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How are the Apple photo books?

danpass

danpass

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jun 27, 2009
2,790
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Glory
http://www.apple.com/aperture/resources/print-products.html

I was playing with the photo book tab in Aperture. I like the layouts and the full bleed options.

How did yours turn out? I tried Walgreens books one time. Easy to use online layout setup.
They were decent but not very sharp despite my attention to detail in Lightroom and exporting in max size, etc.

Do you know who prints them? Asuka perhaps?

(a title search for 'photo book' didn't turn up much)
 
I was fairly impressed.

You aren't going to be getting ultra high DPI prints, but they are more than good enough for family albums etc. If you are after ultra high DPI prints, you'd be better going to a printers shop if you have any near you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s5tvQLSj6c

Check that video.
 
I like the Apple books (iPhoto and Aperture). They don't rival the best photos books, but they are decent enough. I've been given supposedly high end coffee table photo books that aren't as good.

Your best bet is simply to make one to test it. Choose one of the 8.5x11 sizes, and just dump a bunch of photos into the different page layouts, play with the background colours, etc. Make sure the photos are of good quality and sharp. You could try adding same photo, but at different exposures to see how which version you like printed. You don't need to spend much time with the layout since it's just a test.

I very much encourage testing the book service.... it's similar to calibrating your monitor and printer. Until you know how your system translates into an Apple book, I wouldn't invest the time and money into creating a "good" book.

After thought: The book layout choices for Aperture and iPhoto are different. For instance there is a wire-bound spine available for iPhoto books that is not available for Aperture books. And the projects are not transferable from one program to the other, as I found out a few weeks ago.
 
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I bought a couple a few years ago (one as a gift, one for myself) and I love them. Image quality could be a bit better, but that was more on my end.
 
My parents have made a few with iPhoto which I assume will be similar quality to the ones from Aperture and I thought they were good quality. I don't have anything else to compare them to, but I wouldn't have any complaints.
 
I've seen a few of these that my friends have bought in the past couple of years and I think they look great. Definitely a good way to remember a trip or a team project or something like that. Just make sure the images are high quality and it should turn out great :)
 
We got an Apple Photo Book for a family member as a christmas gift several years ago and thought it was great. The build quality was good and the resolution of the pics was fine. The person loved it and has hinted several times since that they would enjoy another one.
 
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Gave the girlfriend one as a gift from our Disney World trip.. I was impressed with the quality and thickness of the pages. I usually go for the medium-sized softcover when I order photo books via iPhoto.

In fact, I have another one for a different event arriving today :)
 
I got one for my mom for Mother's Day one year and she loved it. I thought it turned out beautifully. The images will be as good as what you give them.
 
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leekohler said:
I got one for my mom for Mother's Day one year and she loved it. I thought it turned out beautifully. They images will be as good as what you give them.
Click to expand...

this.

i think they are great.
the major limits of iPhoto is the limited flexibility in the layout and the very few options in terms of 'shape' of the book
aperture is much better in that regard although it can be sometimes annoying to use.

Blurb is also nice
 
I remember reading a while ago that, by default, iPhoto didn't upload photos at 300 DPI for the photo book. There was a hack to change this, though, and by all accounts it did a lot to improve the quality.

I don't remember any more than that, or if this is still the case, but try Googling around. You might find some useful information.
 
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