Anyone make your own photo book?

[amkras]

pierces I am over the top impressed with your book. You have inspired me to gather material from previous cruises and given me ideas on things to shoot for an upcoming one as well.

 

I love the way you organized and scripted the book and your photography skills are evident.

Thanks for sharing.

[sparky-elpaso]

pierces I am over the top impressed with your book. You have inspired me to gather material from previous cruises and given me ideas on things to shoot for an upcoming one as well.

 

I love the way you organized and scripted the book and your photography skills are evident.

Thanks for sharing.

 

I've found that since I started making books the way I take pictures has changed a bit. I try to take both portrait and landscape shots of the same thing and I take shots of things like water, grass, etc. to use as backgrounds in case I can't find a background I like for a particular page.

[awboater]

I use My Publisher as well. So far, I have been happy with them.

 

I have been wanting to try Adorama as I have heard good things from them.

[HelenOster]

 

I have been wanting to try Adorama as I have heard good things from them.

 

Just made an AdoramaPix book - in truth, my 11-yr-old son did most of the work - for my Father-in-law for his 80th.

One thing we really loved about it was that with family spread across the US, UK and Middle East we could all work on it together. AND, the results were everything we could've hoped for, and more!

NB AdoramaPix didn't give me a discount or kick-back for posting this!

[pierces]

pierces I am over the top impressed with your book. You have inspired me to gather material from previous cruises and given me ideas on things to shoot for an upcoming one as well.

 

I love the way you organized and scripted the book and your photography skills are evident.

Thanks for sharing.

 

It looks like posting it was worth it after all! :D

 

Thanks for the compliment and best of luck with your book. Post a link when it's done!

 

 

Dave

[Bars7816]

Here's a vote for Mixbook.com. They can make 100-year-old scanned photos look good.

 

http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/family/the-william-wilson-family-album-4825377

[caribbeansun]

I've done 3 photobooks using Photobook Canada and had excellent results.

 

A detailed review that I found very helpful in considering my options is called the great photobook roundup hope someone else finds it helpful.

[cherrybear]

I've been looking at everyone's beautiful books. There are so many talented photographers here, I'm a little intimidated. Camera used is a Pentax K200D with a 50mm-200mm lens.

 

I used PanRaven to make my book from our Hawaii cruise. Here's the link. http://www.panraven.com/storyviewer/StoryViewer.html?storyId=199688

 

It was pretty easy to use and since I ordered it on the Golden Princess it included some extras. The hardest part was deciding which photos to leave out.

 

Cherry

[awboater]

While I have exclusively used My Publisher in the past, I had a chance to try AdoramaPix.

 

And I can sum it up in one word... WOW!

 

I was very impressed, which is hard to do considering I am a cranky old geezer.

 

Compared to My Publisher, AdoramaPix was arguably better in their quality, as well as price. The books are a bit smaller, but not significantly so. And their design tool works nicely, and allows you to change just about any aspect of the design.

 

The only quirk is that when using the design tool, individual objects can get a bit small. You can zoom in if need be, it is a bit of a hassle to zoom in and out continuously. But I designed the book on a 15" laptop; I think my 21" iMac will be easier the next time.

 

Notwithstanding that minor inconvenience, the design tool was very nice. Gosh, they even have YouTube videos on how to use the design tool:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/adoramapix

 

The design tool also has several themes, where it adds backgrounds and graphics to make the book look very nice. Although there are several travel and vacation themes, unfortunately there are no cruise ship themes...

 

And the book... incredible. They use a seamless binding, which results in the ability to create a 2 page centerfold without that ugly seam in the center. But for that reason, you can only get books consisting of a specific number of pages (you can chose from different multiples). Again, a minor thing in my view as you can put several photos on any page (although each photo would obviously be a smaller size).

 

On a recent cruise, I took a photo of our ship (Allure of the Seas) when we were at Labadee, Haiti, and since it was a beach day, I took my inexpensive Nikon S570 on shore rather than my DSLR.

 

And I took a profile photo of the ship with that small camera, which was used to create the center-fold in the AdoramaPix book. The top and bottom edges obviously are cropped, but the total width of the photo in the book was about 16", so it was a pretty large photo for a camera with such a small sensor.

 

I had been a bit worried about enlarging that photo so much, and I don't know if Adorama did any processing of the photo, but I was very impressed with the sharpness and quality of that photo.

 

OK, this sounds like a commercial, but it's not. Whenever I find something I like, I am compassionate about it.

[HelenOster]

While I have exclusively used My Publisher in the past, I had a chance to try AdoramaPix.

 

And I can sum it up in one word... WOW!

 

I was very impressed, which is hard to do considering I am a cranky old geezer.

 

Compared to My Publisher, AdoramaPix was arguably better in their quality, as well as price.....they even have YouTube videos on how to use the design tool:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/adoramapix

 

And the book... incredible. They use a seamless binding, which results in the ability to create a 2 page centerfold without that ugly seam in the center.....I was very impressed with the sharpness and quality of that photo.

 

OK, this sounds like a commercial, but it's not. Whenever I find something I like, I am compassionate about it.

