iPhoto book (review)

rjfiske · Jan 25, 2006

For what it's worth...

We had ordered a soft-cover book from iPhoto and received it a few days ago. It looks great... very professional (though we used it for family purposes). I showed the book to a co-worker and she was very impressed with the book itself. When I showed how I created it using iPhoto she couldn't believe it was that easy. She asked me how much iPhoto was. I said "free with every new Mac". Yes, she may be getting a Mac on this one feature alone!

Back to the book... the photos weren't spot-on perfect. I picked up some kind of funky texture when the page was held at an angle. It wasn't a deal-killer but it was noticeable to me. And because I used iPhoto 06 (the latest and greatest) I don't have an old-vs.-new comparison to give. What else... oh I ordered on a Thursday night and rec'd on a Monday.

Any other questions, let me know.

- rjfiske

p0intblank · Jan 25, 2006

Thanks for the mini review. This feature would be great for a portfolio of some kind.

bendejo · Aug 29, 2006

Are the printed pages in the iPhoto book glossy or matte? My wife and I are looking into making an iPhoto book of wedding pictures for our first anniversary... sort of a gift to each other (apparently the traditional first anniversary gift is "paper")... but I was curious about the quality of the finished product and what it really looked like. I saw the new "Get A Mac" ad for the iPhoto book but couldn't tell from that how the pages looked.

MacBoobsPro · Aug 29, 2006

rjfiske said:
For what it's worth...

We had ordered a soft-cover book from iPhoto and received it a few days ago. It looks great... very professional (though we used it for family purposes). I showed the book to a co-worker and she was very impressed with the book itself. When I showed how I created it using iPhoto she couldn't believe it was that easy. She asked me how much iPhoto was. I said "free with every new Mac". Yes, she may be getting a Mac on this one feature alone!

Back to the book... the photos weren't spot-on perfect. I picked up some kind of funky texture when the page was held at an angle. It wasn't a deal-killer but it was noticeable to me. And because I used iPhoto 06 (the latest and greatest) I don't have an old-vs.-new comparison to give. What else... oh I ordered on a Thursday night and rec'd on a Monday.

Any other questions, let me know.

- rjfiske

Nice post. Ive always wondered about the quality but never had the urge to try it (or the images). I showed a newbie mac switcher friend the feature in iPhoto and after being amazed at how simple it was she went straight away and created a card for somebody. I forgot to ask her how it looked. Doh...

amiga · Aug 29, 2006

Cool, just been thinking about getting an iPhoto book as a photographic portfolio!

Anybody else have any feedback?

dextertangocci · Aug 29, 2006

bendejo said:
Are the printed pages in the iPhoto book glossy or matte? My wife and I are looking into making an iPhoto book of wedding pictures for our first anniversary... sort of a gift to each other (apparently the traditional first anniversary gift is "paper")... but I was curious about the quality of the finished product and what it really looked like. I saw the new "Get A Mac" ad for the iPhoto book but couldn't tell from that how the pages looked.

This might help:

sreedy · Aug 29, 2006

I use the books all the time for trips I have taken, then they fit on the coffee table.... people love them.

It's what get's my iBook borrowed the most, people doing their own book.

I'm not sure if it's still an issue in the "latest & greatest" but i used the hack on this page to upgrade the quality and it made a noticable difference.

amiga · Aug 29, 2006

Can't wait to get one done!!!

Edit:

I want the large one but I don't like the 'window' border around the image, I like the look of the medium one best!

miles01110 · Aug 29, 2006

If you don't mind me asking, what is the approximate price per picture? How about durability- do you think they will last years?

Good post though, this has been festering in the back of my mind for some time now

hyperpasta · Aug 29, 2006

Does it have any Apple logos/"made with iPhoto"/"made on a Mac" labels on it?

AlBDamned · Aug 29, 2006

I saw a photo book for the first time on Friday and was really impressed by the look and quality of it. The pictures were very well taken so that made it more impressive, but overall it was a really well done and wouldn't look out of place as a typica "coffee table" book.

It's not cheap, but for a very special set of photos I'd say it's definitely worth it.

mduser63 · Aug 29, 2006

hyperpasta said:
Does it have any Apple logos/"made with iPhoto"/"made on a Mac" labels on it?

My (iPhoto '05) book has a small Apple logo and "Made on a Mac" on the back cover.

