Making A Travel Photobook

Imagine your most treasured travel photos printed inside the pages of a crisp, glossy coffee table book. House guests can flip through the pages filled with your own photo snaps like the mountain highway leading to your first destination, the vibrant indigenous flower, fiesta parties, the spooky forest trek and the scrumptious shot of your plate. That coffee table book would indeed be a great conversation piece.

I have scrapbooks filled with many 4x4 prints. That's before digital cameras happen. Today, we seldom print and simply upload our jpeg files it to our computers, photosharing and social media sites. I miss the art of creating a new scrapbook for my latest photos. The idea of slowly flipping through pages filled with images of my travels is just irresistible. So a month ago, I finally made one for myself and created my own Travel Photobook.

My Hardbound, Medium Portrait (8.5x11) Imagewrap Travel Photobook

My first ever photobook was ordered in 2008 showcasing our big family reunion in Mindanao. That's way before group buying sites was born. I remember it to be pretty expensive, not to mention the inconvenience I had to go through. Commuting all the way to the mall and personally give them the file in my usb to copy what I have lay-outed and then going back to their kiosk, 2 weeks after, just to get the ordered photobook. Thankfully we have group buying sites today, as they paved the way for photobooks to be more pocket friendly, fast and easy.

Picturebooks was my first introduction to photobooks. 5 years later, I tried Photobook Central. Then recently, an uncle who bought a deal from Cash Cash Pinoy was able to secure a 75% off discount promo on photobooks from Photobook Philippines. I registered too to avail of the promo.

I was able to buy a Medium Portrait for only P813 instead of P3250 from Photobook Philippines. I paid for the deal via Paypal.

How to Make a Travel Photobook

1. Download the software from your chosen photobook provider.

2. Choose your travel photos wisely. For me this is the hardest part as you have to be very selective. If you've purchased a 40 page photobook then you need to discipline yourself in choosing very limited pictures. Choose ones that really tell a story and ones that are clearly photographed. The last thing you want to see are blurry pictures. Sayang ang space.

3. Decide if you want to use a pre-designed template from ReadyBooks or do your own layout. I chose the Travel Diary template and simply customize the layout of some pages. Be careful in choosing the template you want and double check the book size and style.

4. Once the application is installed, you're now ready to load, fill and edit your photos. Have fun in creating each of your travel pages. You may insert texts or captions and don't forget your background design. It's really as simple as drag and drop.

Note: Include photos of locals, landscapes, food plates, your travel buddies and transportation. Play around the pages, from wide shots to macro shots. Changing some pictures to black and white can also create that dramatic feel to a travel page. Your layout should be easy on the eyes. It's fairly simple if you have good quality pictures to begin with. The hard part is scanning your old travel photos. But it's worth all the effort.

If you're ordering from Photobook Philippines, here's a link on the quick guide including the ordering and paying process  - http://www.photobookphilippines.com/tools/quick-guide. 

Shipping was fast. I also loved how neatly the package was sent, secured with foams inside the cardboard box and handled well by DHL. 

Photobook Philippines is Php350 expensive (since the shipping starts in KL, Malaysia) but they have what they call Readybooks which are pretty helpful in terms of designing because of its ready template. All you have to do is choose a theme to your liking. Downloading and working with the application is a breeze and you’ll immediately notice the similarities in terms of other photobook applications. 

ordered photobook