Premium Photo Albums with MPIX

I’m selective when it comes to prints and albums, naturally. I had printed my Ireland photos printed and bound through a professional album lab at wholesale (which cost several hundred dollars) – it’s what I offer my couples for a wedding album – hefty, heirloom quality and pages are superb and thick. I wanted last summer’s South of France photos to be beautifully printed and bound, but with two albums I wanted to order, costs, and realizing I didn’t need an album quite that fancy, I decided to do another search.

Together with mpix, a division of Miller’s Professional Imaging, a lab many professional photographers use, I wanted to share their beautiful photo albums. With mpix.com anyone can order professional prints just like the pros – it’s the same lab! Mpix also offers great album options which I’ll show which I went for and will give my thoughts for pros and photography enthusiasts.

A Premium Book

Premium Panoramic Photo Books start at $39.99. It arrives in a beautiful box.

For a 10″x10″ Premium Panoramic semi-gloss album (you can also pick matte but I love semi-gloss), the cost starts at $69.99 for 20 pages.

Printed on photo paper (you pick semi-gloss or matte), it’s less thick than the albums offered by professional photographers but is a thousand times better than the mass printing album options out there.

Each additional spread is $1.25, I added 10, so $12.50 more. Toss on a dust jacket for $8.

Total cost for this amazing quality album, $89.50! And all the ladies in France said, oui oui!

Thoughts:

• Professionals: This is great for photographers who are seeking for affordable, quality options to preserve their memories. This isn’t a album you would offer to clients (it does have the mpix watermark), but you would instead tell them about their ability to upload to mpix so your photos would look pristine printed. You could also drop these off to a venue if you have a lot to drop off – you could always glue your business card in the back if the watermark bothers you.
• General: This is a great keepsake for those once in a lifetime vacations, or a maternity session. As for a wedding album, this would be great to give to a grandma or a backup album. For your wedding, refer to your photographer for those, pros have access to the thicker albums and those will be more substantial.

Softcovers

Softcover Panoramic Photo Books start at $19.99.

For my trip down the Canal du Midi in the South of France, I wanted that part of the trip to have its own album. I wanted to show you the printing, it’s on a thicker cardstock.

I picked an 8″x8″ softcover panoramic which started at $29.99. I added two additional pages on matte book stock (only option) for $.50 per page.

Total cost for this book, $30.99. Legit.

Thoughts:

• Professionals: An album like this would also be great for photographers to create their portfolio and leave it as a tabletop album for venues, or a storefront if you had to show off a new clothing line. This is a quick album you could bring and is cost effective when you need to update. Use it to drop off to publications and showcase your work to editors.
• General: This is a casual book but clean and I love that it starts at $19.99 – use this for birthday sessions, an autograph book for a high school senior party filled with senior pics inside.

The turn around time for mpix albums are 1-2 business days and the shipping. I placed the order on a Tuesday and received it later that week! Handcrafted in the Midwest, these albums are well made – professional photographer approved. If you’re concerned about watermarks, the mpix logo is only on the inside – with that said, this is not for professional photographers to resell to clients but to tell clients about it who ask for places to print. Instead, look at Miller Labs Signature Albums who owns mpix and see their albums they offer to professionals to offer clients.

See all the photo books available by mpix.com here. I promise it will change the way you look at online printed albums. A huge thanks to mpix for their willingness to work with me on preserving these memories.

What do you think? Have you ever used mpix?