Lasting Links http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:46:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 018 Preserving Digital Photos on an Online Website http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/018-preserving-digital-photos-on-a-commercial-internet-site/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/018-preserving-digital-photos-on-a-commercial-internet-site/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:37:00 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=503

Your niece’s wedding was lovely, and you were able to take some fun pictures of both family and friends that you saw there.  If you are like my wife, Jill, when you get back home, you download the pictures to your computer and perhaps crop them or adjust the color, etc.  She then generally erases them from her camera, so that she has room for new ones. Sometimes she posts them on the internet and sends a few choice ones to the people who are in the photos. And then what happens to them?  These are some of her thoughts:

It is easy to forget about the pictures that you have taken, and you may have many now on your computer.  But what happens if your computer fails, and those precious photos are wiped out?  This happened to my son who lost several years of pictures of his darling daughters.  So what can you do to avoid this?

Besides saving them to an external hard drive, another option would be to upload them to an internet site that is designed to store digital pictures, like the private, password-protected websites at LastingLinks.com. (See how to get your own free or premium private Lasting Links website on the lower left corner of this page.)  An internet site works well because you don’t have to invest in any hardware, like an external drive, and your pictures will always be there if you continue as a customer of the service and the service remains viable.

Online Backup for your Digital Photos

#1. Online backup services like carbonite.com offer an online backup that automatically backs up all new files for around $60.00 a year.  Others like Mozy.com offer unlimited storage and also allow not just photographs but files of all types.  For under $5.00 a month, Mozy will either automatically back up your files, or you can schedule a time for the backup.  Your files are encrypted on both these services, so that no one can access your pictures and other documents.

#2. Photo-sharing services like Flickr, Photobucket or Shutterfly allow you to store both photographs and video clips online for others to view.  Unlike Lastinglinks.com, however, they are really not meant to store originals of your photos because they typically re-size (that is, downgrade the resolution of) your photos in order to conserve storage space on their servers.  In other words, don’t plan on retrieving your original, high-resolution photos from those services unless you pay a premium – it is unlikely you will able to get them back at their original resolution.

The Cost of Online Storage for Digital Photos

If you only have a few hundred photos on your computer that occupy anywhere between 1-2 GB of storage space, you can enjoy any of above backup services for free but if your storage requirements are slightly more, you probably need to go for a paid version.

Here’s a graph from Labnol.org that compares the storage cost of various online backup services where you can safely store your photos, at least as long as they stay in business. Remember that no current storage solution  is forever.  Keep backups of all your most important memories on more than one type of storage.

Offline storage costs

Offline storage costs from Labnol.org

Flickr Pro costs around $25 an year and you can store unlimited number of pictures here though the maximum size of individual pictures should not exceed 20 MB Picasa Web Albums on the other hand lets you purchase storage on-demand so you only pay $5 per year for 20 GB of online storage but end-up paying $100 for 400 GB of storage. Like Flickr, images uploaded to Picasa Web Albums can be no larger than 20MB and are restricted to 50 megapixels or less.

Live Skydrive looks like it may be among the better online candidates– it offers 25 GB of free space (50 MB limit for individual files) and that should be enough for most home users. You can upload picture libraries from your desktop to Windows Live SkyDrive using the free Windows Live Photo Gallery client though it’s only available for Windows.

Online backup services like Mozy cost around $60 per year respectively but here you get unlimited storage, your files are automatically backed up  (in the background) and there are no restrictions on file-size.

SmugMug, another popular photo-sharing site, offers a service called SmugVault that uses Amazon S3 to backup your photos, videos and all other file-types that you can imagine. They have a relaxed 600 MB per file limit and you pay the normal Amazon S3 rent for files that are not photos.

Amazon S3, where you pay only for what you use, is apparently very reliable (they promise 99.9% uptime) but it turns out to be very expensive if your yearly storage requirement exceeds 10 GB.

Here’s another representation of the same graph – Yearly costs (in $) vs. storage offered (in GB).

Offline storage costs table

Offline storage costs table by Labnol.org

Windows Live SkyDrive offers 25 GB of online storage space for your pictures for free though there’s no option to purchase extra storage. In paid services, Google’s Picasa offers the best value for money if your photo collection can fit in 20 GB else a Flickr Pro account probably makes more sense.

