Creating a photo book is easier than you think (kind of…)

In the last 10 years or so, digital photography has exploded in terms of the variety, options, and abilities to capture memories and moments. It has really made photography (and now video) accessible to just about anyone with a click of a button – first the DSLR, then point and shoots, and now mobile phones. At the same time, most photos are now sitting on a computer, in a phone, or on a camera somewhere. What do we do with them?

In the past, a roll of film would be developed and we would get prints. Nowadays, the way we share or view photos is all about putting them online and sharing them using some online platforms. Being able to touch, feel, and experience the photos without having to turn on a screen/LCD is still an enjoyable moment. It’s the same with picking up or flipping through a book versus reading (or is it scanning?) text on a screen.

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So with my 373 photos in hand from my 2013 photo experiment, I wanted to produce a book that I can always look through and share with people rather than just telling them to “It’s online – go to this link”. I heard about Blurb, an online photo book service and publisher, and decided to use them since they also had a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom, which I use to organize all my photos. The plug-in loads a Book menu in Lightroom where I was able to use a pre-defined list of layout templates. I then dragged and dropped my photos and captions to where I wanted them to go. Once that was done, I designed the front and back cover and uploaded the whole book to Blurb. This took a bit of time since all my photos were in RAW and the book eventually came out to be 128 pages!

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All in all, it took about 2 weeks from laying out my photos, and finishing the book, to getting it printed and shipped. It might have taken longer if I wasn’t keeping track of my photos and captioning them over the course of one year. Want your own copy? You can buy it directly from Blurb here.

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