How to Make A Free Photo Book to Print

If you have family and friends all over the world, it can be difficult to stay in touch. Even with the Internet, people are just too busy to check on everyone on a regular basis. Holidays and birthdays may come and go without updates. It is fun to create a photo book on the history of your family or to document trips. A photo book can be sent out to your loved ones through email, and they can make their own copies on their printers for free. This is a personalized gift you can send to everyone on your cherished list to help stay connected.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Plenty of photos in your computer Access to a scanner for photos that are not digital Adobe Acrobat A program like Adobe Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator.

Creating a Photo Book

1. Put all of your photos in a folder on your computer's desktop. If some photos need to be scanned, scan them at 300 dpi. Save these to the destination folder with names and dates.

2. Bring photos into your program and arrange them to your liking. Feel free to add shapes and background elements. Think of this as a digital scrapbook. Add details with text. Dates, names and funny family anecdotes are great to include. Indesign is the easiest program to use, as you can create a whole book in your document. For programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, each page will be separate , so be sure to save them with page numbers.

3. Create a cover. This can include a montage of different photos or no photos at all. Give it a personal title and have fun with it.

4. Save as a PDF. Bring your PDF into Acrobat. Make sure your pages are in the proper order. If they are not, use your pages tool to correct them. Go to Document and then Reduce File Size. Reduce it to the lowest size possible. You do not want to send something more than 3 MB to everyone through email. Your book is finished. Open your copy and make sure everything looks just right.

Emailing your Book.

5. Create a group for your book on your email contact list.

6. Select every email address you want to receive your book.

7. Attach your PDF.

8. Write a personal message stating what is in your book and ask recipients to email you with feedback. Let them know that the book is downloadable so they can print their own copies. Send it out and wait for all of the emails to come in telling you how much your book means to them.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your book to a moderate size. If you have a large number of photos, create different volumes that you can send in separate emails. Have fun with your book and spend some time working on it. Don't rush it.
• Make sure your file is not too big when you send it. This will prevent some people from actually receiving it and it may fill up other people's inboxes.

Resources

• Another way to email your friends and family a polished photo book.