Photo Book Review

Many people have hundreds, if not thousands, of personal digital photos stored on their hard drives, where most are likely to remain untouched. Photo books are an excellent way to make the most out of those photographs and preserve your favorite memories for years to come. While photo books may have once appealed strictly to scrapbookers and crafty do-it-yourselfers, they have become a sophisticated way for everyone to document momentous occasions, make a photo journal or create treasured keepsakes, whether for themselves or to give as gifts.

Even if artistic, creative design isn't your forte, creating custom photo books is simple and straightforward. Online photo book services provide web-based or downloadable software that is packed with editing tools and publishing options that make it easy to create a custom photo book. If you don't have the time or skills to create your book from scratch, many services also provide prefabricated layout templates. With them, you can simply select a template, upload your photos and then have your photo book printed.

Thorough research and testing has enabled us to determine the leading online photo books services. In addition to our side-by-side comparison, be sure to browse our articles on photo books and our top photo book picks are Mixbook, Shutterfly and MyCanvas.

Photo Books: What to Look For

Design and quality are paramount when you are deciding where to publish your photo books, but they aren't the only aspects to bear in mind. Service features, usability and publishing options are also important factors to consider that can greatly affect how well your finished photo book looks. Here are the five key elements to evaluate in a photo book publishing service.

Features
Everyone wants to make the best photo book possible, but creating one without the necessary tools can be difficult. Look for a service that allows high-resolution photo uploads, intuitively organizes your photos and provides themed templates for quick, hassle-free publishing. The best websites for online photo books offer additional convenience features such as an online book editor, gift services and free album sharing.

Book Options
This category refers to the cover and sizing options for photo books. The more available options, the better; this gives you a greater range to create professional-looking, one-of-a-kind photo books.

Quality
When you use an online photo book publisher, the finished works should be of professional caliber. The company should remedy any printing defects, missing pages or other publication errors quickly and without additional cost to you. The printed photos featured in these books should be clean and sharp, with proper contrast and color balance – not grainy, noisy or blurry.

Ease of Use
Creating photo books should be enjoyable, not burdensome. Whether a photo book service provides web-based or downloadable publishing tools, the service should be intuitive and user friendly. Its website should be comprehensible and easy to navigate so that choosing the exact product you want is simple.

Help & Support
The best photo book publishing websites provide comprehensive help and support in the form of FAQs, user forums and customer service via email and telephone.

The leading online photo book services are strong in all of these areas. To ensure that your photo books are top-notch and high quality, look for a service with plenty of useful features, a focus on product quality, easy-to-use publishing tools and helpful support options.

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