Value for money albums (Folio?)

RastaManBob · 7 Feb 2016 at 21:24

Hello!

My partner and I recently married. We hired a photographer who did a fantastic job of capturing the day. Our package included all images in high resolution on a USB drive. The package did not include any albums, although we've enquired about the options available directly with the photographer.

I've done a few Google searches and there (unsurprisingly!) appears to be a huge number of album options available across a whole range of prices. From the perspective of the photographers here, can anybody recommend anywhere to get an album made that represents particularly good value for money? I've seen options as low cost as £30 from the likes of Vista Print but even as unknowledgeable as I am I'm aware the quality would be much lower compared to the albums costing several hundred. As this would be our wedding album I'm keen not to necessarily opt for the cheapest option but none-the-less given we managed to celebrate our marriage without excessive cost I do not want to unnecessarily spend more than is necessary here...

For reference, our photographer only offers 'Folio' albums with the lowest cost option being a 15 spread (30 page) 'fine art' album at £495 excluding delivery, engraving/debossing/foiling, etc. For the photographers here that also offer Folio how does this price compare? Would you mind sharing what the cost price for these albums is? Am I likely to find somebody who could make a Folio album for less? (That is, if Folio is even the brand to go for...).

Thanks!

Cyanide · 7 Feb 2016 at 23:20

I went through loads of samples from various companies when I was shooting weddings and I always ended up back with GraphiStudio.

The quality of their albums and the choice of options you get is absolutely immense and the price (at least at wholesale!) Is fairly reasonable.

They only sell to professional photographers though so you'd need to talk to someone who has an account with them.

Derek W · 8 Feb 2016 at 13:34

I have looked into using this site for some photos to put into a folio but as with a lot of things I never quite got round to it.

http://www.blurb.co.uk/

As you've got your photos on a usb stick it should be a matter of just uploading to your preferred layout and sending it through to them.

I think photobox.co.uk also offer a similar service.

I'm sure Raymond Lin uses http://www.loxleycolour.com/albums-books for his prints in general (possibly wedding albums as well) at a higher quality / branding than the previous 2 links.

RastaManBob · 1 Mar 2016 at 11:04

Sorry for not returning here sooner...

Thanks both for the responses. GraphiStudio looks interesting, will investigate further. I'd already seen a few of budget brands mentioned but not Loxley Colour which looks like an interesting price point - A little more than the budgets but certainly less than the £500 opening price of Folio... If that has a middling quality to match that might be just the ticket.

Any other recommendations?

RastaManBob · 18 Apr 2016 at 21:22

A brief follow up:

Thanks for the previous recommendations. In the end I placed an order with Loxley Colour as mentioned by Derek. My partner (with no previous experience of laying out an album) took her time to lay the album out exactly as we wanted it and we finally placed the order last weekend. It arrived today and we could not be happier with it. The quality is on-par with (if not better than!) the very best of the albums that we were shown when talking with photographers before our wedding. As if that wasn't enough we've saved a significant amount compared with having made a purchase through a photographer and additionally we've managed to get exactly what we wanted (including small sections for pre- and post- wedding shots). I must admit the layout took a long long time and might not suit everybody (and certainly gave me an appreciation for why photographers charge what they do for albums) but if you're willing to put in the time you can really lay it out to your requirements, more so than somebody (anybody!) else could ever do (on the basis they're not in your mind and don't know exactly what you'd want).

To say I'm happy is an understatement - Thanks again!

a1ex2001 · 19 Apr 2016 at 15:04

nice to hear what you went for in the end and that you were happy with it! I think lots of people under estimate the amount of work that goes into designing a good album, having down a load of holiday books I was more than happy to hand our wedding album over to a pro! Interestingly the design they did has influenced all the holiday books I've done since my layouts are now much cleaner and show off the photos much more.

Derek W · 19 Apr 2016 at 21:17

Glad you're happy with the results. I figured you couldn't go too wrong with Raymond's choice of supplier for such albums. His work looks good whenever he's posted a pic of an album he's had made for a client

Raymond Lin · 19 Apr 2016 at 21:23

The hardest part of designing an album isn't picking what to put in it, but deciding what to leave out. It is all too easy put every single photo in it but if you do that, the overall impact of the album becomes less as a result. It is a fine balance between telling a story and information overload, to the point of boring because you end up repeating the scene in different images.

a1ex2001 · 20 Apr 2016 at 12:12

Raymond Lin said:
The hardest part of designing an album isn't picking what to put in it, but deciding what to leave out. It is all too easy put every single photo in it but if you do that, the overall impact of the album becomes less as a result. It is a fine balance between telling a story and information overload, to the point of boring because you end up repeating the scene in different images.

Totally agree with that we found it really difficult cutting ours down it's weird because you land up leaving out some great shots which you love to balance the story out. I have exactly the same problem with holiday books but have realised that less is almost always more!

RussD · 22 Apr 2016 at 15:55

If you got Photoshop or know a friend who has, why not open it up and do the sizes you want on those images (or use full size) and have a BLURB Book done. I done 12 blurb books for weddings/christenings and for myself and very happy with them.

a1ex2001 · 22 Apr 2016 at 16:39

RussD said:
If you got Photoshop or know a friend who has, why not open it up and do the sizes you want on those images (or use full size) and have a BLURB Book done. I done 12 blurb books for weddings/christenings and for myself and very happy with them.

BLURB books are nice but not a patch on a decent album!

Raymond Lin · 22 Apr 2016 at 17:29

Blurb book is ok, my biggest gripe is the spine do not open flat.

That is something I dislike.