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| Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 |
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So, you have a great new digital camera and scanner and your hard drive is beginning to fill up with images, but no one ever gets to see them. Why not create a custom coffee-table book and show off your collection?
To create a custom book you can use an online photo service. All you need is some digital images and time (plus a little creativity). Each service requires that you start with a minimum of 20 images.
I recommend starting with 60-80 images to give you different layout options. But be prepared to wait. Uploading that many images could take about an hour–even on a high-speed connection.
Once the images are uploaded, use the templates provided to lay out your book, choose the cover photo, compose a title, and decide the order of the images. After completing the layout, you pay for the book (or books if you choose multiple copies) and choose the recipients.
The books are printed automatically almost as soon as you've completed the order. Companies promise delivery of your book within days and the project is saved in your online account should you decide you'd like to go back and order more. Online Service Companies
There are quite a few services available to consumers on the Internet. The companies I looked at were Shutterfly, Ofoto, My Publisher, and Snapfish. Of these services I completed and ordered books from Shutterfly and Ofoto.
Shutterfly
| Create Your Shutterfly Photo Book in 10 Easy Steps
After opening a free Shutterfly account and uploading some images, you can create your book. Just follow these simple steps: | |
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- Choose your Photo Book.
- Choose a color.
- Choose a style.
- Pick from one of the nine themes, including classic, casual, or elegant.
- Select the pictures to be used.
- You will choose from photos you have uploaded to your Shutterfly account.
- Choose the cover image and enter a title.
- Set up the book.
- Choose how many pictures you would like on each page of your Photo Book. You can have 1, 2, 4, or a mixed number.
- Edit the pages and enter captions.
- Preview the book.
- Select recipients.
- Finalize the order.
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Of all the services I sampled Shutterfly was the best. The final product looks great. The images are bright and colorful, and the paper stock used is good quality. Using this service was easy. There are options for auto-layout or you can manually lay out the book page by page. I opted for auto-layout and made changes to fit my needs and taste.
Nine page styles, including “Wedding,” “Baby,” and “Kid,” and a variety of layouts allow up to six pictures per page. What I thought was lacking was the ability to change text fonts or have full pages of text.
Price: $29.99 for ten double-sided pages. Each additional page: $1.99. Check the site for specials –there often seems to be a sale or discount on various services.
Ofoto
I've used Ofoto in the past and have always been happy with the print quality. It's a Kodak company so you'd expect it would know how to make a good print. Later this spring Ofoto will be changing its name to the Kodak EasyShare Gallery.
Using Ofoto wasn't quite as easy as Shutterfly, but it wasn't difficult. The experience I had was similar to Shutterfly except I thought the auto-layout was not as good. So I ended up choosing to manually lay out the entire book.
Again, I had a choice of styles and page layouts. Ofoto did have a text page option, which is a nice touch for those wishing to make a family history book.
Price: $29.99-$39.99 (depending on cover material) for ten double-sided pages. Each additional page: $1.99. Again, as with Shutterfly, check the site for specials–it often posts coupon codes for discounts on various services.
The Others
Other services with similar products include MyPublisher and Snapfish. Both of these services seem to be inferior to the two mentioned above. MyPublisher requires you to download software that is a little cumbersome for the beginner to use, and Snapfish has never been known to produce great looking prints.
Have a computer or technology-related question for Joe? E-mail your question to: askjoe@ericksonmail.com.