Blandford Forum Camera Club

To Blurb or not to Blurb that is the question!

For those of you who remember seeing John Burton’s excellent volume, and have vaguely thought of also having a go yourselves, I bring good news.
I downloaded the Blurb software several months ago and started trying to get my head round how to use it effectively. I started tentatively putting a few images into ‘my book’. Like any new program it’s difficult to find your way around at first and I ground to a halt.

A couple of week’s ago I started afresh, determined to finish it this time. Somehow many of the things I found difficult before, now started to get much easier. I deliberately tried many variables to see if they ‘worked’, like mixing full bleed pages with smaller images with plenty of space round, pages with coloured backgrounds and borders round images. I used text on the pages where it was appropriate………and sometimes when it wasn’t.
I found it quite difficult, particularly on facing pages, to achieve a pleasing arrangement and choice of images and in the end finished it in a rush, just to finish and get it printed.

At this time I also read pages and pages of comment from many contributors, some of them very technical dissertations on the problems of achieving satisfactory colour. In the end I was convinced that I was surely going to be disappointed!
Well I wasn’t.
In fact I was very pleasantly surprised. Every image looked every bit as good on the page as it had on the monitor. I remain very satisfied and impressed at such a slick and efficient operation.
However, to achieve good results I think you must start out with a calibrated monitor and make sure your images are converted to the required colour profile, sRGB.
If you have wondered about having a go, it’s not too difficult and you end up with a very nice and convenient way of storing and displaying your images. And this at a very reasonable cost.

If any of you want to get started and want a little help, call me. I’m no expert but I did find my way around the program.
And one bit of essential advice, do get someone else to review your book before you press the ‘order’ button. I didn’t and ended up with a couple of silly typographical errors
I am sure there are other companies and programs that can produce similar results, however I have only tried Blurb.

Keith

footnote. To get started you need to go to the Blurb web site (blurb.com) and download the ‘booksmart’ programme.