Picasa desktop software makes it easy for you to upload and download photos from Picasa Web Albums. Flickr provides an uploading utility but you need to rely on third-party helps to download the original (full-resolution) albums from Flickr.

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/018-preserving-digital-photos-on-a-commercial-internet-site/feed/ 0 017 How to Display Photos in Digital Frames http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/017-how-to-display-photos-in-digital-frames/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/017-how-to-display-photos-in-digital-frames/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:43:20 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=497 Digital photo frames look like ordinary photo frames but can display a slideshow of hundreds of photos on a screen, one at a time.  They are a great way to view the photos from a family vacation or a particular holiday or event.

Digital Photo Frame

A digital photo frame by Think Geek

Many digital photo frames offer standard features like built-in memory, Wi-Fi, and video playback.  Here are some considerations:

  1. Decide what size photo frame you want.  This can be based on the cost, where you want to display it, and the style that you want.
  2. Consider the features that you would like the frame to have – amount of memory, ability to upload videos, etc.
  3. Decide the number of photos that you want to use.  Since the photos are spooled, or repeat continuously, the more photos will affect the number of time they are seen.
  4. Decide if you want a theme.  For instance, at Christmas time, you could upload pictures of Christmas’ past, a vacation, or do baby pictures for a child’s birthday.
  5. Follow the directions that come with your particular digital photo frame, and you’ll have an interesting, attractive, and simple way for you and your family and friends to view your photos.

Here’s another route to the same end: If you have a flat-screen computer monitor and computer that aren’t being used for other purposes, consider using them for displaying your photos.  A friend of ours gave us a set-up like this as a favor.  In addition to the low out-of-pocket cost, computer monitor screens are usually larger and can be more easily viewed from a distance than the typical digital photo frame.

He attached a beautiful rosewood frame with adhesive Velcro strips to the monitor and loaded up the computer with hundreds of our photos. We placed the framed monitor on the buffet in the dining room and hid the computer behind it on the floor.  It ran day and night, delighting family and friends for years before digital photo frames became commercially available.

PC Magazine has these additional tips for the purchase and use of a digital photo frame:

Rule 1: Consider the User – Some photo frames allow wifi or other interfaces which boosts the price.  If you’re never going to use these features, then don’t spend the extra money.

Rule 2: Don’t Buy Based on Brand Name Alone. Read the reviews about the performance, since it might not be what you want.

Rule 3: Never Settle for a Resolution Below 640 by 480 – Regardless of Price

Rule 4: Select Your Aspect Ratio – Photo frames generally support either a 4:3 or 15:9 aspect ratio.  4:3 is what your typical digital camera produces and that is also what most photo frames require.

Rule 5: Images Are Only Part of the Picture – Remember that great picture quality isn’t everything.  Do you want to be able to use the frame in both portrait and landscape mode? Do you want to include video in addition to viewing photos? Do you want to set your photo slideshows to music?  Check these out before you buy.

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/017-how-to-display-photos-in-digital-frames/feed/ 0 016 How to Make a Photo Album http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/016-how-to-make-a-photo-album/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/016-how-to-make-a-photo-album/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:19:48 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=468 In this day and age, a discussion on “How to Make a Photo Album” is probably already within the expertise of many people. So this will be a quickie overview. It is similar to “013 How to Make Scrapbook Memories.” The biggest difference is that a photo album simply has photos without additional memorabilia or journaling, although the photos will need to be identified.

To begin:
1. You first need to decide what kind of photo album you are creating. Some people organize their photo albums chronologically, especially in making albums for their children. Others organize around a theme – all the Christmas or vacation photos together, for instance.
2. Choose a kind of photo album format – 8 x12 or 12 x 12 – and post or three-ring binding, and purchase the materials that you will need. Remember to have all acid-free materials – paper, glue, pens, stickers, etc.
3. A well-thought-out cover page, perhaps one that would be consistent in multiple photo albums, is a nice way to begin.
4. Organize your photos in the order that you would like them in your photo album. Remember to be a little ruthless here – you probably are going to just want to choose the best photos, not every one. (The great thing about digital cameras is that you can eliminate the bad pictures before even making them into photos. However, we sometimes can get carried away on a particular subject and go overboard (like a dozens of photos I took of our first son’s feet!) You will need to choose which photos will be on which page. It keeps it interesting if you don’t have the same number of photos on each page.
5. Remember that you can cut out your photos using templates or fancy scissors, or just leave them all the traditional size. Adding special photo album paper, stickers, or embellishments to your pages make them more interesting and attractive. However, don’t let them overwhelm the photos. That’s what people want to see.
6. Make sure that you identify the people or setting in each photo, so you won’t look at it later and try to remember who is who. This is particularly important with pictures of ancestors because family members down the line will be interested in knowing just which man in a particular photo is their grandfather, for instance.
7. Some people set a regular time aside either weekly or monthly to work on their photo albums. That way, things don’t pile up and become overwhelming.
8. If you are making photo albums for your children, make sure that you make duplicates when more than one appears in a photo. That way you have a photo for each album.

