Prints, albums, photobooks? How do you display your photos?

[shniks]

Do you print your photos and put them in albums? Or do you just leave them on your computer? Have you made a photobook with them?

I originally decided that a photobook was the best option, because you can easily change the photo size, add captions and create different layouts. I spent a few weeks creating the photobook and really enjoyed the process. I eagerly waited for it to arrive in the mail, and when it was finally here I pulled it out of the box in excitement. And it was so disappointing!! The picture quality is nothing like a real photograph. The pictures look grainy and dull and you can see the little dots that make up the photos. I had done my research and chose a very good company, the best quality paper, and paid a lot for the photobook. But it just doesnt compare to a printed photo from a lab.

So now I am thinking that prints are the best option. But I have no idea what to store the prints in? I like the look of self adhesive albums, but I read they arent exactly safe for preserving photos long term. Slip in albums arent good because I have a lot of shots in portrait orientation, plus you are limited to one photo size. Maybe I should try a dry mount album?

So what do you do with your photos? Any advice appreciated!

[Dylan & Marianne]

True, it doesn't match up to an actual photo print but I still find them a great memento - alot depends on the prep for printing too imo -
We kind of do a mixture of a photobook for a trip and a couple of prints of our absolute faves, and small prints for the family stuff

[Karl]

Depends on who you get to do your Photobooks - so far I have had about four made and they have been of excellent quality on good paper.

Probably best off asking here what companies people use for Photobooks to get a good consenous of which ones are the best.

Karl

[shniks]

Karl - which company did you get your photobooks from? I was so disappointed with the grainy and dark looking photos. I have made prints from the same photos in the photobook, and the prints look amazing in comparison.

[Xenedis]

I have a few prints on the walls (and plan to add a few more from a recent trip to Africa), but for the most part, my images tend to stay in electronic form.

I've been published in Australian Photography magazine a few times, but for the most part, I just don't bother with prints.

My images are in my online galleries.

Despite mostly staying in electronic form, I have a minimum of four copies of everything, one of which is kept off-site.

[ricktas]

Momento are good, so some questions:

1. Are you using a calibrated monitor?
2. What resolution files did you add to your photobook?
3. What KB sized files did you add to your photobook?

My thoughts are that this is more than likely user error, rather than Momento.

[ricktas]

Please be careful where this thread goes. Members with less than 50 posts are not allowed to post complaints about companies, their products and services (see the site rules 3-7).

[shniks]

ricktas - I have done some basic calibration of my montior but dont own a professional calibration program. However, they look great on every computer I view them on. Plus the prints I made of them turn out so that tells me my calibration is ok. I even print some pictures from home using a basic canon printer and even those look great.

The photos I uploaded were full resolution. My camera is 10mp, I edit raw files in photoshop and convert them to the largest size jpeg in photoshop before printing. From memory they are about 7mb each? There is no obvious grain in the photos.

The problem is definitely with the photobook, and the reason I know is because in some pages I added a color background to the photos. Well that colour background is grainy and you can see the little dots/lines that were printed to make up the colour. It is definitely noticeable, and I am not exactly looking at it up close. I expected so much more from such an expensive photobook.

[ricktas]

Have you contacted the company and raised your concerns?

[shniks]

Please be careful where this thread goes. Members with less than 50 posts are not allowed to post complaints about companies, their products and services (see the site rules 3-7).

oops sorry I had no idea.

- - - Updated - - -

Have you contacted the company and raised your concerns?

I dont see the point. They cant change the way their printer works, they cant offer me a higher resolution print.

I guess I was probably expecting too much, you will probably never get a photobook with the same look as a print, not unless you spend a lot more anyway.

[ricktas]

OK., thread closed.

The first thing to do with ANY issue with a product/service is to contact the person/company that supplied that product/service and explain to them why you are not happy. Getting on the net and whinging about it, is not going to resolve a thing