A few weeks ago I was sent a coupon to order an almost free professional line photo book. Creating the book was simple using their Mac software (they also have versions for Windows, iOS and Android). Ordering was handled directly in the application, and the book was shipped the next day.
I opted for a 30 page, 8″ x 8″ book with an acrylic cover (they have a metal option too, also printed on), and a black faux-leather spine and back cover.
Inside, I chose the silk photo paper option, and tested a number of their different layouts to see how they would look printed. I started with one of their templates which provided a range of different layouts for each two page spread, including full bleed printing, photos inset on the page, overlapping options and, one of my favourites now I have the book, a full bleed two page spread.
Total cost for this book, before shipping, was just under $150, which works out at $5/page (although you get 31 prints including the front cover. Not a budget option, but the quality of the book exceeds any photo books I’ve created before, and they do offer other options that are cheaper (the “regular” photobook would be under $50 for a 30 page 7.5″ square book).
Quality
The book arrived well protected in a book carrier style cardboard package, inside which was the book in a foam envelope, complete with a protective film on the acrylic cover. It has some weight to it, and the acrylic cover is substantial. Inside, the paper is truly luxurious – thicker than any photo print I’ve ever received, and bound such that the pages do lay almost completely flat without the binding being visible.
Colour matching is spot on, though I would perhaps brighten my images a little more in future (not uncommon when printing photos to compensate for the differences between the transmitted light of a screen and the reflected light of a print).
The full bleed prints, whether single page or full spread look amazing, and even the images from my old 8 MP Canon EOS 20D, taken years ago, printed beautifully at the 8″ square size, with no signs of noise or pixelation.
Photographer’s Store
Looking at their website, they also have options for photographer’s to sell their photos, which I will definitely be checking out next. I have uploaded some photos to another service that offers prints, and other merchandise with photos on it, but I have seen very little interest on that site so far.
Conclusions
Overall, I love the book and I would certainly be happy recommending it to those looking for truly fine art, high quality options for photo presentation. I will be exploring their options for selling photography too, and will perhaps update on that in a future post.
Extra Photos
A couple more photos, one of a page with a shadow effect print and one of the back cover.
Earlier this week I noticed that the Canon camera I had been thinking of getting, the 
Lots of announcements today (technically yesterday, but who’s counting) for new products from Sony and Samsung. The latter don’t interest me that much, and perhaps the reasons for that will be a future post, but the Sony announcement (which I had seen the leaks about beforehand) did include something of interest: a whole new camera concept.
