How I make photo books
Lots of you have sent me questions about photo books after seeing them in my bucket list posts, so I thought maybe this warranted a separate post.
What's your favorite photo book company?
I used to scrapbook, but I kind of lost interest in it/lost time for it when I started blogging.
So I switched to making photo books, using Groupon
for MyPublisher.
I made at least 15 books with them, but then they got acquired and eventually closed their doors.
I've tried a couple of photo book companies, but the one I'm happiest with is AdoramaPix.
I'm kind of picky about print quality, and AdoramaPix delivers amazingly crisp and sharp photos.
I thought My Publisher was fairly good, but once I tried Adorama, I was blown away.
Not only are their prints great, their book design is very sturdy and built to last.
AdoramaPix isn't nearly as inexpensive as, say, Shutterfly, but to me, it's worth it to spend a little more for a better product.
Also, Adorama often runs sales on their books, so I just make mine and then wait to order it until I see a good sale.
Anyway, if you aren't as picky as me, services like Shutterfly will work just fine and you'll save money.
Also, I've seen my friend Beth's photo books from Blurb, and they looked great. So, that's another option to consider.
How do you organize your photos?
I use Lightroom for organizing and editing, and I import my SLR photos into a new folder each month.
This makes it very easy for me to find photos and also ensures that I only have twelve new photo folders each year (June 2018, July 2018, and so on).
If you have folders labeled things like, "Justin's birthday" and "camping trip", you are going to have so much more trouble when it comes time to put your photos in a book.
Use month folders, people!
The ones on my phone are automatically organized into months and years, so I don't do anything special with those.
How do you go about choosing photos?
I look at one month at a time, or if it's a month with oodles of photos, half a month.
I go through first and delete any photos that are unusable (eyes closed, blurry).
Then I pick my favorites of the ones that are left and edit them (crop, color correct, and adjust exposure).
I usually pick a few more than I think I'll need, and I export them from Lightroom and import them to AdoramaPix.
Any other tips?
Don't shoot for perfection.
I often remind myself that a finished photo book is way better than one that's just a draft.
I don't have to include every photo, every photo doesn't have to be perfect, and I don't have to produce a book that Adorama would use in their marketing materials.
I just need to get it done!
It's not like I'm making a photo book for clients; I'm recording our family's history. Some spreads will be really beautiful, and others will be rather random collages of photos.
Practice makes perfect.
Or at least progress! My first photo books aren't nearly as good as my more recent ones because I learned a lot of things along the way through trial and error. You'll get better at this the more you do it!
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I think that covers all the questions you guys have asked so far! If you've still got questions, leave a comment, and I'll do my best to respond.
Also, if you have a photo book publisher that you really love, share in the comments and help your fellow readers out.
P.S. My Publisher is no longer around, but this post I wrote has some helpful tips that can be applied to any photo books. I really wish I'd read tip #3 when I made my first book.
P.P.S. You can get free shipping on all AdoramaPix orders $49+ so I try to make sure my book is large enough to meet the $49 minimum. Might as well make one big book and not pay shipping! Also, there are sometimes Groupons available for AdoramaPix, so check there.
P.P.P.S. You are still a good mom if you don't make photo books. It's ok if it's not your thing!
Yeah....
I still do the "old school" scrapbooking, but it cost a fortune and it's getting out of style, so harder to find affordable stuff. I *might* go digital soon... Your photobooks look great!
Thank you! : )
Thank you! I plan to make a recipe book-with photos-for each of our kids/spouses this year and I need to get going! I have the list of family recipes/favorites I want to include but I need to get moving so I can get it done and ordered when there's a sale! Thanks for these tips because I wasn't sure where to start!
That's a GREAT idea. My recipes all have lines like...add such and such until it looks right.
If you're doing a cookbook, you might want something other than Adorama. The pages they have are super thick, like really heavy cardstock. That might seem a bit heavy for a cookbook, although it would make them quite durable.
Blurb's pages are more similar to what you'd find in a regular cookbook.
Thank you! I will check that out. I appreciate your help.
Has anyone tried scanning old photos and doing them in a photobook? I wonder how good the quality would be. I have a ton of old photos from film, some of which would make a good book.
