Photo Books- Updated with new question

[icedcoffee]

Help me make this as easy as possible.

I have never printed photo books. I have probably 17 years of digital pictures stored on an external hard drive. I feel like I should get these into books. I am thinking of starting with 2019 and working my way backwards with 1 book per year while I have kids, maybe 1 book for after college until kids and 1 book of college. Does this make sense? I don’t know.

What is the absolute easiest way to do this? What website? What methodology?

Do you print copies for your kids too? No, right? They probably won’t give a shit.

I want to get this done in 2021 but I am so overwhelmed.

[Patsy Baloney]

I’ve used Shutterfly and theyre nice, but honestly, I think most places are way too much effort and time-sink if you just want to have a paper copy of photos.

What I would do (and do actually do) is go through photos and look for ones I want to have a physical copy of. I get those printed and put them into plastic sleeves in a photo book and I’m done with that part. Then, I put aaaaaall the photos into a digital archive - we have a Google box we keep everything in and backup onto an external hard drive.

Fin.

If I was more fussy (which, tbh, I’m fussy about a lot of things but this one doesn’t make the cut) I’d do more elaborate printed books, but I think this does the job.

[ssmjlm]

I use shutterfly for my digital albums. You can do very simple to more decorative. They even have an option where you pick the photos for the book and it automatically puts them on pages based on dates of the photo files.

[mrsd2006]

Ditto Shutterfly. They will even make the book for you with the pictures you load (it's more expensive). Plus, they send out codes for free books quite frequently (you just have to pay tax and s&h)

[court26]

I have made a lot of books on Shutterfly and my 10 year old just begged to make herself one- so easy enough to do! My mom insists that is all she wants every year for Christmas, and it pains me, but it forces me to sum up every year! I order one for my parents, one for my grandma and then add a few pages of my kids with their friends and order for myself and sigh heavily. And put it off until December of the next year. Lol!

I like your idea of starting pretty currently and then catching up when you have time. You have to start somewhere! My kids love to look back through and I like the idea that if anything happens to them, they can be re-ordered as they are saved on the site!

I would take some time and start putting them in folders by year on whatever site you decide to use and go from there.

[bronxgirl]

I primarily use Shutterfly. They're not great quality, but good enough. I've used Costco once or twice.

[icedcoffee]

Additional question: has anyone used Google Photo to print a photo book? All of my pictures are already loaded to Google photos. So I’m wondering if it’s easier to just order books from there but I’m not sure how they compare.

[tealblue]

I don’t have any experience with Google photo, but all my photos upload to Amazon so I used it to make my 2019 book since all my photos were already there.
Amazon photo website may literally be the worst website in the history of the world. The quality of their books are similar to Shutterfly (which I used for my last books made of 2015 and 2014). I started my 2020 book today buy clicking all the photos backed up and made an album on Amazon for my book. Just need to do the book now.

Before this, I would make a folder on my computer and save all the photos I wanted to it. Then I would just upload that folder to Shutterfly for my photo book.

Good luck! 😂

[livinitup]

I have done a photo book for the past ten years for a Christmas present for each set of grandparents and keep a copy of each for ourselves. DH primary does his family and I primary do mine - there is some overlap for 1st day of school and Halloween but mostly each family has a different set of momentos, so both are a nice record of the year. I usually use Shutterfly.

Hints, based on my experience :

#1 - Definately go backwards and do one year at a time. Or one vacation. Or one chunk like you said “college years”. It’s nice and you have to have a focus.

#2 - This is important advice, at least for me - plan to make a shitty yearbook. It is SO EASY to fall down the rabbit hole of making an “amazing” photo book that it’s impossible to complete. Just lower the bar low enough to do a really shitty year book and you will actually be able to finish. And I 💯 guarantee it will be great. But you really have to let SO MUCH GO to get there. You can always edit.

