Making a wedding album - a gentle gift for the bride

A wedding is one of the most significant events in the life of a couple. I want to remember the happy moments from the wedding ceremony forever, telling my children and grandchildren about them decades later. A professional photographer will be able to capture the best moments, giving you precious shots to fill your first family album. A high-quality wedding photo book will help you preserve the memories of your happy day. Our article will tell you about its design options and design examples.

What is a wedding book

This is the story of your wedding, designed in the form of a book: with a beautiful cover, text and, of course, your photographs. Often newlyweds order such a book from a professional photographer, but you can make it yourself. The advantages of a DIY wedding photo book are obvious:

• You choose the design and theme yourself,
• You think over the plot and select photographs,
• Define the format.

Agree, it’s a shame to pay money to a master, and in the end get something completely different from what you expected! If you want to make a high-quality wedding collage or photo book, we recommend that you choose the Photo COLLAGE program. This software allows you to:

• Use colorful templates,
• Manually edit every page of the book,
• Create a collage of photos from scratch,
• Decorate your pictures with bright clipart,
• Apply text
• Change the background, frames and much more.

With this editor you are sure to have the best wedding photo book.

Create a photo book online with your own hands. Adviсe

In December 2013, I published an article with recommendations on what to give to someone who is interested in photography. One of the gift ideas is a photo book made up of photographs of the person to whom we are giving it. But, in general, this is a universal solution that can be presented to newlyweds at a wedding, and to their parents, or to print a photo album from a matinee in kindergarten or from a graduation party at school. In today’s article we will discuss how you can use a photo book design program yourself, what nuances to consider when creating an album, and how to place an order for printing online.

What is a photobook

I first saw a photo book in 2012, when my colleague showed photos from her vacation, designed like an ordinary book: with binding, a hard beautiful cover, with photographs in frames and interesting captions for them. A photobook is a type of POD (print on demand) when you can order only one copy of a publication from a printing house.

1. Those who are fascinated by the idea of ​​​​creating a photo book with their own hands cannot stop at one copy - they order the printing of a photo album with wedding photos from their vacation.

2. An example of a photo book in which photos are placed without frames, on the full page size

3. Sample photo book demonstrating the results of a vacation trip

4. Creating a photo book is a great way to beautifully store memories of your trip.

5. Photo books presented in this series were ordered in Moscow. Previously, it was even profitable to print them abroad: the cost is not high, even with delivery, the quality is excellent.

6. Programs for photo book design allow you to insert inscriptions, clip art, vignettes, your own background, frames and other decorations

7. A DIY photo book is a great gift for all occasions.

It seemed to me that creating a book to order was insanely expensive. However, to my surprise, I was wrong: the price of a photo book made of good paper with a hard cover will be about 2,000 rubles for 40 sheets. Inexpensive, in today's times, for a gift.

Also, I was sure that to create a photo book you need to master the skills of photo editing in Photoshop, layout programs, or order the services of a designer. Also a misconception! Of course, if you have artistic taste, if you can improve the quality of pictures before sending them to print, this will be a plus. But even an ordinary person today can create an absolutely stunning album with his own hands: you just need to go to the printing house’s website and download a program for a photo book containing page layouts, backgrounds and decoration modules.

I also recommend watching a video with a lesson on how to arrange your albums, recorded by professional photographer Sergei Rozhnov. He specializes in wedding photography. I think you will also find useful tips in this video.

My first photo book was a birthday present. I have been racking my brain for a long time about what to give to the person who has everything. And then I remembered this option. On my computer hard drive I had photographs from my brother’s trip with his wife. I spent half a day on the design, sent the print order to the printing house online, and five days later came to pick up the result. You should have seen how delighted my gift was!

How to create a photo book yourself

On the Internet you can find a large number of printing houses offering to print your order online. Personally, I used the services of Fotokniga-Ural. My friends ordered their photo books in Moscow, from the Printbook company, which has a large selection of templates on its website.

Note from 2.12.2020. Since the publication of the article, I have personally made 6 orders through Printbook, as their editor turned out to be more convenient. Parcels to our city are delivered quickly, strictly on schedule. I have never had any comments about the quality of printing or color rendition. Now the company has renamed itself, here is its official website Netprint .

