Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Tips on Page Layout to Create Photo Books

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If you've decided to create photo books, you might do well to think a little about page layout. Most likely your photo books are going to be combinations of words and photographs. You're probably aware that some online photo gallery and storage sites offer you the opportunity to make photo books. These photo books are professionally printed and look like real books. Why not invest a little effort and make the page layout look like a real book too?

There are a few basic principles graphic designers use to lay out pages that you should be aware of. While there are no hard and fast rules to a creative discipline like graphic design, there are some principles that all graphic designers are thoroughly versed in, and in practice rarely, if ever, violate. These principles are simple, and don't require the kind of visual talent you'd need to paint the Sistine chapel, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, they don't require as much talent as taking good pictures to understand and apply.

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The first thing you need to think about when you are arranging things on a page-in this case, you're arranging pictures and text to make a photo book-is how arrange the elements on the page. This includes thinking about what stuff goes on which page, and where to put it relative to the other elements. That is an important notion-the notion that things are placed relative to other elements. Graphic designers think not only about the elements they put on the page, they think about the arrangement in terms of what those elements, as shapes, do in terms of giving the page structure.

If you really want your pages to look aesthetically pleasing, you should think about the shapes that the elements make out of the empty space that remains on the page. This is called negative space, and your first priority is to make sure the pages of the photo book you are creating look organized. One way to do this is to think of the page in terms of a grid. The grid is never visible in the finished page, but think of your favorite newspaper. Think of how the columns, the photos and the headlines are arranged. Even though you don't actually see the grid itself, you can look at the pages of this newspaper and know where the grid is, can't you? A grid is a great way to organize pages, not just for beginners but for professional designers.

Are you planning on using text, either to tell a story or to caption your photographs when you create photo books? There are a couple of things to bear in mind. Firstly, color. As tempting as it is to use pretty colors on a prettily colored page for your text, if you want people to be able to read the text in your photo book, the color of the text and the color of the page need to be as different as possible. That's why most books are black and white-it makes it easier to read.

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MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Digitalphotoalbumsite.com, site that offers advice on the quickest and easiest way to build a digital photo album, as well as a free online photo album.

An Introduction to Digital Photo Books

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I love digital photo books! They take up less physical space than the traditional photo album and produce far less clutter than traditional paper scrapbooking.

Have you ever wondered which child will inherit that ONE copy of your prized family vacation scrapbook? Do you print multiple copies of your pictures to share with parents, grandparents or siblings? Are you struggling with how to keep all those digital photos organized? Are you looking for a fun family history project?

Professionally printed photo books are the perfect combination of printing digital photos and documenting family memories. They're easy to share and make great gifts - just print more than one copy. Plus, personal publishing companies often make organizing your online photos a breeze.

Ready to jump on that learning curve?

Understanding the Basics

Standard digital photo books are usually...

* about 20 pages with the capacity to include 100-150 pages

* hard or soft cover

* sometime come with a dust cover, or the option of purchasing a dust cover for an additional fee

* vary in size - anything from 5x5 to 7x10 to 8x8 to 10.5x11 to 12x12

Every company I've worked with requires you to first create a free password-protected user account. From there, some companies ask you to download bookmaking software while others operate entirely online.

Photo Book Variables

Photo book options vary just as much as the companies that produce them. There are many features available, but no one company offers them all. Therefore, it's best to decide what YOU consider to be the most important photo book elements before you begin your project. For example: if you want to spend the least amount of money possible, you will most likely be sacrificing quality and working assembling your book with somewhat confusing software. To get the best quality and most customer support, you will most likely need to spend more money.

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Variables include:

* prices (base price quotes are usually just for the standard 20-pages; after that you pay per page)

* book quality

* customer service

* layout options

* the amount of text you can put on a page

* ability to alter and edit photos

* individual page layout options

* variety of backgrounds, templates and themes

* usability of photo book software; the time and work it takes to learn the program nuances

* process of uploading photos, storage and sharing options

* the ability to make other custom projects from digital images, such as a calendar, greeting cards, t-shirt, etc.

How to Choose a Personal Publishing Company

To find the company that will best suit your needs, consider the following:

1. Digital photo books vary, just like the companies who publish them. How much help will you need? Browse through the "about us" and customer service portions of the website to get a feel for how available they are to answer individual questions. Are there webinars or tutorials to get you started?

2. What size do you want for your personalized photo book? Different companies offer different options. If you want to create a photo book based on your 12x12 scrapbook pages, it'll be easiest to print a 12x12 book.

3. What is your skill level? How easy does your project need to be? If you don't want to spend a lot of time customizing pages, look for attractive templates and themed books. If the available backgrounds and designs seem limiting, make sure the company offers editing options and photo placement flexibility.

4. How much text are you planning to include? Some companies/templates offer little more word space than the ability to print photo captions. Make sure there is enough space to say what you want to say.

5. How many photos do you plan to include? Watch that "additional page" charge - it can add up quickly.

6. Is the cover important? Do you want to be able to print your book title on the spine? Do you need a dust jacket? Again, options vary considerably.

7. What do you plan to do with your book? Who will read it? If you'll be handing your digital photo books over to young children, make sure the book and pages are of a higher quality so they will resist wrinkles and tears.

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One thing is certain - a picture is worth a thousand words... but only if you look at them! Digital photo books are the perfect solution.

Lydia Stucki
http://www.Family-Reunion-Success.com
Add Meaning. Make Memories.

Reviews of many photo book publishing companies can be found at: http://www.family-reunion-success.com/digital-photo-books.html

Five Good Reasons to Create Photo Books

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Do you take a lot of photos? Do you have a lot of old photos? Have you thought about how to display them? Chances are you have them all stored on a hard drive or a photo archiving website, if they're digital, or in a shoebox if they're paper. Chances are all those precious memories are being ignored. If you would like a convenient way to share your memories, and generate interest in them, consider creating photo books.

Create Photo Books For Your Family

Photo books are a lot like photo albums but a lot more permanent and durable. Photo books also have another advantage over albums-they can be reproduced. You probably have lots of photos of your family, documenting your whole life together. Why not put them together in digital photo books you can give to everyone in your family? Organize them by year, and if the photos aren't already digital you can scan them or have them scanned, and you can easily create custom photo books at many of the websites where you upload and share your photos.

Create Photo Books to Document Your Family Tree

Have you researched your lineage? Do you know your ancestors' life stories, and have the pictures to prove it? Why not document your family's history by creating photo books? Just think-you could take everything you know about your family tree, combine it with photos, and create a photo book to give to all your family members, even your extended family. All you'd have to do is scan those old photos, or have them scanned, and assemble a photo book from them!

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Create Photo Books to Remember Your Vacation

What was the best vacation you ever had? Whether you took a year off to travel around the world, or a long weekend to go to your favorite fishing hole, you probably have lots of fond memories of that vacation-and lots of photos too. Chances are, those photos are probably parked on a hard drive or in a shoebox somewhere, aren't they? Wouldn't they be better in a professionally printed photo book that you could make for everyone who vacationed with you? Memories, after all, are made to be cherished-and shared.

Create Photo Books to Commemorate Your Pets

Do you have fond memories of your favorite pet from childhood? Most people do. Do you have a pet now? If you do, you probably take lots of photos of your pet. If you haven't taken lots of photos of your pet, you should probably start. What better to cherish memories of your lovable pet's place in your life than assembling all your photos of that pet into a photo book?