#3 - Play with some pages that are “just only” photos and some with captions or writing. I don’t really need to “explain”
Halloween, so that page is just photos. Pretty. Easy. Visual. But some pages are best with historical comments like “Baptized at St. Anne Church, Horton, NY by Fr. John, SJ”. Shutterfly has a nice and easy “add text box” feature.

#4 - Uploading photos. As best you can, limit the photos you uploaded to the site. If you have 5 photos of a birthday cake, just uploaded one. This takes a good deal of work. But it’s so much more manageable to go through a small set of photos on the site page that to have too much. Edit before uploading.

#5 - Give yourself a break. These books are loads of fun to have but they take a lot of work. Just do a few pics for a few events and all the memories pour back to mind. That’s a good thing. Once, I did a page where DD jumped off a dock and the five pics on the same page where her jump and decent. So much fun. I loved everything about that page- the bathing suit, sun, and smile on her face. It meant less “detail” about he day (people, place, activities) but really capture the fun. Play around with full page portraits, multi-page layouts, and words in captions. THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS it’s hard to go simple. Force yourself to go simple.

Good luck. We like our books so much.

ETA : Yes, we do a file on our computer for all of the photos we save and that file is uploaded to the site. Slimming down the photos to that file is key! (We use one file per family - even if this means duplicate photos in each file like Halloween). It’s still a ton of photos to work with on the Shutterfly site. But it’s a little manageable.

[icedcoffee]

livinitup, your post is immensely helpful. I agree 100% I need to just do it and let go of trying to make a professional quality book. I just put all of my pictures for 2019 into an album and am witling them down to something reasonable. That alone might take a while, but I am starting!! WOOH.

[livinitup]

Dec 28, 2020 20:42:05 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

livinitup, your post is immensely helpful. I agree 100% I need to just do it and let go of trying to make a professional quality book. I just put all of my pictures for 2019 into an album and am witling them down to something reasonable. That alone might take a while, but I am starting!! WOOH.

Yet again this year, I started the 2020 book in December and finished only in time for delivery before Dec 25th. It could have been so much better if I poured another 10, 20, 30 hours into it. I RECEIVED it (and it looked great and was awesome) and beat myself for not using another cover photo, not doing a caption for the lobster bake, not doing more ‘whatever’ shit I left out. Fuck it. It’s a great book. It’s finished and printed. JUST STOP IT WITH THE EDITS. No one cares. Even me. Being done is so much better than being not done.

[lilac05]

Dec 28, 2020 20:42:05 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

livinitup, your post is immensely helpful. I agree 100% I need to just do it and let go of trying to make a professional quality book. I just put all of my pictures for 2019 into an album and am witling them down to something reasonable. That alone might take a while, but I am starting!! WOOH.

This won’t help for this task, but I recently heard on a podcast about a daily photo dump. Set an alarm for the same time daily to go back and delete all but the best photos of the day. I’m going to start doing that to hopefully make tasks like this less daunting.

[icedcoffee]

Dec 28, 2020 20:49:45 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

Dec 28, 2020 20:42:05 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

livinitup , your post is immensely helpful. I agree 100% I need to just do it and let go of trying to make a professional quality book. I just put all of my pictures for 2019 into an album and am witling them down to something reasonable. That alone might take a while, but I am starting!! WOOH.

This won’t help for this task, but I recently heard on a podcast about a daily photo dump. Set an alarm for the same time daily to go back and delete all but the best photos of the day. I’m going to start doing that to hopefully make tasks like this less daunting.

I really need to start doing this.  I literally take every picture at least 3 times because I am used to my kid randomly moving or blinking.  I have almost 4,000 pictures for 2019.

[icedcoffee]

Dec 28, 2020 20:49:04 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Dec 28, 2020 20:42:05 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

livinitup , your post is immensely helpful. I agree 100% I need to just do it and let go of trying to make a professional quality book. I just put all of my pictures for 2019 into an album and am witling them down to something reasonable. That alone might take a while, but I am starting!! WOOH.

