DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

Threads will be shown in descending order for the remainder of this session. To permanently display posts in this order, adjust your preferences.
DPChallenge Forums >> Business of Photography >> Blurb - My first book. Have a question
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 20 of 20, descending (reverse)
AuthorThread
03/18/2013 10:31:23 AM · #1
I have used blurb a couple of times and liked it.
03/18/2013 05:45:51 AM · #2
Great job Maria!

I have used Blurb and I was very pleased with the results, I think yours is excellent and they will love it.

03/18/2013 03:57:21 AM · #3
Thanks Becky
03/17/2013 08:52:10 AM · #4
I use blurb for all our family vacations and have never had a problem. I just love their books. Just checked your wedding book and it looks absolutely beautiful. They are going to love it. Well done. Oh I really like the full spread pages you have sprinkled through out the book. Nice touch.
03/17/2013 08:36:38 AM · #5
Thanks for the comments Skip much appreciated.

Think its time to order one and see how it turns out.

Might head over and do that now.

Cheers
03/17/2013 07:11:50 AM · #6
it all looks fine to me, maria; nice work!

i've used blurb extensively for a number of years now and have yet to have a problem. as with anything, though, you get what you pay for. while their less-expensive options are fine, they are not as high a quality as their high-end options. you need to give you're clients the options and let them choose; not everyone wants the cadillac. you might want to do a small book on each type of paper so that you see for yourself (as well as have something to show) the differences. also, you'll probably want to go on and spend the extra few bucks to get it printed without the blurb logo ;-)

one big thing about blurb that you really have to pay attention to are your covers: make sure they are EXACTLY what you want. one thing blurb does not have the ability to do is print a dusk jacket by itself. if something is screwed up (typos, etc), you have to reprint the entire project.

the only two criticisms i have of your book is that one, you started out mixing in some toned images, then went to all color. it was just enough out of balance to make me wonder why.

also, i thought it was well laid out until the very last page, where you jammed six images onto it. i have learned the hard way with books that less is more. except for a page of headshots, anything more than 4 images is generally too much.

all the same, for a first time out: very, very nice! i think you (and they) should be very well-pleased with the result!

Message edited by author 2013-03-17 07:12:23.
03/17/2013 02:35:36 AM · #7
For those that have printed books how have you found the book compared to looking at your screen

A little lighter
A little darker
About spot on.

Thanks

03/16/2013 11:27:12 PM · #8
Looked at everyone's books and the colors on them look great so I'm guessing that if they look great and your books were great then I should be OK (fingers crossed X X)

I used to calibrate my monitor before I had the mac but I found it didn't match the print shop copies so I decided it was best to get an image file from the shop and a print of the same image and come home and make my monitor look as close to that print as I could. Then print a few of my own images and compare them to the print. Found this more successful as I would be dealing with the same print shop each time. Have done the same with the Mac so hoping it's pretty close to Blurb.

Think I will go and order the book and see how I go.

Thanks everyone for your input and comments on my book.

Very much appreciated

Message edited by author 2013-03-16 23:28:13.
03/16/2013 11:20:48 PM · #9
If you intend to print much more in the way of photos and don't want to worry about colour you should invest in a colourimeter. The best 'cheap' options imo are the colormunki display, or if you intend to print from home too and want to ensure you printer colours are accurate; the colormunki photo.
03/16/2013 09:54:13 PM · #10
I think your layout and color look great Maria. It looked like you had some challenges with bright sun during part of the event yet pulled things off quite well- pat yourself on the back :)
03/16/2013 09:28:03 PM · #11
hi Maria,
I do all my books at Blurb and never had a problem.
I saw your book and looks great, very well done.
03/16/2013 06:43:09 PM · #12
An interesting project and successful in my eyes. Composition and colour looked spot on to me. Not a great lover of casual weddings but that is the choice of the couple and not me. I wish the groom had tucked his shirt in properly as it spoiled what was a good photo.