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/016-how-to-make-a-photo-album/feed/ 0 015 The Difference between Making a Scrapbook and Selecting a Service to Make It for You http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/015-the-difference-between-making-a-scrapbook-and-selecting-a-service-to-make-it-for-you/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/015-the-difference-between-making-a-scrapbook-and-selecting-a-service-to-make-it-for-you/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:11:29 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=482 The difference between making your own scrapbook and having someone make it for you is the question of time, money, and your own creativity.

When you make your own scrapbook, you have total control on how you want the finished product to work.  You can experiment with different kinds of page set-ups, backgrounds, picture displays, etc.  The options are endless.  The process of putting all of these varied factors together in a finished product can be pleasurable for many.  Scrapbookers often meet together and work on their pages, allowing them enjoyable visiting times as well.

Although there are many options that you have in a professionally made scrapbook, you still will need to use the professional’s choices of templates, colors, themes, etc.  Professional albums are much more expensive, usually running from $12 for a two-page 6 x6 spread to $26 or even $50 for a two-page 12 x 12 spread.

In addition, there is a time factor involved – not just your time if you are creating the album yourself, but also the time for a professional to create it for you.  A typical 20 page album, for instance, can take four to eight weeks.

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/015-the-difference-between-making-a-scrapbook-and-selecting-a-service-to-make-it-for-you/feed/ 0 014 Selecting a Scrapbooking Service – Custom Scrapbooking http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/014-selecting-a-scrapbooking-service-%e2%80%93-custom-scrapbooking/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/014-selecting-a-scrapbooking-service-%e2%80%93-custom-scrapbooking/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:45:56 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=449 If you have never done a scrapbook before, just going to pick up the possible materials that you will need or want to use can be pretty overwhelming. For instance, which album and what kinds of background paper, stickers, pens, and embellishments do you want to use? These can be expensive expenditures if you do not think that you will be frequently using the basic supplies and equipment. In addition, scrapbooking pages can take a lot of time and are sometimes difficult for those who just do not have the time or the creativity to do this lengthy task.

Custom scrapbook pages

Example custom pages by Generationscrap.com

Scrapbooking services are run by those – mainly women – who enjoy scrapbooking so much and do such a good job that work in the field doing books for others. Their sites allow one to choose templates, colors, etc. and to then send photos and other memorabilia to scrapbook. Many interview you as part of the process to gain a better understanding of the kind of scrapbook that you want created. Good ones will also give you scanned pages as they are completed to insure that the final product meets your expectations. In addition, they also give you a CD of the scanned completed pages to share with family and friends.

Here are links to a few examples of custom scrapbooking services that will make scrapbooks for you:

After having one or more custom scrapbooks made for you, you may decide do try it yourself. If so, the prior article, “013, How to Make Scrapbook Memories”, will have some hints for you.

Happy scrapping!

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/014-selecting-a-scrapbooking-service-%e2%80%93-custom-scrapbooking/feed/ 0 013 How to Make Scrapbook Memories http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/013-how-to-make-scrapbook-memories/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/013-how-to-make-scrapbook-memories/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:07:46 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=450 It has been said that a photo album just shows you photos, but a scrapbook tells a story.  A scrapbook contains more than just photos – it can contain explanations or stories about the pictures and other kinds of mementos such as movie tickets or pressed flowers, plus stickers, embellishments, and any other decorations that you want to add.

But just how to begin making scrapbook memories?  My wife, Jill,  offers these suggestions for starting a regular, physical scrapbook (as opposed to a digital scrapbook):

1.  You first need to decide what kind of scrapbook you are creating.  Some people organize their scrapbooks chronologically, especially in making albums for their children.  Others organize around a theme – all the Christmas or vacation photos together, for instance.