8. Photobook Moscow. The Printbook printing house presents a huge selection of photo book design styles on its website

1) So, go to the Fotokniga-Ural website, in the “Program” section, select “Download photobook editor”. They have 2 versions: basic and advanced, which includes all the decorations: frames, masks, clip art.

2) Install the editor on your computer, selecting “New order” and begin creating a photo book. First we define the type. For example, I chose a format of 20*29 cm, a printed cover (sometimes, for example, leather).

9. At the first stage of creating a photo book with your own hands, we choose the paper quality and format. The standard number of pages is 40 pieces. Price – 1800 rubles. Each subsequent one is 120 rubles (you need to check with the printing house, for 4 pages, or for one). Note! The cost also depends on the density of the paper, and 170 grams is average quality.

3) At the next stage, we show the program where the photos are located, select the layout of the photos and the background. Next, the editor fills the template with images automatically. The resolution of the images will be degraded when creating a photo book, but don’t worry - this is only during the design process, so as not to slow down the computer, everything will be fine when printed.

4) Now we create the cover. For this purpose, I chose two photographs and arranged them together, placing text with the title.

10. An example of creating a photo book cover in the typography editor

If you have some knowledge of Photoshop, you can search Google Images for the phrase “photo book cover” for samples and find many interesting ideas for yourself. Complete it in advance and upload it to the editor along with other photos.

Well, I'm not a very creative designer, but I whipped up this cover to illustrate today's guide for a supposed photo book about traveling around Thailand while driving a rental car in February 2015.

11. Sample of a cover prepared for a photo book

5) Next we move on to page design. The work is painstaking, but creative. You can enlarge or reduce blocks, place them at your discretion, align them, insert signatures, decide for yourself how many pictures to place on each page, whether they will have frames, and the like.

12. What I like about photo books is the ease with which you can arrange pictures of different sizes. We print important photographs large, photographs that express nuances – a little smaller.

13. The most interesting photographs can be published in a photo album in large size. In this example, the result will be almost A4 format.

14. Sample photo book layout

The program for creating a photo book with your own hands has a “Masks” tab. Using this tool you can add various effects to your design. For example, make the edges of photographs feathered.

15. Five examples of using the Masks tool when creating a photo book with your own hands

You can also use clipart templates built into the editor or found on the Internet.

16. Here I inserted a quick clipart - for example. Naturally, when ordering a real photo book, you need to approach it with great taste when arranging your photographs

As I said, you are free to use your own decorations and textures. For example, enter the search query “travel scrapbooking png” into Google Images and you will see thousands of photo album designs. Here “png” is the image format when they have a transparent part. Well, that is, let’s say, the background in JPEG will be white, and in PNG it will be transparent. You need to check: perhaps the program for creating a photo book allows you to use vector images - they do not lose quality when scaled, unlike raster ones.

For the background, you can use your own photographs (as I did when designing the cover), or, for example, textures downloaded from various sources.

17. An example of using your own texture to decorate the background in a photo book

Please note that a red exclamation point has appeared in the lower right corner. If you click on it, we will read the editor’s hint that the image resolution is not enough for high-quality printing (300 dpi is needed).

In conclusion, I note that from the printing house you can order not only a photo book with your images, but also calendars, business cards and brochures. The program we installed allows you to layout a layout and prepare it for printing via the Internet. Next, I present to your attention the recommendations of experienced designers.

First photo book. 10 tips to make it amazing

Over the past few years, the activity of creating and printing photo books has become very popular. Today we can order our copy from a printing house in a couple of clicks, and this type of photo album for storing our best works is very common among photographers. The arrangement of photographs on the pages of our first photo book has hundreds of variations and can stun anyone. Hopefully, the tips presented in this article will help you make decisions as you prepare your own book.

Step 1 – Theme

You first need to decide why you decided to put your photos together, as this will influence all subsequent steps in creating your DIY photo book. Will it feature the products you produce? Are you planning to sell it? Are you going to send it to potential publishers or exhibition galleries? Or are you just going to show the photo to your friends and family?

Next, it is important to decide which book layout editor you will work with. You can find a huge number of programs online for creating photo books yourself. Don’t rush to use the first one you come across: try several, presented by different printing houses.

Step 2 – What type of photo book are you choosing?

