How to Make Your Photos Into a Book

Print-on-demand printers make it possible to create books by uploading digital files to the printer's website. One type of book that can be created is the photo book. A photo book might be a collection of wedding photographs, a child's first birthday or a portfolio of a photographer's best work. While most print-on-demand printers could be used to create a photo book, some may not be ideal for a photo book. One reason, the quality of paper used for the pages may not produce the best images. One thing to look for when choosing a printer is the quality of paper.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Shop for the print-on-demand printer which best suits your needs. Some printers, such as Shutterfly and Snapfish offer templates designed specifically toward the amateur non-publisher. You can choose themes, such as birthdays or weddings, and build your book with a publishing wizard. Other print-on-demand printers, such as Lulu or Create Space, offer printing services for those who wish to mass market their book. At sites like Ancestry.com, printing on acid free paper is offered and is geared toward historical photographs.

2. Sign up as a member on the print-on-demand printer's website. While most print-on-demand printers will require you create a membership account, there likely is no cost and the process typically involves clicking a "Join" link on the homepage and completing an online form. Once a member, you can start printing projects.

3. Determine the necessary image size and format required by the printer. Many print-on-demand printers recommend a 300 pixels-per-inch, JPEG digital image for each photograph. If the image is too small, it will not reproduce well. A larger image size will produce the best results. But some sites may restrict the file size in that some files may be too big to upload at their website.

4. Convert your photographs to the proper digital format and size. If the image already is in digital format, you can make it smaller, but making it larger will not improve its quality. If you are scanning photographs to create digital images, set your scanner settings to reflect your desired output.

5. Organize your digital images in a file on your computer. Gather your images and store them in one or more folders on your computer so you can easily find them when assembling your photo book. If the files are scattered about your computer's hard drive, the process will be frustrating and tedious.

6. Create a document file with your photos inserted. This will be necessary with sites such as Lulu and Create Space. The document's page size and margins should be set according to the specifications listed on the printer's website. Images should be inserted into the document, not cut and pasted. After the document is completed, it can be converted to a PDF file with embedded fonts and uploaded to the website for printing. Some printers will allow you to upload the document file, instead of a PDF, yet in those cases you are limited on the fonts you can use in your document.

7. Upload your images directly to the website, and use the publishing wizard. If creating a photo book at a website such as Shutterfly or Snapfish, you can choose the type of photo book you want to create and follow their publishing wizard, which will guide you through each step.

References

• Self-Publishing Handbook; Bobbi Holmes; 2008

Resources

• Shutterfly
• Snapfish
• Lulu
• Create Space
• Picaboo

[mvbeads]

on 10/27/2009 Very comprehensive and well written! Excellent resources links. Thanks! 5*!