DeLuxe Album with thick pages

[phcphc]

Actually, I only use mypublisher because it's SOO easy.
But what I really want is DeLuxe albums with thick coated pages like the ones from
http://www.bonmatch.com/
and
http://www.sim2000imaging.com/
So why dont I just use their service...well, the process seems so complicated.
With mypublisher I love the way you can start from scratch with your photos and 10 minutes later you have designes, uploaded and ordered an album. It's almost too easy.

Thats way I would really love to see a DeLuxe album as the next product offered by mypublisher. Go go go ! Even if the price hits 250US for an album.

Cheers
Peter
www.peterholmfoto.dk

[Allison Fabian]

I agree! I would also like to see "thick" or "story board" pages. This would be a fantastic option.

[asmit4]

I third that! Even if the cost was 250 for a book it would be worth it. The professionals charge 1500 for their time for most albums. I'd much rather create my own in powerpoint (as I did) and get a thick paged professional album.

[irusan]

I'm all for the "power to the people" for printing their own stuff. Even if the layout is not as aesthetically pleasing as you would get from a professional photographer or graphic designer, it is your layout and your work; emotional ownership in the end product is very satisfying!

But (if you've read more than three of my posts, you know there's a 'but' coming...) the difference between a $250 album (for example) and a $1500 album is more than just the person's time in building it.

I'll try to hit all the salient points:

1. MyPublisher (and all their competitors) use a digital press to print these books. It's akin to an inkjet printer; albeit a $500,000 inkjet. It's far more than that, obviously, but if you want the details, do a Google search on digital presses or check out Xerox's iGen, HP's Indigo or Kodak's NexPress..... These are high quality prints, but they are NOT photographs. High end albums are photographs; the printing of which are a lot more costly.

2. Speaking of printing, these books are not printed using archival inks nor are they printed on archival paper. How do I know? We wouldn't be getting these books at this price if they were. Archival printing of photographs will allow the print to stay vibrant for decades. Actually, a lot of archival prints boast a lifetime of 100 years or more. That $1500 (or more) album will (or should be) printed on archival paper with archival inks and bound/placed in an acid free album.

3. Time. I can easily spend 15-30 minutes per finished image doing the post-processing. That includes tweaking the white balance so that your wedding dress is white and not (accidentally) ivory. It also includes whitening your teeth (sure, maybe it's a lie to makes someone's teeth whiter but most brides who wear white.... <grin>), removing small blemishes, and so forth.

4. Livelihood. It's how photographers earn their living. Put them out of business and we're all back to handing out disposable cameras at every table (okay, this one was a stretch)

There are people who will not,or cannot, afford a professional album and for them I am glad that there are online services like MyPublisher that will allow them to take something tangible away.

For the others, I just hate to see decisions made based on price alone without truly understanding why that professional album costs $1500. However, using MyPublisher for other albums (parents, grandparents, bridal party, etc.) is fantastic and the savings by giving these albums can help afford the pro album.

Just my two cents,

Rob

[LuvMyM8]

Rob,
I have to agree with you whole-heartedly. My background is based in both art and science. Everything from ceramics, Chinese brush painting, freelance airbrushing (my old love) to being a licensed microbiologist doing information systems... needless to say, I am a perfectionist, one of those left and right brainers. I consider Photoshop to be a necessity of life, and when we got married, we opted for the 4 rolls of 35mm film handed to us by our professional photographer. I felt OK with this because of my background. Of course, the photographer wanted us to go digital, but what a price jump!

In the course of "doing it ourselves" I have found the following:

MyPublisher is absolutely fantastic for taking to work and showing off;
MyPublisher is great for Parents, etc.;

Compiling a traditional photo print album is tricky. It is difficult for the lay person to order a high end album. You really must have your film processed by a pro lab. You must be able to understand aspect ratios and be able to edit photos in Photoshop for things like teeth whitening, skin softening, etc., if necessary. And then there is the whole issue of prints vs. 4 color printing.

Truly, now I know why those traditional photo albums cost so much!

On top of all this, you have to know what looks good.

However, in the course of planning our traditional album, I cannot tell you how many times I have jumped up to refer to our MyPublisher book to see how I layed out certain photos. I am also using the software to plan each page of our traditional album using jpegs from PS framed in black mats using the text feature for my notes. Don't worry, MyPublisher, you are on my mind every step of the way!

Both worlds have their place. People just have to know how to use them properly.