Before ordering a new album from my most recent trip to France, I thought I'd ask around to see if there are any better options available than iPhoto (I own a Mac and preparing the album is quite easy).

Given my prior satisfaction with the iPhoto books (and ease of ordering), I'd probably only use an alternate brand if it offered a more high end, custom look (maybe using thick stock, better photo quality, or more interesting hard cover options such as fabric or leather books).

My biggest complaint is that my iPhoto images are not perfect; I note some pixellation when looking very closely at the image. (It has been about 12 mos since my last order though, so perhaps this has been improved upon).

Any tips would be well appreciated. Been sniffing around on Google but lots of the review sites do not seem reputable.

Cnet is your source for this type of info.

Mpix gets a good rating on cnet. I would check cnet for more names of internet photo sites and see what other people on cnet think of photo quality.

I order photos from Shutterfly and have been pleased with them but have never ordered a photo book. I've tried snapfish photos but wasn't impressed with the quality. The Shutterfly photos are much much better than from a drug store and almost as good as local one-hour printers.

You could ask at a local one-hour print shop. I find the quality of these places to be very good.

If you're willing to invest a bit of money you could upload and order photos from a few sites such as Kodak, Shutterfly, Mpix and others.

Have been making photo books from Shutterfly since 2006, in my opinion they do a wonderful job, you have so many different options to personalize your book. You may want to take a look at their website. Also, I think they're still having free shipping on orders of $30+ which usually amounts to a savings of $7+ dollars.
Susan

I don't know anything about IPhoto but we are very happy with our hard cover books from Shutterfly. We've done 8 travel books and the photos always seem to be sharper and brighter in the books than a printed photo.

We do enhance the photos a bit before we put them in but then we are always surprised that the finished book is better.

It's quite easy to use and you get better & faster at it as you go along. Ex: our first book has only one photo per page because we couldn't figure out to do more. Our subsequent books are much more elaborate.

www.shutterfly.com

Good luck!

I used A&I once (I had a Groupon) and was really pleased with how it came out. The software was easy to figure out, though it's possible to spend a lot of time on it tweaking things (I imagine that's true with any of these companies - I enjoyed it, since it was kind of a throwback to my yearbook staff days!). They have different options for covers and all that; I used one of my photos for a wraparound cover, actually, and it turned out really nicely.

http://www.aandibooks.com/

I have used My Publisher with very good results. They have an option for very sturdy paper and a lay flat binding that I used for my daughter's wedding album. www.mypublisher.com

I use Blurb mostly due to its customization capability. You have a full control on layout including full bleed pages, the kind the coffee table travel books use, in whatever layout you care to design. You can also control the text to image proportions to allow you to place long paragraphs accompanying the pictures if you so chose.

What I don't like is their photo printing quality even when I use their premium paper and carefully correct the pictures. It is best to organize the book in multiple of 40 pages, e.g. 40 pages, 80 pages, 120 pages, etc.

It is not a good choice for those who just want to layout pictures using stock layout options with simple captions.

Whatever you use, be aware that iPhoto and My Publisher do a better job of reducing photo size proportionately. Some other crop off the photo when reducing-be aware of it!

Sorry if this is something you know already, but double check the resolution (dpi) of the photos you upload. The publisher should have a minimum size/ resolution for best results.

Please share what works for you.

Here is a link to an article on photo books from Popular Photography:

http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2011/02...ur-photo-books

It is slightly out of date because the tests were run in 2010, and some features have been changed since then, but it is interesting.

We always use www.mypublisher.com and love the results! I always get the deluxe books and they are beautifully bound, high quality paper and great photo quality. There are lots of layouts to choose from as well. I highly recommend them.

bookmarking

I have used both MyPublisher and Shutterfly. Good results with both. Sign up for both and get to know their systems but don't order right away... go ahead an make a book with their sofware but don't order. Both often have all kinds of special offers from 2 for the price of 1 to half price to absolutely free!

I got 2 lovely MyPublisher books for the price of one and the Shutterfly one was free with just 6 bucks in postage.

So bide your time and get a deal!

I am very happy with My Publisher. I have done 5 books with them and the quality is excellent. Also fast shipping.

Another happy My Publisher customer. I've done a dozen or so books over the last 8 years or so and am very pleased.

I also use Blurb books (http://www.blurb.com/make/booksmart). I like that you have enormous control over layout: text and photos. I have not found any other product that lets you do as much, and is as easy to use. Wide selection of sizes, hard or soft cover, premium papers, etc. A friend of mine who is a book agent and who has worked for many of the major publishing houses in NY is very impressed with the books.

I just saw a beautiful book a friend put together for her husband's birthday using Shutterfly, excellent quality photos but she is an excellent photographer.

I just got an e-mail from MyPublisher with a buy one get one book free. Enter this coupon code at checkout: SUMMERBOGO It says the offer is good until July 11

Cathinjoetown: I agree with you, you need good photos to start with or as they say, garbage in, garbage out. One other thing that really improves pictures is proper cropping.

I have also used Blurb. I am slightly less happy with the picture quality with Blurb, and the Popular Photography article I linked above agrees with me. But it has the most flexibility if you are adding lots of text. I use it to combine my trip reports and photos.

That article also confirmed my opinion that Kodak Gallery has the best photo print quality. I have used that too, but I am inclined to use MyPublisher now when I have just photos, as it is a bit less cumbersome and allows more control over the finished product.

Another vote for blurb. My daughter, who is a photographer and artist, uses them for her own work. They produce a very high quality product.