With so many photos cluttering our smartphones today, it can be difficult to spend time looking at them or organizing them into collections to remember important events or celebrate different stages in life.
This is where photo books can be a great option – they take digital photos and turn them into printed versions, beautifully organized in themed albums. Here we explain how to create an online photo book.
What do you need
There are very few requirements to assemble your photo book. All you need is access to the photos you want to include in your album (probably best if they are already downloaded to your PC), as well as an internet connection so that you can use one of the many great services of impression.
We’ve already put together an overview of the best photo book services, so you can know in advance how much you can afford and the variety of topics and books available.
Once you’ve done all of that, you can start creating your photo book. Here is a general guide to the process. While we’ll use a photo album printing service as an example, the method is usually the same on one of the other sites.
How to create a digital album
Once you’ve decided which service you want to use, head over to their website and select the Photo Books section. Somewhere on the page you will have the option to create your book or create your book. Click on this option and you will enter the creation tool.
The first thing to decide is the style of your photo book. There should be several formats available that have different number of pages, as well as specific topics. These can include weddings, newborn, vacations, and many more.
Choose the style and size you want, then click the Create this photo book or equivalent button.
At this point, you may need to create an account; They are free and allow you to save Photo Books to be able to retrieve them later.
You will now need to upload the photos you want to use. Some services prefer them to be on your hard drive, while others can use online options like Google Photos, Facebook, or Instagram. If you are using any of these, you will need to allow the service to access your photos. Choose the method most useful for you and then upload the images.
Once the photos are uploaded, you can start organizing your photo album. Most services have an autocomplete feature that automatically places images on pages, but if you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can rearrange them by dragging and dropping them into the appropriate panels.
If your photos are too low resolution, the authoring software should alert you so that you can choose a more suitable alternative. This is usually more of a problem for full page layouts. If you go for a collage effect, you can use a lower quality image without appearing grainy or blurry.
If you want to see what the whole book will look like, try opening the All Pages view to verify that you haven’t duplicated images or placed similar images next to each other.
Most of the services also give you the option to add background colors, text or stickers, which you can select from the side menus. Not all edits are permanent, so make as many edits as you want, experimenting with ideas, knowing you’re not bound to them until you order the book.
When you’re happy with your creation, click the Review & Buy (or similar) button, which will give you final options, such as matte or glossy finishes for the pages and cover.
Add the complete photo book to your cart, proceed to checkout and soon you will have the printed versions of those old photos in hand.
Original article published in English on our sister site TechAdvisor.
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