Blurb Photo Book review

I’ve tested my fair share of the best photo books available, so I can say with complete certainty that the Blurb photo book isn’t one of them. After slaving away to create a photo book, you want a result that you’re happy and proud to share with friends and family when they come to visit. You may even want to get a book as a gift for someone. But the Blurb isn’t one I’d be happy to gift someone.

Color replication is dull and lackluster, while black and white images suffer from overly dark blacks, losing all shadow detail and dynamic range. After only flipping through the book a couple of times, the front cover started to crack, which was a letdown. And there was an issue with ink transfer across the pages inside.

But if you want to see what I didn’t like about this book and what you should try instead, keep reading this full Blurb photo book review.

Blurb Photo Book review: Specs

Blurb Photo Book review: Price & availability

The Blurb photo book is available to purchase starting from $12 at the Blurb website. The $12 price is for the cheapest option, which is the softcover, but I tested out the hardcover option, which is a lot more sturdy. This option starts from $32 on the Blurb website. I opted for this as the hardcover should last a lot longer (more on this later), which is what you want when preserving memories.

I created a 12 x 12-inch ImageWrap Hardcover photo book with 20 pages and the matte standard paper. This cost $83, and I also got a PDF of the photo book. You can make further upgrades to the photo book, like more premium paper options for additional cost.

While Blurb was easy to create, I much prefer the results I achieved with Popsa, which was only three dollars more at $86 for a similar style book. Blurb offers a convenient photo book creation process, but is let down majorly in the quality department. The Popsa results are so much better for the same price, so it’s hard to justify spending on Blurb.

If you’re not fussed about having the premium feel of Popsa and don’t want to spend so much, Chatbooks offers a lot of customization, and I got a 10x10-inch book for $50. Alternatively, if you want something more premium-looking to display on your coffee table, you can look at the Printique photo book service, which would cost around $110 for a similar-sized book that has excellent color and contrast replication.

Blurb Photo Book review: Software & production

Creating the Blurb photo book felt quite limited when designing. After testing out services like Popsa and Mixbook, which both have easy-to-navigate interfaces, Blurb felt pretty clunky. Sure, I got the hang of it after much trail and error, and then it was fairly easy to use, but it was tricky at first. The service uses BookWright Online, which is a book design software that can be used in your desktop browser, so there’s no need to download any software.

Unfortunately, this software isn’t compatible with mobile devices, so you need to use a computer for it to work. It took a while for me to get to grips with all of the tools on the site, and the layout options are pretty limited, which made me feel like I couldn’t be very creative.

I first uploaded the images I wanted to use to the site and could drag images from the bank to where I wanted them in the book. However, I had to have a frame for the image set out first, or I couldn’t place the image. I found it best to choose a frame from the layout section and customize the existing layout styles, but this was quite time-consuming.

Options for decoration are also limited. You can change the background color and add some text, but there aren’t any decorative elements. This obviously depends on the style of book you’re going for, but I enjoy adding a little whimsy to my books.

For the easiest experience, especially for beginners, I would recommend using Popsa, but if you’re someone who wants to add your own creative flair to the book, then Mixbook is certainly the way to go.

Blurb Photo Book review: Print quality

Having tested a bunch of other photo book services, I was very disappointed with the results from Blurb. I’m someone who loves to see the vibrancy of the colors in my photos and the pages, and I didn’t get that result here — not even close. Everything felt very washed out, making the pages feel flat rather than full of life.

The book also struggles with dynamic range and contrast in black and white images. The blacks look too black, meaning that any shadow detail in the darker portions of the image is completely lost. However, the highlights are well presented and not blown out.

After flipping through the book a couple of times, I noticed that the cover on the front started to crack. I wasn’t putting any extra strain on the pages, but where the book was folding was cracking from repeatedly opening and closing the book. This is especially disappointing given I paid for the more expensive hardback precisely for longevity.

I also noticed an issue with some color from the pages transferring over to the opposite pages. I only picked up on this because, on my first look through the book, some of the pages were stuck together from where the book had been closed without fully drying. This meant ink was removed from some pages and transferred to the other side, making the whole thing look a little messy and, honestly, cheap.

There are also visible pixels on all of the images. I haven’t experienced this with any other photo book when using the exact same images at the same size. Overall, while the photobook looks nice at a glance, closer inspection shows countless flaws that make it hard to recommend this service.

Blurb Photo Book review: Verdict

The Blurb photo book service is hard to recommend. While it’s easy to create the book once you get the hang of the software and there are some cheaper options to choose from, it’s just not worth the money spent.

Firstly, the design software is desktop-only, and I find it so much easier to use mobile software from other photo book services like Popsa. And the book itself feels cheaply made. After only flipping through a handful of times, the hardcover began to crack. On the inside of the book, there were also issues with ink transfer, poor color replication and contrast issues in black and white images.

If you hadn’t already guessed, I really don’t recommend Blurb.