Your camera roll is full. Maybe you have countless photos from birthdays, galas, vacations, and more. Or you want to make a wedding album or baby book to document big milestones. Creating a photo book is a great way to turn your digital memories into a physical keepsake. Simple and eye-catching photo book layouts help you display your images and relive your memories. You don’t need to be a professional photographer to print your photos in a bound collection. Follow these simple steps to print a high-quality photo book. And, as a bonus, one photo book will ship for free.
Select Your Materials
When it comes to book binding, there are several choices to make for how you want the book to look and feel. Start with the book size – 7″ x 7” is the smallest and most popular size. The softcover book is flexible, lightweight, and made with perfect binding, which glues the pages to the spine. The softcover is also available in the larger 8.25” x 10.75” format. Choose a size made with hardcover perfect binding for a sturdy book. The 8” x 8” or 9” x 9” sizes provide plenty of space for your photos, and the cover keeps them protected. If you want to create a double-page spread, which has the images extend from one page to another, then a hardcover layflat photo book is the best choice. You can choose between satin or glossy photo-grade paper to show off your photos, depending on which size you select. The satin finish is less reflective, while the gloss paper has the appearance of a traditional printed photo.
Pick a Template
Find the best photo book template to showcase your photos. Full Page Photos lets your photos shine, as the images take up the entire page. If you want simple borders for your photos, choose Elegant White or Collection – Black. Avant-Garde lets you cut your photos into fun shapes. Some templates are themed around events, so you can be ready to go with a Wedding Memories or A Year In Review photo book. If you want to make a DIY photo book, get started with the blank theme, which lets you design your own photo book. The templates provide a wide variety of page layouts and eye-catching design elements, like borders, backgrounds, and shapes. They also help you showcase even more photos, as most of them allow you to add multiple photos to each page.
Design Your Pages
Now that you’ve got your base template, it’s time to add your photos. Make sure you’re using high-resolution photos. Anything out of focus or low quality will print blurry and pixelated. Sharp, clear images will print well, and full-color printing ensures the colors are deep and vibrant.
There is a limited amount of space, so you want to make sure you’re finding your favorite photos. Then, organize your photos to tell a visual story. Show off your engagement through your honeymoon, your vacation from the first day to the journey home, or your puppy growing up. Display a variety of photos. You don’t want 30 pages of the same two people in the same pose. Mix up portraits with candid photos and landscape photos. Create photo book pages that highlight all of your favorite photos.
Go through each template page and upload your photos to our photo book maker. Add photo filters to your images within the template designer. The easy-to-use online design tools let you add a variety of design elements. Add fun borders to your photos and include clip art and other illustrations to personalize your photo book. You can also include text, like a funny photo caption or note about where the photo was taken. Customize the font and text size to fit your book theme. If you have multiple photos, you can add pages to the book to fit them all. Photo books range from 20 pages to 160 pages.
Flip Through Your Photo Book
There are several different uses for photo books. Give them to family or loved ones as a heartfelt photo memory book. Customize a pregnancy book or baby photo book to document those exciting life changes. Create a custom anniversary gift with a wedding photo book full of photos from your special day. Alternatively, you can document smaller moments, like an annual vacation photo book or a yearly photo book. They make great coffee table books to share with guests. Outside of personal use, professionals, like photographers or artists, can also use photo books as a high-quality portfolio.
Now that you’ve personalized photo books, you can expand into other photo gifts. GotPrint offers a variety of different photo home decor options, including canvas prints, framed prints, and metal wall prints. Print the best image in your collection on a mug to jazz up your morning coffee. Printing physical versions of your photos helps you enjoy your photos outside of your camera roll.