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photo book lay flat pages

tkradtke

tkradtke

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Who here has printed books with lay flat pages?

I just printed my first book with lay flats and got it yesterday. I printed through MyPublisher and the pages just aren't what I was expecting. I'm curious if they print differently from other companies or if my expectations were off.

I thought I had seen photos of Shutterfly books where the lay flats were paper all of the way to the binding. My MyPublisher book has regular 8.5x11 pages cut and adhered to a flexible spine (not a good explanation, may try to take a close up photo later).

Again, I'm just curious if this is the norm or if other companies do things differently.

Thanks!
 
I know @Karen got some from Shutterfly that lay flat.
This last week I was watching Creative Live thru Adobe...and one of the photographers recommended this company:
Renaissance Albums, specifically the Bowery Books,
they look amazing at the site, it looks like there is a lay flat option!?
She is charging about $5k for a photo shoot, so these may be pricey, but oh they look so high end and classy
 
I just received my lay flat book from Shutterfly and I am thrilled! The pages lay down absolutely flat-all the way to the binding and the quality of the paper is much better than the normal paper they use. I have used Shutterfly for years but never been a huge fan until now - of course this year I am doing 9x12 pages and they don't print books in that size... I may consider changing sizes to print another book like this one. The book was more than I am use to spending, but they had a 40% coupon I was able to apply so it was only about $30.00 more than my usual cost - and my books are usually about 100-120 pages. I would encourage anyone interested to try the lay flat style from Shutterfly- especially if you can use a coupon!
 
AdoramaPix has gorgeous lay flat books! It's been a while since I've researched them for pricing and such, so I'm not sure about all that, but I can definitely vouch for the quality.. :)
 
Thanks for the input!

For those of you who have printed lay flats (@kaphelps and @sm_amber), how are the pages constructed? I'm very pleased with how flat the MyPublisher pages are, they're just constructed different than I expected. Just curious if other companies do it differently.

I tried to take some photos. I missed the focus on this one, but I think you can see what I'm talking about. The pages seem to be adhered to a clear flexible tab that goes to the spine. I sort of expected the pages to be entirely paper.
IMG_3851web_zpsyyow4rz1.jpg


Here's a top view...
IMG_3852web_zpsmj36cqzk.jpg
 
The Adorama ones are totally seamless.. I can't find my photos of the ones I did, and the actual books are packed away in a box somewhere - they were for a portfolio-type project of my designs.. You can kind of see what it's like here, though not very close-up.. http://www.adoramapix.com/app/products/books/layflat/ Steph also did a review of them at the Daily Digi https://thedailydigi.com/12-different-photobook-printer-reviews and here's another with a few more photos... https://thedailydigi.com/my-first-adorama-pix
 
@tkradtke here is a picture of my spine - it does look different than yours...

IMG_1096.JPG

sorry it's so ginormous... I have no idea the different methods for lay flat books - hopefully this shows you what you wanted to see.
 
Thanks @kaphelps! That's exactly what I was looking for. It seemed like every time I had heard someone mention lay flat pages, they had talked about how thick they were vs. a normal page. I was having trouble visualizing this. Lay flat like yours is almost like they printed your pages as one continuous sheet and then folded them accordion style to make the book. The MyPublisher method is completely different from what I was expecting... especially since Shutterfly and MyPublisher are part of the same company. Seems strange that they would have such a different method.
 
Yes, they are thicker @NancyBeck but not so much that it is cumbersome - I can't tell how many pages max you can have - I couldn't find it on their site, but my book is 88 pages and I was not at the maximum.
 
Here in the UK there is only one company that does 12X12 layflat books (I guess they have presence across Europe too). Construct wise they are same as what Kerrianne posted and I have no complains on quality and they absolutely do justice to double pages. But I don't know how they compare on price. With their best discount it costs me nearly £80 for a 120 page book - that is about $120 I guess. A bit pricey but it is the only thing I indulge in :)
 
It looks like My Publisher does their lay flat like Photobin. And yes, that black gutter with my white pages irks me to no end!
2014-10-15%2017.54.41.jpg

AdoramaPix's are seamless:
IMG_1617.jpg
 
I have been thrilled with my layflat pages from Shutterfly. They ARE thicker than a standard page, like the photo above shows. But the print goes all the way to the center, no break in the print from page to page.
 
I've printed quite a few lay flat books from Adoramapix and Shutterfly. While both are very nice, I prefer AdoramaPix, but not their upper page limit. So I use Shutterfly for my year books, and Adorama for my special books. Both print in my preferred size, too, 10x10. It fits better and shelves and is easier to hold. Both have seamless spreads, with is especially good for me because I usually scrap double layouts for my books. I don't have to worry about losing anything in the gutter. Here's just a few of my books.
books.jpg

Here is how the full spread looks.
book3.jpg
 
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