Yet again this year, I started the 2020 book in December and finished only in time for delivery before Dec 25th. It could have been so much better if I poured another 10, 20, 30 hours into it. I RECEIVED it (and it looked great and was awesome) and beat myself for not using another cover photo, not doing a caption for the lobster bake, not doing more ‘whatever’ shit I left out. Fuck it. It’s a great book. It’s finished and printed. JUST STOP IT WITH THE EDITS. No one cares. Even me. Being done is so much better than being not done.

Yeah I think you are totally right.  Done is so much better than not done.  I am taking this advice to heart.

[ssmjlm]

I upload from my phone via the Shutterfly app so I can pick the best ones from both our phones.

And I agree, done is better than perfect. I like Shutterfly because, if something happens, the book is still there and I can reorder.

[zarapipe]

I’ve done a book a year since Dd was born in 2010. I’ve only used Shutterfly. The last two books I’ve let Shutterfly design for me and it was amazinggggg! There isn’t a cost with them doing it and it saves me so much time. You can still edit the book after they design it.

[konapoppy]

This seems the right place to post how much I hate making these books. I love having them, but it is hours and hours. And I don’t do anything fancy. I hated the auto fill version, and I don’t think having them make the book for me will work because I have identical twins and have to label who is who in a lot of photos 🤦🏻‍♀️

Maybe I should just build it throughout the year so it isn’t such a drag.

[noodleoo]

Dec 28, 2020 21:11:21 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

I’ve done a book a year since Dd was born in 2010. I’ve only used Shutterfly. The last two books I’ve let Shutterfly design for me and it was amazinggggg! There isn’t a cost with them doing it and it saves me so much time. You can still edit the book after they design it.

I may need to try this. How does it work? Is this the auto fill thing or does someone actually make the book for you. 

livinitup, you’re advice is spot on. I haven’t made any photo books since the kids were born because it is so much work. They are 5 and 2 now and I really need to just make anything to get it done or I’ll never do it. 

icedcoffee, your goal is ambitious! I’m going to try to force myself to do one for 2020 in the next few weeks. Then maybe I’ll work backwards like you. I actually started baby books for each kid but they are saved on Shutterfly and not done because I never have time and I’m being a perfectionist about them. 🤦🏽‍♀️

[thoseareradishes]

Dec 28, 2020 21:19:57 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

This seems the right place to post how much I hate making these books. I love having them, but it is hours and hours. And I don’t do anything fancy. I hated the auto fill version, and I don’t think having them make the book for me will work because I have identical twins and have to label who is who in a lot of photos 🤦🏻‍♀️

Maybe I should just build it throughout the year so it isn’t such a drag.

This is what I do.  I also use Shutterfly.  I upload photos by month, so I work on January first, do a few pages that sum up what we did/favorite pics/etc.  Additional pages for holidays, birthdays, vacations, special events.  Since I only upload a month of photos at a time, it's much more manageable.  Then I wait for a "free extra pages" sale to buy the book.

[wavepool]

Dec 28, 2020 19:47:22 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Additional question: has anyone used Google Photo to print a photo book? All of my pictures are already loaded to Google photos. So I’m wondering if it’s easier to just order books from there but I’m not sure how they compare.

Shutterfly offers me my Google photos. I probably had to link it at some point, but they're all on there when I'm picking photos for the book.
Also, if you make your own, make sure you click "hide used" so you don't put the same photo on a bunch of pages.

[konapoppy]

Dec 28, 2020 21:40:31 GMT -5 thoseareradishes said:

Dec 28, 2020 21:19:57 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

This seems the right place to post how much I hate making these books. I love having them, but it is hours and hours. And I don’t do anything fancy. I hated the auto fill version, and I don’t think having them make the book for me will work because I have identical twins and have to label who is who in a lot of photos 🤦🏻‍♀️

Maybe I should just build it throughout the year so it isn’t such a drag.

This is what I do.  I also use Shutterfly.  I upload photos by month, so I work on January first, do a few pages that sum up what we did/favorite pics/etc.  Additional pages for holidays, birthdays, vacations, special events.  Since I only upload a month of photos at a time, it's much more manageable.  Then I wait for a "free extra pages" sale to buy the book.