Create Photo Books to Show Your Love to That Special Someone

Finally, remember how you met your significant other? Over the years you've spent together you've likely taken quite a few photographs. Why not surprise the love of your life by giving them a photo book of your prized memories, customized just for you and the love of your life?

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MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Digitalphotoalbumsite.com, a site that offers advice on the quickest and easiest way to build a digital photo album, as well as a free online photo album.

Create Photo Books to Commemorate an Event

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Do you have a significant event coming up? Do you have a camera? Do you like to take pictures? Why not take advantage of your photography hobby and create photo books of the events you attend? You can then give them to all your family, friends or coworkers who attend the event. Photo books are more convenient and nicer than photo albums, and have the added bonus of being easy to make multiple copies.

If you want to make a photo book to commemorate an event, the first thing you must do is plan ahead. Make sure you know when the event is, and what the major elements of it are to be. For example, let's say your mother is retiring from work, and there will be an award dinner where all her best work friends will be present. Wouldn't that be a great opportunity to make a photo book? Not only will your mother love it, but her friends and your family will also. You'll be glad to have it, too. What you'll need to do, however, is plan sensibly. You will want to photograph the major events, and you'll want to take notes of important or funny things people say so that you can include them in the book. You will want to get a copy of the itinerary so that you can be at the right place at the right time to take the pictures of the event and make sure you don't miss anything.

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Another thing you will want to think about before you start is the tone of the book: do you want the book to be serious and somber? Or do you want the book to be funny and funky? Chances are, for a formal event, you'll want it to be serious and somber. For something like your mom's retirement, that could go either way. Most likely whether you play it serious or funny when you create that photo book depends on your mom's personality and who will read it. If your mom has a good sense of humor and its' not intended to be any sort of official public document, why not go for it and try to make it funny? The most important thing when it comes to tone is to make sure the tone suits the audience. The next most important thing is to maintain that tone when captioning the pictures, and be consistent. Your choice of tone will also affect what photos you choose.

Once you take the pictures, and know what you want to write, it's easy to create the actual photo books. Organize the photos and decide what ones you want to use in what order. Then decide on any captions or other text you want to include. You must now upload them to an online gallery site that allows you to hire them to print photo books for you. Then, you arrange the pages as you want them, and order the photo book. You'll get as many copies as you want of a professionally printed photo book.

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MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

Create Photo Books to Tell a Story

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Every picture tells a story, doesn't it? If every picture tells a story, then combining pictures surely must tell a story. You can add words to the story, too. Wouldn't that be a great way to present your photos, especially those documenting an event with family or friends? It's easy to do. Many websites, the kind that offer you the opportunity to create online galleries of your photos, also allow you to create photo books. If you want to use this medium to tell a story, its' easy!

The first thing you need to think about to create a photo book to tell a story is, not surprisingly, what story you want to tell. This may seem obvious, but there is a subtle side to it. Let's say you want to create photo books of your son's little league season. Do you include every single photo? Well, you could. But chances are, you took a lot of photos. You don't need to include them all, do you? Probably you won't want to. Think about what happened over the course of your son's little league season, games lost and won, and special moments for your son, such as his best plays.

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Select your photos so that they tell the story of his season. It will be even better if you plan the photo book before the season starts. That way, you can make sure you get the photos you need to tell the story, not just the occasional snapshot when you think of it. You will need a few photos to document the general action of each game, and not just the highlights of your son's play if you want to do this right. You may be wondering why you'd need to tell the story of the whole team, instead of just your son's contribution. If you think about it the answer is obvious-the photo book you create isn't just for you, it's for your son. If you document the whole season well, your son can give copies to his teammates as well. Wouldn't you rather have a photo book that your son will enjoy, that will enhance his stature amongst his peers, than just a photo book to make you happy?

Probably the best way to create this particular photo book is to adopt the sports yearbook format. That means one entry or chapter per game, with pictures, box scores, standings, and any interesting anecdotes from on and off the field. You may also want to shoot pictures at some of the team's practices as well. If you do it right you could have a lasting testament to your son's season, one that both he and you will cherish.

This particular example is based on a sports season but the principles used to create photo books with a narrative apply to any other subject. It could be your vacation, your daughter's first ballet class, or even giving the dog a bath. All you need to make a story is a beginning, middle and end.

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MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including http://www.Digitalphotoalbumsite.com - site that offers advice on the quickest and easiest way to build a digital photo album, as well as a free online photo album.

Create Photo Books For Your Business

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Digital photo albums may seem like they are only useful for personal and entertainment purposes, but there are also a number of reasons for a business to create photo books. They can be used in-house to commemorate special events or pay tribute to a retiring employee. Photo books can also be assembled to thank existing customers for their continued patronage. Promotional photo books are part of almost every company's marketing plan these days, as they provide a convenient way for the company to display all of its best work in one place.

Photo books are perfect for office holiday parties, annual meetings, or any other gathering involving the entire staff. You can easily keep all of the pictures for a specific year or event in one book for easy viewing by other employees or customers. Over the years, these event-based photo books will give you an informal company history, including many employees who are no longer employed. You can have a bit of fun with the photo book preparation by posting certain pictures and asking the employees for funny captions.

You can create photo books for long-time employees who are retiring or moving on to another job. This is a nice surprise for the departing employee when it is presented at their going-away party. The photo book creation process is also a nice way for the rest of the company or department to spend time together outside of a work context. They can get together and share their memories while choosing which pictures to include in the book. The employees can also write down their fondest memories of the departing employee, giving them a nice gift to look back and re-read over the years.

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Photo books can be used to thank major customers who have been important to your company's success. This is easier if the customer has a longtime relationship with the company since there will be more opportunities to take pictures together. Photo books also work great as promotional materials, displaying the company's prior accomplishments or achievements in order to attract new customers. Events that require corporate sponsorship, such as golf or tennis tournaments, can also benefit from the use of a good promotional photo book. Photos from prior years can be included to demonstrate why a prospective sponsor should donate their money to the event.

Creative professionals like architects, graphic designers, or photographers can create a photo book to display their portfolio. This can even be done online so that prospective clients and employers can view the entire portfolio as a public album. If more privacy is required, the album can usually be set up as only viewable by family or friends. You can simply create a new account for each prospective client and send them the username and password to view your photo book. Most digital photo sites also offer professional-quality printing, so you can order a top-quality binder with all of your work neatly stored inside. This presentation can be worth the money many times over by helping you land a better job.

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MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to create a free online photo album.

Create Photo Books For a Great Gift

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Are you running out of gift ideas? Do you have lots of photos with no idea of what to do with them? Why not combine these two aspects and create photo books to give as gifts? It is a great way to make very personal, very memorable gifts that people will always cherish. Unlike a sweater, it's guaranteed to fit, and unlike socks or necktie, it won't bore the recipient into a coma. Sounds like a great gift idea, doesn't it? If you start early, you can tailor the books to the recipient. An early start is the key though, as you will probably want to take photos specifically to illustrate the themes of the books you're giving.

The first thing you need to do is plan. Make a list of the people you want to create photo books for. Think about what sort of photo books they would like. Some are easy-grandma might just be happiest with a photo book chock full of pictures of her grandchildren. However, your son might be far more thrilled with pictures of rusty old army tanks than "boring family stuff." And if your wife loves flowers, you could document her flower garden and the care and effort she put into it-but you could also take another approach, and just take lots of good pictures of flowers to fill the book. You could even, if you don't feel self-conscious about being so corny; add love poems to the book.

