Gone are the days of film and the anticipation of getting pictures developed into stacks of prints ready to be slipped into a photo album.
Today it’s all about online slide shows, digital picture frames, photo-sharing Web sites and blogs.
Who has time to make hard-copy photo albums anyway?
You probably do, actually.
Turning your photos into something tangible is now surprisingly easy thanks to a number of Web sites that offer free tools for making photo books.
Simply upload your images to a Web site, drag and drop your favorite shots into one of many book designs and, in about a week, you’ll receive a professionally bound photo book.
“People have a ton of digital memories, a ton of digital photos, and they want to unlock them,” said Lara Hoyem, the director of photo books at Shutterfly.com. “There are stories that they either want to share, gift or preserve in a physical way.”
Shutterfly, recently named the best photo book Web site by Good Housekeeping, started offering photo books about four years ago.
“It’s been growing phenomenally ever since we started,” Hoyem said. “Now there are just so many other things you can do with your images.”
More than a dozen other sites are now offering photo books, including Snapfish, Kodak Gallery, Viovio and Picaboo. Some, such as Blurb and Polaroid’s My Memories, rely on downloadable software.
Book prices start about $15 and increase depending on size, paper quality and cover styles.
Shutterfly, for example, offers an 8-by-8-inch hardback storybook for $29.99. You can pay $39.99 for a leather cover.
Figuring out which images you want to use to tell a story about your family is the hard part, Hoyem said. After you do that, however, it can take less than an hour to put it all together online.
It’s easy to be inspired using the many colorful templates these sites offer, including themes such as baby’s first year, trips, recipe books, Christmas and wedding.
You can spend extra time customizing books with captions and variations in backgrounds, borders and layout.
“People who want creative control, who are used to scrapbooking, go page by page,” Hoyem said.
And, once you’re done, you can easily duplicate your work. Brides often give copies of photo books to all the people in their wedding party as thank-you gifts, Hoyem said.
Family history photo books could be shared with an entire extended family, making scanning delicate family photos especially worth the effort.
“You can make a copy for yourself, one for Grandma and, if someone spills water on it, you can have it replaced,” said Gretchen Sloan, a Shutterfly spokeswoman.
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.
Photo book sites
Blurb: www.blurb.com/create/book/photobook
Kodak Gallery: www.kodakgallery.com
Our Hubbub by Jostens: www.ourhubbub.com
Picaboo: www.picaboo.com
Polaroid’s My Memories: www.mymemoriessuite.com
Shutterfly: www.shutterfly.com
Snapfish: www.snapfish.com
Viovio: www.viovio.com
Read a review of 11 photo book sites by TopTen Reviews at photo-book-review. toptenreviews.com.
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