A gazillion photo books are printed every day through different vendors, but there are only a few handful of them out there that I would feel comfortable recommending to my clients. MILK Books is one of them. We love MILK not only for their beautiful designs, but also for their mission (their name stands “for Moments of Inspiration, Love, and Kinship”). Yep, sounds like us. Another thing to love is their worldwide shipping services, which makes them our go-to company for our international clients. That’s why I’m so excited to have Yeshua Quijano with me on the blog today. Yeshua is the content manager for MILK, and he’s going to take us through what we need to consider in order to select the right (yet not perfect) photo book vendor! Take it away, Yesh!
Your Memories Deserve Quality
Pictures tell a thousand words, and the moment we revisit our photos, we can’t help but be taken back to the memorable stories of our lives. Even though smartphones have made photo viewing and reminiscing moments handier, nothing beats the feeling of leafing through the pages of your storybook. There’s something about the memories coming back in vivid reflections when you can feel the photo right on your hands. And for the hobbyists and professional photographers, photo books are the greatest avenue of showcasing their works. It feels like a huge achievement seeing your work printed, right?
Whatever your purpose is, we can all agree that a quality photo book is a must. After all, we’d love to share these mementos for future generations to come, so what’s the use in printing a photo book if it’s not high quality? Your memories deserve to live forever in high-quality and vivid photo books.
The following checklist will guide you in choosing the best photo book provider that will suit your needs. Pin it, and come back to it whenever you have questions about a new photo book provider!
What To Look For In a Good Photo Book Vendor
To make sure you choose the right photo book vendor – one that prioritizes quality printing – check out the reviews online before you start uploading photos. Thank heavens for those people who love to share their opinions and experiences with the photo book vendors they’ve tried. It’s now easier to do a legit check of any photo book vendor before you proceed in working with them.
Plenty of reviews are available online, and you want to focus in on the quality of the printed photos, the durability of the photo book, the ease of using their design platform/software, and even things like the delivery time. If you’re eyeing a specific photo book vendor, you can search something like “[photo book vendor name] review.” But if you haven’t decided on a vendor yet, try looking for “best photo books” on Google.
Here are the specific criteria to look out for:
Clear Images + Good Color Reproduction
The final product you get should showcase your photos at their best, not their worst. The photo book you get should have crisp images that reproduce the colors in them with clarity and accuracy. This is important especially for photographers who used books as portfolios, but the rest of us should treat our photos to the same standards, don’t you think? If any photos appear blurry, that’s a read flag (although you have to make sure it’s not a problem with the photo itself, due to low resolution, for example).
Durability of Materials / Variety of Paper Types
You want to look for quality paper and quality binding, so check reviews to see if other customers who have tried their photo book services can vouch for the durability of the book they received. Many photo book vendors will let you order samples of their materials either for free, or at a discounted price – take advantage of this if you can. Photos that come in glossy vs. matte papers have a distinct aura and “aesthetic” that fit better for certain purposes. If you prefer having a specific type of paper for your photo book, check if the photo book vendor offers the type of paper you want and if the quality is up to par.
Variety of Sizes
Every story comes in a different size. Some photos are perfect for gigantic coffee-table books (for example, landscape photos), while some are suitable for pocket storybooks. It’s like the way 5R photos differ from Polaroid photos – there’s something cool about the aesthetic of looking at a your mementos in the right format, whether that’s a minuscule snapshot of a particular memory, or a giant poster.
If, after all your efforts designing your photo book, your preferred size isn’t available, that’s a real bummer, so before you spend hours getting fired up with your photo book layout, check out the sizes available first. Some vendors will let you switch between sizes as you are designing, but far from all. Some photo book vendors also offer custom sizes (for a price, of course), so be sure to check that out too. Have a clear idea of what your final book should be before you start working on it.
The Price Should Be Reasonable
The beautiful things in life do not always come with cheap price tags, and photo books are often included in that category. There are the materials to be used, the cost of printing, and the shipping fees. In short, you have to be prepared to spend a little more for having your photos printed in a quality book.
However, high prices don’t guarantee quality photo books! It pays to be a smart photo book buyer, so analyze first the prices and the included services / benefits / features. Is the delivery time promised worth the shipping fee they included in the fee? Is the price reasonable for the materials to be used and the output size?
Comparison shop a little bit to make sure you’re getting a good, reasonable, deal.
The Simpler the Design Platform, the Better.
Most photo book vendor websites come with a platform where you can have full control over the design of your book. This is great, especially for those people who want to design their books but don’t have that much background in photo editing, or with software programs like Photoshop or InDesign. Although it’s easy to get carried away with the designing portion of the process, first figure out how the design platform works. This shouldn’t take much of your time. If you visit a photo book vendor’s website and give their design platform a try, ask yourself, is this easy to use, or is it too complicated?
If you’re not that design-savvy, or if you want to create a stylish photo book in the least possible time, go for those sites with drag-and-drop platforms. All you have to do is keep dragging all your photos and design elements, and voilà! All done!
Here is an example of how the design process works over at MILK Books:
A Gallery of Templates
Predefined templates are good, especially if you don’t have much background with design and editing, and as Caroline recommended in this article, they can be very helpful for creating yearbooks quickly and consistently. In other words, if you can’t think of a layout or theme you’d like to go with, check out if a photo book vendor you chose has templates you can use. Some sites offer ready-made designs for weddings, family portraits, travel, even couple themes! These designs simply require you to upload your photos and drag-and-drop designs like stickers and clip arts. Super easy!
Is There An App for That?
A photo book vendor that allows you to upload photos from your cloud storage account, or through an app will make things even easier. We all love to upload our photos to cloud storages site to free up spaces on our phones/cameras for new moments, right? Wouldn’t it be convenient if your photo book vendor just allowed you to pull those photos in automatically (directly from your cloud storage)? I love this feature! Some vendors also have handy mobile apps that let you design your book while on the go, so if you don’t have access to your PC at a given time, you can still work on your photo book. Great for working on the beach!
Reasonable Delivery Times
Beauty shouldn’t be rushed, but it should arrive within a reasonable timeframe. Most photo book vendors have pre-defined ETAs for their photo books depending on sizes and pages, etc., but delivery times may vary if you’re creating a custom upgrade, or if you’re ordering in bulk. I’m sure you can think of other examples. Whatever the circumstance is, make sure the delivery time is within a reasonable range, especially if you need it for a certain event or by a specific date.
I’m a Perfect Pinnable!
Pick The Right Vendor For YOU!
Of course, there’s no perfect photo book vendor, but a quality book is not about creating perfection. It’s about the pleasure of you reminiscing about the moments that matter. However, you do want to make sure that you pick the right photo vendor for you. One vendor might not have a specific feature you need, even though it’s the most popular one in your area. That’s OK. Go with another printer. Other vendors might be pricier than others. That’s OK too – if they are reasonable and have what you need. In the end, what you should follow the most when choosing your photo book vendor is your specific needs, your wish list, and your gut feeling of how much fun it’ll be to create with that particular vendor. Then sit back, relax, and enjoy your photos coming to life!
Editor’s Note: Thanks so much for sharing your insight, Yesh! I completely agree that finding the right vendor takes a bit of research, but once you know the books, the process, and the timeline for how and when to order, boy does that make things easier!
What say you, readers? How did you pick your favorite photo book vendor? Let us know in the comments below (especially if it’s MILK)!
Photos Courtesy of Roann Tubig
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