DIY Wedding Album

Carlow52

This my first post here, my lack of knowledge should be apparent.:)

We have 38 digital images of a wedding which we want to have printed at 10 by 8 and put in an album for a gift. The following questions arise:


1: The local 'chemist' will print them for 6 euro each: is this about right?

2: Before we get them printed, how can we check to see that they will 'enlarge' without loss of clarity. They are fine at 6 by 4.

3: 5 were cropped so they print with white borders that we can trim, which leads to the last question.

4: where can we get a nice album that will cater for the full 10 by 8's as well as the cropped ones.

Many thanks for reading this:)

smelltheglove

6 euro each is a bit on the dear side.

The best price i got was recently at the camera centre in Blanch shopping centre and they were doing 5 for 10 but 6 for a single. The general price is around 4 euro each per shot.

You should crop them to the 8 x 10 size really. If it is not something you know how to do I would recommend approaching Steve at 360-dpi.com who is also stcst here. He has done a lot of work for me and I have seen some of his albums which are great and I am sure he would be able to look after you quite well.

The size they can be printed to would be relevant to the pixel size but it can still be enlarged however if the pixels are drastically low you may not get great quality. Steve can help you out with this.

Another way to check which I used to do before I understood all the sizing and pixels was I uploaded my shots to www.mypixmania.com I then went throught he process of selecting them all to the size I wanted i.e. 8x10 and then in the checkout it would let you know by colour coding if the quality was good i.e. green good orange ok and red bad.

Hope this helps

stcstc

do you want a proper album (traditional type thing) or would even a photobook maybe work?

the photobook type thing means you could lay out all the pages etc with different shaped images

the other option is to have them printed by someone like me who can laminate them into the book, this way the images are protected from dirty finger prints etc

Carlow52

Thanks for the replies:

stcstc: what is a photobook please?
We were hoping to just get a decent looking traditional album as the budget is very small.

mikeanywhere

Carlow52 wrote: »

stcstc: what is a photobook please?

Photobook is a digitally printed album and not like the traditional type which has mounts and individual images in the page(s). Sometimes they are referred to as coffee table books

AnCatDubh

Carlow52 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies:

stcstc: what is a photobook please?
We were hoping to just get a decent looking traditional album as the budget is very small.

A photobook is just that - it looks like a book, has pages in it of book quality stock, normally high glossy finish on the pages, options on hard and soft covers, professional binding and can be quite nice really to appreciate. The only issue is that they are NOT an album. If you are happy for them to be an alternate to an album then they will delight. But if your heart is set on a traditional album then they aren't an option.

Personally, the album doesn't get viewed too often and i'd have been more than happy with a well produced photobook for our wedding memento - i'd put more money and effort into great enlargements and framing but that's only a personal opinion.

It is generally not overly expensive if you are doing it the DIY route - you can get them for probably 40 euro's upwards. Sites like lulu and blurb are popular ones for the production of such photobooks.

The boards photography forum book was done using blurb and everyone was well chuffed with the results (I think about 160 units sold).

If doing it DIY, do take time to understand a little about layout of such an album - look around and see what you like. Hand around wedding groups and forums and see what works for people. Look up page designers sites and see what works that you might emulate. IMO - less is more and will be timeless.

Good luck with it.

smelltheglove

Very much what an cat said, less IS more. My first wedding photobook was making my own photobook. I loved it and it blew so many people away, only now I think I would have been better off with just a selection of the best, as was the way for the traditional album, 30 or 40 brilliant prints.

This can still be achieved with a photobook though, just by minimising the pictures in it, I have just completed my own photobook style that I am seriously happy with and it is going on the less is more idea. If you want a real cheap alternative to the traditional wedding album you can pm me if you like, I actually have a very traditional style album here that I picked up from one of my suppliers on the cheap, black leather with a presentation box but I will admit obviously not high quality since the price was under 60. You could make this a diy traditional style album no problem.

littlebitdull

You can get beautiful scrapbooks designed for weddings - the sort of american scrapbook type of thing. They are certainly becoming more and more polular now than before. Two Irish sites I can recommend www.thescrapbookstore.ie and www.craftsupplies.ie (this also has a diy wedding site).

If your in dublin - try either Inspiring Ideas or Art and Hobby for scrapbooks. Occasionaly you will find them in TK Maxx. Sometimes you can pick up a kit which will do half the work.

Carlow52

Much obliged for all the very helpful answers:)

Will try stick to the trad wedding album for this one.

The other half has asked about what different quality photo paper there is and what difference it would make to the longevity of the pictures?