iPhoto books last year, three different photo groups/layouts and ten out of the dozen books were of horrible quality. There was heavy banding in the blue water areas and even worse reproduction errors that had nothing to do with the photo files.

What is nice is that iPhoto (Kodak or whomever prints the books for them, it might now even be mypublisher.com, but the customer service is Apple) has a generous return policy but you have to allow a lot of time to get the book back and qual it again before giving as a gift. I had some of the books still badly printed after three tries. I wrote complaints, etc to several sources and hopefully the problems have been rectified. Someone explained to me that a lot determines on where you are in a printing lineup. If you are first after the printers have been cleaned you are likely to get an unblemished book but if you are later in the lineup and the printer had not been cleaned on schedule then you will have heavy banding, blotches, color problems etc in your books (particularly bad in blue water areas). Their quality control was really, really bad last year.

Just wanted to pass along my experience on this subject.

Currently I'm working on printing my own photo books on my printer and using a thermal binding system. Very exciting and the only problems I'm running into is paper compatible with my Epson r1800 pigment printer (books are usually best printed on a dye based printer), but I don't want to buy another printer and the pigment printer is nicer quality than dye based printers so I'll post when I've come to some conclusion and write up my successful actions.

What I love about printing my own is I have complete control about how they look, quality, layout etc.

Best, Carol

Check this paper out - it has been developed specifically for the limited edition hand made book market and is compatible with both DYE & PIGMENT inks.

Dual Sided Inkjet Media

Check this paper out - it has been developed specifically for the limited edition hand made book market and is compatible with both DYE & PIGMENT inks.

 

Dual Sided Inkjet Media

Thanks I've ordered a sample of this Innova paper. Only thing is it is quite expensive, over twice as expensive as the comparable dual sided Mediastreet and Red River dual sided Zeppelin coated papers, although the Innova may perform much better, I'll test it. I have the Mediastreet Photo-realistic dual-sided semigloss (6.5mil) coming and test sheets of the 7mil RR Zeppelin also. I've heard that the Mediastreet and Zeppelin work well with the r1800 pigment inks but the blacks can have issues - weather this is due to transfer or just black coverage I'll see, I think it is due to black coverage or lack there of. If those papers don't work well and the Innova does than the Innova will be worth it but it is still more than double the price of the others...........

Again Pat thanks so much for the info and link, when I have completed a successful project I'll post the results.

Thanks, Carol