I designed an album via Costco Photo Center (www.costcophotocenter.com) . I found it to be the best site for printing photo books, as well as photos. Believe me, I've tested Target's shutterfly, Target's Photo Center, Walgreens, CVS, Kinko's, and the quality and turn around time doesn't compare. I had trouble w/ the different online interfaces the other stores use and Costco's photo site is the easiest to manage.
My first photo book was for my son's first year. That was so fun and easy compared to my attempt to scrapbook my daughter's first year album, which took days. The only thing is that you are limited to their themes, so I chose the simplest ones. Also, you can't customize the page layout, but it was the closest I could find to having the most options. Most importantly, was it user-friendly? Yes.
 |
A full-color 30 page photobook for $24.99
 |
| You can do a lot with 30 pages |
|
For my second photo book, I hired a photographer who had awesome talent and a great price. I wanted to make an Anniversary/Father's Day/Birthday present for my dad. Yes, lame me kept putting the book off for that long. Originally it was a birthday gift which then became so on and so forth. On the month of my father's birthday, we got all the grandchildren and my parents to take a quick photo shoot. Quick, because 6 kids under the age of 6 isn't easy, especially in the freezing weather that Summer day, in San Jose. He took several shots for an hour and then gave his editted digitals to me. Now that is hard to come by. The photographer, Jim Resonable, did an awesome job. His work is featured here: www.jimresonable.com/, as well as some photos below.
 |
Still in love after 32 years
|
 |
| Lolo with the grandsons |
 |
My second child looking for trouble at 2 years old
|
 |
My niece leading the way
|
 |
| Precious |
Okay, so finally some pics of the photobook:
 |
Leather cover is only $5 more
|
 |
You can choose different layouts per page
 |
| Several background themes to choose from |
|
Photobook Tips
These make great gifts, or for your personal collection at home. Here are some tips on creating an interesting photobook below:
- Select simple themes. I believe the photos are the most important.
- Collect photos based on your theme or purpose
- Make layouts of photos with similar color schemes
- Upload the same photograph for different photo slots and crop at different angles
- Create a story throughout the book
Hope that helps. Let me know how I can help you with your photo book by leaving comments/questions below.
I usually only make photobooks when I come across a promotion for a free one (pay only shipping). But I've found that color quality is inconsistent - very disappointing because of the investment of time, even if the book itself is free. So I'm assuming Costco's photobook color was good. GTK. =)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post!! I really like the idea of doing one, simple, family photobook per year, now that I've multiplied to 2 :). And I really want to start now before 2 becomes 3,4...etc. But I've been wondering where to invest my time in learning the software and ins/outs.
ReplyDeleteI do have 2 questions for you though:
1) Have you tried MyPublisher? I get e-mail discounts from them ALL the time and have done 1 book with them but it took me a looooong time. Not sure if that was because I was picky or because of the software.
2) I want to make a photo album from my time in Ohio and use 2 license plates as the cover and back. What would you recommend using to produce photo pages that are not standard size? Or should I just do an old-fashioned scrapbook for this kind of thing.
Maybe we can do some brainstorming while I'm up in Tally :)
Hey there!
Delete1) I checked out MyPublisher and looks awesome! It could take longer w/ that service because you have 100 pages to begin with and very flexible in what you could do. But, if you want to do it more frequently in a short time, I'd go w/ Costco's online service because the color prints are right on. It also can go as much as $29.99. But, I would love to try it out, esp. for a more formal book (i.e. wedding album).
2) If you wanted a full-cover shot of the plates, it could cost a little more w/ Costco. Looks like MyPub does it, too. Haven't tried that yet w/ Costco, but we can look into it together when you get here. Yay!
3) About photo pages that aren't standard. Yeah, it gets tedious esp. since I get complicated w/ exact sizing. I think I'll post my scrapbook for Tiz's first year to show. Anyway, I use Photoshop for that and just print at home to cut out w/ an exacto knife. Or, print photos as standard and just by hand cut out the various sizes you need. That's quicker but not as clean as you'd like. Depends on the look you're going for. Hope that helps.
How to Spy WhatsApp Messages
ReplyDelete