DGN Photography in Columbus, Ohio

I’m going to take the next few days to do a series of photo book reviews.  There are so many companies out there that will print photo books, it’s hard to know what one to go with.  Fortunately for you, I’ve made some good ones as well as some mistakes.  I will start with my professional quality coffee table book, just because I’m so in love with it. :-)  Then the next few days I’ll review Shutterfly, Photoworks, Winkflash, and Blurb.  There are a few other popular brands out there, but I don’t have books from them.

If you don’t create photo books, you really should start.  (Or buy a special one from me ).  What is really nice about them is they take up SO much less space than the old photo albums with prints, and you have something hard copy that you can get out and show photos to people.  Plus, you can have text so you can explain the significance of the photos, and remember who the people in the photos are.   That’s why I make them for my kids, otherwise they’ll get to college or have their own kids and won’t have anything but stacks of CDs of their childhood photos.  I have a big bin of old slides from my mom, and I can tell you they don’t get brought out, ever. (I keep meaning to scan them in, but I’ve been “meaning to” for 8 or 10 years now).

So there it is.  You can choose between leather, faux leather, fabric, book jacket, or custom printed cover.  This is the custom printed cover.   I’m a big fan of the idea of custom printed covers… book jackets get torn or lost (at least they do at my house).

Compared to my other photo books, this custom printed cover is REALLY NICE.  The colors are true to the original photo, you can’t see any dots from their printer, the text is nice and sharp.  It’s got a matte sort of finish to it, and if it got a smudge, you could wipe it off.

Here are the inside pages.  The pages themselves are nice and thick.  This book has hinged pages, so it lays flat when open.  The colors are true to the original photos, and you have to look REALLY hard and hold it up to the light to even begin to see the grain from the printer.

There’s a close up!

And a close up of the cover.  The little bit of blur is from the camera angle (I’m a better portrait photographer than a product photographer!)

Isn’t it beautiful?  They’re going to have it on a table at their reception for guests to sign.  I wish they had these when I got married (7 years ago).   My wedding album is 5″ thick, and weighs a ton! (it is beautiful though).

Tomorrow: I’ll review Shutterfly’s photo book.  Stay tuned!