Photo book or album?

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Photo book or album?

Hey all -- I'm super new to both this site and digital scrapbooking in general! I've got a lot of (mostly hobby-level) graphic design and photo editing experience under my belt, but DS will be a new project for me.

I've been thinking about the "long game" here and how I want to print my completed layouts. I designed a photo book for my mom last year from the ground up to memorialize our beloved house that we had to sell, and absolutely adored how it came out. (Printed on Blurb and it was a great experience, especially with the InDesign plugin they offer.) It looked like a professional had done it. But I have learned in this community that a lot of people print individual layouts, place in page protectors, and then collect in an album. The flexibility and (maybe) lower cost are very appealing to me, but I still can't decide!

Anyone have any pros/cons they'd like to share from their own experiences, or can explain if they picked one and loved it, or picked one and wished they'd done the other?

Many thanks!

I think a lot of it will depend on your personal preference. I really hate the bulk of a regular scrapbook album, so a lot of the point for me is being able to print it as a finished book which is considerably smaller. Also, I print my books at 10x10 so they are all around smaller. This makes it easier to look at them and keep them on the shelf.

Cost wise, I'm not sure if you would save much money when all is added up, since albums are expensive, as are getting the 12x12 prints.

But of course people may have reasons for preferring the page protector route. Whatever works for you!

Here in my country thr photobooks are easier to print than the individual layouts, so it´s my choice.

Thank you for the input! It's not like I have to pick one and stick with it forever, either, so maybe I should just work on my layouts first and THEN worry about what to do with them! smiley

I'm going with the albums myself. But my main reason for that is consistency. I hadn't started digital scrapbooking when I met my husband, and started doing paper/pocket page type albums for each year of our marriage. Since I was already using the leather binder albums, I decided to stick with it when I started transitioning to working digitally, and just print the 12x12 layouts. For me, one of the biggest advantages of sticking with it is that I don't have to work chronologically. I'm simultaneously working on keeping up with the current month and catching up on the layouts from a couple of years ago, after the last order I made for pocket page prints. And then I'll just have to sort it out whenever I get to that massive print order!

That being said, I will do photobooks for big trips, because I tend to take massive amounts of photos for those and that would be WAY too much to cram into one of my yearly albums!

I used to do albums back when I did paper scrapbooking but switched to books as I went digital. They take up less room and I think look a little nicer for digital (because I used page protectors with the albums). I use Picaboo which is very similar in quality to Blurb. I actually started out using Blurb and can't tell the difference between them without looking for a logo somewhere.

I do digital and traditional scrapbooking in 8.5x11 and 12x12 sizes, so printing them for the album is the way I go. I have done a few photobooks in a 8.5x11ish size and 8x8. These are the albums my husband prefers.

If I were doing just digital layouts, I would totally go with photobooks in a smaller size like the 10x10 for easy shelf display and less bulk. You don't realize how many albums you'll need when you first start out, but after 17 years and 6 shelves full of albums, it's quite the space hog. Not to mention the bulk of a 12x12 album and when full is quite heavy. It takes 2 hands to lift off the shelf and look at.

i don't work chronologically so printing individual layouts is the best way for me. i tried making photobooks but they're kinda stressful for me because i have to meet the number of pages in the photobook i bought (40 pages per book). and when i went over the number of allotted pages i have to make another book because its cheaper than adding to the original book.

I agree with Marlyn. I don't do photo books because I never do things in order. I get on a Christmas roll and do a lot of Christmas pages, then I might do Halloween, followed by a summer vacation. So I print individual pages, print them out and put them in page protectors in post bound books. That way I can rearrange at my leisure.

Good luck finding something that works for you!

I love photo books, for so many different reasons!
I've printed a photo book for the past 4 years. I do an annual family photo book and will keep doing this for the foreseeable future.

Photo books take up less shelf space than albums with printed layouts, which is great when you're thinking about the long term plan. I also think they tend to look more professional and neat, something that is very important to me.
And like Lisa mentioned above, albums tend to be quite heavy and unwieldy, especially for kids. My little one loves looking through our albums and he wouldn't be able to do it easily if I did albums instead of photo books.

I usually print them into a Shutterfly album when I get discounts in my email.

I have created and made lots of photo books and I LOVE them, and I have yet to see someone pick up one of my books and not have a big smile on their faces. they look professional and they are compact.

I have yet to get anything printed, but when I get there, I am going to go the book route. As noted, it's very compact compared to a traditional album, and for me at least, it makes it harder for people to try and "just borrow a page for this event because it's beautiful and Gramma looks so good," and then my page disappears and no one knows where it went. That's definitely a personal issue- my family has some characters, but that knowledge that I'll always have a whole, and even if I move I can't have anything fall out or leave it is really important to me.