Check out the other Portrait Packages at the link below, including our Holiday Packages which include Holiday Cards.

Portrait Packages

While I (John Munson) am not a member of this organization, I do believe in creating outstanding images through a documentary approach with post-production assistance. After using Photoshop for over 10 years, after having taken numerous Photoshop classes and edited thousands of images each year, I have become an expert in the field of image manipulation. This allows me to make average photos spectacular and good photos great, through the use of many adjustments, including cropping, color saturation, color balance, color overlays such as Sepia, or black and white conversions. Other adjustments include contrast, proper exposure (using shadow fill, levels, curves), sharpening, noise reduction, intentional blurring, and countless other effects. Object removal is another service I provide, such as removing an unwanted guest in the background or a skin blemish or lint on a blouse, etc. I have done many photo restorations and custom photo gifts for years, which you can see some examples at http://beaconphotos.com/services/custom-photo-gifts/.

This article by Shutterfly is very helpful in choosing your wedding photographer. It also has several other articles that help you plan out what you want from your wedding photos. Good reading.

This a good comparison among all the D-I-Y consumer photo books. Shutterfly is the winner but the whole review is worth reading.

If you plan to design your own wedding album with the digital negatives, here are a few good tips.

This is the most comprehensive review of Blurb photo books. Impressive. Overall it rates Blurb quite highly.

In some of the photographer forums, I read that these Kiss Albums are very good quality. I love their colored leather covers. Anyway, they will cost the photographer about a $1000 and the bride and groom well over that.

This review is by Adma Parker is pretty darn good, with closeup photos and detailed descriptions. Thank you Adam. Your trip to Italy looked fun.

In short the review shows the strengths and weaknesses of Blurb, mostly strengths. The paper thickness was a little thinner than Shutterfly, but the binding and the cover were solid. Some random dust spotting and missed pixels occurred, but overall one of the best bangs for your buck, especially for large books.

My one hesitation with Blurb, is the book jacket as opposed to cover with the image on it. A book cover can be easily misplaced or removed, making the book less valuable over time.

Shutterfly has been rated one of the best online photo printing and storage services over the last few years. Their print and paper quality is excellent, especially with skin tones. And their albums are well done too. Martha Stewart has even created her own branded wedding album option within Shutterfly, which you can see clicking the link above. The only negatives with Shutterfly are the lack of cover options, no black or brown leather, just white. I believe there are two size options. Also the layouts and effects are not nearly as sophisticated as let’s say a professionally designed wedding album like a GraphiStudios. The price is on par with most other photo books, maybe slighter higher but it’s worth it. For the record, I’ve used Shutterfly for years, but I have no vested interest in their success.

Blurb comes highly rated, and is the best option for your money when it comes to large photo books.