PhotoBookGirl.com

I first learned of MyPhotoCreations last fall when they contacted me to see if I’d like to check out their newly launched consumer site.  Some of you may know MyPhotoCreations as the consumer site for DigiLabs, a pro printing service since 1997.  Pros should check out the DigiLabs Pro site for more features such as web galleries and other professional products.

In my prior review of MyPhotoCreations, I told you all about my first flush mount album called the Anza.  You can find my flush mount and MyPhotoCreations Software Review here.

In this post, I check out the company’s Ashbury photo book.  This book is in the mid-range of MyPhotoCreations’ product line up. It’s less expensive than the flush mount Anza and Marina books, but more expensive than the Fillmore and Portola books.  The Ashbury is a very high quality photo book printed on archival quality coated paper real photo paper and the heavy 110 lb. cover pages lay flat.

Here’s the specs:

MyPhotoCreations SOFTWARE

Since I’ve already reviewed MyPhotoCreations software in my prior post, I’ll just give a brief summary and update.

The software is downloaded and works on both Mac and PC computer. The software is free and easy to use and you can fully customize your own layouts.

Other top features:

• You can get a quick start, there’s no lengthy upload before you can begin designing (the upload occurs when ordering);
• Instant “fit to page” and “fit to spread” functions allow you to place a full bleed photo either onto an individual page or both across pages (the spread);
• Stretch a photo box across the spread for other design effects (the photo doesn’t have to cover the full page);
• Multi-select photo boxes to make changes to all the items at once – a time-saver;
• The coordinates, measurements and resolution of the individual photo boxes and elements are instantly visible at the bottom of the workspace when you hover over each element;
• The one-click “Perfectly Clear” button can enhance any photos that need a boost for a quick fix. The result is surprisingly good.

Here’s a screenshot of the software specs:

I would prefer if the software had more plain background color choices.  I’m not into crazy backgrounds, so I’d like to have more options for the solid colors.  Most of the backgrounds I ended up choosing were neutrals and I varied them by using the opacity controls.

PRINT QUALITY AND CONSTRUCTION

Here are the specs on the Ashbury book itself.  All of MyPhotoCreations’s photo book and album offerings are in my searchable database.

The book came in a big box surrounded by layers of bubble wrap which meant no dinged corners! Yea! I was very impressed with the look and feel of the book at first glance.  It was neatly constructed and looks like a quality book.

I am partial to matte covers, but you do have the option to choose a glossy cover. I chose this photo for the cover because of how it really pops out at you. Turned out to be an eye-catching image that brings me back to my beach wanderings.

A shot of the titling on the spine. You can also add an image to the spine. I was able to perfectly align the image from the front separately, but the back cover creeped in a bit.

The lay flat binding is hinged - very similar to MyPublisher's lay flat binding.

The inside cover is a plain black end sheet.

I always like these vellum end sheets - adds a finished look. Having both the black inside cover and the vellum sheets adds a nice polish.

The following are some inside spreads. I love the beach and the ocean and all the wonderful creatures in it. Looking at this book brings me back to Malibu – in stark contrast to the snow covered trees currently outside my window!

I'm not a big fan of unusual masks or lots of embelishments to my photos, but I did like this auto grid feature.

This negative clip art was also in the software.

For something different, try shooting through unusual objects - these are my sea urchin lenses

I think this artistic frame I selected in the software works well.

One of my favorite layouts. We look like we're talking prom pictures on the beach - but we were on our way to a wedding.

There was one photo that didn't upload right - it's the vertical one. I'm working with MPC now to figure out what happened. Looks like an uploading issue. UPDATE 3/9/11: Happily, MPC is going to reprint it for me at no cost. There is a 100% quality guarantee.

The recommended resolution is 300dpi (which you can easily check at the bottom of the workspace within the software), but I pushed it with this one at only 164dpi. But as you can see it came out great.

There's no logo anywhere in the book, but a small bar code is on the last page.

The back cover - I think it was mounted slightly off center, but it's not too noticeable.

SUMMARY

Overall this is a high quality book.  It’s printed on heavy archival photo cover paper and the pages lay flat.  I did not notice any image loss in the very narrow gutter. The pages are very thick and they flex, but you wouldn’t be able to crease these pages unless you forcefully were trying to do that.  Remember that that 110 pound cover stock of the Asbury book is drastically different from 110 pound text stock. (Text stock is more common for the average photo book.)  The print quality was very good, colors were vibrant and images were sharp.

This was the first time I tried a book in the 10×10 size and I think it’s the perfect size – it’s not too big and not too small.  These images were taken with my point and shoot Panasonic Lumix and my underwater Canon D10 cameras as I didn’t yet have my DSLR yet.  With this size book, two page spreads give you a sizable 20-inches across for your full spread images.  I had no issues with the photos being of too low resolution.  As shown in one of the photos above, I’m currently working with the company to find out why one of my photos uploaded incorrectly.  Other than that, the other images and pages came out beautifully.

At about $150.00 for this 52-page 10×10 book, this is not a cheap book, but it doesn’t look like a cheap book.  It’s made with high quality materials and it will definitely stand out when comparing it to photo books printed on standard text weight paper.  I think it would be ideal for a parents’ album, as a less expensive alternative than a flush mount, but of higher quality than a standard photo book.

UPDATE: 3/9/11 – I wanted to correct a mistake I made when I first published this review.  I had mistakenly thought that the Ashbury was printed on photo paper (which is a compliment to the company and the product I suppose!)  I was thrown off by the finish and thickness of the pages and thought it was printed on real photo paper which it is not.  It is press printed.  The album products (the Anza and Marina) are printed on real photographic paper.  I apologize for any confusion.

AN EXCLUSIVE PROMOTION

In addition to the giveaway I’ve been talking about all week, MyPhotoCreations is offering two great promos exclusively for PhotoBookGirl.com readers!  You can get an Ashbury book like mine for 20% off!

Deal #1:

20% off an Ashbury book!

Coupon Code: PhotoBookGirl20

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Deal #2:

Buy an album get an Ashbury book FREE!

Coupon Code: PBGAlbum

Deals Expire: 3/20/11

Click here for more details on both these deals.

Don’t forget!  The folks at MyPhotoCreations is once again generously sponsoring an awesome GIVEAWAY so don’t delay in entering – this is your last weekend!  You can win a 20-page Ashbury in the 10×10 size like mine!

By the way, the folks at MyPhotoCreations would love it if you followed them on Twitter!

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The Ashbury book was provided complimentary by the company for review. My opinion is my own and no other compensation was received for this review.