Thank you for this post, Kristen! I also went back and referenced your old tips. I have used both Walgreeen's services as well as Shutterfly. Good to know there are other options. I am in a crazy busy stage of life so researching this kind of stuff isn't the best use of my time--I love it when other people do my work for me! I have noticed that Walgreens is user-friendly but the end product isn't high quality--if anyone goes this route, pay extra for a better binding! The standard one falls apart with very little use of the book! I like Shutterfly's end product but putting the book together doesn't feel very intuitive to use, at least for me. I smiled at your advice from a previous post--to use neutral backgrounds (not white). I have tried experimenting with patterned backgrounds, and I find they distract from the pictures. The other thing I have found out through experience is to zoom in close on your main subject--it will get "lost" on the page unless it is big! I also like your advice about not choosing a photo for perfection. We did a big vacation last summer and I made a book through Shutterfly--it turned out great--and while some of the pictures were amazing (due to the spectacular scenery not my photography skills), I also included other silly moments from our trip--because the book is about us, not about trying to be a National Geographic photographer. Sometimes Shutterfly has an unlimited pages sale--that's a great time to make a book, especially if you are trying to control costs but have a lot of pictures and it's hard to whittle them down.
The photos seem to look better in those photo books for some reason!
I have never made a photo book before. I know my parents have a couple of photo books from when my sister and I were young. I keep all of our photos electronically to avoid clutter around the house. 🙂
Awww what a beautiful summary of a happy fulfilled life! Oh I'm so tempted to DIY my own photobook now. I think I need to get a better camera for that...and some kids to shoot photos. They just make my heart melt <3
I've been thinking about doing some photo books for my family, so thanks for sharing this! It doesn't seem like you use print in your photo books (captions, blurbs about the activity, etc). Does AdoramaPix have the option for print? Or do you know about companies that have print layouts?
I've used Adoramapix, on your suggestion, for a photo book and birth announcements (which are nice because they are high quality and very customizable, e.g., adding more pictures). I've been very happy with the quality and want to start another book for the next time they have a sale. However, when I made my first book, I seem to remember a time limit on projects on their site. But after looking around I can't find anything about that now. How long do you keep projects on their site before ordering them?
I've never kept one on there for super long before ordering, but when I look at my account, I see that I can reorder books that I made several years ago. I think there might be a time limit on photos you can keep in the gallery, but not on how long you can keep the actual book?
Thanks for you're PPPS.
Photo books are definitely something I would love to make... but the making just ain't going to happen right now.
*your not you're*
#grammarmatters
I have a question that’s kind of related to the whole photo topic. Do you use cloud storage for the DSLR photos you upload? Or external hard drives? I’m just curious where you store all the photos in the meantime before you make the books. I’m in the midst of transferring lots of photos over and was just wondering what storage method you prefer. Thanks!
Mr. FG actually built a PC for me that has tons of storage, and the storage is mirrored, so when I save something to the hard drive, it automatically saves it to another hard drive. That way, I don't have to worry about losing my photos, and I have plenty of storage.
But I know that's not an option for everyone, in which case cloud storage would be very appealing!
Thanks for your post. I, too have quite a few books made with My Publisher and I was so sad when they closed. I also have quite a few Shutterfly books. However, I recently tried PrinterPix, which I found totally unacceptable. I thought the software was totally not user-friendly and there was not a very good variety of page backgrounds, etc. I ended up just making a book with random photos so I didn't lose my Groupon. Now I'm working on a book with another company...we'll see how that one turns out. Fortunately, I have found Groupons, so that these try-outs haven't cost me very much.
I have used several companies (including my publisher, RIP) but often go back to Picaboo. They have groupons fairly regularly and do great books as well as Christmas cards and photo calendars. I make calendars for my mom and MIL with pictures from the year and give it to them for Christmas and it’s always a hit.
What size photo book do you use? And do you choose landscape, portrait, or square?
I usually do landscape, but that's totally a personal preference thing. And I usually choose something like an 8x10 or 8x12.
Do you still prefer Adorama? We're looking for best quality replacement for MyPublisher, which we used happily for years. Thanks.
I do indeed still love Adorama Pix...but they changed their name to Printique. Still same company, though!