For MAC users, use the Time Machine App and set up the external drive as the location. Then everything is backed up: photos, Lightroom files, and the Lightroom backups too.
BLURB.COM
Use their free download program BookWright. Easy learning. Good quality and FAST.
I have over 12 different books on the shelf--very pleased.
Not actually 'downtown' but near the core: ProPhoto.
Big selection of goods--not B & H but that professional.
Use "Air Drop". Very fast and easy.
Hatsuo Higa above has a link to info.
Different thought, came from a large battery supplier of all types:
A bought a brand new battery (Lithium but not for a camera) charged it and then let is sit for months. It completely discharged and when I recharged it it lasted just minutes, no matter how long it was on the charger (and the new charger I bought).
Turns out that the chargers have built in current limiting to prevent high currents that can ignite the battery--they burn vigorously. By the same token, to begin a charge of a completely discharged battery, it take a very high initial current for the beginning, more than the chargers allow.
Apparently you can get a voltage supply higher to "start" the process, but run the risk of starting a fire if you do it too long.
Another thought: your monitor has light behind the colors and will always be brighter that the reflected light off of a white paper print. It will be noticeable in dark colors that will just lose the details.
Years ago I calibrated my Epson Photo printer, to compensate for this by working with a color card and trial and error.
The stuff that goes out to a book printer, no such luck, so I just consciously lighten the shadows so the details are not lost by the printer.
BLURB !!!!
By far the price is right; the choice of quality easy and they print quickly. Look at blurb.com
While you are there go to their bookstore and search on 'rleonetti'. You will find examples you can preview full size of books I have finished.
Second one is real: shows sun low and to the right.
First one fake: the angles of sun coming through the fog are wrong and can find no sun illuminating things like the fence post where it should.
I very much like the format.
Are the four examples you have links to in any way different? They all looked the same to me.
You have the very finest Eagle photo I have ever seen.
Makes me want to go to Coeur d'Alene to see if I can even get close!
Followed your (spraguead) good instructions. On my updated non- subscription version of Lightroom 6.14 it shows 64 bit. (Version is shown as 1149743 which matches what the file shows)
Where could I go to check further that this will really run, before I upgrade to Mojave?
Outstanding.
Can you tell us how you made the frame--it is very sophisticated and adds a lot.
I have made 15 Blurb books and have one being worked on now. Obviously I think they are good.
I have settled into a cost/quality I recommend which is a paperback using their first upgrade of slick paper. I do not use the Lightroom extension but rather find I like their BookSmart software to give me more control for what I do. I have also found that the .jpg's I send them need to have slightly brighter darks than look good on my monitor. Subtle dark shadow areas on a bright computer screen, can become sort of muddy and dark blobs on a printed page.
My sizes have settled in at 10" x 8" as they fit my layouts better. You might look at some of my books to see what I mean: they are all available for viewing (full screen) by going to the Blurb Bookstore and searching for 'rleonetti'.
Always a problem going from monitor to paper, whether just prints or printed books. Your monitor is brightly lit white (sometimes from behind) and paper is just a dull white. Where it really shows up are subtle darks like shadows: in print they can become dark blobs without detail.
Two simple cures: for my own printer I have developed a compensation profile for the inks. I took a color card and by trial and error got to an acceptable match (boost cyan +2, etc)
High class commercial printers will provide you a monitor profile to use--never used one like that. But Blurb, who prints the books I make, will not provide a profile any longer but I have found that a slightly (judgement call) brighter look in my monitor--just a touch brighter or over exposed--works out in the printed book.
Print makers, like my grocery chain, are another matter yet. In the past I was able to tell them 'no correction' and it worked but now I am told their equipment evaluates the frame in total, averages the exposure and prints it that way. So your bright scenes will be darker, and your darker images will come out lighter. Some are better at not moving the correction than others so, you just have to find someone who is consistent with doing a print that looks like what you expect.