Proof books are a great way for professional and amateur photographers to showcase their work. Unlike regular photo albums, proof books are custom printed and bound, with no loose photographs or pages. Professional proof book printers such as myPhotopipe and Full Color offer simple, elegant proof books suitable for showing to potential clients. Photo printers like Shutterfly offer a great variety of photo book design choices, and work well for home photographers who want a memory or special occasion photo book for family and friends. When choosing a proof book printer, customers should consider what they want the finished book to look like, including the size, layout and cover choices, as well as the proof book printing cost.
Features
Photo proof books can have simple layouts of one photo per page, or include multiple photos or backgrounds, depending on what design choices the printer offers. For example, myPhotopipe offers 4, 6, 8, 12 or 20 pictures per page, all on a black background with a white text caption. Full Color spiral-bound proof books offer 4, 6, 9 or 12 pictures per page on a black or white background. Full Color offers leather-look or photo covers for hardcover proof books, and custom photo covers for soft cover proof books. These types of books can have any layout the designer chooses, using the downloadable design templates. Shutterfly offers cloth, padded and leather-look book covers, with a photo printed on the cover or a cut-out area to see the first photo inside. Shutterfly also offers a variety of photo background colors, designs and layouts for occasions such as weddings and holidays.
Types
Photo proof books are available in several types of bindings. Some photo printers, such as myPhotopipe, only offer spiral bound proof books, while others, such as Full Color, offer soft cover, lay-flat and hardcover photo books, in addition to spiral bound. Some photo printers, such as Shutterfly, offer only soft cover books in small sizes and only hardcover books in larger sizes. Spiral bindings make proof books lie flat when they're opened for easy photo display, while perfect bindings (the type used in hardcover and soft cover books) give the proof book a more professional, finished appearance. Lay-flat books have a hinged binding that combines the lay-flat characteristics of a spiral binding with the look of a perfect binding.
Size
Most photo printers offer proof books in a variety of standard page sizes. For example, myPhotopipe offers proof books in 8-by-10 inch, 10-by-13 inch, 10-by-15 inch, 8 1/2-by-11 inch and 11-by-14 inch sizes. Full Color's photo proof books come in 5-by-5 inch, 6-by-4 inch, 8-by-8 inch, 8 1/2-by-11 inch, 10-by-10 inch and 11-by-11 inch sizes, depending on the type of binding, while spiral bound proof books are only available in 10-by-13 inch sizes. Shutterfly offers photo books in 4-by-4 inch, 5-by-7 inch, 8 1/2-by-11 inch, 8-by-8 inch and 12-by-12 inch sizes. Full Color has a minimum of 20 sides (10 pages) and a maximum of 100 sides (50 pages) per proof book, while myPhotopipe offers books with up to 75 pages, and most Shutterfly photo books can have up to 100 pages.
Time Frame
Since proof books are custom printed, they generally take more time to print, bind and ship than loose photo prints. For example, Full Color requires approximately 3 business days to print and bind a hardcover, lay-flat or soft cover photo proof book, and 1 to 2 business days to create a spiral bound proof book. Rush service, when available, can have the photo proof books printed up to twice as fast, at up to twice the cost. Shipping takes approximately 2 days. Shutterfly requires about 2 business days to print photo books, and offers standard, 2-day or next-day shipping.
Considerations
Professional proof book printers such as myPhotopipe charge approximately $1.50 to $5.00 per page, depending on the size of the proof book. Full Color charges about $1.00 to $3.50 per page for spiral-bound proof books. For books with 10 pages or less, Full Color charges about $30 to $68 for a hardcover photo book, $53 to $83 for a lay-flat photo book, and $16 to $27 for a soft cover photo book, and about $1.00 to $2.50 for each additional page. Photo printing services such as Shutterfly charge about $12 to $55 dollars per 20 page photo book, and about $0.50 to $1.50 per additional page.
