I’ve finally received my Photobook and it looks marvellous. The colours are very accurate (Very close to what is being seen on my monitor), the paper quality is excellent and on top of that the workmanship is top-notch. The turnaround time was quick as the book arrived at my doorstep in 7 working days.
For my first attempt, I got a good deal for the Imagewrap Small Square (8″ x 8″) book (60 pages). Despite being a promotional deal, it still costs around RM130 including shipping and paper upgrade to 216gsm Premium Silk). Not cheap but you get what you paid for.
Note: While the software provided by Photobook is sufficient for most use, you might want to use an external publishing program for more creative freedom. I did the design with an external software before exporting into JPG and importing into Photobook’s provided software. It turned out fine.
Prior to ordering, I surfed around the net to see if anybody had any problems with Photobook. Turns out that there were 2 main complaints:
1) Photos look darker in print
When editing photos in the computer, make sure the photos are bright enough. On top of that, ensure that your monitor is calibrated so that your monitor’s brightness setting isn’t compensating for the lack of brightness in the photo. FYI, my monitor isn’t calibrated but prior to editing, I turned down the brightness and contrast of my monitor. I had to guesstimate but thankfully it turned out okay.
Also, it’s possible that you’re not viewing your photobook under proper lighting. Make sure you put it under a proper reading light for best effect.
2) The uploading process takes a long time
Photobook offers good deals from time to time and these deals come with an expiry date. Naturally when it’s close to the expiry date, there will be a surge of customer uploads and thus upload speeds will be affected. Avoid uploading your files last minute. When I uploaded it 2 Saturdays ago, the whole process took less than 20 minutes despite having large files.
Xien Explores 
Good job from Photobook. show me the actual product!!!
Yes… you need to see the actual book, the quality is very good. When are you coming back?
tomorrow night. and most probably wont come back here for quite some time =D
I DO THIS TOO!!!!!! I make one every tie I return from a trip! Looks fantastic! I never get the “flat page” version, but now that I have so many, I’m going to start splurging on that added feature!
Yesss! Unfortunately there aren’t many vendors around my place. There’s one offering flat page but I reckon I’ll stick to Photobook for my next.
And next time, I’m going to get a huge landscape book. =D
The bigger the better! Seriously! I only order the BIGGEST book – after all photos are forever, and when you’re old, you won’t need your glasses to see them! LOL
Right! I know what to do next time LOL!
Photobook Worldwide shared your blog post! Yippie!
which external software do you use? coz i do noticed that photobook’s software doesnt have a lot of creative layouts…
There are a few, such as Adobe Indesign or Apple iBook if you are using a Mac. The former is a professional publishing software and thus costs a bomb. The iBook is more consumer-minded but is only available on the Mac.
wow it looks amazing!! 😀
can i edit them in adobe photoshop and save in jpg? what about the text? did u type them in the photobook software?
Thanks! You should use a publishing software like InDesign or Mac’s iBook for designing if you want complete control. FYI, I did everything in InDesign and then export as JPG. =)
hi! your blog is really helpful. i have a concern though. did you encounter having “low quality” photos when you try to make your pictures bigger? if yes, did you have it printed regardless? and how did the pictures turn out? that red icon would appear on some of my photos that says it’s low quality, but i want them as background photos so i don’t think i could make them any smaller. hope you could reply. thank you so much 🙂
Hi,
I didn’t come across the message but the general rule of thumb is to keep the image at least 300ppi (Pixel per Inch). That means, for every inch, there should be at least 300 pixels. So, if the length of the book is 15″ wide, the background image should be at least 4500px wide to get the best print quality.
Hi,
i just order from Photobook. i would like to ask for ur opinion, is standard (free paper) premium 170gsm silk paper ok? i read your comment taht u change to 216gsm Premium Silk. is the quality is to far between its? TQ if there i would like to change it
TQ
Rj
Hi!
Sorry for the late reply! I can’t really comment on this really, you would be better served by Photobook’s Customer Service. =)
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