Scottyk9 · Aug 29, 2006

sreedy said:
I use the books all the time for trips I have taken, then they fit on the coffee table.... people love them.

It's what get's my iBook borrowed the most, people doing their own book.

I'm not sure if it's still an issue in the "latest & greatest" but i used the hack on this page to upgrade the quality and it made a noticable difference.

I just tried that hack, and on the most recent version of iPhoto, the prefs are set to 300 dpi...

MacBoobsPro · Aug 29, 2006

Scottyk9 said:
I just tried that hack, and on the most recent version of iPhoto, the prefs are set to 300 dpi...

I have only looked at photobooks in ilife 06 and when i drop in a lo quality image (150dpi for example) into a page template i get a yellow caution sign meaning it is low quality. If you continue you get a warning dialog box just before you click 'buy'. If the image is 300dpi then you wont get any problems.

Also to get the best quality convert your images to CMYK first!

vega07 · Aug 29, 2006

how much is this thing?

Abstract · Aug 29, 2006

Yeah, change the apple.iPhoto.plist file first. Supposedly it makes a huge difference, but when I bought my MB and changed the iPhoto settings again for my new laptop, I found the quality level to be higher than before.

And increasing it beyond 300 dpi doesn't make a difference in quality. Others on the net have tried.

poppe · Aug 29, 2006

Can't wait to get a MBP so I can use it to take my pictures of me at college to send to my parents in a book like that!

srf4real · Aug 29, 2006

My wedding albums are photo books. Way easier than a bulky album and various formats available for different family member's tastes. We let them all choose which type they wanted, which pics they wanted, and my awesome uncle J put it all together. Everybody loves them, and picture quality is best you can get from digital images! Smart move, and saved $$$ compared to the ink it would've taken, etc.

poppe · Aug 29, 2006

srf4real said:
My wedding albums are photo books. Way easier than a bulky album and various formats available for different family member's tastes. We let them all choose which type they wanted, which pics they wanted, and my awesome uncle J put it all together. Everybody loves them, and picture quality is best you can get from digital images! Smart move, and saved $$$ compared to the ink it would've taken, etc.

Well hell those wedding photographers would have even charged you more...

Has anyone tried any other stuff? like the calendar or anythign else? Any good?
Just think if Apple started doing something like this for iMovie. You creat your own movie and then put it to that quicktime codec and send it to them. A few weeks later you have a professional looking case and cd design (one you designed youself they just put it together).

gadgetgirl85 · Aug 29, 2006

Where does one obtain an Iphoto book from?

iMeowbot · Aug 29, 2006

viccles said:
Where does one obtain an Iphoto book from?

It's built into iPhoto, but you'll have to move first. Says Apple: "iPhoto print services are available in the US, Canada, Japan and select European countries."

gadgetgirl85 · Aug 29, 2006

iMeowbot said:
It's built into iPhoto, but you'll have to move first. Says Apple: "iPhoto print services are available in the US, Canada, Japan and select European countries."

GRRR

Ugg · Aug 30, 2006

viccles said:
Where does one obtain an Iphoto book from?

I don't know if shutterfly.com operates in OZ but there are a lot of different companies that offer photo books, not with the ease of use of iPhoto, but...

decksnap · Aug 30, 2006

stuartluff said:
Also to get the best quality convert your images to CMYK first!

I don't believe this is actually the case. Most photo printing services' equipment deals with RGB better. I went through this with a photo service once- I found out they were simply converting my CMYKs back to RGB because that's how they print them. Needless to say they looked worse than the original RGBs I tested after the fact.

Ugg · Aug 30, 2006

miles01110 said:
If you don't mind me asking, what is the approximate price per picture? How about durability- do you think they will last years?

Good post though, this has been festering in the back of my mind for some time now

Iphoto book linky the prices and sizes are at the bottom.

The large sized, 8.5 x 11", iPhoto books are US29.99 and include 10 double sided pages. Each additional page is $.99. Depending on the style and the template, you can put up to 6 photos on a page. Although, if you were to make a photo collage, you could put many more.

If you have iPhoto, just click on the photo book box at the bottom and you can play with it to your heart's content. It's really quite easy to manipulate things. I haven't yet bought a book yet so can't comment on the finished quality.

iPhoto book (review)

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