Done is better than perfect
I've been designing photo books for the past 15 years and love doing so more and more with every single photo book which gets completed. The satisfaction of seeing my family, especially my daughters, holding that keepsake filled with their life stories in their hands is immense. And for me, it feels like to get the chance to close an open chapter in my mind or put events and experiences into their places (also in mind). And most of all, I created another backup of our photos and family stories.
Before I start a photo book I always sketch out the project to see which photos can go on what page. This gives me a good idea of how many photos I am about to choose for this book project.
If you would like to start your own photo book, I highly encourage you to do so. Your children will love them. A big hurdle for me, as a German perfectionist, was to let go of perfect! Just get started. And don't feel pressured but enjoy the process. When I look back at my first photo books, oh well, I would do things differently now, but I still love them.
1 - Plan the book
Some key points like your audience, budget and timeframe are important to keep in mind and need to be sorted before you start the project online. Do you want to bring across a story or just throw together a random bunch of favourite photos. Both is fine.
Our 'Lambs' Photo Book
Audience: My children
Story: Document their time with their pet lambs
Budget: NZD 60 each (softcover book)
Timeframe: 2 months for completion so the books are ready for Christmas
2 - Choose the photo book company
Consider points like customer care service or how intuitive the software is to use. Can you re-order the book further down the track or will it be deleted of the company's server after 6 months? Can you share the online version with friends and family?
Best to open some applications and try uploading a handful of photos. See how you like it.
Our 'Lambs' Photo Book
Page count: About 40 pages, as a small project and soft-cover book
Intuitiveness: Photobooknewzealand is intuitive and easy to handle
Photos in Order: Yes, they stay in order upon uploading
Budget: NZD 60 each (I used a voucher from the website)
Timeframe: 2 months for completion so the books are ready for Christmas
3 - Envision the book
It is great to have an idea how the book will look like or where will it be displayed. Shall it fit into a specific book shelf or sit nicely on a coffee table?
Are you using many photos or put the focus on just a few or even one photo per page.
Is there some text you have to draft for the photos or stories?
Our 'Lambs' Photo Book
Book size: medium, A4 landscape, mainly for book shelf and at my child's bedside table
Bookshelf: mainly for book shelf and at my child's bedside table
Cover: soft cover, big photo
Photo style: few photos
Text: minimal, only for dates
Seeing people going through their photo books over and over again, sharing their stories with one another and giving them peace of mind of having their life stories or family photo books printed, motivates me.
4 - Structure the layout
What is a catchy title for your photo book? Don't forget about the spine text. If you have photo books on your book shelf it would be really neat to read and identify the books quickly. Keep it consistent.
Is that photo book a present? What about a personalised title or dedication page. If you plan for a bigger scope consider putting in a table of content to not overwhelm your audience.
When choosing the page layouts, try to stick to the same few templates throughout your book in order not to exhaust the viewer. I've been there too.
Our 'Lambs' Photo Book
Book's title: Mango & Teddy | 2020 (these were the pet lambs' names that year)
Front cover: A photo with my daughter cuddling her lamb Mango
Title page: Yes, a group photo and names and time period when we had the lambs
Dedication page: No.
Table of Content: No, as only a small photo book project.
5 - Prepare the photos
This is very likely the part of the preparation - or the whole project - which takes the most time: find your photos! I highly recommend to select all photos you wish to use for your photo book project and copy these into a specific folder. Keep this folder in a dedicated place on your computer or hard drive until you finished this project. Oftentimes, especially with photo book software you have to download, photos can not be retraced if you accidentally moved this folder before hitting the button 'publish'. It happened to me more than once. Ahem.
Are there any memorabilia or drawings or even old printed photos you need to digitise first? Use a good camera or scanner and scan at no less than 600 ppi for sufficient quality.
If you can then batch rename your photos in sequence then they will appear in chronological order in your photo book software.
Our 'Lambs' Photo Book
Select all photos: Sorted into folders per day
Digitising of Memorabilia: No
Save the folder: On a hard drive under 'Photo Book Projects' in a dedicated folder
Renamed: Yes, named by day (YYYY-MM-DD Lambs - day X sequence 1)
6 - Consider the text
If your photo book project will contain text for a dedication, table of content or just captions, it is worth writing them down beforehand too. It all will make the actual book creation a breeze.
Our 'Lambs' Photo Book
Text for title page: Simple. Just names, period of time
Text for dedication page: No
Text for captions: Simple. Just dates
Text for stories: No
TIP: Experiment. Start with a small project, like your last summer holiday or your favourite road trip. Have all these photos in one location. So you don't feel overwhelmed. Get a feel for things. That way you build up your confidence and up your skills for bigger stories, like a year book. Jot down ideas for topics for your first photo book and get specific as you narrow down your most favourite stories you like to tell (download list here). And then get started.
So, now get started! It is very likely that you will change your preferences or style over the time. That doesn't matter. The joy you spread and the conversations arising from viewing these books can be plentiful. Stories are shared and memories stay alive.
Happy photobookin'!