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Quality issue: book preview VS printing quality

It is important that my photography (when relevant) is very sharp. I put the effort to sharpening each image according to the output device, image size, resolution and so on.

Blurb’s preview book function creates a low resolution preview, not very good but perhaps good enough to have a clue on what the book offers. However once/if images are sharpened to leverage maximum resolution quality, the images in the preview look like CRAP :-)

I brings this up is because the objective of a preview is to potentially entice buyers. Well, if the images look bad, the buyer’s only option is to trust that the finished product will be good.

Its like trying selecting a wine without tasting it. Or if you are allowed to tasted, it is after it has been diluted with a gallon of water. :-) lol

This is perhaps not a question, just an observation..

Replytopic_b_normal
Posted by
dennysb
Mar 6, 2008 10:19am PDT
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dennysb
 

This is also an observation or perhaps a rhetorical question rather than a criticism.

If you know enough about photography/processing to sharpen your images, then you know enough about processing to reduce your photos to the recommended dimensions in Pixels.

If you do that, I’m fairly certain you’ll find the previews will be much more satisfactory.

On the other hand, if full res photos are to be included in the preview, the size of the working document doesn’t bear thinking about! My poor old ‘puter would die!

I’m happy editing the pics in a bit of software that was designed to do that, and believing that the resolution won’t change at the end of the day. (Which has been my experience thus far, after publishing 5 books containing over 1000 images.)

Now if only I could be as confident with colour and tone!

Cheers,

P
Posted by
bitingmidge
Mar 6, 2008 5:37pm PDT
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bitingmidge
 

I edit my pictures to be as close to the size of what the page requires/dictates, within 1-2 pixel deltas.

I use Blurb;s recommended resolution, which 150-170lpi at 300DPI. I do this because I want the maximum quality on the printed materials.

I use the recommended sharpening procedures given by experts like “Bruce Fraser” whom passed away in 2006, and Jeff Schewe.

So the reason the preview engine is mediocre is because the preview engine is…. well mediocre. :-)

And yes, my statement was a question, rhetoric and criticism :-) lol
Posted by
dennysb
Mar 7, 2008 12:01am PDT
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dennysb
 

Great points from both of you. There is definitely a technical challenge between showing high res images while keeping the file sizes of Book Preview within reason. We’re always looking into ways to improve both – and we’ll definitely keep this forum up-to-date with any upcoming announcements. 
Posted by
JackLyon
Mar 7, 2008 5:18pm PDT
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JackLyon
 

Why are text previews so terrible? They seem to have deteriorated with each successive upgrade of BookSmart … well at least the 1.7 previews were legible … the 1.9 previews are grotesque at all zoom levels …
Posted by
vargus
Mar 14, 2008 11:49pm PDT
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vargus
 

I vehemently agree with dennysb, above. I am a fine art photographer and part of the style that I have developed over the years lies in the use of abundant film grain in my black and white work.  I am very happy with the actually quality of my first book and I have gotten great response from it, even from other art photographers, and particularly for the price.  However, I have had to resort to removing my preview button for my book and issuing a statement that many of the photographs can be viewed on my website.  This is not ideal but the quality of the preview on technically proficient yet intentionally grainy photographs is horrendous.  It is not that hard to decrease the compression quality of the pdf, or at least give us an option.  Even for non-grainy books, I find the level of compression very egregious.

Aside from this issue and the UPS only option to Canada resulting in a ridiculously large extra cost and therefore less sales, I’ve gotten the feedback from my mailing list, I am a huge fan of Blurb and have been recommending you all over the place.  

 I urge you to please seriously look into this issue and get back to us.

 Thanks,

   bret culp

 
Posted by
bret
May 1, 2008 11:42am PDT
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bret
 

Hi Bret –

We’re actually looking into ways to solve both your issues. First, as far as UPS in Canada, we’re very aware of the issue and hope to have some new shipping options available in the next few weeks.

As for the preview, we couldn’t agree more that the current PDF/image quality isn’t ideal  – especially for certain types of photographs. The good news is that better options are coming – as a matter of fact we’ve made some great technical progress just in the last few days.   
Posted by
JackLyon
May 1, 2008 3:42pm PDT
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JackLyon
 

Very good to hear and VERY much appreciated!!!

 Regards,

 bret 
Posted by
bret
May 2, 2008 7:56am PDT
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bret

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