Why are online photobooks better than photo albums? What is the difference?
What is a photo album?
Most of us are familiar with the traditional photo album: a book full of pages with clear plastic sleeves to insert your 4×6 prints. Most come with 200 to 300 slots for your photos and are covered in vinyl, leather, cloth, or some type of coated paper. Before albums with plastic sleeves came on the market, most albums were sticky, with clear overlapping pages and a sticky backing that stuck to the back of photos (in many cases, photos of this type are difficult to remove of albums since the adhesive has adhered and they are impossible to take off!)
What is an online photobook?
The digital photo book is the successor to the photo album. There are many companies on the Internet that offer free, easy-to-use software that you can download or use online to create a book full of photos that you design yourself.
How do traditional photo albums compare to online photo books?
Size and weight
Since photo books are digitally printed, they tend to be lighter and less bulky. You can fit several hundred photos into a single 100-page book very easily. My traditional photo albums are very heavy and therefore not that portable and take up about 4 times more space than my photo albums.
Ease of duplication
There is no way to duplicate a photo album unless you make two identical albums. (I’ve done this before as a gift for a friend from a trip we took together and it can be tedious!). With digital photo books, you can print a book or ten! Your files are saved to your hard drive or to the company website, so you can easily come back later to print more books if you want another copy. In many cases, you can change the size, style, covers, etc. without having to redesign your layouts.
Because photo books are easy to duplicate, they make great gifts. Make a family history book, then print multiple copies for thoughtful, personalized Christmas gifts for your family. Gather all of your family’s treasured recipes and add photos for a unique collaborative cookbook! Make a photo album of your baby’s first year and give a copy to the grandparents. The possibilities are endless and everyone loves receiving personalized gifts!
Preservation – Archive
Photo books are printed on archival paper, often with archival ink and a protective coating. That means his creations will last for many years.
Online books also preserve your photos in a different way: if an unfortunate event occurs, such as a fire or flood, you will be able to reprint another copy of your book.
Creativity
Photo albums allow you to be as creative as you want. Make a clean line composition of photos using solid black or white backgrounds – portfolio style. Alternatively, go wild with fun embellishments, clip art, captions, and borders. Many scrapbookers have switched from traditional scrapbooking to digital scrapbooking for many of the same reasons listed here!
Share or sell online
With the advent of digital cameras, the trend has been a decline in traditional photo finishing. No one I know prints 4×6 photos anymore. Don’t let your photos gather virtual dust! Print a book for yourself and share your creation online with family and friends. Have you ever wanted to sell your photos? Create a photobook and sell it online without risk. You’ll save a lot of money by not having to print bulk copies and test the market first.
cost
Traditional photo albums can range from $20 to $100.00 or more, depending on the materials. You must also print your photos, which costs about 10 cents per print. So for an album with 300 photos you would probably expect to pay a minimum of $50.00. I’ve printed hardcover books with 300 photos for less than that. Photo book companies also frequently offer coupon codes and deals. Cost is naturally affected by your choice of cover and style, but there are also plenty of affordable options, like paperbacks. There are so many different types and styles to choose from at every price point, and you can even print your pages on real photo paper.
I want to make a photobook, where do I start?
The process usually flows like this:
1) Sign up for an account on the company website;
2) Upload the photos you want to use in your book;
3) Select a theme or premade templates for a quick and easy 5 minute book or take your time and design your own layouts for full creativity;
4) Drag and drop your photos into the photo boxes;
5) Click to order your book.
Typically, in about a week to 10 days (sooner if you opt for expedited shipping), you can have a finished print book of all your photos. You can display it proudly on your coffee table and some of your guests may think it’s a store-bought book!