I usually use White House Custom Color for my printing needs. I even use them for prints I make of my kids. I just love the way the pictures look from them. I have had standouts, large panoramas, 8×10’s, 5×7’s, canvas prints, and large prints of my landscapes that hang in my house. I have had a lot of things printed by them, but I had a new requirement recently.

I had committed to doing a silent auction that was a fundraiser for my kids school. I figured that only having some business cards there wasn’t going to be enough, I need to have some pictures. I wanted something bound, but didn’t want to go all out for a book. What I got from WHCC isn’t exactly a proof book. They sell those too, and they are a way to print multiple images per page. I figured bound 5×7’s would be nice.

I fired up their ROES software, and selected from the Catalog drop down, Thrifty Proofing 5×7. You can then just add images to your queue as you would for any order. The order you add them will be the order they show up in your book. Here’s a tip: If you want more two books, change the quantity of the individual images from 1 to 2, and in the special instructions box later on, indicate you want two books.

You can choose to have the images get a white or black border to them, but I just went with the full 5×7 images. Then when you select “Review Order” you will get to select how to make your book. You could choose to use Thrifty Proofing without getting a binding if you wanted. I chose to place the binding on the long edge, but you can do short edge as well. The coil binding is a $5 fee. I also picked the clear cover, but you can pick frosted.

One other thing that I did was to create a “cover image” with my name on it that I moved to the top of the order so it would be the first image. This seems like a wise thing to do, because there are no other markings on this book at all.

The other nice touch is that there is a heavy piece of black cardboard that comes after the last image. It really makes it feel much more like a book, and helps to protect your images.

Shipping is really fast, and you can always get a person there on the phone in short order if you have an issue. (Such as not knowing how to get multiple books) They always help me out.

I like this proof book. I would give it a try. I will probably get some others done at some point.