It’s a familiar formula: summer equals vacation, vacation means taking a lot of photos, and photos… well, they usually – and sadly – at best end up in a long forgotten folder on your computer, at worst are deleted forever. But such memories of this summer fun deserve better than that!
So why not create your very own photo book? Not only will it preserve your summer photos, but they are also very elegant and fully customizable. With such a book you can bring back those fond summer memories in an instant, especially if you let your imagination go wild and create a book with warm colored covers, fill it in with smile-inducing embellishments and add your thoughts via creative captions. But no matter what you choose to include, how big you want your book to be or from which device you start the building process, the only limit is your creativity.
The first thing to remember about creating a summer vacation photo book is to avoid overthinking it, and try not to force it too much. In other words, have fun first and take photos of anything you like – including those ordinary summer days as well. But with that said, it’s a good idea to already have a concept in mind from the start. Keep notes of what you see, how you feel at the time or anything that comes to mind, while sorting your photos into a theme or a story is always going to be a good start for when it comes to the creation of the photo book.
Another thing to keep in mind is that many photo book builders have limited photo editing features, so a superb app like Instagram with its many filters can add a bit of soul to the would-be book. But regardless of the device, you should still strive for creating quality photos; they don’t have to be masterpieces, just good enough to satisfy your expectations and that you’d be happy to share with the world. A word of advice regarding photos: an image of a landscape or environment can be applied as backgrounds, while pictures with a smaller focus – say, on a particular person or object – are the ones that should be placed as regular photos.
But when it comes to extras like the theme, additional doodles, embellishments, and captions, there are no restrictions here, they are completely up to you. Maybe aside from captions…
Creating photo book captions is surprisingly challenging at first, but it can actually be fun. Just make sure to avoid using cliched quotations for describing a photo or your feelings, that is a strict no-no.
If you have no idea what to write, remember that the internet is filled with ideas. But if you heard something funny or you just want to simply tell readers what they see, try including that. You don’t have to write a full novel for captions, though – unless, of course, that is your driving idea. Speaking of which, try to choose or write captions that are suitable within the theme of the photo book or help the photos tell the story of your vacation. A great example of this is having a picture of a sand castle with a caption that explains a memory from your childhood that revolved around sand castles. However it is still best to try to keep your captions short, one line is enough. Besides, the stars of any photo book are the photos, aren’t they?
While smartphone cameras will never match the quality of a professional camera, they are more than able to help illustrate your photo book. It’s possible to even upload your vacation photos directly to some photo book builders through their mobile app. This way you can start composing your new photo book right away without having to connect your device to your computer, so when you arrive home your only task is to make slight adjustments or hit “Order”. However, there is one major drawback of using photo book apps: they either only have partial compatibility with their matching desktop builders or are completely different tools.
Mixbook’s Mosaic app and Shutterfly’s Groovebook are perfect examples of independent apps: with them you can only add a certain amount of photos to your book and have more limited alteration options. However, Shutterfly’s very own iPad app, Photo Story, is more than just a carbon copy of the desktop version, and is in fact a slightly advanced version with a more logical interface and clever additions like doodling.
Now that the do’s and don’ts of preserving your fondest summer memories in a photo book are known, you’ll now need to pick a photo book editor – and by association the companies that produce them – to create your photo book with.
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 40% off for each successful referral.
Although Blurb is a photo book editing and printing solution provider, this California-based company is also a perfect place for those who want to create trade books, magazines and eBooks. Whether you use the simple online editor Bookify with its straightforward customization tools, safe zones, auto-save feature and PDF import, or the BookWright software with the advanced features of the online editor and even more – you can be sure that your (photo) book is in good hands. There are various themes, photo papers, covers and book sizes at your disposal in the software, which is available in 7 different languages. No matter which part of the world you live in; the company lets you create your book with ease, whether you use the obligatory 20 pages or go for all 440 pages. And to make things even better, the final product is printed and delivered within a short period of time for very cost-friendly prices.
Whether you have read our photo book builder reviews or not, it is very likely that you have placed orders or used the services of Amazon before. The company that started its long-lasting career as an online bookstore now has turned into an ecommerce and cloud computing giant, engaging in many different activities. In September 2016, the company launched a new service that completely flew under the radar other of photo developing giants: Amazon Prints is its name, and it brings us Amazon Photo Books and a range of other printing services and products. As a newcomer, one doesn’t expect anything spectacular from Amazon Photo Books; however, you should judge a (photo) book by its cover. Should you have an Amazon account, you are just one step away from a simple, straightforward online editor with countless customization options regarding pages, backgrounds, embellishments, layouts and more. In Amazon Photo Books you can create high-quality photo books with two different covers for relatively cost-friendly prices and even get them shipped without paying a dime should you satisfy certain conditions.
The Best Reviews team researches and tests all products first-hand. We've been reviewing products and services since 2012 and are proud to only publish human-created content.
Share your thoughts, ask questions, and connect with other users. Your feedback helps our community make better decisions.
©2012-2025 Best Reviews, a clovio brand –
All rights
reserved
