Some have said before that with the dwindling market for film and the advent of digital photography, the photograph print has slowly lost its lustre.
and so…What’s your view?
For starters, maybe a question to start maybe : ‘does the experience of viewing the image on an iMac 5k screen equal or beat the feel of viewing the same image printed and in your hands?‘
For me the answer is simple. Yes., and allow me to share my experience on getting that photo book from the 1st step of designing it to the point where it reaches yours hands all printed and ready to be flipped open.
I do print quite a lot and have used professional printers to even having photo books designed and ordered through an mobile app (the wonders of technology). One that works at the professional level is…
Artisan Prints.
Fabric wrap hard cover book, size 10″X10″, 40 pages
how Artisan Prints works is pretty straightforward, you navigate to their site, create and account and start your project and save along the way. Once done, send in the order and yeap, now’s the wait for the collection of the photo book. If you are after quality and budget constraints is something you don’t have to bother with, they are a pretty good option.
We all know accessibility and ease of usage is also another key plank to adoption. Getting a photo book designed nowadays doesn’t mean that ones needs proficiency in professional software like Lightroom , Photoshop.
I have tried both Fujifilm’s Year Album software and Zno’s (i use the iOS version) and they have literally made the whole process as simple as choosing the template, selecting the photos and making the payment online and that’s it – now you wait for delivery to your doorstep.
Zno’s interesting point is that they are pretty creative in linking direct to one’s Instagram or Facebook account and directly pull your images/posts into a book. Pretty much one of the fastest and fuss free methods available.
Zno’s Instagram Timeline Photo Book.
Very decent photo print quality for lesser than you will have to pay for a meal at the mall restaurant.
Zno also has options where the user has the liberty of selecting their preferred images and getting it done in a nifty hard cover book. (there’s many other options)
Zno’s Little Black Book. (hard cover) 
and I still haven’t exhausted the list of easily available printing services.
In all, one point I will hope to share is that nowadays getting that photo book out is no longer as daunting as one fears. Technology and good design in the processes have led the way forward in creating a fuss free and time investment minimal situation of all types of photographers yearning to have the digital images printed in their hands instead.
And i decided to leave the part on Fujifilm’s Year Album service in a separate post so as not to create too long a post here (lol). Look forward to it.
KeithWee | Photography 