Shared Ink - Making your own Photo Book
by Marsel van Oosten

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6. The Colors

Obviously, for any photographer, this is the most important aspect of your photo book. First impression of the colors is that they are very accurate. Without having the original images next to the printed pages to compare, I did not see any aberrations in the color images. There was however a very slight magenta cast in the black and white images. When using black and white images in your book, there are two methods.

The first one is to save your image in the grayscale colorspace. Advantage of this method is that all grays will stay neutral, as only black ink will be used to print the image - there will be absolutely no color cast. With the second method you reconvert your black and white image back to RGB. At the press stage the file will be converted to CMYK, with components of each ink to create the gray image. The advantage of this method is that you get a better range of grays, darker blacks and more shadow detail. The downside however is that a small change in any of the four inks can produce noticeable color shifts, especially in lighter areas. In that case a black and white image can look cold (blueish) or warm (pinkish).

Working as an art director I'm very familiar with this phenomenon, as it is inextricably bound up with printing black and white images in CMYK. Despite this risk though, I would always recommend this method. Even though the grayscale method will always result in images without color cast, they will feel pale and flat compared to the CMYK version at all times.

If you want to be certain that the colors will come out exactly the way you want them to, SharedInk offers the possibility to have a press proof made which you can use to check colors, contrast and paper quality before having your book printed.

Overall I found the colors to be extremely accurate. And they will stay that way, because all types of paper are of archival quality with no shelf life concerns, as well as acid-free and lignin-free.

Conclusion

Having my first custom photo book made is something I should have done earlier. The experience of flipping through your own coffee table style book is completely different from holding a couple of prints or having a slide show on your computer. Not only was it great fun to design the book, it also was quite educational to find a good theme in my own work that would work in a photo book. It's not the cheapest around, but you definitely get what you pay for - great print quality and color accuracy, full bleed printing, choice of four paper stocks and excellent quality binding. This is the kind of book that will convince your clients, impress family and friends, or one you can actually sell. If you're not sure, just take that 45-day trial membership and try for yourself. Highly recommended.

www.sharedink.com/photographer