Overall a lovely reminder of the happy day, the double page spread worked really well. I think you done good:)
03/16/2013 05:34:29 PM · #13
Thanks Joshua
03/16/2013 05:31:53 PM · #14
I really like the full page spreads but the one at the pond threw me a bit. I thought you had a really out of focus shot and on the next page a different shot, took me a moment to realize it was a full spread. Probably just me though. Seems like a nice assortment and nice work on the large group shots.
03/16/2013 05:31:35 PM · #15
I just went and looked at the books by Neil and Brent again.

I do notice that when I look at my book or Brents the images are nice and clean.
When I look at any of Neil's books they images are pixilated.
Why would this be? Do they print correctly Neil? Do you see this on your screen also?

Just thought I would comment on that.

Message edited by author 2013-03-16 17:31:47.
03/16/2013 05:09:22 PM · #16
Thanks everyone.

Here is the link again (got this from the link they showed for sharing)
Fixed the one at the top also

Blurb Wedding Book

I had a look at some books from Neil and also Brent's book (was reading the old thread). They look fine on my computer also.
Also look way better when you make the books go full screen.

Will looking into the colour profile stuff. Thanks

Would appreciate comments on my book.

Cheers

Maria

Message edited by author 2013-03-17 02:32:53.
03/16/2013 10:10:21 AM · #17
Your link took us to your profile but your book is obviously not public, so we can't see it.

Did you try their color management resource page? Their icc profile? //www.blurb.com/b3info
03/16/2013 10:02:23 AM · #18
I was never happy with the blurb book quality, have you ever tried KISS wedding books or my publisher? Maybe blurb has gotten better since I made my book 2 years ago though.
03/16/2013 09:55:25 AM · #19
Hi Maria,

Unfortunately your link just takes me to my own book page at Blurb so maybe you need to do something different to make it a public link? Alternatively, you could generate the PDF book with LR yourself and post it to Dropbox or similar for people to view.

I just recently did my first book with Blurb using LR4 and it turned out great. I'm not really sure even if you can get a public link working that a PDF book viewed in various browsers with questionable color management it will provide you with a very accurate feedback regarding color.

I was careful doing my book to convert all images to Adobe RGB before submitting them to Blurb. Just after doing my book, I participated in a Blurb webinar showing how to do a layout with LR4 (might be viewable as a repeat there now). The guy presenting the webinar has done many books and said he has always done well to just let Adobe and Blurb work out the color profiles. He even uses RAW images for the books as it seems you did. He said the only instance where the color has been off in his books had to do with the colors of the type he had added to some cover images (not the built-in Blurb captioning) being off and then he had to do some workaround I can't remember exactly. But I am inclined to think as long as you are using LR direct to Blurb for your publishing you can relax about the color.

Again my book with hardcover image wrap turned out great. The only thing I would change for next time is paying a few extra dollars to get the upgraded liner pages to get a thick charcoal paper instead of the medium weight standard light gray which is free. I used the premium lustre paper I think they call it and it looks nice, but might also opt for one of the high end options next time.

Good luck, I bet it turns out great :)

Message edited by author 2013-03-16 09:57:10.
03/16/2013 07:40:03 AM · #20
Following is a link to a Wedding book I have just put together and I will have another to do shortly.

NOTE: Link has been updated and now takes you to the book
Reuploaded book - added another image and tweaked a couple. Reckon I'm about done.

Blurb Wedding Book

Colors look good on my computer (27" mac), but I would appreciate it if others had a look and advised if the colors are correct on their computers
I'm hoping if everyone sees good colours that it will print correctly (never done this before) or is it still hit and miss with this type of thing.

I created the book in Lightroom 4 using RAW files and then sent it to Blurb.
Have saved it to PDF and the images still look good.
What do I need to do to ensure the final product is perfect?

The bride had a stepfather who walked her part way and then passed her to her father to take her the rest of the way (just in case you wondered what was happening)

Thanks everyone.

Maria

Message edited by author 2013-03-17 02:39:47.
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 03/29/2024 07:27:04 AM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/29/2024 07:27:04 AM EDT.