I asked about a month ago if anyone had ordered a photo book from Apple, using their iPhoto templates.

I've ordered 2 now, and I have to say -- they are really nice. Especially the hardbound ones. There are a few tricks you need to know to make sure the photos come out nice and sharp, but overall, they're really impressive. Everyone at my office was ooohing and ahhhhing over the hardbound one I just got of my bro's wedding.

My .02.

I had some pictures I took printed up by Apple and sent to my brother and my parents. The envelope Apple used had nothing to indicate who sent it, so my parents were confused as to who sent them the pictures.

They turned out quite nice.

tommyrot, insent.

So what tricks are those, Teppy? Do tell.

So what tricks are those, Teppy? Do tell.

First of all, you have to go into the iPhoto preference file (not the preference menu item within iPhoto, but the preference file in the preferences folder) and change the dpi of the PDF that gets output from the book files. For some reason, the dpi setting for the smallest book is 300, which is fine, but the dpi for the medium and large books is 150, which is....not so fine. So that's Tip #1 -- change the dpi in the preferences file.

The other thing is to manipulate the photos a wee bit -- generally, they're going to need to be lightened a smidge, the colors may need to be adjusted, and they're going to need to be sharpened. Of all those, sharpening is key, because as the ink is spread onto the page (it's slick paper, but it isn't photo paper), the paper will absorb a tiny amount of the ink, which ends up softening the pictures.

How do you sharpen them??

How do you sharpen them??

Either in photo software like Photoshop, or you can sharpen them (I'm pretty sure) within iPhoto.

Hmm. I see "enhance" and "retouch", but "sharpen"? NSM.

"Sharpen" is under the "Filters" menu in Photoshop.

"Sharpen" is under the "Filters" menu in Photoshop.

Under Filters, "Unsharp Mask" actually does a better job of "sharpening."