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You can also give photo books as gifts to commemorate major events in your family's or friend's life. For example, if you have a family reunion, you can document this in photographs. You'll be taking pictures anyway; you might as well do something with them. You can also take notes of the goings on, as you'll probably want to add text to the book to tell the story of the reunion. You will probably want to write down any funny captions that you can think of, although you can always come up with more captions later.

Your family members are not the only ones who would appreciate it when you create photo books as gifts for them. You may want to, for example, create photo books of your company picnic or company holiday party? You could pool everyone's photos, and merge them into a photo book to later be given to all the attendees.

Weddings, too, are a great opportunity to give photo books as a gift. Chances are they will hire photographers to document the main wedding, and most likely the wedding photographers will make photo books, but you can photograph all the peripheral events and private, informal parties, and make a book of that.

It is simple and easy to create photo books. The first thing you need to do is get the photos together, obviously. If you don't have them already you will have to take some. Next, you must upload them to an online gallery site that allows you to hire them to print photo books for you. Then, you arrange the pages as you want them, and order the photo book. You'll get as many copies as you want of a professionally printed photo book. It's that easy!

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MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

Adding the Personal Touch to Your Wedding Photo Album

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Whether you're looking for a stunning and personal anniversary gift idea or are trying to find the perfect photo album to use on your big day, personalised wedding photo albums are a superb option. Not only is the album itself filled with your best and favourite wedding day photographs and even honeymoon shots, but you can personalise the front and rear covers too including a picture and text on the front and the option to add a second, different picture on the rear cover.

Updated Wedding Albums

As anniversary gifts, updated wedding photo albums can prove a real success. It is an unfortunate fact that older photo albums can become damaged or look aged but by giving a new and personalised photo album to the happy couple you can let them relive the photographic memories from years ago. Smaller albums are perfect for adding standard 6 x 4 prints while larger A4 photo albums are also available offering even greater freedom over the type and size of picture that is included inside.

Quality Materials Means Quality Products

The satin cover of the photo album not only offers you the chance to include a favourite wedding day photograph but it can also be customised to include a text caption or message of your choice. While it's traditional to use this to include the names of the bride and groom as well as the date of the wedding it could also be a good space to include a personal greeting or message.

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A Photo Book

As an alternative to the wedding photo album you might also consider using a personalised photo book. The cover of the photo book can be customised in much the same way as with a photo album, but instead of having to crop and mount your own pictures, they can be scanned and printed directly onto the pages of the book. Pictures can be printed right up to the edge of the leaf of paper so there is no visible white space or border around the picture, although this will obviously depend on the size and orientation of pictures to be added.

Photo Books As Anniversary Gifts

One of the great advantages of giving photo books as personalised anniversary gifts is that they can be customised even more. A good design team can work with pictures to combine more than one onto a single page using various different methods. You can also opt to have a personalised photo book storage box to match, further enhancing the use of the photo book as the perfect anniversary gift.

Update Your Memories

Wedding photo albums can become damaged or aged, and it's highly unlikely that every picture from the big day will have been used and added to the album. Having a photo book created means that you can also add pictures from other big events; for example, anniversaries or the birth of your children to create an incredibly romantic and especially good looking anniversary gift. The possibilities are really only tempered by your imagination.

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Wedding albums and photo books from Bags of Love are perfect for the big day and also make great looking, high quality anniversary gifts. The best materials and processes combine with some of the best looking items to give a feel of quality and a touch of class.

Create Photo Books to Remember Your Child Growing Up

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One thing that is certain about children-they grow up fast. Change happens faster than you can keep up. Don't you want to cherish every memory, every step on the way on your child's journey to adulthood? Rather than stuff these pictures in a shoebox or park them on a hard drive, why not create photo books that your family can enjoy for years and years? Photo books are actual printed and bound books made from your photos, not some cheap ad hoc photo album. They can be printed and given to your friends, and shared amongst family members. They can be kept for a long time, and most importantly everyone can enjoy them without ever endangering the original photographs.

The first thing you need to do is organize the photographs. Decide how many you want to include in each book. You must also decide how you want to organize the photo books. Do you want tohe3m to be strictly chronological, or do you want them to be organized around themes? Depending on how many photographs you take, you may want to have separate books for major events like birthdays, first little league games, and stuff like that.

Most likely you will want to include some text in your photo books. At the very least, you will want captions telling the date and a hint as to what is going on in the photo. You may want to get more elaborate than that. You may want to write up the little story of each event in the book, and you may even want to write about stuff you didn't photograph! Your child will only grow up once; don't miss anything.

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Going forward, when you go out to take pictures of your child or children, you can think ahead toward what you want to include in the book. You may want to take pictures of things you wouldn't have otherwise thought to photograph, ranging from documenting little league events, school plays, and even your child or children's normal playtime with their friends. You will want to make sure that, while the focus of the book is on the child, you include yourself and other relatives, as well as the child's friends, in the pictures. The photo book is mainly for you and your spouse but wouldn't you want your children to wan to share the memories too? Especially if they're too young to take their own photographs, these may be the only photos they have.

It's simple to actually create photo books after you take the pictures together. First, you must upload them to an online gallery site. Many online sites are set up to allow you to assemble and print books of the photos you upload. Organize the photos and decide what ones you want to use in what order. Then decide on any captions or other text you want to include. You must now upload them to an online gallery site that allows you to hire them to print photo books for you. Then, you arrange the pages as you want them, and order the photo book. You'll get as many copies as you want of a professionally printed photo book. This book will capture the fleeting moments of your child's formative years in a format you can cherish all your life.

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MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

Fabulous Photo Book Ideas

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Collating a photo album to give as a gift has been a time honoured tradition since photography became popular back in the early 1900s. Every house is full of photo books which chart history and are a pictorial representation of the family tree. Now that digital photography has replaced using film, and we are all happy snappers, it is possible to create albums for just about any occasion. Here are some excellent ideas for creating a photo book.

The perfect wedding present for a couple is a photo book that includes their life right up to the wedding day. Gather together any images you can from family and friends including images from when the bride and groom to be were children. It is obligatory that some of those most embarrassing photos of bath times as babies are included too! Dedicate a section to the day they met and if possible the night that one proposed to the other. The photo book should culminate in a collection of pictures of both the hen night and the stag night, just as long as it isn't likely to start divorce proceedings on the wedding day!

The moment that a new baby comes into a family, all cameras are at the ready to try and capture that first smile, the first laugh and the first unaided steps. Out of the hundreds of pictures that are taken by aunties, uncles and grandparents, it is possible to create a bumper photo book that will be a treasured item for the parents and for the child as it grows.

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When somebody moves away, whether it is to relocate for a job, go to university or to go travelling, it can be a difficult time as they miss family and friends. As a leaving gift make a photo book keepsake for them to take with them. Ask all their friends and family members to create a page each, with a few selected photos that are reminders of good times. As it is possible to add text to online digital photo books, add a brief note, maybe a fond farewell, or a reminder of a favourite time.

There are literally hundreds of reasons to compile a photo book; maybe you want to create a collection of some of your best photos or put together an art portfolio. Whatever your reasons for making an album, let your imagination run as free as your photography skills.

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Dom Donaldson is a photography expert.
Find out more about creating a Photo Book of all your favourite images online at Cewe Photo World.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Create Photo Books For Your Significant Other

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Have you been with your significant other for a long time? Does your spouse have everything? Are you running out of gift ideas, or would you just like to give them something that is completely personal for a change? Why not create a photo book for your significant other? In this example, we will talk about a wife creating a photo book for her husband, but the principles and fundamental things apply regardless of who is creating the photo book for whom.

