Speaking of printing images... where to print a book of images?

[off-roader]

Curious what print services any of you are using for books?

I'm talking pro quality high end books. One you could use for a portfolio or sell to a client? No I'm not a pro and unfortunately a lot of the pro printers will only work with businesses.

I'm hoping to print a book of my macro photography... 12x12 or larger.

Hard back for sure. Leather bound maybe. Open to other binding options as well but I want it to look elegant and impressive to compliment my images of course.

I've already looked at MyPublisher and even had a 8x5 printed book made to check their print quality. Decent enough although I see I'll have to do some additional post processing on a couple of images.

TIA.

 

[Lost Canadian]

Blurb

 

[AYIAPhoto]

I second Blurb. It's free to download and only costs money if you order a book. The software is easy to use and there are instructional videos on their site.

 

[DesertBoater]

^ what they said.

 

[AYIAPhoto]

By the way, be sure to watch their video about calibrating and profiling your monitor so you get accurate color reproduction in your prints. Luckily for me all my photos are used small for bar/nightclub websites and it hasn't been an issue. Once I set up a dedicated box for editing with a high quality monitor that is calibrated I'll be ready to prepare pics for blurb.
A graphic artist friend did use them for a portfolio and had to correct everything according to their printer profiles.

 

[Michael Slade]

So far the books I've made have been all one-offs and I've printed them on 100% rag, bound them myself by hand in every thing from copper sheeting to diamond plate to leather to velum.

But...if I was going to do a short-run and not have it off-set printed, I would go with Blurb. Now that you can submit .pdf files for your page templates I think that the options have taken a quantum leap ahead.

I just wish they had a few larger size options...but that's getting pretty nit-picky.

 

[Lost Canadian]

FYI folks, if you're thinking of printing a book anytime soon Blurb is currently offering free upgrades to their new lustre finish premium paper that's 35% heavier. This offer only lasts until the end of May and can be applied if you place an order for two or more books. Tick the premium paper box, choose lustre or matte finish, and apply the code below in the shopping cart to get the deal.

USD $ coupon code: MAYPREMIUM
GBP £ coupon code: MAYPREMIUM1
EUR € coupon code: MAYPREMIUM2
CAD $ coupon code: MAYPREMIUM3
AUD $ coupon code: MAYPREMIUM4

 

[Ryanmb21]

Trevor - thanks for the heads up, I have printed some books with Blurb and the results are fantastic.