Photo books are wonderful keepsakes. While they come in all shapes and sizes, they all share one thing – the love for someone or something. From once-in-a-lifetime events to welcoming a newborn or a product showcase, all photo albums display your dedication to a specific subject, person, or pet. This is also true when celebrating the life of a loved one who passed away. The process of building a photo book can be a great help to overcome grieve. You’ll have to gather pictures from the life of the person you cherished so much, which will bring back all the happy memories you have with them. Moreover, since photo books are made to last, it’s the perfect way to pass your loved one’s story on to the next generations, allowing them to easily find more about their roots, and eternalizing the memory of your loved one.
Photography is a very powerful thing. It captures moments that can be saved as mementos forever. So, creating photo albums to either save pictures from special events or memorializing a loved one is a great idea. Although photo books are usually for moments of joy, they’re also a great help when coping with the loss of a loved one. Not only can the process be therapeutic, but you’ll also end up with a book containing all the happy moments you spent together.
Photo books are also an excellent way to honor someone who has passed away, as they show the world how much they were loved and cherished. You can even celebrate their life by creating a photo album that guides viewers through your loved one’s best moments, achievements, and life in general. On top of that, photo books are known for their durability – especially if they have a sturdy cover – so you can ensure the person being honored won’t be forgotten by future generations.
Photo albums are highly customizable, so you can create your own just the way you want. You can either go for a more personal photo book showcasing the best moments you spent with your loved one or create a memoir where you tell their life story. Regardless of which style you choose, there are a few ideas that will always enhance your final product.
Just because it’s a photo book, that doesn’t mean you can only add pictures. Adding memorabilia, such as letters or postcards, is an excellent way to make your photo album more personal. You can also save some space on your layout to include special quotes from your loved one.
If the person who passed away was older and you want to add some shots of their youth, don’t worry. There are various platforms that allow you to digitalize and enhance photos. This way, you can really go back in time and start from when they were just a baby.
When creating a commemorative photo book (or any other type of book for that matter) there are a few aspects you need to consider:
The very first thing you need to do is go through old photos and see which ones you want to include in your memorial photo book. You should also take this opportunity to speak with family members and friends to see if they have pictures of your loved one. Then, you need to make your final selection. It’s only natural to want to add every photo available, but we recommend only adding the best of the best – you want to make sure your book doesn’t end up too dense.
If you want to include old letters, postcards, and other meaningful items, you should gather them before starting the photo book creation process. This way, you can plan which pages to leave empty, so you have space to add these mementos. If you prefer to store all the memorabilia at the beginning or end of the photo album, then you should make sure you work with a provider that offers photo books with a small pocket for document storage.
We recommend getting a sturdier cover for your memorial photo book. While this can be more expensive, there are still plenty of options at different price points. For example, hardcovers are already a robust yet more affordable alternative. However, we suggest getting a leather cover. Although it’s one of the most expensive options, it will last throughout various generations.
The same goes for the type of paper to use – go for durability over affordability. This means getting a thicker paper, so the photo book comes with stronger pages that will survive the test of time. When it comes to the type of material, we advise you to get either a luster finish (for decent color saturation and fingerprint-protection) or a silk one (to get a more vintage-looking photo album).
The good news is that there are various photo book builders on the market. This means that you’ll always find a provider that meets all your needs, but it may take a while until you’re able to pinpoint which one. For memorial photo books, we recommend:
Well-renowned for its high-quality photo books, Shutterfly has a knack for bringing memories to life. Since its early days in 1999, the company has developed an impressive product range that includes photo cards, stationery, prints, calendars, gifts, and photo books that can be customized to your liking.
Shutterfly grants users full creative control when building their photo book. There are preset themes to choose from, as well as the option to have a book made for you with your photos and a theme of your choice. If you choose to craft the photo book yourself, then it can be created with the versatile editor, either from a desktop or mobile device.
Letting creativity run free, there are over 200 themes to choose from with an assortment of different paper types, sizes, and covers. Once your book is customized to your heart’s content, it can be ordered for affordable prices starting at $24.98. Plus, there are ways to lower this price through seasonal offers and bulk orders.
Whether it’s a famous landmark, a dinner in a nice restaurant or just a selfie, many people are composing pictures with full intention for them to be uploaded to social media profiles. The thrill of sharing our best photos on the internet and having others appreciate them is an awesome feeling, but this sensation might be beaten by putting them into a photo book and sharing the resulting product – it’s much more stylish, and is bound to be an instant hit.
But there’s more to it than that since many photo book companies have realized the potential in offerings for customers who don’t want to spend too much time customizing a photo book, so instead of providing virtually endless layouts, backgrounds and such they rather focus on simplifying things for more innovative options. And PastBook is one such company.
With PastBook’s online editor, its three iOS apps or brilliant chatbot it is possible to create a neat photo book of up to 500 pages in only seconds from any source, including your Facebook or Instagram photos alongside their respective captions. And to top it all, PastBook continuously applies different discounts on all orders and provides free shipping just by upgrading your book with a hard cover or ordering a bigger copy.
Founded in 2006, Mixbook has established its position as one of the best photo book editing services on the market. One of the reasons for the company’s impressive reputation is its nearly flawless editor that helps you quickly craft the photo book of your dreams.
This editor includes over 700 designs, layout options, and other customizations to make your photo book unique. Mixbook also offers a reasonable range of size-to-cover pairings, with eight sizes and four cover options.
For affordable pricing and shipping, you receive a quality product within one to three weeks. Mixbook is present in the U.S. and the UK, and ships internationally. It’s even possible to reduce the price by waiting for one of the occasional discounts Mixbook runs on its website or refer Mixbook to a friend and get off for each successful referral.
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