The first thing you need to think about when creating a photo book for your significant other is what you want the book to be about, what you want it to say. Even if you don't put any words in your photo book it will most definitely be saying something. Hopefully what it says is something that will bring you and your husband closer, and make him want to look at and cherish the photo book for years to come. The way to do this is choose a subject that he can relate to.

When you set about choosing a subject matter for that photo book for your husband, you must first decide how explicitly it is intended to be about the two of you. If it is explicit, you can assemble the pictures of some memory you shared recently into a book-maybe a vacation, or an anniversary dinner. They say dogs are man's best friends. Does your man have a dog? If so, a photo book documenting your dog, and the happy times you've had with him, can be a great way to go.

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You will probably want to take some photos specifically for the photo book. However, when you're doing this you don't have to tip your hubby off as to what you are doing. Ease into it. If you're considering making a photo book for him, you probably are a photo hobbyist, at least a little. The thing to do, to make him think all this photography is just you going on about your hobby, is take lots of 'red herring' photos-no, not pictures of actual red fishes, but rather pictures of all sorts of things, most of which are things you're interested in but are of no particular interest to him. If you take one picture of the dog and don't show him unless he asks, for every three you take of your flower garden, he is unlikely to figure out what you're up to.

After you take the pictures, you must organize them in order to create your photo book. If you want to include text in your photo book, you have to figure out what you want to write. Once that's done, it's easy to create the actual photo books. Decide exactly what photos you want to use in what order. Then decide on any captions or other text you want to include relating to the photos. You must now upload them to an online gallery site that allows you to hire them to print photo books for you.

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MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

7 Reasons Photo Books Are Better Than Photo Albums

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Have you thought about making a photo book before? Maybe you are used to keeping your photos in an album, so why would you want to make a photo book? A Photo Album is just an ordinary book where you can arrange a series of photographs in a specific order of your choice. You can really bring a touch of creativity your photographs with a professionally printed photo book.

Here's seven reasons I think photo books are better than photo albums

  1. Individual and Personalised Design - You get to personally design your own photo book! You have complete control over the sizes of your pictures, their arrangement on the page and the general style and colours of the book. You can have a photo take up a whole page on the book, or fit a hundred images on one page.
  2. Professional Printing - It is personally designed and the individual photos are printed on the page unlike a photo album where the photos are stuck to the pages. This means no finger smudges on your favourite photos, and no need to buy expensive acid proof papers or worry about your photos fading.
  3. Lightweight and Slim - Photo albums can be bulky and heavy, but photo books are slim and lightweight because the pictures are printed on the page. Professional book printing and binding will ensure your memories are preserved for a lifetime.
  4. Combine Your Images - Merge or overlay photos, cut or paste, straight or angles, colour, black and white or sepia; you can decide on how you want your memories to be preserved. You can even write text beside or over photos indicating the event or something special that you would like to remember.
  5. Cheaper than Alternatives - High quality photo albums, scrapbooking and creative memories supplies are really expensive. When compared with these expenses, photo books are inexpensive! They also allow you to try out your design without destroying your pictures or wasting your supplies. The software to create a photo book is very user friendly. Anyone with a taste of creativity can use it.
  6. Display them Your Way - As a photographer, you have total control over the outcome of your book, display your images as you intended them.
  7. It's Fun! - Most of all, designing your own photo book is fun. Try your first one and you'll be hooked!
Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

So, why not get some of those photos that are lying hidden on your hard drive into a hard cover photo book!

Simon Wilkins is the co-founder of Life Design Book - an innovative Australian Photography Book Printer.

Life Design Books started life in early 2007 and was established to harness the skills and specialties of its participants to offer the market the best photo albums and allied print products available.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

For the best quality photography book printing, and the easiest to use software, visit http://www.lifedesignbooks.com.au

Photo Gift Ideas - Personalized Photo Books For Any Event

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When it comes to unique and great looking photo gift ideas, the personalised photo book stands out as being one of the best looking and one of the most unique of all photo gifts. Up to 80 sides of high grade art paper can be used to print your selection of photographs and while the standard print selection is a single image to each side of paper, you can have more unique designs and prints applied to each and every page in order to make the photo book even more unique and incredible.

Personalise The Cover

The front cover of the photo book can be personalised to include one of your favourite photographs, or alternatively you can opt for a hand bound finish with corner protectors and a bookmark ribbon for a touch of class and style. Virtually every aspect of the personalised photo book can be made to your exact requirements and you can even have a personalised storage box or storage tin created to make it extra special as a personalised photo gift for any event, celebration, or occasion.

Print Your Photos On Every Page

Up to 80 sides of photo book can be customised to your needs. Even with a single picture printed on each page that's a lot of photographs, offering you a great way to update your old or existing photo albums, or to create new ones to give as photo gifts. Photo books have proven especially popular as anniversary gifts but can make exceptional presents for major birthdays, for weddings, or for any social event or celebration.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

Photo Book Options

Sizes vary from A5 to A3. For landscape printing you can choose from A3, A4, or A5 while portrait pictures are printed in the A4 selection of photo book. A personalised presentation box can also be made to match the size, look, and design of your photo book making it an even more appealing photo gift option. Virtually every aspect of the photo book can be customised to your options, right down to whether you want silver or gold corner protectors.

The Beautiful Presentation Box

The presentation box is, in itself, a beautiful personalised gift. The box is available in the same selection of sizes; A3, A4, or A%, and you can add your favourite image or photograph to the cover in order to ensure that it really is a personalised photo gift box to be proud of. Whether you're looking for the ideal anniversary present or you simply want a new photo book that you can be proud to show off, adding a presentation box or tin really is the icing on the cake.

Anniversaries To Birthdays

Photo books, including the presentation tin or box and the personalised cover, make excellent gift ideas. From anniversaries to major birthdays, any event can be celebrated with photo gifts and because of the combination of great looks and complete customisation, personalised photo books are among the best looking, most unique, and most highly treasured of all photo gifts.

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The photo book is just one great looking and unique gift idea from Bags of Love that make excellent anniversary gifts, birthday gifts, or keepsakes for yourself. View the Bags of Love website now to get more great ideas for any event.

Size Matters - Your Photobook Options

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Size matters in a lot of situations, but it matters a lot when it comes to creating your own photobooks. Sometimes you need to choose a specific size just to fit the pictures that you have and sometimes you need to choose the size to fit the uses that you have. You wouldn't choose to use a 12 x 12 inch book to carry in your purse to share your baby's pictures just as you wouldn't choose a 2 x 3 inch book to create a coffee table book to share majestic pictures of your trip to Alaska.

From small to large there are a lot of size options for you to choose when creating your own photobook. Just to give you some thought starters there are some ideas for what you can do with each size -- but please just use that as a beginning and make your own photobooks work for you.

2 x 3 Soft Cover

This small book is great for carrying around with you to share those pictures that you will share with a lot of people. Size does matter since it is so small that you can only have one picture per page. This book is printed on the book quality paper that is used for all photobooks and not just a bound copy of pictures that you can get when you create a flipbook. Good uses are for baby brag books and a wedding overview.

7 x 7 and 8 x 8 Hard Cover

This size makes a great storybook. Digital scrapbookers sometime create smaller pages of their scrapbooks and use this size. Most of these books are created to tell a story and are more likely to include text.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

5 x 7 and 8 x 11 Hard Cover

The 8 x 11 (or size that is close to this) is the original and classic photobooks size. The price is very reasonable and the size is great when using a variety of layouts. If you want to share the contents of the 8 x 11 book with a lot of people, you may want to make some of the books in the 5 x 7 format because they cost less. I also created a 5 x 7 of my daughter's wedding book to carry around with me.

