What is a photo album?

Most of us are familiar with the traditional photo book: a book filled with pages with clear plastic sleeves to insert your 4×6 prints. Most come with 200 to 300 slots for your photos and are covered in vinyl, leather, cloth, or some type of coated paper. Before plastic-sleeved albums came on the market, most albums were stick-on books, with clear overlay pages and a sticky backing that stuck to the back of the photos (in many cases, photos of this type are difficult to remove). of albums since the adhesive has adhered and they are impossible to remove!)

What is an online photobook?

The digital photo book is the successor to the photo album. There are many companies on the Internet that offer free and easy-to-use software that you can download or use online to create a book full of photos that you design yourself.

How do traditional photo books compare to online photo books?

Size and weight

Since photo books are digitally printed, they tend to be lighter and less bulky. You can fit several hundred photos into a single 100 page book very easily. My traditional photo books are very heavy and therefore not as portable and take up about 4 times more space than my photo books.

Ease of duplication

There is no way to duplicate a photo album unless you make two identical albums. (I’ve done this before as a gift for a friend from a trip we took together and it can be tedious!). With digital photo books, you can print a book or ten! Your files are saved to your hard drive or to the company website, so you can easily come back later to print more books if you want another copy. In many cases, you can change the size, style, covers, etc. without having to redesign your layouts.

Because photo books are easy to duplicate, they make great gifts. Make a family history book and then print multiple copies for thoughtful, personalized Christmas gifts for your family. Collect all of your family’s treasured recipes and add photos for a one-of-a-kind collaborative cookbook! Make a photo album of your baby’s first year and give a copy to the grandparents. The possibilities are endless and everyone loves receiving personalized gifts!

Preservation – Archive

Photobooks are printed on archival paper, often with archival ink and a protective coating. That means his creations will last for many years.

Online books also preserve your photos in a different way: if some unfortunate event happens, like a fire or flood, you’ll be able to reprint another copy of your book.

Creativity

Photo books allow you to be as creative as you want. Make a clean line composition of photos using solid black or white backgrounds – portfolio style. Alternatively, go crazy with embellishments, clip art, captions, and fun borders. Many scrapbookers have switched from traditional scrapbooking to digital scrapbooking for many of the same reasons listed here!

Share or sell online

With the advent of digital cameras, the trend has been a drop in traditional photo finishing. No one I know prints 4×6 photos anymore. Don’t let your photos collect virtual dust! Print a book for yourself and share your creation online with family and friends. Have you ever wanted to sell your photos? Create a photobook and sell it online without risk. You will save a lot of money by not having to print mass copies and test the market first.

cost

Traditional photo books can range from $20 to $100.00 or more depending on the materials. You also have to print your photos, which costs about 10 cents per print. So for an album with 300 photos you would probably expect to pay a minimum of $50.00. I’ve printed hardcover books with 300 photos for less than that. Photo book companies also frequently offer coupon codes and deals. Cost is naturally affected by your choice of cover and style, but there are plenty of affordable options out there, too, like paperbacks. There are so many different types and styles to choose from at every price point, and you can even print your pages on real photo paper.

I want to make a photobook, where do I start?

The process usually flows like this:

1) Sign up for an account on the company’s website;

2) Upload the photos you want to use in your book;

3) Select a theme or pre-made templates for a quick and easy 5 minute book or take your time and design your own layouts for total creativity;

4) Drag and drop your photos into the photo boxes;

5) Click to order your book.

Usually in about a week to 10 days (sooner if you opt for expedited shipping), you can get a finished print book of all your photos. You can proudly display it on your coffee table and some of your guests may think it’s a store-bought book!