Once you've decided on the basic idea and chosen a program, it's time to think about what type of book you want to create. This decision is also partly influenced by the purpose, why you are creating it, the content and the available budget.

Traditionally, photo books come in hardcover with a smooth cover, but you can let your imagination run wild. It is your book. You can wish for whatever you want, as long as you have enough money. For example, you decide to publish it in A3 or A5 format. Take a close look at the photos selected for printing: are they suitable for placing one large photo on a spread or do you want to place several photos on one page.

Step 3 – Topic and Content

The best photo book is characterized by integrity, i.e. it is not just “a collection of good photographs by a certain photographer.” If the main part of the book is connected by a certain general theme, it will be better perceived by the viewer. You can use pictures taken at a specific time, for example, “a snapshot of one day in my life.” It is very important that the photos selected for a given topic strictly correspond to it and are arranged in chronological order.

Step 4 – Selecting Photos

Selecting the right photos is vital when creating a photo book. You need to choose the best photos to create a top quality product, but you need to remember: we are making a book, which means it must have a rhythm and completeness that tells the whole story from beginning to end.

If you just insert your best photos, most likely, a lot will remain “behind the scenes”. No need to print anything, anywhere. The right approach is to be selective and critical of your choices.

Step 5 – Photo Order – Telling a Story

When you have chosen photos for your first photo book, you need to decide in what order they will be presented. As stated earlier, a book needs to tell a story, so you need to think about the “story flow” that the images tell. You don't just want to throw all the landscapes at the beginning and all the macro photos in the middle—you want to create a balance of photos that will inform and delight the reader and engage them.

The first approach is to arrange the pictures in chronological order, as they were taken. This will add a natural feel, although you may find that some of the photos could be rearranged to better tell the story of the events.

Step 6 - Template

So, you have selected photos and arranged them in a certain order. Now it's time to decide how to present them on the page. You'll be surprised at how many layout options photo book software offers. You will have to spend time trying to choose the most suitable ones.

First, decide whether the photos will be posted with or without frames. If - without, then make sure that the edges of the image extend beyond the cropping boundaries when printing, so that there is no white stripe left later. If you decide to publish photographs in frames, you need to decide on the thickness and shape.

Next you need to decide what the layout of the spread will be. Typically, the image is placed on the right page, and space is left on the left for a short description, if required. But you are not required to strictly follow this rule. You might want to print photos on every page of your photo book. But whatever you decide, keep it simple and be consistent.

Step 7 – To include text or not to include text?

There is no need to post captions for photos. Text is necessary if you think it will bring something that a photograph cannot say. For example, this could be a description of the shooting location, name, date, or some other details related to the event depicted in the photo. Do not repeat what is already clear from the photograph. If you decide to add captions to your photos, make sure they fit the style of the photo book and not that you just slap them on anywhere. You need to use a font that matches the layout.

Step 8 – Cover Photo

The image chosen to be placed on the cover of the book is the first contact with the viewer. It should be a stunning photo that invites the viewer to read it. If you can choose a photo that best describes the content of the book, be sure to include it.

Step 9 – Should I convert the photo book into an electronic version?

The first and main purpose of a photo book is to be printed so that it can be held in hands, given to friends and family, and photography lovers. But these days, a book can be converted into electronic form to be displayed on the Internet, for example.

If there is no money to print a photo book in a printing house, then the electronic version is a good solution: it does not require paper costs and, potentially, will allow more readers to become familiar with the contents. However, your photos deserve to be printed on paper.

Step 10 – Try it!

Well, the simple guide to creating a photo book is over. It may seem like a lot of work, but when you pick up your first copy, you'll be truly delighted. If you have any other tips for creating a book, please share them in the comments and maybe you can help someone create their own masterpiece!

Before sending your order for a photo book to the printing house, check whether you have taken into account the design recommendations

Before you click the “Order a photo book online” button, make sure that you check the quality of the pictures using the following questionnaire below!