You can use a variety of layouts with these books. Pictures look stunning in full size. With the variety of layouts available you can have over 12 pictures per page if you would like, and there are even layouts where you can create a look where there is a collage of pictures.

12 x 12

The 12 x 12 photobook is a popular book for the digital scrapbooker. Some of the photobook publishers allow the digital scrapbooker to upload their own pages. Besides the digital scrapbooker, this large book is great for a wedding photo album. The pages give you the opportunity for extremely attractive large pictures as well as the ability to use the wide variety of layouts provided.

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Not all of the photobook sizes have been presented, but just a few of them have been given to start you thinking about what size might work for your own projects. If you want to check out the sizes that each photobook publisher offers go to this Photobook Publisher Comparison Page.

Linda Reavill enjoys making photobooks and what started out as a way to organize wedding photos has turned into a passion for photobooks. If you need any help with photobooks, please visit http://www.make-your-own-photobooks.com

Family Heritage Photo Books - Tips For Creating Your Own Projects

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Many of us have family photographs and heirlooms packed away in boxes or stored in out-of-the-way storage areas. It is a rewarding task-and much less complicated than you might think-to transform piles of photographs and memorabilia into beautiful family heritage photo books. The latest online photo book technology is extremely easy to use, even for the absolute beginner.

The beauty of this technique is that you can choose the level of complexity for your project. In its simplest form, a heritage photo book captures and preserves the photographs themselves, in a format that can easily be printed and shared with any number of family members. If you have a little more time to invest in the photo book project, you may want add text to the photo book, transforming a simple photo book into a digital scrapbook where memorable family stories can be narrated and important information written down and preserved. If you or another family member want to go even further, you might consider taking on the role of family historian, interviewing relatives and recording your discoveries alongside the images highlighted in the photo book itself.

Heritage photo books are also particularly suited to collaborative projects. If you decide to act as the organizer for a project, you will be the one organizing, collecting, sorting, scanning, and uploading the project. It will then be up to you whether you order the completed online photo books as gifts to give on a special occasion (the holidays, an anniversary, or family reunion, for example), or whether you send the link to the photo book you have created and leave the ordering up to your relatives.

The first step in a collaborative photo book project is to decide on the scope of the project you want to take on. Some ways of doing this include focusing on: one special person or couple ("Grandma Sophie's Life"); one side of the family tree ("The Watsons: The Story of Our Family"); or a specific time frame and what daily life was like then for your relatives ("The Watson Family Chronicles: 1915-1935").

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After you have decided on the project details, you will want to search through the materials you already have available, and begin to sort them by theme, by family grouping, or by date. If your project is particularly large, you may want to label individual envelopes, folders, boxes, or clear sandwich bags so that your sorted photographs and memorabilia can be kept together. If you have a photo labeling pencil, you may want to write a short note on the back of each photograph, or number the photographs and then keep a journal or scrap paper nearby to record information about the images you want to use in the photo book.

Next, you can contact family members to see if they have images or stories they can add to your photo book project. Sending messages over email is convenient, since it allows your family members from far and wide to scan, upload, or attach digital photographs for you to use. Some may prefer to send you the original photographs. If this is the case, you can scan them yourself or bring a batch of photos to a local printing or graphic design store, where they can be scanned for you. Make sure to keep these organized so that they can be returned to the sender after the project is completed.

Another spin on the family heritage album is to put together a contemporary version; ask all of your relatives for recent family photographs, and add these to a heritage book or create a new photo book using the same photo-journalistic approach that you would take for an heirloom project.

David Dobson, Manager Digital Print Australia

At Digital Print Australia we pride ourselves on supplying a range of quality services including digital printing, photo printing, photo album printing, photo gifts, finishing, film runouts and large format inkjet posters. Our experienced team will provide one creative solution to produce the highest quality results for your project.

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Digital Print Australia - Photo Books

Photo Gifts - The Personalised Photo Book

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Among the more unique and great looking photo gifts is the personalised photo book. The photo book is a superb alternative to the photo album enabling you to print photographs on up to 80 sides of high quality satin art paper. Images can be printed right up to the edges, as well as the top and bottom of each side, while you have the option to print a single image on each page or to use more complex designs. Ideal as gifts, portfolios, or as a keepsake to store your most treasured memories in photograph form.

Personalised Front Cover

The personalised photo book isn't just a great way to display your photographs but is a highly customisable item. Not only are all the pages of the book customised but so too is the front cover. You can add a photograph, or even a photo montage, and you can add text or a personal message too. Whether you're looking for a good looking, personalised anniversary gift or just a great way to store, share, and protect your favourite pictures, the personalised photo book is the ideal option.

Borderless Printing On Every Page

Every page of a photo book offers new alternatives and new options. You can print a single image from border to border and from top to bottom with no empty space showing. Alternatively, you can combine pictures creating an even more unique and good looking page. If you don't feel confident or comfortable creating these designs yourself you can allow the photo book printing service to do this for you, giving you the best results possible with your personal photo book.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

Up To 80 Sides Of Your Photos

Various sizes of customised photo book exist, offering different picture sizes and image display options. A3, A4, and A5 photo books offer landscape printing while there is also a portrait A4 version available. Corner protectors are included with every personalised photo book, protecting the book itself as well as the pictures that it contains while the addition of a bookmark ribbon and the quality of the hand bound book ensure that whichever size you opt for you will enjoy the best looking photo book possible.

Personalised Presentation Box

To finish off the incredible looks and great quality of the photo book, you can also have a personalised presentation tin or box created. By including a good looking presentation box, the personalised photo book makes an incredible gift idea that is regularly used as an anniversary gift. In this case, you can personalise the photo book with pictures from the wedding day or throughout the years of marriage as well.

From Anniversary Gifts To Birthday Gifts

Photo books really are a great looking gift idea as well as being the ideal method to allow you to store, preserve, and enjoy your own photographs. Often given as anniversary gifts, or for special milestone birthday gifts, the personalised photo book comes with a superb range of options that truly enable you to personalise various aspects and create a breathtaking and unique gift for any occasion.

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Personalised photo books from Bags of Love use the best quality paper and hand bound cover. Combined with a beautiful personalised presentation box or tin, this makes Bags of Love photo books ideal anniversary gifts as well as the perfect way to store and look after your own personal photo collection.

What to Look For in a Photo Book Printing Company

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With hundreds of photo book printing companies online these days, it can be difficult to decide which one to trust with your precious memories. Here's a few tips from us to help you work it out.

  • Photo Book design software - First of all, you need photobook software that can be found online. If you are using a Mac, you need to make sure that the company has software available for your operating system. Some companies will make you send them a cd of photos to them, and design it for you. This can be a time saver, but the choice should be yours. You need to be able to have control over the creative process, without having to spend a fortune paying designers!
  • Easy to use software - The software should be simple to use and able to guide you through the process. Is there a manual or online help available to guide you through the process? This is important to know before you start investing your time in creating a photo book.
  • Creative and flexible editing options - Your photo book editing software should allow you to modify each photograph separately with different background, texture and colour. There are a lot of photo effects and backgrounds to choose from. Simple tools such as cropping and image editing should be available. It should allow you to select various layouts for your pages.

  • Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

  • Printing quality - After you invest the time and effort in taking your photos and designing your photobook, you would not want to waste it on poor quality printing. Make sure that your photo books will be printed to the highest standards. The texture of colour should be such that it brings life in the picture. The quality of paper to be used is also an important factor which decides how beautiful and clear the print out would be. The cover of the book is normally either made of soft or hard binding. In both the cases the quality of colour and texture should be carefully matched so that it creates a long lasting impression.
  • Printing technology - It is better if your photo book printer uses the latest digital offset printing technologies. Your printing company should allow you to add extra pages to your photobook as desired.

Good photobooks, when printed by high quality printing companies, should last you a lifetime. Make sure your precious memories get the best home available!

Simon Wilkins is the co-founder of Life Design Book - an innovative Australian Photography Book Printer.

With a major investment in the best digital print facilities and contact with a network of over 3000 Australian and international photographers, we can not only print your material but we can supply a photographer for any event and package it into an Album, poster, personalised cards, canvas product or other creative device - in fact if you have an idea that involves print, chances are we can help out.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

For the best quality photography book printing, and the easiest to use software, visit http://www.lifedesignbooks.com.au.

Make Your Own Wedding Photo Book

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You wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, if not THE most important. That's why your wedding photographs are so very important. They will become the main permanent record of your special day that you will want to share with friends and family or just look at yourself to remind you of how wonderful it was and to bring back all those precious memories. A wedding photo book is a striking and elegant way to display your wedding pictures and one that allows you to be much more creative and show off more of your own personal style and thoughts than a traditional photo album.

When you make your own wedding photo book, you can design each of the pages of your book individually. You can choose from different layouts that can display either a single photo on the page or several related photos. You can also select a background for the page and other embellishments such as frames and borders. You can even add your own text to record your own and your spouse's individual memories of your wedding day.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

Some photo book publishers offer a range of very special luxury covers and bindings for special occasion books, like a wedding photo book. For example, you can have a quality leather cover with stamped text or a velvet cover, also with stamped text. Some publishers also let you choose silver or gold gilt page edges for an extra special finishing touch. Lay flat binding allow you to display your book open at any page on a table or shelf, without the curving of the page near the spine that can distort the pictures. Some publishers also offer larger sizes so that you can create a true 'coffee table' style book recording your own wedding day.

Many professional photographers now offer to create a wedding photo book from your photos for you as an extra service. I would suggest that you seriously consider making your own though, because you will be able to create a much more personal book. The software that you use to make your own wedding photo book is very easy to use. It allows creative folks to design every element of their wedding photo book but for those who need more help, there are plenty of guides and shortcuts that you can use.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

Click here to see reviews of photo book publishers who offer these special design options and see beautiful sample wedding photo books for inspiration.

Create Your Own Custom Photobook or Hard Cover Book

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Have you seen those cool PhotoBooks and memory books that are produced by some of the big online photo printing companies? How would you like to be able to produce something like that yourself? Plus you can customize the front to add a full color photograph or title sheet that will really make your books stand out. This is actually something that isn't all that difficult to you. Here is a quick set of instructions for creating your own fully customized hard cover documents.

First, you will need some materials. Here is what you will need.

* A binding machine capable of binding a hard cover book.

* A cold process laminator / sticker maker (such as the Xyron Creative Station)

* The printed pages to bind into your book.

* A printed page for the cover of your book

* A hard cover case to bind the pages in

Once you have collected these items, you are ready to create your own photobook, memory book or hard cover presentation. Here are five simple steps to finishing your book.

1. Assemble all of the pages of your book and make sure that they are in the correct order. Take the pages and make sure that they are completely square and flush and add end leaves if that is something that is important to you.

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2. Insert the pages for your hardcover into the hard cover case that you purchased (probably a Unibind Steelbook, Unibind Photobook or a thermal binding hard cover). Take the cover with your pages in it and place it in the binding machine. The binding machine will heat up the spine of the book and bind your pages in place. If you are using Unibind you are ready to proceed to the next step. If you are using thermal binding you will need to place your document into a special crimper before it is completed. Let the document cool while you proceed with the next step.

3. Now that your document is bound, you need to create the sticker for the front of your cover. At this point you will take your printed page for the cover of your book and run it through your sticker maker / cold process laminator. You are going to want to make sure that your laminator is equipped with a cartridge that adds permanent adhesive to the back side and it is recommended that you add a laminate to the front side (this will prevent peeling or damage).

4. After you have run the document through the laminator, it will have a peel off liner on the back of it much like a sticker does. You will want to peel this liner off and carefully apply it to the front of your book. It is very important to make sure that the sticker is square on the front of the book since the permanent adhesive will make it nearly impossible to adjust later.

5. Once you have applied the sticker to the front of the book you will need to be sure to smooth out the sticker to ensure that there are no air bubbles underneath. After you have done this your customized hard cover book is completed.

For the best results with this type of hard cover binding, I recommend using a glossy white hard cover or trying to match your printed coversheet to the color of your cover. Using this style it is also possible to wrap your printed cover around the spine of the document to add a spine print. You would want to do this after the binding process was complete so that the printing will not be discolored by the heat from the binding system.

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Jeff McRitchie is the director of marketing for http://www.MyBinding.com and lives in Hillsboro, Oregon. He writes extensively on topics related to Binding Machines, Binding Supplies, Report Covers, Binders, Index Tabs, Laminators, Laminating Pouches, Roll Film, Shredders, and Paper Handling Equipment.

Why You Should Preserve Your Photos in a Photo Book

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Photos are the way that we capture and preserve some of our most precious memories; births, weddings, travels and celebrations, just to name a few. Too often our pictures end up buried at the bottom of our hard drive never to be seen again! Sometimes we print them out, and leave them lying in stacks at the bottom of drawers. What a waste! Your precious memories deserve better than that. They deserve to be preserved and presented in a beautiful (and easy to access) way.

Good photo book software will enable you to create a very professional and nicely designed presentation of your memories. Photos books give you the freedom to design your book according to your choices. You can have as many or as few pictures as you like, present them in full colour, black and white or sepia. Have full page full size pictures, or create a montage of images on the one background.

Parents who capture every moment of their child's growth on camera can present these moments beautifully. What is the point of collecting the images of all these moments, if you don't use them? The life size photographs of the baby with beautiful background would surely bring a smile to your face.

Remember that great holiday overseas? Ever wanted to show family and friends your photo albums, but they're not quite excited as you are? Don't let those great experiences and memories go wasted. Your experiences and images will be better appreciated when displayed creatively in a photo book.

So, if you have had great experiences and memories recorded on film or disk, don't let them go to waste. Do just print them, photo book them!

Simon Wilkins is the co-founder of Life Design Book - an innovative Australian Photography Book Printer.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

Life Design Books started life in early 2007 and was established to harness the skills and specialties of its participants to offer the market the best photo albums and allied print products available.

The quality of Life Design Books is a direct result of the print and design experience of the organisation and this comes from our background in commercial printing, custom design work and professional photography.

With a major investment in the best digital print facilities and contact with a network of over 3000 Australian and international photographers, we can not only print your material but we can supply a photographer for any event and package it into an Album, poster, personalised cards, canvas product or other creative device - in fact if you have an idea that involves print ,chances are we can help out.

If you are thinking printing - talk to us.

Life Design Books has a vast level of experience in the print and photographic field. Our team incorporates award winning AIPP photographers , professional print artisans and dedicated customer service professionals to ensure your experience is a positive one.

