For U.S. RFF'ers: Photo Book makers OTHER than BLURB? Want to go LARGE. . .

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Benjamin Marks

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Shot a friend's wedding over the weekend. Great kid, great party. I'd like to make a really large photo book for the recently married couple. But Blurb and Lulu, the ones I know about, seem to top out in size at 12x12 inches. That's OK, as far as it goes. But does anyone know of a US-based photo book publishing company that goes larger? My ideal would be an 11x14 landscape format with web-based layout options and good color fidelity.

I am willing to use Blurb, as I have had good experiences with them in the past, but if there were really a chance to make a splash with this gift, I'd like to know about it. I saw a book with linen covers and a slip cover from a now-defunct French company. Anything similar on this side of the pond with whom any of you have had a good experience?

Ben
 
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I've used Lightning Press for a couple of books. Great quality, good price, decent turn around. However, I would only suggest them for color books, they do not offer a print resolution high enough for monochrome (IMO).
 
Hmmm. Many thanks for the recommendations. Checked 'em all out, but none seem to offer a size larger than Blurb's 12x12. Blurb is actually winning the size contest here, although I really liked the linen presentation cases at Saal. Printique seems nice, but has a 10-book minimum order, which this project doesn't support (1 copy for the married couple, 1 for each set of parents, 1 for me . . . ). The guests seemed happy, but I don't think they'd want a whole book - -Smugmug galleries will probably be enough for them (they will each want to download copies of pix of themselves and friends, but won't care about the groom's family/bride's family shots).

Maybe I have to re-think the scale of presentation here. Seems a shame to waste any pixels from the Z8's files. Whoo. Those things are large.
 
Benjamin Marks said:
Hmmm. Many thanks for the recommendations. Checked 'em all out, but none seem to offer a size larger than Blurb's 12x12. Blurb is actually winning the size contest here, although I really liked the linen presentation cases at Saal. Printique seems nice, but has a 10-book minimum order, which this project doesn't support (1 copy for the married couple, 1 for each set of parents, 1 for me . . . ). The guests seemed happy, but I don't think they'd want a whole book - -Smugmug galleries will probably be enough for them (they will each want to download copies of pix of themselves and friends, but won't care about the groom's family/bride's family shots).

Maybe I have to re-think the scale of presentation here. Seems a shame to waste any pixels from the Z8's files. Whoo. Those things are large.
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What are your expectations and why isn't Blurb good enough? Too expensive? The quality is there...

As far as Z8 files, to take advantage of the full resolution at 300dpi, you'd need at least an 18" x 27" book. That is impractical for your purpose since I'd doubt the users would want that... I'm a photobook collector of sorts and I do not like huge books... they do not fit on a shelf right and I end up having to store them (and tend to forget about them). Really, I wouldn't worry about using your file size completely... just be thankful they will look excellent at any book size.
 
JohnGellings said:
What are your expectations and why isn't Blurb good enough? Too expensive? The quality is there...

As far as Z8 files, to take advantage of the full resolution at 300dpi, you'd need at least an 18" x 27" book. That is impractical for your purpose since I'd doubt the users would want that... I'm a photobook collector of sorts and I do not like huge books... they do not fit on a shelf right and I end up having to store them (and tend to forget about them). Really, I wouldn't worry about using your file size completely... just be thankful they will look excellent at any book size.
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I am not so much worried about the cost as I am about the visual impact of the gift. It is a wedding album, so I would expect its first life to be as a coffee table book. As I indicated, I have used Blurb before and don't have a problem with the quality. But 11x14 is a more natural layout for a full frame sensor than a 12x12 square format, I think.
 
I would go with an 11x8.5" size honestly. I think you're underestimating the size of an 14x11 book, when opened there'd be no space left on the average coffee table for anything else! You're talking of a book that's going to be more than two feet wide when opened.
 
plummerl said:
I know nothing about the quality, but I found several in the US that offer 11x14:

Make a Photo Book | Custom Photo Books | Snapfish
11x14 Photo Book Printing Online
https://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books/
Create Personalized Photo Books & Albums
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I was going to say -- Shutterfly has been around for a while and seems to do good work, especially for wedding commemorative albums. Not used them myself but I've seen their work for friends' weddings, birthdays, etc.
 
I made a 22 page layflat book at Printique and ordered 1. I can order additional copies in any amount. It is an 11 1/2 by 8 softcover. With shipping it was ~$60. I posted a low-fi PDF of it before and will again here just so you know what it looked like and if it would suit your needs. They do 12 x 12.
 

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Nice work!

I am thinking more like 60-100 pages. The editorial first cut took it from 8000 images to 600 images. Now I am going to let that set sit awhile before whittling it down. Not all images will be one-per-page. There are many sequences that will be four or six to a page. And some will be full spreads, maybe:

1718225218692.jpeg
 
Printique soft cover layflat goes out to 40 pages. Other booklets may be larger. Forty pages is 80 images.
 
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