Create a Photobook for Mom

It may be a bit too early to start thinking about Mother's Day, but this project goes beyond picking up a last minute Mother's Day gift at the store. This weekend I took on a project that involved creativity, teamwork and loads of fun. I created a keepsake hardcover photobook with iPhoto for my mother-in-law. iPhoto software is only available on Macs, but there are similar programs out there that work with PCs which I will talk about later.

Organize your photos

The first step in this project is to organize your photos. If you're like me, you probably have an extensive collection of family photos sitting in your hard drive or hidden away in hatboxes just waiting for a weekend project. I started by separating my favorite photos for scanning. I've been procrastinating for a while because I was waiting for an easier way to scan my older photos all at once, but my scanner doesn't have an automatic photo feeder. I'm doing this with an HP PSC 160 All-in-One scanner, which lets me scan pictures at a high resolution (1200 x 4800 dpi optical). Save your scans in JPEG format so they are easy to upload to these programs.

Now that you have all your images in digital format, organize them on your computer or an external hard drive. I never use my computer's hard drive to store any media, so I use an external hard drive where I can store my entire collection of photos, music or home movies without having to worry about running out of disk space. Here you can organize photos for each photobook and not worry about duplicating photos.

Pick a Photobook Service

• Shutterfly is an easy way to create photobooks. The book's covers are available in suede, leather or satin for Hardcovers, Softcovers and Snapbooks. You have to sign up for a free account with Shutterfly before you get started, but once you upload your images you can create other keepsakes like a Photoshow DVD, calendars, or greeting cards. I love their photo editing software which lets you enhance your photos before printing.
• Kodak Easy Share photobooks is similar to Shutterfly, but with a lot more product options like mini-books, canvas-photos and stickers.
  
• Pixart is dedicated to creating photobooks only, with two new products (Pocket Photo Book and Coffee Table Photo Book) coming out soon.
• Blurb is a nice alternative if you want to turn your photoblog into a book. You simply download Booksmart, choose the type of book you want to create, and publish. Instead of loosing all your hardwork once your retire your photoblog, you can re-publish it and save it forever. Pricing is affordable starting at $29.95 for a 40-page book. This software is not available to the public just yet, but next month they will start sending out invitations so get on their list.

Once you choose a photobook service, you can start working on those keepsake books to give out on special occasions, such as Mother's Day. Anyone creating other special projects with their photos? Do share your ideas with me.