Scrapboo with photo on cover

2.  Choose a kind of scrapbook format – 8 x12 or 12 x 12 – and post or three-ring binding, and purchase the materials that you will need.  Remember to have all acid-free materials – paper, glue, pens, stickers, etc.

Album

Album2Album3

3.  Organize your photos and other memorabilia in the order that you would like them in your scrapbook.  You will need to choose which photos will be on which page.  It keeps it interesting if you don’t have the same number of photos on each page.

Organizing

4.  A well-thought-out cover page, perhaps one that would be consistent in multiple scrapbooks, is a nice way to begin.

5.  After laying out the photos, text or journaling script added to the page gives an explanation of what the reader is seeing and helps one remember more information about the pictures.  (Another option that people use sometimes is adding text to their photos before they print them.)

Scrapbook page

6.  Remember that you can cut out your photos using templates or fancy scissors, or just leave them all the traditional size.  Adding special scrapbook paper, stickers, or embellishments to your pages make them more interesting and attractive.  However, don’t let them overwhelm the photos and any text you might have added.

7.  Some people set a regular time aside either weekly or monthly to work on their scrapbooks.  That way, things don’t pile up and become overwhelming, and you can remember the information that you want to include.

8.  If you are making scrapbooks for your children, make sure that you make duplicates when more than one appears in a photo, so that each child can have the photo in their book.

You may want to consider making a scrapbook in digital form, that is, as a digital file.  That way you can print off or share as many copies as you wish as gifts for family members or others

These sites are listed in the order in which Jill believes are most valuable through the scrapbooking process:

http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Scrapbook- great site including videos to help you get started.

http://video.about.com/scrapbooking/First-Scrapbook-Page.htm – another site with a great video to show you how do to a scrapbook page; I wish that I had seen this site when I first started scrapbooking.

http://scrapbooking.about.com/od/gettingstarted/How_To_Get_Started_Scrapbooking.htm – this is a valuable site because it gives one a lot of choices in how to do various different things with your scrapbooks, such as how to choose basic supplies, mat photos, make journaling boxes, etc.

www.Smilebox.com – this site is a great one, especially if you are interested in doing digital scrapbooks which are nice if you either want to share them with others or make duplicate pages to use with more than one child.   There are 100’s of layouts here as well which you can copy in your own paper pages.

If you simply don’t have the time or creativity to make a scrapbook yourself,  but want to have one made for you, consider contacting one of the creative people identified in this article to help you: “014, Selecting a Scrapbooking Service – Custom Scrapbooking.”

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/scrapbooks/013-how-to-make-scrapbook-memories/feed/ 0 012 The Differences between Making a Photo Book and Selecting a Service to Make It for You http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/012-the-differences-between-making-a-photo-book-and-selecting-a-service-to-make-it-for-you/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/012-the-differences-between-making-a-photo-book-and-selecting-a-service-to-make-it-for-you/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:27:33 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=430 The differences between making a photo book and selecting a service to make it for you are really a question of cost, creativity and time.  Consider the following:

Advantages in Making a Photo Book by Yourself

  • Although purchasing software with sufficient power to format, paginate, index, etc. book-length projects can be expensive, if you have many books to print with many pages, making a do-it-yourself photobook is likely to be less expensive in total than using a photo book service.
  • Having your own software allows you to design your book in virtually any way you want – there are no fixed templates, for example, the you are required to use.  You can make your own.
  • Your printing and binding options are greater.  You can select for example, a printer with the highest quality and lowest printing prices but whose bindery (if they have one) cost or quality is not great, and then use a bindery that may be a different company whose quality and pricing better meets your needs. You do not have these choices with a one-stop photo book service.

Advantages in Using a Photo Book Service

  • Purchasing publishing software can be rather expensive, so it is important to determine whether this will have a one-time use or be used for multiple future photo books.  A photo book service already has the template up on the screen, so you don’t have to purchase this software, but their per-book printing prices may higher than using a local printer, bindery and your own software. You have to add up the costs to find out.
  • An online service is a “one-stop shopping site” because you don’t have to choose software, a bindery, etc. Because most of these decisions are made for you, it is a much faster and simpler process.
  • An online service allows you to either post your book on the Internet or print books or both.