Tapping into the personal histories and experiences of our clients we are always excited and motivated to produce the best results - to exceed expectations. There is a certain dynamic atmosphere at Life Design Books â€" an energetic creativity and driving professionalism. Be it an individual photo album or a major commercial contract - we look forward to being of service to you.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

For the best quality photography book printing, and the easiest to use software, visit http://www.lifedesignbooks.com.au.

Creating Beautiful Memory Gifts Out of an Online Photo Book Service

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Thanks in part to the internet, people have started to be more selective in the gifts they are giving to loved ones. Since there is so much more to choose from now, it has become even more important to many people to be able to offer something special, a memory gift that will mean a great deal to the person receiving the gift. And, one of the most popular creations are online photo books.

These books are much like digital scrapbooking, except that there is more focus on the stories, and the person is not required to have to print off all the pages themselves. There is no need to worry about the quality of the printer or having the right kind of paper. These photo books are created online and then published. The books are often professionally printed and bound, and then shipped to the recipient.

With the many choices available, there have been many creative ideas put into these online photo books. Many people create wedding memory books, baby memory books, anniversary, trip or tribute books to someone important in their lives - there really is no end to the kind of gift you can create using the internet and just a little bit of creativity.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

Is it hard to create a photo book?

The truth is that these books are even simpler to put together than a regular scrapbook. There is no mess, and you can always fix your mistakes without ruining any pictures or embellishments.

Most services will walk you through, or have tutorials that can show you how to work the system. And, once you have done a few pages, you will begin to understand better how things work and what looks best on the pages.

Too many people worry that they aren't creative enough, or that they wouldn't even know where to start. These are just excuses that hold people back from getting started. In most cases, once you get going, you realize that you are putting something together that really means something, and everything will just start to fall into place.

Can you imagine the joy of receiving a gift like this? To have someone take the time to create a book about you, or about something that is important in your life and then present it to you. Those who do receive these wonderful gifts will be able to appreciate the thought and effort that went into the gift, and it will mean so much more than any other present you could go out and buy.

Memory gifts like these online photo books are more than just a few pieces of paper with a couple of pictures put together. They are beautiful tributes to the people who matter in your life, and they make the kind of gift you can be proud to give - and that you know will be remembered.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

Marie Pugh is a Personal Publishing Consultant with the online photo book and "Storybooking" company Heritage Makers. To see some beautiful templates you can use to get started on your own memory gift, or learn more about this service, go now to http://www.yourstorybooklife.ca

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Wedding Photo Books - Preserving That Special Day in a Beautiful Hardbound Book

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Your wedding day is one of the most important days in your life. It is a day you dream of your whole life, a day you plan for and prepare for over the course of many months leading to that day. And, you want to do everything you can to preserve every moment so you can share it and relive it whenever you want. Wedding photo books help to keep the memories close to your heart, and allow you to share the moments with generations to come.

Many people worry about where they would even start to make something like a book about their wedding - thinking that it is likely difficult to do and that it might not look professional. But, what they don't realize is that often if they just sit down and start putting the pictures into the book, everything just starts falling into place.

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When creating a wedding photo book, the pictures can start right from the morning of the wedding to the very end - with everything in between. Or, some people choose to just have the professional pictures that they had taken put into their photo books.

However, many people forget to include something that is very important to be able to capture the memories and feelings of that day, and that is including a story about how they were feeling at the moment that picture was taken. Stories about some of the little things that happened during the day that many times would be forgotten.

Putting the stories along with the pictures ensures that generations to come will be able to see the pictures and feel the events. When people read the book, they can get a real feeling for how the moments happened.

You don't need to have a well versed novel to go with the pictures, but including some words, and some stories to go with the pictures will ensure that the wedding photo books you have created will be enjoyed by others, and the moments that you waited your while life to experience will be captured for you to relive forever.

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Update Your Old Wedding Photographs

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Wedding photographs and wedding photo albums can become damaged even when looked after properly and cared for over the years. Light and other natural conditions can cause the pictures to fade and discolour while even occasional leafing through an album can lead to torn, frayed, and creased pictures. However, that doesn't mean that you should avoid looking through your wedding photographs - after all, that's what they're printed for; to be enjoyed time and time again. With personalised photo albums and photo books you can update your existing wedding photo album or create a new one.

An Updated Photo Album

The modern photo album is, generally speaking, more robust than its earlier counterpart. You do still need to add the photographs yourself by using the supplied backing but the pages and the cover are far more resilient. What's more, a personalised wedding photo album can be completely customised to include a favourite photograph on the cover as well as a text caption such as your names and the date of your wedding.

Filling Your Own Album

A lot of people still enjoy the process of filling their own photo albums, and customised wedding photo albums allow for this to take place while also offering a professional finish and a durable quality. Regardless of whether you got married one or twenty years ago, if your wedding album is due for an update or if you have a collection of photographs that never made it to the album then now is the perfect time to order a new one and get adding your pictures.

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A Customised Photo Book

A photo book is a great alternative to the photo album. Pictures are printed directly onto both sides of the personalised photo book and, dimensions allowing, are printed with no border or frames on the pages. The glossy finish makes the pictures look even better while the provided display or storage box or tin allows you to keep the pages in superb condition. You can still take your personalised photo book out to relive the memories but without fear that doing so will cause irreparable damage to the book or the pictures.

Using Paper Prints

You don't have to have digital copies of your pictures in order to have a photo book created. A good photo service can work with paper prints, carefully scan them, and then return the pictures back to you with the completed book. Alternatively, if you would rather not risk posting the pictures then you can scan them yourself and send the digital file to the company who will again print your customised photo book and return it to you.

Ideal As Anniversary Gifts

A photo album or photo book is a great way to store memories from the happiest day of your life. Other items like the photo canvas can be used to create incredible looking display items and pieces of wall art using one or more of your favourite photos; whatever option you decide on, this can be an ideal way to update your own wedding photographs or to give somebody else as a personalised anniversary gift.

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Practical Ideas For a Unique Wedding Guest Book

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There are a lot of things that will require your attention when you are planning for your date at the altar. The wedding venue, your wedding entourage, bridesmaid gifts and a lot of other things that require your undivided attention would compete for your very limited time. The things that you have to accomplish seem endless and the wedding guest book would come out as an inconsequential item that may be relegated to the backseat. This is one of the most common mistakes being committed by those preparing for their wedding.

Actually, the guestbook is one of the most important mementos of your wedding; next to your wedding photo book. It is one of the most effective way of not just knowing who were your guests during your wedding but also recording the personal messages and sentiments of those who were present during this very important day of your life.

In most traditional wedding setup, a traditional wedding guest book will suffice. These types of guest books used in traditional weddings normally come with white covers and pages where the guest will sign their names. However, you can opt to add additional features to a traditional guest book. A simple side instruction like asking the guest to share their fond memories about the couples can elicit some interesting footnotes about the entire event and make the guest book a more interesting element of the entire celebration.

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If you are inclined to stay on the safe side and be conservative, you will also get mundane and clichés from the remarks of your guests. Sometimes, it pays to be a bit adventurous and imaginative even with your guest book. Nothing beats a remark from guests that says great things about the way you handled your guest book! Now, that really is something to be happy about as it is an indication that you are really one of those who can really deliver during special occasions something interesting and grand from small items like a guest book.

