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Just recieved my new iPhoto Books!

wwooden

wwooden

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 26, 2004
2,030
190
Burlington, VT
I never bought a book with iPhoto 4 because they were ridiculously expensive. But with iPhoto 5 and the new medium and small books, I tried them out. I ordered a medium 20-page front and back book. I made a book for my ex-girlfriend because I had a lot of pictures on my computer that she had either never seen or hadn't seen in a long time. She is also the type that likes to have a hard copy of the picture, instead of just looking at it on a computer screen.

All I can say is these things are pretty cool. It made me laugh as i was making it because some of the pictures I hadn't looked at in 2 years. Obviously I took the best ones from different events and threw them all together into one book. I really had a good time making it. I choose the standard Picture Book option and placed the pictures myself. It's amazing the power one photo can have when put on a page itself, or the power a group can have together. The challenge was figuring out which ones looked best by themselves or in groups.

Once I was finished, I ordered it on 2/3/05 and it arrived on 2/12. Not bad for standard shipping. The total cost was about $25 for two copies of the book (wanted to keep one for myself).

Well, when i gave it to her, she actually couldn't finish it because she started crying. There were a lot of great moments and I had some shots in it of her family, some of which are not alive anymore. There are going to be really great Christmas/birthday/anytime presents. Try it out! I can post pics if people are interested.
 
Yeah, I was really impressed with the iPhoto books demonstration given by Steve. I liked the idea before but never really gave it a go due to lack of options and the relatively high price.

What's the quality of the books like?
 
Actually yes, I would be interested in pics to see how it turned it.

Cheers,

James
 
My fiancee used iPhoto 4 to create an iPhoto book for a photography project for class. Quite a bit of money to spend on a class, but I thought it came out very well. Got her an A anyway. :)

I look forward to getting iLife '05, I just wish it was a little cheaper. :rolleyes:
 
My take...

My infant son just turned 6 months old, so I compiled a book from the first six months for his grandparents.

I haven't seen the books, but apparently they are really nice. My mother-in-law cried when she got it, so I guess that says something. She relayed to me that she was showing it off to a friend whose daughter is a graphic designer, and this lady asked if I was a professional designer (I'm not...)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to using this a lot more. The pricing is just so much better now.

-alywa
 
I just received a photo book - my first ever. The quality I guess is pretty well what you'd expect to be. Not great, but ok. The photos are nowhere near the same resolution as they are in iPhoto itself. But it's a cool idea and it's different. I'm not sure I'd do it again. The one complaint I have is that one of the photos is missing (blank). I think this stems from the fact that I ordered it before the iPhoto upgrade to 5.1 which fixed a number of bugs.

I guess I'll contact Apple and complain but it's such a hassle.
 
slipper said:
what i dont understand is, why for an EX-girlfriend?
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Why not? :confused: Being an "ex" doesn't at all make you a mean or bad person... I'm still very good friends with my ex's, both of which i see on a daily basis at school.
 
I ordered a large hardback with 26 pages and it has been 2 weeks and so far it still hasn't shipped. Apple just say they are busy so it will take a little longer. Hell I'm a born apple user so waiting is nothing new :p
 
slipper said:
what i dont understand is, why for an EX-girlfriend?
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I had a lot of pictures that on my computer and I wanted to give her a copy. She doesn't have a Mac and I knew she would appreciate it. We are still really good friends, we get along better now that we are not together so it didn't feel weird giving it to her.
 
ok, finally have time to post some pictures. Over all the quality of the book is good, not great, but good. I wouldn't say the pictures are any where near what a regular photo looks like, they look more like something a really nice consumer printer would make. What you are really paying for is the organization and design of the book, they are really cool and fun to open and look at.
I've attached a couple of pictures to show you how it looks. I just went with the standard book design, I thought it fit the situation the best. One of them came out a little blurry, that is my fault, the book is not that way. I took a close up of one of the pictures, but you can't really tell from that picture, but the photos are slightly grainy. I guess that is because some of them were printed much larger then the others. I think it still looks good. I am very happy with the finished product and plan to buy more when the situations call for it. The possibilities are endless for where you can give these to people.
 

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jer446 said:
can you get these books without having a mac??
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Nope :). I am going to use these things to lure more people over to the Mac. I have shown this to soo many people now and every single one had their jaw drop. They can't believe I put this together and that is looks so professional.
 
I really like the page with the PIP with the mountain in the background. I like how they are two different pics yet they match flawlessly. I don't remember seeing that option in iphoto5.
 
daveway00 said:
I really like the page with the PIP with the mountain in the background. I like how they are two different pics yet they match flawlessly. I don't remember seeing that option in iphoto5.
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They are actually just two different pictures that happen to line up perfectly when I made the book. Sometimes things just work out that way. I noticed that too the first time I got the book, I guess those two pictures were meant to go there.
 
this is really cool. i like your book very much. i like how nice the photos line up and that the layout is simple.

thanks for sharing.
 
Littleodie914 said:
Why not? :confused: Being an "ex" doesn't at all make you a mean or bad person... I'm still very good friends with my ex's, both of which i see on a daily basis at school.
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The point of being an "ex" is that you don't get along.
 
I have made a couple of books in iPhoto 4 and I'm looking forward to making some new books in the small size, they will be perfect party favors for my son's Bday party.

I like that you now can print on both sides and that Apple offer softbound books.

While it's easy to make pro looking books with Apples own templates, I suggest to the creative types that they try to bring in their own Photoshop (or similar program) images, you can make your own borders on them etc.
I haven't printed any books with transparency, but iPhoto recognizes photos with it so I think it can be done without problems.

If you haven't seen any of the Apple books in person, they have copies in their stores. Hope you live close to one. :)

wwooden, there are several alternatives to Apples print services. I'm not saying the results are as great as Apples, but they exist.

http://www.ofoto.com
http://www.imagestation.com

I'm sure there are others.
 
mac-er said:
The point of being an "ex" is that you don't get along.
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How mature :rolleyes:

Even though our circumstances have changed beyond comprehension, I still enjoy talking to ex-girlfriends, even though we're often quite seperated by distance. These are people with whom you've shared much, it's a shame to let that go for the sake of whatever problems you had.
 
wwooden said:
ok, finally have time to post some pictures. Over all the quality of the book is good, not great, but good. I wouldn't say the pictures are any where near what a regular photo looks like, they look more like something a really nice consumer printer would make. What you are really paying for is the organization and design of the book, they are really cool and fun to open and look at.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting.

I'm a little bit surprised about what you said concerning the quality of the pics. I have a Canon i960 printer, and with the right paper, Canon Photo Paper Pro or Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper, the results are indistinguishable from those of a pro printing lab.

Maybe the resolution of your originals was too low to produce better quality results?

Has anybody here try Kodak's Ofoto printing service?
 
I received some samples from Shutterfly, and I was put off by the quality of the printed photos. They definitely did not look like photographs, they were coarser and didn't have the sheen or sparkle of photographs. I think they use the same type of printer as with these iPhoto Books. So for me, these Books are a no go until the quality is on par with a traditional photo lab.
 
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