A happy customer reports.
I have just received my first Blurb book and have to say straight out that I’m pretty happy. The reason I’m writing this is partly to redress the number of negative posts out there and for the benefit of anyone else like myself starting out with Blurb, as it was with some trepidation that I ordered it this book. Having read numerous posts on the Blurb site concerning print quality, binding quality and the mechanics of the process it seemed that the only way to find out what the results would be like was to try it. So for the record I used version 1.9.2.20770, it’s a 11×13 hardback with 40 pages. I live in the UK… and it seems that it was printed in The Netherlands. It was delivered by UPS standard service and from upload to receiving the book took 14 days. It’s fair to say that a 13×11 hardback was jumping in at the deep end somewhat for a first book but this is the product I wanted so there seemed little point in experimenting with a different size.
The book is bound via holes drilled at approximately half inch intervals along the short edge of the pages and stitched together onto a continuous tape that is glued to the inside of the covers… this as far as I understand is termed side stitching… it is not saddle stitched which is what you will more commonly see in a similar sort of book that you would buy in a shop and can’t be because it is made up of individual leafs not folded pairs. It does work though, looks good, the pages are well and truly attached and I can’t see them coming out short of abuse of the book.
The print quality is very good… as good as any digital printing I’ve seen… with a couple of caveats.
Colour is accurate… I would go so far as to say spot on… both on the pages and on the loose cover but overall the printing is a mite dark… I would say about a 1/3 stop, (I’m a photographer so it’s the only way I know to express this!), and arguably a tiny, tiny bit contrasty but without having the original images to compare with wouldn’t be noticed. I soft proofed using the HP Indigo profile.. so it seems to work well for colour but not so well brightness… maybe it’s a generic profile rather than specific to the Blurb machine. I will consider making my own profile but of course can’t be sure that it will always be current, probably worth a go though. I created a couple of pages in Photoshop and dropped them into full bleed pages without a problem. Images were sized in pixels at 300 dpi to Blurb spec, converted to sRGB in Photoshop and sharpened. No extra sharpening seems to be added anywhere else in the production… a huge relief.
There is some banding… the cover of my book is a continuos tone of pale green and it shows here, though I seem to be the only one to notice it.. it is definitely there though. Banding also appears in one… but only one image inside.. again on a continuous tone. If anything I feel that this is my number one gripe. Surely Blurb this is something you can sort out, if I can stop my Epson desktop inkjet banding couldn’t you get your subcontractors to do the same?
The paper used is essentially semi matte. It could be heavier or at least more resilient, another 20gsm would make all the difference… though this is largely a personal view and not something I’m going to let bother me because overall I’m happy with the product. At £38 all in for a one off 40 page hard back 13×11 book it’s a bargain. I like the fact that Blurb designers have actually looked at photographic books and seem to appreciate what a good photobook should/can be… so much more than a faux scrapbook.. though this facility is there if you want it of course. That 13×11 is offered, not just 10×8 or a big square… though a 13×11 portrait option would be nice too. That I can colour manage… all be it somewhat patchily at the moment. That I can comunicate with people who have direct control over the product and seem to genuinely care about it. I know there are other services out there. I’ve tried 3 now, Blurb, Apple’s own service and the German, ( I believe) iCalamus and Blurb wins out for these reasons. I just want to make books and now I feel I can get on with it and if you’re wondering whether to try Blurb… do.
|
