Blurb Photobooks...

Amp34

Amp34

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I got one I made this morning (standard landscape with around 30 pages) and tbh I'm not that impressed. All I can say is you get what you pay for.

The book itself (although very thin!) seems well made but the print quality leaves a bit more to be desired. Admittedly I went for the cheaper standard print instead of premium paper but still... The prints are quite dark and not very photo like, they also seem to have a colour tint on them too.

Having said that I could be being spoiled, I'm comparing it to a Cewe photobook (printed on premium paper) I had done a while ago. The Cewe book cost me £40 and the Blurb book £11 so I guess you get what you pay for.

Just posting this as a heads up for anyone interested in getting photobooks printed.:)

** As mentioned I had the print done with the standard paper, I have no idea how much better the premium paper actually is.
 
My friend at uni got hers done at blurb, must have used the expensive option, her book is smaller than 8x10 and cost £50. Eamonn Macabe (one of our lecturers at uni) was really impressed, and said it was such good quality that she should show it to book publishers.
 
I use 'em for cheaper wedding albums and I've always been really impressed with the quality. Admittedly, I use the heavyweight paper but that shouldn't make a difference.

Si
 
Yeah I do use a calibrated monitor. :) I semi regularly get prints done from Loxley and the photobook from Cewe and they come out perfect so I don't think it's the monitor.

(Just to clarify a number of the shots in this new book are the same shots as those in the Cewe book, as well as a few prints done with Loxley. No other editing between them)

I may see about getting a few of them printed on premium paper to see the difference, problem is this book is designed to be a catalogue so cost is important (and why I went with Blurb for this one. :)

I may have some time later to take a shot or two to compare the Loxley prints, Cewe book and Blurb book just for clarification. :)
 
Terrible quality but...

img4981z.jpg

Cewe at top, Blurb at bottom

img4976m.jpg

Loxley on left, Blurb on right

(The top images are an identical Jpeg sent to both places, bottom the only difference is a crop then a save to Jpeg)

Now obviously it's a bit unfair expecting them to be of photo quality but at least some where near would be nice, expecially from a company that sells "photobooks"...:p

Unfortunately I can't get the the "texture" of the print with any of my current lenses but it's similar to newspaper quality (the whole little round bits making up the photo). More annoyingly it's not confined to the photos themselves, the grey writing (on the left of the top image) also has the same "texture" instead of being a solid block of colour.

I guess for the price the "build quality" of the book is pretty good but it seems to have gone a bit photobox on the prints...
 
I had one printed before last Christmas on the premium paper and it came back a bit dark. :( The paper quality was very nice though. I have an uncalibrated monitor though, so it could have been my fault. :bonk:

If you are really unhappy get in touch with them and tell them. They may offer e re-print. Don't know till you ask. :shrug:

Through various stuff going on when I got mine, it would have been to long to complain.
 
hi

amp34 maybe i can shed a little light on your disapointment. i work for photographic print company,i wont say who obviously but i know blurb well as they are competitors in our field.
most photobooks (except for high end ones) are printed on digital printing presses more specifically the hp indigo range of presses,files no matter what they are are inputed through a rip to be converted to press format,the output file is always cmyk,also icc profiles are attached. indigo presses also have a colour correction program that has a -4 or +4 tolearnce to the set measured value of its densitometer,which can also drift quite frequntley. what has happen with your book is blurb have done it somewhere in a big batch of other books and the colour has drifted on the press at some point,a simple colour correction would have give you a much closer reproduction of your photo image you have next to the book,unfortunatley companys like blurb are geared to mass book production of hundreds if not thouands of books each day,takeing time to make sure every book is exactly as the customer wants it just isnt possible,99% of the time the colour output on the press is compariable to customers expectations,but if you need that
bit more attention paid to your book im afraid a more expensive,smaller company is your only option. this is the reality in the print industry im afraid,i know blurb do excellent products for the prices they charge by the way they are a good photobook producer in the field,the small dots you see by the way are how the image is made cmyk overlaid on top of each other,as you have noticed they also make up the txt,and as most digital presses dont use white ink,the cmyk also changes the tone of the white sheet to match the shade of white in the file. just think a litle info goes along way to bridgeing understanding beetween you photographers and us printers we want what you want satisfied customers and more orders

cheers
 
have you raised a complaint with Blurb? They are very good at customer care. £11 prints are not going to be loxley quality or even £40 book quality, so its a little unfair to compair. Ive got a few Blurb books and really cant find fault with them, but then I did spend a bit more..
 
Thanks roobear78, that's interesting to know. Would it be better if I set the photos to cmyk before sending them or isn't it going to make any difference?

Obviously they aren't going to be the same quality, however you'd expect a photobook company to make a reasonably good photobook. :) As I already mentioned i'm going to order a couple more on the premium paper but I think in future I will definately be spending more with someone else if I want anything more than a brochure. :)
 
hi amp34

no im afaid it wont make any difference,its really all about the process at blurbs end and
probably the paper isnt helping either,i have sampled the paper they use for low cost books
it really is just 1 step up from toilet paper im afraid. for a good book the paper needs a brilliant white base at around 170gsm to 250gsm weight and either a silk or satin finish.
i do think you will be happier with the premium paper,but i would also take mattys advise and contact them about it,the image is far too washed out,the green especially should never go that way,the press has went far too long without a calibration.
the hp indigos are fantastic at printing and can give you brilliant work,but im afraid if its not run right this is what happens.
its a 2 edge sword for companies,the vast amount of customers are just amazed at seeing there images in a book,they dont have an eye for colour so companies can really get away with a lot of things ,on the other side there are customers like youself who have a specific requirment for there product,i agree with you that a company that does photobooks should do a reasonably good one,and at this effort they have failed im afraid

to quote your inital post you do very much get what you pay for with photobooks, as i said blurb do great work they are players on the scene,your book is just case of press operator with a stack of 2000 or more £11 photobooks to print and the managers size 8 kickin there ass to get them out on service time,keep the press printing and dont stop for *****
 
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