Blurb introduced their layflat photo books late last year, and I've been keen to try them. When Blurb reached out to me recently to review another one of their products, I was keen to take them up on the offer.

We enjoyed a family holiday in the state of Victoria earlier this year, so I created a photo book using photos from that holiday. The book was created using Blurb's BookWrite software, which has improved somewhat since I previously wrote about it.

A couple of restrictions that I encountered with Blurb's layflat photo books:

• The only paper option is the "Standard Layflat" paper; you cannot select any other paper type.
  
  
• There's no option for a black logo page. As I wanted the pages in my book to have a black background, my only options were to have a white logo page at the end of the book (which would look weird), or pay an extra $10 to remove the logo page.

I ordered the layflat book using the economy shipping method (the cheapest), and it took one month for the book to arrive, with the ebook arriving on the exact day that Blurb indicated it would.
In comparison, a non-layflat photo book from Blurb, ordered at around the same time, took just 16 days to arrive.

front cover

front cover and spine

The book was securely packaged in a plastic bag, and then in a robust cardboard packing sleeve. After unpacking it, and looking through the book, my first impressions were:

• The cover has a soft "rubberish" feel to it. It's hard to describe, but it is nice to touch.
• The pages are much thicker than non-layflat Blurb photo books.
• The layflat book feels and looks much more "luxurious" and higher-end than regular (non-layflat) Blurb photo books.
• The surface of the pages is fairly matte - especially when doing a direct comparison to the premium lustre paper that I normally use for other Blurb (non-layflat) photo books.

chimping

Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/15 sec, f/5.6, ISO1000

While road-tripping around Victoria in January, we came across an abandoned church and accomodation buildings in Newhaven, Phillip Island. There were multiple open doors, and no signs warning us to keep out, so we spent an hour or two exploring the buildings with our cameras.

Printing photos on metal is something I have wanted to try, as I have seen some great examples in one of my local photography labs. Metal prints have appealed to me because of the vivid colour representation, the sharpness, and the robustness of something made of metal.

When Will from ShinyPrints contacted me, asking if I was interested in doing a product review of their prints, I jumped at the chance.

I provided a high-resolution photo to Will, and received the metal print in the mail just under three weeks later, shipped from Florida, USA, to me in Western Australia.

I can't comment on ShinyPrints' web-based image submission system, as I didn't use it, but emailed the photo instead.

Shipping details were emailed to me, so I could track the location of the print while it was in transit.

The photo I selected is of a blue and yellow macaw, photographed at the Bali Safari and Marine Park last year.
I chose this photo because it has some bright colours, contrast, areas with detail, and some interesting bokeh in the background. This would provide an opportunity to get a good indication of the colour and contrast rendition of the photo on a metal print.

I was impressed with the packaging - the metal print was encased in bubble wrap, then in a solid cardboard wrap, and then in a larger box with padding. The robust packaging ensured the metal print arrived in pristine condition.

Halls Gap, Victoria, Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @105mm, 1/200 sec, f/4, ISO500

In January, we stayed in Halls Gap, in the Grampians national park for a few nights. The back of the house we were staying in looked straight out over grassland and towards some of the mountains, with plenty of wildlife visible every day. In the evenings we would see kangaroos and numerous birds.
Most days there were a lot of sulphur-crested cockatoos, and they were very friendly. They would sit on our back fence, the kids were able to hand-feed them, and I was able to get very close for some photos.

sunset from the top of the wheel

Melbourne Star Observation Wheel, Docklands, Victoria, Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @22mm, 1/200 sec, f/9, ISO200

The Melbourne Star Observation Wheel, located in Docklands, Melbourne, and at 120m high, is apparently the southern hemisphere's only giant observation wheel. Last week, on our last day of a couple of weeks holiday in Victoria, we took a trip on the wheel. We timed our visit so we would see the sunset while up the wheel, allowing me to capture the photo above when our cabin was near the top of the wheel.