After a great project with DuoStar Dressage I wanted to put together a bit of a thank you gift, so I tapped Blurb's publish-on-demand technology to create a book of my favorite portraits from the project.
I've ordered iPhoto/Aperture books before, and have seen other books through Costco and such, but have never been much impressed by the quality - ultimately everything looks like it was run through a color laser printer. But last year I bought a copy of Zack Aria's excellent One Light Field Guide, itself a publish-on-demand book, and I was quite impressed by the quality. Lately I've been hearing about one publish-on-demand company in particular - Blurb.
So, I ordered a paper swatch book from Blurb and got started with the DuoStar photo book. Blurb offers a solid range of quality choices, not just for the printed pages themselves but also the cover and binding materials. I found Blurb's layout tools to be excellent, and if there is ever a time I need more layout power I can easily work in InDesign with Blurb's templates.
For the DuoStar book I chose Blurb's largest format, the "Large Landscape", which makes for a beautiful 13 x 11 hard cover photo book. I chose to have a printed dust jacket over a ProLine Charcoal Linen cover, ProLine Pearl photo paper for the 80 printed pages, and ProLine Light Grey End Sheets. You can learn more about Blurb's book making options here.
The DuoStar book arrived from Blurb less than a week after I ordered it, and I am quite pleased by the results! This is truly four color press quality printing, at the same level of any high quality hardcover book I have bought at the local bookstore. There is no noticeable dithering or laser printed look to the images. The pages themselves are wonderfully thick and coated perfectly, and the binding is exactly what you would expect in a published book. Colors are accurate, pleasant. Print is sharp, but not harsh. Exactly what I had hoped for. Excellent work on Blurb's part!
You can preview the full DuoStar Photo Book on Blurb's site.
Adriel Henderson captures senior photos, childhood memories and family portraits from his studio in Keizer, Oregon. Adriel also shoots on location in Salem, Albany, Canby, Woodburn and many other areas of Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley. Contact Adriel at adriel@adrielhenderson.com or call (503) 400-7220. Follow Adriel's work from his blog, on 500px, or at Facebook.
By Adriel Henderson