Makingphotobooks

Part 1: Making Photo Booksfor Fun & Profit

Tim ZeboCell: 732-757-8353

[email protected]://twitter.com/jerseyguy

© 2009 Tim Zebo. All rights reserved.

4/16/09 TJZ/BCUG © 2009 Tim Zebo. All rights reserved. 2

The “Problem”• Two external hard drives with ~14,000 digital

photos (10 yrs of family snapshots, hiking & biking vacations, weddings, new grandchildren, etc.)

• Will also scan & add many pre-digital prints from parents’ albums

• Many files previously shared using Shutterfly.com, Picasa.com, digital picture frames, PC slide shows…but…”there’s nothing like a book”

“Best” way to make printed Photo Books?- Gifts & “Memory Books” for special occasions- Photo “Yearbooks”- Self-publish books for profit


With one exception, Laziness prevailed…

(image from: http://taddietales.blogspot.com/2008/05/peaceful-giant.html)

until….


Unibind PhotoBook Creator Kit

Steve Miller’s email:“Seeking BCUG reviewer of…”


Unibind Photo Book ExperimentsFeatures• Binding machine• “Free” download: MyPhotoBooks software• Buy Photo Book cover; create, print & bind Photo Book locally• No web access & photo upload issues; no waiting for delivery

Test 1:• “2008 Thanksgiving” - 171 digital photos (jpgs)

What’s not to like…• Auto-layout software: 171 photos==>29-page book (58 sides); designed & ready for

printing and binding in 2.5 minutes!

“But” (areas for improvement)…• Moving from Page 10 to Page 25 took 10 secs. & consumed 95% of CPU cycles!• “Distribute Pictures” resulted in chopped heads & missing edges

(Portrait pictures are placed into landscape frames, and vice versa.• No “global” multi-page commands. • Tedious page-by-page editing to fill page real estate• “Printer Out of Memory” Error (Blame printer or ???)

Test 2:• “Drawings by Olivia” art book – potential for very cool mix of printed & “other” pages


Review in BCUG Newsletter (Feb. 2009)


Photo Book-Making Products…• Unibind MyPhotoBooks• FotoFusion Extreme• Inkubook• Smilebox• Blurb• Picaboo• Viovio• Photoshop Elements Album• Kubota AutoAlbum• Kodak• SnapFish• RocketLife• Shutterfly • CVS• etc.• etc. • etc.!


Digital “Scrapbooking” Pages:Gifts (+), Photo Yearbooks (-)

(created by “Scrapbooking Fotofusion” Yahoo Group member: Ellen Blake)


Photo Yearbook Page(?)

(Picasa “Collage”)


Photo Book-Making Products: Page Options

Fun & Games

Landscape Page Template (Frames: 1P,1L)

Frames

Landscape Image

Theme

Auto-layout

Portrait Image

Page 9Reserved for binding

CaptionAndy the Magician Page #

One “Side”, or ???

Background Color

Page Title

Shadow

Matte


(My) Ideal Photo Book-Making Product• Either local or web-based book creation software• Auto page layout with auto-recognition of portrait or

landscape frames (no chopped heads or missing edges)• Minimal post-auto-layout manual editing• Highly efficient page layout (lots of photos per page)• Ability to sequence layout by: file name, creation date,

random or priority• Fast response when editing or reviewing• Page background options include “none”• “Good-enough” color print quality• If local, support for full-duplex page printing • If web-based, print & ship book in 7 business days• Reasonably priced


Photo Book Products: Preliminary Test Results

Unibind MyPhotoBooksFotoFusion ExtremeInkubookSmilebox

• BlurbPicabooViovioPhotoshop Elements AlbumKubota AutoAlbumKodak

• SnapFish• RocketLife

Shutterfly • CVS• Etc., etc. etc.!

Legend:Worth a look“It’s complicated”

• No direct experience yet


“Worth a Look”

Product Pluses MinusesPrice per Book(hardbound;11x8.5)

Unibind MyPhotoBooksVer. 3.3.4

-“Free” SW download (web independent)-fast auto-layout: 171 jpgs, 29 pages, 2.5

minutes- book pages can include non-computer Printouts

-very slow moving page-to-page-no “global” editing commands-can’t add text to album cover

$10/book cover + local per-page print costs

FotoFusion Extreme(software only)ver. 4.0

-fast auto-layout-very efficient: many pics per page-very flexible: edit pics, frames, text, backgrounds, etc.-can output album as pdf-auto full-duplex printing-blank backgrounds o.k.