Photo guest books are in vogue these days and you will see a lot of styles in many wedding celebrations. You may consider having one for your wedding as it fosters an interactive approach with your contact with your guests. It adds character to all the pictures that you have to put out in perfect match with the special wishes and messages of your guests. You can add prompts in the specific pages of your guest book where your guests will be placing their pictures. You can be formal or humorous in your approach. It is your choice. What is important is that you are able to create something interesting by adding that element in your wedding guest book.

You should always remember that when you decide between the traditional and creative type of guest books for your wedding, it is imperative that you make it blend in the overall theme of the celebration. This may be dismissed as a minor detail by most of us but preparing for this would be one great thing as your wedding guest book is the keep sake of all the thoughts and feelings of people very dear to you and your partner.

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Spread the Happiness - Photobooks For Your Wedding

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With the digital camera the accessory of choice at weddings and hen nights alike, moments are captured in a still-frame for a lifetime and with hundreds of photographs to choose from, the bride is often spoilt for choice.

Some photographs might represent reportage, some might happen when the wedding photographer is over the other side of the reception with the ushers and some might just be down right funny and best reserved for your mates to giggle over. There are thousands of memories captured at a wedding and on a hen night and every camera will tell a different story. Why not ask your guests to send you their photographs over the internet and put together a series of gifts for the wedding party and your bridesmaids.

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Putting together a Yophoto photobook adds to the fun of looking through your photographs. You can tailor each photobook specifically to the recipient and those who receive a Yophoto photobook will enjoy turning the pages as much as you will. Having been at your side from day one, treat your maid of honour to a leather-bound photobook filled with photographs from the hen night and wedding and impress your new in-laws and parents with a hand-tailored linen photobook with beautiful (slightly more conservative!) pictures from the special day. Your younger members of the wedding party and flower girls will love the compact Yophoto yobooks featuring photographs of the antics they got up to during the day!

Adding a personal touch and using state of the art digital printing, photographs are displayed on high quality gloss paper along with personalised captions. At exceptional value, choose from a stunning selection of colours to suit all styles and tastes from classical claret and British racing green to fun brights in dianthus pink and Shanghai red. These high quality books are available in four sizes and traditionally hand sewn bound in an opulent real bonded leather, contemporary linen or frosted polypropylene.

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Why Photo Books Are Going to Be Bigger Than Elvis

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Are photo books going to be as big as Elvis? Well, one thing is for sure, photo books hold amazing potential. Keen photographers can use the whole photo book concept to make a photo business that blows everything else out of the water. Or, potentially at least. So lets find out why.

The first thing to realize is that books rock! You know when you sit down in someone's home and they have these wonderful coffee table photography books lying around. The first thing you do is pick one up and start browsing through it... Well, photo books are similar - just more of a low cost variety (albeit still great photos enclosed!)

And with custom photo books (design the book yourself, or drop your photos into a ready made template), you get these great benefits:

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• Add your own unique photos to a professionally bound, high quality paper book.
• Create a photo book fast and often within days of a photo shoot (such as a wedding shoot).
• Personalize your photo book with different backgrounds and layouts, and personalized covers.
• Use photo books to present and market your business (such as a portfolio for a graphic designer, wedding photographer or interior designer).
• Use a hard cover, padded photo cover, or a fabric or leather photo cover.

Good photography has a lot to do with 'how' you present your photography. And once you have a series of great photos, why leave them online? This forces folks to go to a website to see your work - but what if they don't have Internet access? This is where the custom photo book looks even more promising.

Not only are you preserving (and sharing) your digital photo memories, you can create photo book gifts for special occasions. Just been traveling? Why not add your best travel images to a book and share it with family and friends? Think of the potential - wedding photo albums, children's memories, a day (or week or year) in your families life.

And if you're thinking the cost is prohibitive, then what about offering your photo book for sale too? Add titles, some poetry and words, and you have a completely unique book that's one-of-a-kind, and 'home made' too!

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Great Wedding Moments in Perpetuity With Digital Photo Albums

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The photographs of your wedding and your photo album are essential records of this great milestone of your life. However, if what you have are the typical photographs and conventional wedding photo book, these will slowly deteriorate and eventually be damaged to a point where recovery is not anymore possible. Extreme external conditions and light conspire to create the condition that is damaging to your photographs. Occasional and improper handling will also result to torn or frayed pages.

Modern technology has given us the opportunity to store this record of great moments of our lives with the use of digital photo book. This cutting edge and modern product will ensure that you are able to keep and enjoy the memories of your wedding day in perpetuity and these products are meant to last a lifetime.

The modern digital album is, generally speaking, a new concept of preserving documented milestones of our lives. It is more permanent and durable than it older counterpart. It is the threshold of the future as far as photo-documentation is concerned and is expected to make the ubiquitous and conventional medium obsolete and a thing of the past. This new concept product also offers new features that bring versatility and functionality to a new level. One can have personalized wedding album which can be regularly updated by adding new ones to reflect changing times and new milestones, i.e. wedding anniversaries, etc.

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Another great feature of the digital wedding photo book is the leverage it provides us to update and fill up our own album. You have this functionality while retaining the overall professional theme and layout that is incorporated in your wedding album. This means that time loses its reference as far as your book is concerned. You can do the updating anytime you want and still maintain the relevance and original character that was made and designed in the first place. If you are planning to add to the old collection, then the application used in your photo album gives you the capability and the convenience in doing so.

Another great feature is its being customization-capable. Pictures are printed directly and the preferred design concept is conveniently integrated to the page in a form and process of highest quality. The process involved a precise scanning process of the master photographs on quality media and the final digital photo book is churned out from this process. The high quality of the finish of the wedding album uses glossy pictures that provide excellent images of special moments during the wedding and other milestone events in your lives. All because of the material used and the process involved in making the digital picture book, you are assured of a treasure trove of great memories that will last you a lifetime. You will enjoy looking at the pictures of events that evoke fond memories and update them regularly with the fear of causing irreparable damage.

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Make Your Own Photo Book

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator

Do you have a lot of digital photos on your PC? Do you email them and share them on photo sharing sites but wish that you had a some way to do something more creative and interesting with them? Just because your photos are in electronic format, it doesn't mean that you are stuck to viewing them on a screen. In fact, digital photos can be printed in many more attractive and creative ways than you could have dreamed of with old fashioned film. One of the exciting things that you can now do with your photos is to make your own photo book.

A photo book is not a photo album. You don't print the photos and then stick them into an album or put them in pockets. In a photo book, your photos are printed on to the page, just like in professional photograph books that you might buy in a bookstore. The books have custom covers with your text and even your pictures on them and they are professionally bound and printed on high quality paper.

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Because you make your own photo book using photo book software on your computer, you can really get creative. Most photo book publishers let you choose from a wide selection of backgrounds and layouts for pages in your book. You can add text to pages in your choice of font and change your photos so that they are in black and white or sepia. You can even create your own storybooks and recipes book using your own photos and text if you like. Advanced digital scrapbooking techniques allow you to import beautiful and unique pages that you created in another software package or that you downloaded from a digital scrapbooking site.

But if you don't have a lot of time or are just not artistically inclined, you can just choose a theme and group your photos into pages and have the photo book software make the photo book for you. You can always 'tweak' individual pages before you buy your finished book.

Photo books are a great way for you to show off your digital photos and to share them with family and friends. When you make a photo book, you are creating something that will bring joy to you and your family that you can enjoy together now and in the future. This is a wonderful way to preserve your treasured memories. And best of all, you can make your own photo book for as little as $10 for a small book or around $30 for a 8.5x11 book.

Free Simple to Use Photobook Creator