Why am I blogging about a wedding that took place over a year ago? Well, because I promised my lovely readers. And because I only recently found the time to go through their thousands of wedding photos so that I could do it justice.
I knew I wanted to design S&S's wedding album as a gift ever since learning about their unconventional photography team. They hired a local Indian professional to cover the formal portraits and main events. But they also accepted the generous offers from a groomsman and an uncle with dSLRs to capture candids in a more photojournalistic and contemporary style.
I thought that an album combining formal and candid photos from various friends, family, and professionals would be a unique gift. Well, I finally had a spare weekend this June to take on this major project. It was actually really easy to put a beautiful album together because both the wedding and the bride were so stunning.
Used very high res original files (e.g. 2592 X 3888)
Indesign Pages exported as JPEGs at 300 dpi
In my opinion, the quality of Blurb's photobook (with premium paper) is very similar to MyPublisher's quality in terms of page thickness, glossiness, feel, color reproduction, and image resolution.
ALBUM CONCERNS
{Significant Gutter Loss} Since the album does not lay flat, I knew that there would be parts of the images lost in the gutter. I was careful not to have any faces too close to the center and even overlapped some images at the center seam to account for gutter loss.
But I underestimated just how much of the image is lost in the gutter. The digital spread below features a layout where I split the panorama into 3 equal-sized photos. If you look closely, you can even see the overlap of the center seam. Compare this layout to the actual photobook above. You can see just how much is lost at the center seam.
{Darkened Colors in Indoor Lighting} If you compare the digital spread below and the same spread in the photobook above, the color reproduction looks okay. But that's only because the photos were taken outdoors in bright, natural light.
In typical indoor lighting, the colors in the photobook are much darker and not as vibrant as they are in the digital version I see on my monitor. Next time, I might consider brightening the images before uploading.
{Resolution} Blurb and MyPublisher seem to have similar image resolutions (to my untrained eye). The resolution is nothing compared to a developed photo or flush album (see scan below). But for the price, these budget friendly print-on-demand books are nice to look at.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the album turned out.
It's on its way to the newlyweds as we speak! They haven't seen the designs yet so it's going to be a big fat surprise.
Eeks! I really really reaaally hope that they love it! If they aren't absolutely blown away and don't think it's the most beautiful masterpiece they've ever seen... Then I'm gonna have to go over there and strangle some aesthetic sense into them.
that's an awesome gift! i would love it! (hint hint...)
really, it's very thoughtful and truly unique. i think you did a great job and experience is always good.
Stunning! You really have a great eye for album design...have you thought about doing this professionally?
Gorgeous! I'm sure your friends will treasure it! My MOH spent hundreds of hours making an unbelievable scrapbook of my wedding... for herself. I wish she would have made one for me, too. :)
wow that's very nice of u.
great album design. looks lovely.
gorgeous! you should quit your job and just do this for a living instead. =)
that's so sweet of you I can't imagine anyone not loving this
no Borat procession ? :(
indian weddings are amazing. so steeped in tradition... and the colours are gorgeous!
btw, you totally rocked the dance in your last entry.
wow - that album looks awesome!!!!!!! i still remember the one that you designed for your own, so spectacular! want to make my wedding blurb book? JK! i have yet to pick out our pictures for our formal album and kept thinking of making blurb book bc i love their image wrap option. thanks for the review!
i really need to learn and get indesign. that's so awesome! i appreciate all the details that you put in!
wow it's beautiful...beats all those cheesy wedding photos.
what an awesome gift! I like candid pictures more than ones with cheesy poses... it seems to capture people's true essences more accurately.
ummm...is there anything you're not good at?? the album is seriously one of the nicest gifts i've ever seen...the quality, the love and thought put into it, the creativity, etc. i love it. you're amazing! i still think your wedding album was one of the best i've ever seen. yay for yearbookers! =P thanks so much for the detailed review too~!
That album design is amazing! I just ordered a mpix album of our wedding (finally!), I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
thanks for the breakdown of the book making. i probably won't have time to make a themed book of my various pictures, but it's still good to know. thanks!
that's an awesome gift. i bet they loved it. it totally calls out "labor of love".
very nice pictures sherry, and very detailed explanations. but i scrolled down and found the top10 list and was very impressed. hammer of dawn... hilarious yet disturbing you know about it.
If they aren't absolutely blown away and don't think it's the most beautiful masterpiece they've ever seen... Then I'm gonna have to go over there and strangle some aesthetic sense into them. 
Comments (17)
that's an awesome gift! i would love it! (hint hint...)
really, it's very thoughtful and truly unique. i think you did a great job and experience is always good.
Stunning! You really have a great eye for album design...have you thought about doing this professionally?
Gorgeous! I'm sure your friends will treasure it! My MOH spent hundreds of hours making an unbelievable scrapbook of my wedding... for herself. I wish she would have made one for me, too. :)
wow that's very nice of u.
great album design. looks lovely.
gorgeous! you should quit your job and just do this for a living instead. =)
that's so sweet of you I can't imagine anyone not loving this
no Borat procession ? :(
indian weddings are amazing. so steeped in tradition... and the colours are gorgeous!
btw, you totally rocked the dance in your last entry.
wow - that album looks awesome!!!!!!! i still remember the one that you designed for your own, so spectacular! want to make my wedding blurb book? JK! i have yet to pick out our pictures for our formal album and kept thinking of making blurb book bc i love their image wrap option. thanks for the review!
i really need to learn and get indesign. that's so awesome! i appreciate all the details that you put in!
wow it's beautiful...beats all those cheesy wedding photos.
what an awesome gift! I like candid pictures more than ones with cheesy poses... it seems to capture people's true essences more accurately.
ummm...is there anything you're not good at?? the album is seriously one of the nicest gifts i've ever seen...the quality, the love and thought put into it, the creativity, etc. i love it. you're amazing! i still think your wedding album was one of the best i've ever seen. yay for yearbookers! =P thanks so much for the detailed review too~!
That album design is amazing! I just ordered a mpix album of our wedding (finally!), I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
thanks for the breakdown of the book making. i probably won't have time to make a themed book of my various pictures, but it's still good to know. thanks!
that's an awesome gift. i bet they loved it. it totally calls out "labor of love".
very nice pictures sherry, and very detailed explanations. but i scrolled down and found the top10 list and was very impressed. hammer of dawn... hilarious yet disturbing you know about it.