-2 sec frame select lag during editing-one-time purchase is pricey ($300)

“It depends”:-$10 book cover + local per-page print costs,Or ???

Inkubookhttp://inkubook.com/

-“Free” SW download (MS Silverlight 2)- nice GUI-great quality output

-auto-layout only available for landscape pages (as of 3/31/09)-if pick theme=holiday, there’s nothing for Thanksgiving-auto-layout, needs 50-100 photos for best results-slow response during editing

Pages Price

0 – 20 $25

21 – 40 $31

41 – 80 $37

81 – 120 $44


“It’s Complicated”Product Preliminary Results

Smileboxsmilebox.com

-installs process in system tray that attempts web access when PC is booted-auto-layout chops heads & faces; no match of frames to fit image aspect ratio – must be done manually-mouse over each album design to see how many photos it holds-most album designs hold less than 24 pics & have a fixed number of pages – often < 10-auto-populate sometimes doesn’t work; then must manually insert each pic-no global page design commands – e.g., must manually remove a “text” frame from a page, one page at a time-can’t add more pages than is the current max for that book design

Picaboo -auto-layout chops heads & faces; no match of frames to fit image aspect ratio – must be done manually-4 arrows for moving pic in frame-slow when moving pic in frame-long delay getting price after click “buy”

Viovioviovio.com

-select & upload 10 pics at-a-time-cannot see contents of any books in on-line store

Photoshop Elements Album

-auto-layout chops heads & faces; no match of frames to fit image aspect ratio – must be done manually-slow auto-layout: 56 jpgs; 20 pages; 5 min.-hidden commands (right click moves pic in frame)-search help never found-dumb auto-layout: no pic/page ratio control; preset # of frames on pages templates (e.g., created 20 pages for 56 images but left 10 frames on last two pages empty (must be corrected manually)

Kubota AutoAlbumhttp://asukabook.com

-can’t use Firefox 3.0.3 (only Firefox 2 or IEX)-design each page in Photoshop and save as jpgs with preset template sizes-Must manually insert each pic into its frame - many clicks, very tedious-very cumbersome to exchange pics between two frames-may need to manually crop pic to fit frame BUT: FABULOUS BOOK QUALITY!

Kodakkodakgallery.com

-one pic per page during initial auto-layout; then must manually edit -drag one photo at a time onto a page of multiple frames

SnapFishsnapfish.com

-change frame size by dragging a new template onto page (cumbersome if only want to change size of one frame)


“It’s Complicated” Cont’d…e.g., Shutterfly & Blurb

“Order 10 books: take 30% off”

40 Pgs., $25

66 Pgs., $255


Making (and/or Designing) Photo Books for Profit

ISBN #’s ?


Options from the World ofPrint on Demand (POD)


“Solutions” (?)(…a work in progress!)

• Gifts & “Memory Books”: Inkubook• Family Photo Yearbooks: FotoFusion• Designing and/or Making Books for Profit:

TBD

Part 2: Learning more about Photography, Photoshop & Photo Books using iGoogle, Meehive, Facebook,Twitter & iLeonardo

Tim ZeboCell: 732-757-8353

[email protected] http://twitter.com/jerseyguy

© 2009 Tim Zebo. All rights reserved.


iGoogle “gadgets”: A “Personalized Browser Home Page”


MeeHive: A “Personalized Newspaper”


FaceBook Photography Groups


FaceBook Photographers


FaceBook: Software Marketing & (Design!)


Twitter & 140-Character Tweets (Who are you following?)


Using TweetDeck “Search”


Twitter StreamGraphs


Selling a “Coaching Kids’ Soccer” Photo Book?


Selling a “Coaching Kids’ Soccer” Photo Book?


iLeonardo: A “Personalized Web Library”


Q&A & Discussion Topics•Work together to keep up with changing technology?

Start a Graphics Group iLeonardo Library?

(Image from: http://www.snorgtees.com/images/PiBeRational_Thumbnail.gif)

Technology

Makingphotobooks