1. Uniformity of design – experienced designers advise using no more than 1 or 2 fonts to design a book. Review your layout and make sure you have used no more than 2 fonts in 2 sizes. Typically, one font is used for body text and another for headings. If the program allows, simply copy one text block and paste it into the desired location. This saves all text settings on all pages of the photo book. Some editors allow you to set font parameters on all pages at once - it’s very convenient, you don’t have to worry that the uniform style will go astray on some sheets.
2. Alignment – ​​have you checked that photo blocks and decorative elements are aligned as needed? Many programs for creating photo books have a function that allows you to align several objects horizontally and vertically at once. Typically, you hold down the SHIFT key and select all the blocks on the page, then click on the corresponding item in the menu or on the desired “shortcut key”.
3. Margins – Is there a photo, frame or decoration too close to the edge? Most photo book editors will point out the layout error. Everything inside these boundaries will be printed, everything beyond them will be trimmed during printing and binding. Sometimes this safe zone is wide, but the printing press still needs some margin.
4. Spacing between pages (binding) – “mind the spacing” – similar to rule #3. Make sure nothing important is located along the center line. This especially applies to text and faces in portraits. Well, you only need not worry if you are using a photo book layout that does not have a binder.
5. Review and check for errors – if possible, use programs that check for grammar. When the photo book editor doesn't have this feature, copy and paste the text into Microsoft Word to double-check the content for errors. Note!!! If you just copied text into Word or from Outlook, chances are there will be some formatting codes pasted that will be "invisible" to you and won't show errors when you preview it, but will show up when you print the book . If possible, ask someone you know to check your text and photo captions. With an open eye you can see missing words, for example, or minor typos.
6. Photo quality – most programs for creating online photo books are equipped with an indicator that tells you that your photo does not have sufficient resolution (usually a density of 300 dpi is required). But keep in mind that the editor will not tell you that the photo is too bright or dark, that the person has red eyes, for example. Therefore, double-check the quality of the pictures. Sometimes you can't tell that this photo is slightly underexposed (darkish) until you put it next to other photos. Often you have to return to photo editing after previewing the finished, assembled photo book.

Some printing houses build photo editing tools directly into the book creation program. But these photo editors are limited in their capabilities. Therefore, it is better to process images in specialized programs such as Photoshop or ACDSee.

In general, once again: before sending an order to print a photo book to a printing house, view it in the “Preview” mode, keeping in mind the recommendations listed above, and minor errors will not darken your joy from the result.

18. During the preview, we noticed that the binding “cuts” the legs. It’s better to redo this page so that Katya fits entirely on the right page

How to design a wedding photo book

You invited a professional, talented photographer for a wedding photo shoot and Love Story, you received gorgeous photos, the only thing left is to take the last step: create a stunning photo album. They say that an album with photographs from a wedding is like a wedding dress: it should be so beautiful that you can’t take your eyes off it. And you need to understand that not only does there exist the art of taking amazing photographs, there is also the talent to create a dream album from a set of photos...

1. Choose the most incredible photos

Consider a photo book as a means of preserving emotions, and not just an album for photographs. Choose only those pictures that you cannot live without. The best book contains only gorgeous photos. And these don’t always have to be standard shots. Sometimes this can be an image of a veil lifted by a breeze or the expression on the face of one of the guests.

2. Let the photos speak for themselves

In the digital age, you can implement many tricks when creating an album. Sometimes there is visual noise. When creating a wedding photo book, photographers advise not to place more than 1 or 2 photographs per spread. Tip: Place a vertical photo on one page, and on the next spread - one horizontal photo, spanning two pages.

3. Think chronologically

It is clear that photographs from the registry office must precede photographs from the restaurant. Although there may be exceptions. No one can stop you from inserting the most interesting photo taken later at the beginning.

4. On one spread, place pictures taken in the same period of time

This concerns the harmony of the photo book. Even more important than the way you arrange your photos is their flow. Like in a magazine: a photo album consists of double-page spreads. Think of each of them (2 pages) as one whole. Pages should be related to each other in meaning or style.

5. Use more color if your wedding was colored (and vice versa)

There is no rule when to print a color photo book and when to print a black and white one. It all depends on the wedding: if there was a lot of color, then most of the pictures will be colorful. If at the wedding all the guests were dressed in classic, formal clothes, then the book can be printed in black and white.

6. Have photos of the most important moments of the wedding ceremony

Key points: the bride and groom walking down the aisle, the exchange of rings, the first kiss - naturally, should be included in the book.