We have used both approaches, making as few as five, 30-page books with a photobook service and as many as 450, 300-page books using professional-level software and selecting our own printers and binderies. You will likely be satisfied with either approach.  It really is a question of cost, creativity and time available.

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/012-the-differences-between-making-a-photo-book-and-selecting-a-service-to-make-it-for-you/feed/ 0 011 Selecting a Photo Book Service http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/011-selecting-a-photo-book-service/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/011-selecting-a-photo-book-service/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:44:19 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=379 There are at least a dozen or more photo book services on the Internet available to provide you the tools and resources to make one or more truly memorable photo books.

Boy, Dad and Photo books

Photo Books Are Great for Preserving and Sharing Memories

As discussed in the prior article, photo books differ from photo albums in several ways, not the least of which are:
• The photos are printed, not glued, on the pages,
• One can design his or her own cover, and
• Dozens of copies can be made easily and relatively inexpensively from one original.

This is great news for families who need to make multiple copies of unique, one-of-a-kind photos that have been handed down for generations.

The following how-to example from ShutterFly.com, one of the leading photo book services, provides prospective customers with two path options in making a photo book: a simple path and a custom path. The overall approach, however, is nearly identical to that of most other photo book services.

The Simple Path

You may decide to create yours with a simple path in which most of the work is done by the service. With the simple path, you will be able to:

• Choose from more than 20 styles with preset backgrounds and layouts
• Easily edit your pictures and enter short captions
• Choose from 1-4 pictures per page (up to 400 pictures or 100 pages)
• Choose from five sizes of photo-cover finished books ranging from 5×7 to 12×12.

A simple path may be your best choice if this is the first time that you have ever made a photo book. The service will arrange your pictures, and you will only need to add captions. You can share these online through social networks or through the site that you used to create your book. You will need to:
1.  Start with the simple path

The simple path

2.  Choose your photo book size – the service will then load the template for that album


3.  Choose the photos that you want to upload – these may be from your desktop, an internet site or even your Facebook account!

4.  After you have uploaded your pictures, you click pictures.


5.  The next screen will allow you to work with those pictures. First, decide if you want to change the style of your album by looking at the choices that the service offers.

6.  Next arrange your photos in the book like you would want them to be displayed.

7.  Some services allow you to add text or captions to the pages which you would do now.

8.  Look over the final book and make any changes required.

9.  Order your book. (Most services also have the ability to just save your book in case you want to make changes before ordering).

The Custom Path

When you choose a custom path, you will be able to customize your photo book page by page and will be able to:

  • Choose from an extensive collection of backgrounds. These are based on themes and then background choices within that theme. Within those designs are also multiple choices of colors. At this time, you can also choose the text font and color.
  • Easily arrange pictures and text in a variety of layouts. With the custom path, each photo can be dropped in right where you want it with just want you want to say.
  • 1-16 pictures per page (up to 1000 pictures)
  • Choose your cover design.
  • Choose from five sizes of books in satin, suede, or leather ranging from 5×7 to 12×12.
  • Then review, order and pay for your book/s.

Your will need to start with the custom path:

Select a style:

Select a background:

Select a layout for each page:

Drag and drop your photos into the spaces provided:

Select the size and cover for your book:

Finally, review and order your book.

If your project involves a book with many pages, many copies, or a lot of text and photos with custom layouts, you may want to do the project by yourself. If so, the prior article, “010 How to Make a Photo Book,“  will give you some hints.

You may also want to check the offerings of other leading photo book suppliers including the Current special offers at Kodak Gallery!,  PhotoWorks, and Mixbook.com.

Begin now to put a photo book together.  You and your loved ones will all be glad you did!

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/011-selecting-a-photo-book-service/feed/ 0 010 How to Make a Photo Book http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/010-how-to-make-a-photo-book/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/010-how-to-make-a-photo-book/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:38:18 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=377 A great way to share photo memories, especially those with a theme such as a vacation, weddings, the birth of a child or grandchild, graduation, or special birthdays, is in a photo book.

Mother and daughter with laptop, photobook

Photobooks provide memories that will last for generations

A photo book is like a photo album, only with these differences:

• Your photos are actually printed on the pages, not attached to them by glue or stickers,
• Colorful arrangements and pre-designed themes are often available via software,
• The cover can have a design of your choosing, rather than the usual plain cover,
• Bindings are usually permanently sewn or glued, unlike albums that have posts or clips that allow insertion and removal of pages, and
• Multiple copies of the same book can be printed in any quantity you choose.