Ooh, how often are the free extra page sales? My book is going to be about $100 with the 50% off, and I need to order 6 of them. It is twice as much as my blurb books were the past few years. Ugh.

[thoseareradishes]

Dec 28, 2020 22:26:35 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Dec 28, 2020 21:40:31 GMT -5 thoseareradishes said:

This is what I do.  I also use Shutterfly.  I upload photos by month, so I work on January first, do a few pages that sum up what we did/favorite pics/etc.  Additional pages for holidays, birthdays, vacations, special events.  Since I only upload a month of photos at a time, it's much more manageable.  Then I wait for a "free extra pages" sale to buy the book.

Ooh, how often are the free extra page sales? My book is going to be about $100 with the 50% off, and I need to order 6 of them. It is twice as much as my blurb books were the past few years. Ugh.

I usually order in January, so hopefully there will be one soon!

[brewco]

I just saw something from a photo print company (persnickety prints) to lighten photos that are on your phone so they print right. Phones are backlit, so we see them brighter on the phone, but printed they'll come out darker.

[annieh22]

I’ve done a book through google photos and the quality was fine. I’d say comparable to Shutterfly. I made a very simple soft cover book covering just a summer, so it wasn’t a huge book. I’d recommend it.

I’m not sure how the soft cover binding would hold up if you do a larger year at a time type of book.

[zarapipe]

Dec 28, 2020 21:31:32 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Dec 28, 2020 21:11:21 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

I’ve done a book a year since Dd was born in 2010. I’ve only used Shutterfly. The last two books I’ve let Shutterfly design for me and it was amazinggggg! There isn’t a cost with them doing it and it saves me so much time. You can still edit the book after they design it.

I may need to try this. How does it work? Is this the auto fill thing or does someone actually make the book for you. 

livinitup, you’re advice is spot on. I haven’t made any photo books since the kids were born because it is so much work. They are 5 and 2 now and I really need to just make anything to get it done or I’ll never do it. 

icedcoffee, your goal is ambitious! I’m going to try to force myself to do one for 2020 in the next few weeks. Then maybe I’ll work backwards like you. I actually started baby books for each kid but they are saved on Shutterfly and not done because I never have time and I’m being a perfectionist about them. 🤦🏽‍♀️

It’s not the auto fill thing. You upload the photos you want and they design it for you. It usually takes a day and then you get an email saying your book is ready to view.

[omglol]

I see a lot that say the quality of Shutterfly sucks. I’ve never used them but I love the quality of mpix prints and books. Much better than anything else I’ve used. They often have sales. Create a book then save it for a good sale. I’ve seen 50% off photo books a few times.

[expatjen]

I have used VistaPrint to print photo books (I've done a celebratory book of our hike up Kilimanjaro and then year books for my 2 kids - for the first 3 years). I've been happy with the process on their website and the quality of the books. I also have found them cheaper than Shutterfly when it comes to shipping. 

[icedcoffee]

Dec 29, 2020 15:06:52 GMT -5 omglol said:

I see a lot that say the quality of Shutterfly sucks. I’ve never used them but I love the quality of mpix prints and books. Much better than anything else I’ve used. They often have sales. Create a book then save it for a good sale. I’ve seen 50% off photo books a few times.

Mpix seems to be what the photographers recommend too.

[icedcoffee]

How many photos is reasonable as a starting point? I got them down to 1,000 from almost 4,000. Do I need to keep going or can I start loading?

ETA: this is just for 2019

[coltsfan85]

Dec 29, 2020 17:44:54 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

How many photos is reasonable as a starting point? I got them down to 1,000 from almost 4,000. Do I need to keep going or can I start loading?

ETA: this is just for 2019

I just made a 52 page book with about 200 photos? I generally don’t do much more than 4-5 per page except for like some hodgepodge pages where I put 9-12 photos of just random days, silly faces, etc.