(Click on the thumbnail to view larger image)I won’t be able to get back to this for a couple of days, but just wanted to throw this out this question to SoFoBoMoers. If you went with Blurb to print your book, are you happy with the paper? I got one back from Blurb a couple of days ago and, while the paper is all right, I don’t think I would go with Blurb again. Just before the beginning of SoFoBoMo, I threw together a test book and went with Shutterfly for that one. Now, I have to be fair and say that I must have let it slip through a crack somewhere and given them the go-ahead to “enhance” my photos, so I wasn’t fully satisfied with the end result. Still, I much prefer the paper Shutterfly uses and the look it gives my pictures. In my opinion, that first book has a richer look.
As a side-note for anyone who hasn’t yet printed, I also discovered that all my desperate efforts to get everything in gamut for the Blurb profile backfired a bit. I knew the images looked a little light, but trusted the profile. Unfortunately, the prints are lighter than I would like. I certainly am looking forward to Doug Stockdale’s report on his experiment with sharpening for Blurb.
Later, I will have some more comments about my experience with SoFoBoMo, but the rest will have to wait for another day. One quick note: seeing a finished book didn’t give me nearly the thrill that the experience of making a book delivered. I suppose it makes sense, since this was not my first time to see my name on the cover of a book. I guarantee you the first time around I had to drop in to every bookstore I passed by to check the shelf and see if it was there. Those books weren’t photo books and they certainly weren’t pretty, but what a kick that was—almost as exciting as when that first monthly check rolled in. This time around the real buzz was in all the learning and the sharing. Without a community effort such as SoFoBoMo (can’t stop saying what a brilliant idea it was), making a book is a mighty lonely enterprise. I’m not proud to say that I might never have made a photo book without Paul Butzi’s challenge. Now I think I may be hooked.