 

....and a big 'WOW' from me, too!

 

I really enjoyed reading your review or your great experience creating an AdoramaPix photobook. Thank you. I copied it over to the lab, and know that everyone in the AdoramaPix team will be delighted, too.

 

BTW if you ever need advice or after-sales support with any order from Adorama, I'm only ever an email away: Helen@adorama.com

 

http://twitter.com/HelenOster

@HelenOster

[awboater]

How about encouraging your AdoramaPix team to include a Cruise or Cruise Ship theme... hint, hint, hint.

[HelenOster]

How about encouraging your AdoramaPix team to include a Cruise or Cruise Ship theme... hint, hint, hint.

 

Already asked 'em when I saw your post, above!

[johneeo]

While I have exclusively used My Publisher in the past, I had a chance to try AdoramaPix.

 

And I can sum it up in one word... WOW!

 

 

I will definately check it out.

 

Got back from EOS cruise on July 2 and have been working on a photobook at My Publisher. No complaints with MP, found it somewhat expensive, although very easy to use.

 

Here is the completed work.

 

After that, I set up an account with Shutterfly to test those waters. I found it very nice, but I did not find any FAQs or help on how to use the application. Somewhat dumbfounded about that. I did find that SF offered some more functionality and embelishments with lots of clip art.

 

However, I found the inability to crop pictures and size them to be somewhat a PITA. You can change the size of a pic, but only proportionally, so, if the pic does not fit the frame, it will fill it up and overflow the parts that do not fit. You really have to get used to that and figure out how to make a lot of adjustments.

 

I found the pricing pretty good. Here is a finished version of that work.

Should you take a look, feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx

[HelenOster]

I will definately check it out.

 

 

Got some You Tube videos here uploaded by AdoramaPix customers, which might be of interest:

 

[johneeo]

Testing new site

 

[awboater]

Already asked 'em when I saw your post, above!

 

Thanks; :D

[awboater]

Johneeo;

 

When you add the shipping costs (My Publisher is more expensive to ship) I found AdoramaPix to be about 25% cheaper than My Publisher. I ordered two photo books last week, one from AdoramaPix and one from My Publisher (different cruises). I already received my AdoramaPix book, and I got an email today from My Publisher that they were still working on it and it would be ready to ship in a few days. I was really disappointed, as My Publisher has been quite fast. If this is a specific incident or not, I don't know, and I am not going to trash My Publisher, as they have made some pretty nice books for me.

 

But I am value-oriented when it comes to buying things, not necessarily the lowest price. To me, that which presents the best value is the cheapest item, even though it might not be the lowest initial price.

 

I remember Nikon's ad in the film days (paraphrasing); "the camera you don't have to replace is the cheapest one to buy, no matter it's cost".

 

Of course, that was long before the days of digital gear, and they sure didn't see that coming.

 

At any rate, I found AdoramaPix to be as good or better than My Publisher, but also 25% cheaper, at least in my case. The next time, it may or may not be. I suppose it depends on the size of the book, options, and number of pages. But any rate, it presents good value to me.

 

Its not that I don't like My Publisher - I do, but I liked AdoramaPix just that much better. I especially like that you have full control of all of the objects in the photo book (photos, clip art, text, and so on). You can even make your own layout and use that rather than using one of their themes.

 

But even though I am retired, I am not sure I have the time to invest in making my own layout. I never knew doing nothing would keep me so busy.

[HelenOster]

Johneeo;

 

.......At any rate, I found AdoramaPix to be as good or better than My Publisher, but also 25% cheaper.....I especially like that you have full control of all of the objects in the photo book (photos, clip art, text, and so on). You can even make your own layout and use that rather than using one of their themes.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback! I've copied it over to the team at the lab and I know for sure it'll brighten their day!

[MJC]

I know this is a lame question but it's my first time doing an online photobook.

 

I figured out how to send email to friends so they can look at my book. I know how to post it to Facebook. All that seems very easy.

 

But, how can I post a link here on CC for my roll call buddies, and in my review?

 

 

Thanks!

[johneeo]

I know this is a lame question but it's my first time doing an online photobook.

 

I figured out how to send email to friends so they can look at my book. I know how to post it to Facebook. All that seems very easy.

 

But, how can I post a link here on CC for my roll call buddies, and in my review?

 

 

Thanks!

 

All you need is the direct link.

 

Also, you might consider putting the link in your sig. I linked my EOS review in my sig for instance.

[HelenOster]

I know this is a lame question but it's my first time doing an online photobook.

 

I figured out how to send email to friends so they can look at my book. I know how to post it to Facebook. All that seems very easy.

 

But, how can I post a link here on CC for my roll call buddies, and in my review?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Click on view book, then copy and paste the link to here or wherever you would like it to be accessed

[MJC]

Thank you for the help on posting a link.

 

Here is what I did. It might be a little roundabout but it worked.

 

From my book in MP, the link in the address box wasn't exact so I couldn't copy it. I used MP to email myself the link to the book (like you would email it to a friend), and from inside the email when I clicked on the link and went to the book that way, the proper link was in the address box. Then I just copied and pasted it.

 

Maybe there is an easier way?