Never heard of a photo book? You’re not alone. According to the PMA 2010 U.S. Camera/Camcorder Digital Imaging Survey, nearly 60% of U.S, households have never heard of them either, though they’ve been around for several years

If printed on archival-quality paper and with a good binding, there is no reason that memories in a photo book cannot be readily and easily shared for 100 years or more.

Cover of book

Books can last 100 years or more

Contrast that with storing your memories on computers that crash without warning or storage media (CDs/DVDs, diskettes, memory sticks, flash media, etc.) that often become technologically obsolete and/or operationally invalid after 20 years or less.

These are the typical steps to make a photo book by yourself, not using a photo book service:

1. Decide the length of the finished book which determines the number of photos needed.
2. Organize the photos either by theme, subject, or chronologically.
3. Decide whether you want to have just one photo on a page or more and whether text (sometimes called “journaling”) will be a part of your book.
4. Purchase store-bought or downloaded photo book software such as Fotoslate, Scrapbook Factory, or Adobe InDesign that will best meet your needs. Following their manuals, complete your book on the computer. Professional, high-end software tools such as InDesign often have fairly steep learning curves and high prices, but you get what you pay for.
5. Select a printer/binder for the finished book. Many online printers such as Lulu and Blurb are very reasonable and do an excellent job, but also consider local printers and binders, as well. Check to see in what format they want you to send your book for printing. Most local as well as online printers will want your book sent as a pdf file directly to them via the Internet. Upload your file to the printer’s website for printing and binding, review their proof of the final product and pay for it when you are satisfied it is ready.

If your book has a lot of text, extensive layout and interactivity requirements, numerous pages, etc., don’t depend on regular word-processing software brands to compile your book. They are not designed for book-length projects. Instead choose from among those that have sufficient horsepower and features to do the job such as Adobe InDesign.

Book with text and photos

Photo book with both text and photos

Don’t forget about the quality of the binding. A friend’s three-year-old tugged on the pages of a brand-new but cheaply-constructed photo book and they came out of the binding. ‘Not a pretty end to an important memories-preservation project.

Book showing stitched binding

A stitched binding (shown) will usually last longer than a glued or perfect binding

Although we have used both local and online printers/binderies such as LuLu.com for our various book projects, our experience leads us to recommend local, print-on-demand services and binderies for large projects (many pages and/or many copies requiring library-quality bindings).

If a do-it-yourself project isn’t for you (and it isn’t for many) consider choosing a photo book service to help do it for you, as described in the following article, “011 Select a Photo Book Service.” If it isn’t a large project, and glued (sometimes called “perfect”) bindings or saddle-stitched bindings are sufficient for your needs, you will find a photo book service much easier and faster to use than undertaking a do-it-yourself project and you will be just as pleased with the results in the near-term.

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]]> http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/010-how-to-make-a-photo-book/feed/ 0 009 The Differences between Making Photo Gifts and Selecting a Service to Do It for You http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/009-the-differences-between-making-photo-gifts-and-selecting-a-service-to-do-it-for-you/ http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/photos/009-the-differences-between-making-photo-gifts-and-selecting-a-service-to-do-it-for-you/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:09:22 +0000 rob.dunford http://lastinglinks.com/lastinglinks/?p=365 The main differences between making photo gifts and selecting a service to do it for you are:

  • Cost
  • Quality and variety
  • Control
  • Convenience

Cost

A single mug purchased from an online provider may cost from the range of $10-$15, not including shipping.  In contrast, one can purchase a number of photo transfer papers or “print and stick” project papers for ten times as many projects as a single project purchase from a supplier.

Quality and variety

In our experience, the quality and variety of gifts one can purchase through photo gift suppliers surpasses that of the do-it –yourself options by a significant margin. Check the links in article 008, “Select a Photo Gift Service.” You’ll see what I mean, at least in terms of variety.

Control

If you want greater control over the end project, you will do it yourself.  You will have greater choices for placement, sizing, materials, etc. that you will not have when the photo novelty is made by a third-party service.

Convenience

Certainly, having a service complete the project for you will be much more convenient than your doing it yourself.  A mug or a t-shirt can be ordered online in less than five minutes.  Doing the work yourself will take an hour or more per item.

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