A great way to store your holiday snaps

Idecided to collate the photos from my recent trip to Mexico last weekend. My initial thoughts were to print them out and purchase a photo album to put them into. As I looked online to decide where to get the photos printed, an advertisement for a photobook appeared. Many companies create photo books within Australia. These include Photobookstory, Momento, Blurb, Snapfish, Printique, Vistaprint and PikPerfect, to name just a few. A photo book is a tabletop hardcover book made from high-quality material, with photos printed on acid-free paper. It means the images are less likely to fade and deteriorate, and given it is bound in a hardcover book, they are less like to be torn or damaged. There was very little difference when I looked at the price of the photobook compared to printing the photos and purchasing an album.

All the companies I looked at had an online portal allowing you to upload photos into a customisation tool. A few companies will let you download the tool onto your computer to sort your photos offline into the photo book. The company I chose to go with had a wide range of customisation options that allows you to personalise your book. I could choose from various layouts, backgrounds, page designs and add text and captions to my photos. It also identifies blurry or duplicate photos so they can be removed. It automatically sizes, crops and centres your photos to fit the page design and layout best.

I went with a 30cm x 30cm photo book, but they are available in a range of sizes. When designing a page, I could chose from several picture layout configurations ranging from one to nine pictures per page. I could select a different background on each page and add a text description on the page or individual photos.

The product also had a wizard that analysed the photos, including location, time taken and facial recognition, and suggested a photo layout for me. While it did an excellent job, ultimately, I chose to design my book manually.

What I received a week later exceeded my expectations.

I received a 100-page hardbound book with a photo on the front and back covers. The design tool resulted in a book that looked like a professional photographer created it. The photobook industry is very competitive, with almost all sites offering heavy discounts. I pre-purchased a discount voucher, resulting in my book costing me $70 for 400 photos. The result looks a lot better than a photo album.

Give it a try!