7. The size of the photo album should correspond to the duration of the wedding

The number of pages in the photo book should be compared with the duration of the celebration. You need to understand that if you had a modest wedding dinner in a restaurant with friends, then there will be fewer photographs than when the “wedding sang and danced” for three days. Don't fill the book with weak photographs. There may be fewer of them, but they will be impressive.

19. An example of a wedding photo book cover design

20. To decorate the background, you can use various sets of textures and clipart

21. Example of a wedding photo book

22. Experiment with photo formats when creating your wedding album

23. Don’t know what to give your friends for their wedding? A good gift - a certificate for printing a photo book in a printing house

24. When creating a DIY wedding photo book, post a variety of photographs. This will make her look more interesting.

25. Who would have thought that a portrait without a face could also be exciting?

26. Photo album from Love Story

27. Different book design options

28. Sample photo book in black and white

In the article reviewing the Nikon D5300 camera, we discussed how to shoot video. It was noted there that in order to create an artistic picture, it is important to include in the reportage (and a wedding is reportage photography) different plans in the images: close-up, medium, general, and so on. If we look closely at the examples above, we see that the pages with diverse images make the greatest impression. Therefore, not only a wedding photographer must be able to make a high-quality photo report, but then when arranging the layout of a photo book, you need to arrange the resulting photographs correctly.

I would like to thank my friends Anastasia and Lev, Pavel and Nastya for agreeing to show their books in this article. I hope that today some site guests have found the answer to the questions: “What to give for a wedding? For a birthday? On the anniversary of another memorable event? How to beautifully design an album after a vacation trip to distant lands? May you all have only bright photo books and emotions from them!

How to learn to create professional-looking photo books yourself

In conclusion, I want to say that the tips posted in this article give only a general idea of ​​​​the principles of creating a photo album from your photographs. By following the recommendations, you can create a good photo book. But to get a truly professional publication, try to make money by arranging and selling albums to clients, you will have to dive much deeper into the nuances of design.

I suggest you familiarize yourself with the contents of the video course “Secrets of creating chic photo books 2.0”, from which you can get simply invaluable advice. It provides recommendations on which programs can be used to make layouts, provides a detailed overview of the functions of the book editor, and examines in detail the nuances of creating a travel album, children's and wedding photo albums.

Well, those who want to create their own photo book using the PRINTBOOK.ru editor can go to the official website and find out the current conditions and prices. In 2022, the company was renamed netPrint.ru.

If you were looking for information on how to create a photo book yourself in the sense of assembling it from separate sheets of paper, then watch the following video from the workshop. It seems to me that it won’t work out neatly the first, second, or even third time. You also need to spend money on a special machine.

PS I would be grateful if you share the link to the article on social networks or forums.

Cover

Of course, special attention must be paid to the cover to make the wedding album a real family heirloom. To make the cover look presentable and luxurious, fabric or leather is often used for its design. Silk, satin or velvet are ideal.

Original album cover

For the base, thick cardboard is used, several layers can be used, which is sheathed or covered with fabric. For massiveness and volume, a sheet of padding polyester of the same size is glued to the cardboard.

The cover size should be slightly larger than the main sheets.

As standard, the cover has a window for the main photo. In this case, you need to cut out the required size in all elements of the cover and then glue it together. Glue a photograph or other thematic picture to the back of the cover and cover the entire side with beautiful paper.

Next, the cover can be decorated with voluminous flowers made of paper or fabric, ribbons, hearts, and a string of pearls. You can add a three-dimensional inscription using a ready-made chipboard, for example, “Our wedding.” Write the names of the newlyweds and the wedding date on the cover.

An original addition to the cover can be an improvised clasp, for example, a metal hook, a vintage clasp, a tongue with a button or a button, or simply a cover tied with a ribbon.

Now all that remains is to fasten everything together.

Album cover

Selection of photos

At this stage, you need to decide what you want to dedicate your album to. Portrait photographs or group photographs, photographs from the registry office or a cheerful feast, and perhaps even devote more than half of the album to the honeymoon.

You can put the photos that are dearest to your heart in your wedding album.

You may want to post photos without people to create a certain mood. For example, a photo of the bride’s bouquet, a photo of that sunny day, how the banquet hall was decorated, or remarkable places that you visited that day.

The main rule for making an album interesting is to follow the chronological order of events. Even if many years later you flip through the album, your memory will reconstruct in detail all the events of that day.