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Where Do I Start With Making A Photobook?


JamScraps

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Hi there lovelies,

I have some photo albums I want to make with my digiscrapping i.e. our wedding, daughter's 16th birthday and my 10yr old daughter's birthday. I intend to make them into printed photobooks BUT I have never attempted this before. I have only ever made single pages that I print at home. I have no idea where to start other than some collections I have purchased.

Can you recommend the best software for this project?

Who is the easiest and reasonably priced company to go through for printing?

Plus any other advice I might need to know?

Thank you heaps in advance :)

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I use Shutterfly a lot for printed books. Get on their email list for sales and wait for one. I usually scrap my layouts and save them in one folder, then when there is a sale, I upload them to the site and arrange the pages the way I want them.

 

My best advice is to have fun with each project and don't let it overwhelm you!

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I've used Blurb before, and they print at good quality. You just have to check the specs, as the container size is a little different from the stated print size. Also, watch the margins and gutter of the book, and keep important things out of those areas on your LO. I've also heard things about Adoramapix, but I haven't used it yet. It's more expensive, but from what I've read, their quality is better even than Blurb's.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am interested in this question too. I usually print them at home and use a Bind It All but I think this time I would like to have them printed into an actual book. I am making a 5 x7 brag book for the grandparents - I need 3. I have NEVER used shutterfly before so I went on to play around a bit. I saw I could select a 5 x 7 book but when I went to add my digi pages the two side edges were cut off significantly. Any tips on how to do this - size my pages should be to work right or where I find that info, tips or tricks anyone wishes they had known before doing there first books, anything at all would be helpful!

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I used Blurb for my most recent photobook, and was pleased with the results. Learning the program took a bit of effort, but they do have guidelines to ensure that nothing important gets cut off in the assembly process, and they worked well, once I figured them out. I chose to create and upload complete pages, not to use their templates, so those guidelines were essential. Delivery was quite fast - about a week. The printed colors matched my originals, and the paper quality was good. I've also used Shutterfly with excellent results. For me, the important factor in choosing a company is the available sizes; they don't all offer the same variety. Good luck with your project!

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...but when I went to add my digi pages the two side edges were cut off significantly. Any tips on how to do this...

This happens because the proportions of our JPG are not the same as the proportions of their template. If the side edges are getting cut off, that suggests a template that is a little taller and less wide, than your JPG.

 

As a test, go back to your layered file, make your canvas a little taller and fill in the extra background. Save as JPG and upload it to see if less is cut off.

 

If still too much gets cut off, increase your canvas height a little more. When you find that perfect canvas size, you can use it for the rest of your pages.

 

Alternatively, seeing how much is cut off the side, you can go back to your layered file and move your elements in from the side. The outer edge of the background will be lost when printed, but not anything important.

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Shutterfly had templates you can download and see what will be cut off and what will appear on your pages. I haven't had any problems with inside pages with my 12X12 or 8X8 books, but I've used the templates for the covers and spine. Also, check and make sure whatever site you choose will ship to your country. I just noticed you are in Australia...

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I have had a couple of great books done with Snapfish and also BigW. Both sites produced beautiful books. I'm also in Australia. These sites have great specials every so often. My most recent were 20 page 8"x8" soft cover for $5. Delivered to my nearest Big W store. I had a hard cover 40 page 8"x8" done at Snapfish and that was $25. It turned out beautiful. You just need to keep your eye out for the specials. Even Harvey Norman have them some times. It takes a bit of learning to get used to how they set things up but I couldn't be happier. I did about 4 of the $5 ones. Kept thinking now who could I do another one for. It was so exciting. Good luck in your search. I didn't use their templates on most of my pages as I used Scrap booking pages I had done. Go for it, you will love them. Kay

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Great advice Kay. A friend has had a few books printed with BigW and they were not disappointed. My helpful hint is to not put anything important close to your page edges so it doesn't get cut off. Have fun and enjoy. It is exciting when you see your work printed in an album.

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