How To Create The Perfect Photo Book

Creating a photobook has changed a little over the years. A couple of decades ago, it would certainly be a more arduous process. You would have to own a camera, for starters. Either a professional one or, most typically, one of those plastic disposable ones from the chemist on the corner. 

You would then have to use this camera to snap the shot. This should be simple, but capturing the perfect moment becomes a little tricky when you have to reload the camera like a seventeenth century musket. It’s hard to fathom how many moments have been played out to that “ziiip/ziiip” tune as someone tries frantically to get the camera loaded for the shot.

Then would come the actual printing of the photographs. This is when all of your hard work is revealed to you. A collection of wonderful, intimate moments lost amongst a majority of demonic red eyes, blurred pictures of dancing friends and a myriad of boring, static shots which are hardly even worth remembering let alone printing and sticking down into an album.

Thankfully things have changed a little bit now. It’s quick, easy and efficient. Just the shots you want people to see, a quick organisation and then a one click upload onto your feed.

Consequentially, this gives us the perfect opportunity to up our photo book game. With My Social Book, your Instagram, Facebook or Google timeline can be captured and printed into a glossy, professional looking, bounded book. 

So how exactly do you do it? Here’s a walkthrough that can help you work it out.

Step One - Choose Your Best Social Media Feed

When you first venture onto My Social Book, you will be given the option to choose between your Facebook, Instagram or Google feeds. Each one will be laid out differently, so it is important to take a little gander to see which photo book you think looks the best. 

As well as this, you should take another journey through your social media itself. It’s no good uploading a particular social media’s photographs and posts if they don’t give a great representation of your life or yourself as a person. Check between all of your social medias. Sure, maybe your Facebook is fun but you’re probably all about that carefully curated Instagram aesthetic. Maybe your Google has more of your life on it, but your Facebook tells the best story.  

Remember, it is not just the pictures that will find their way into your photo book. Let’s say you’re creating a Facebook photo book, for instance. Instead of just the photos themselves, you will also have the statuses, likes and comments. Look for the pictures which have that memorable, heart-warming comment from an old friend. Think outside the box and choose the book that you can picture yourself flicking through for years into the future. 

Step Two - Rediscover Your Past

Creating a photo book with My Social Book will give you the option to choose what years you want to portray. This can mean taking a bit of a deep dive. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram or Google, it is important to scroll back to the very beginning and choose the years you want to be printed. 

This can be helpful in telling a story. Every year we live has a tale to tell and some of them can be big enough to create their own book. Say, for instance, you went to university between 2015 to 2018. The amount of Instagram content from that period alone might be enough to fill an entire Instagram photo book. Year one to year three, it could tell its own story, meaning you can capture your entire college journey in one book. 

Then again, your photobooks don’t need to capture a specific period of time. They can be themed around something specific, like your pets, kids, or date night ‘fits over the years. My Social Book gives the option of up to five hundred pages to fill your photo book, so rest assured you can fit it in – you just need to decide what content is right for the book you’re working on.

We’ve seen engagement and wedding photo books (the ultimate display for all those candid guest-shots), as well as graduation books, books themed around single weekends or decades’ worth of memories – books featuring more animals than humans, more selfies than group shots, or even more food than faces. 

Step Three - Organise Everything

The next step in creating the perfect photo book comes with organisation. It can be easy to simply show every element and aspect of your social media life, but it is important to take the time to go through the content to make it organised.  

My Social Book gives you the option to remove anything you don’t want in there, so make sure to use this feature. Thinking about the story you want to portray can be important. Say, for instance, you are creating a Google photo book which focuses on a family holiday abroad. Removing any extra baggage – pun intended – is crucial for a smooth and entertaining album. There will most likely be a few snaps which you won’t want to be filling up a whole page, such as the inevitable snaps from the window of the aeroplane, or nine out of 10 shots of the hotel’s facade. Cutting down your book into the very best of that holiday would make for a far better read. 

Similarly, if you have chosen a Facebook photo book, then My Social Book also allows you to get rid of any slightly embarrassing photos or statuses which you may have made in the past. Let’s be honest here, we all have those initial, cringeworthy Facebook posts. Immortalising them in print may seem more like a nightmare than a dream, so make sure to take the time to remove anything you don’t want your friends, family, or worse still, your partner to see.  

Step Four - Choose The Book That You Want

As with any photo book, there are so many options to choose from. If you’re more fussed about the content inside the book rather than the look of the book itself, then going for the cheapest option is probably the right call. My Social Book offers a softcover with a glossy finish, perfect for a quick and easy flick through, with an emphasis entirely on the photographs you have chosen to make real. 

There are, however, plenty of other options which can give you a bit more of a luxury feel. A hardcover with a glossy or mat finish can be perfect to make your book far more memorable and sturdier. As well as this, you can stake out a bit more to get yourself a luxury edition. This comes with a thick hardcover with a soft mat finish, brighter colours with semi-gloss soft paper, and a luxury box which makes it a great gift for someone special to you.

Of course, if you are looking to create the perfect photo book, getting yourself the best quality is a price certainly worth paying. You want this book to stand out on the shelf or sit beautifully upon the coffee table. Treating yourself and going for something a bit more luxurious is the right option for something like this, especially when you consider how long this photo book will be in your life. If done right, a photo book can be looked at and enjoyed for years, making the print options an important part of making one. 

You’ll also want to spend a little time picking out the perfect cover photo to encapsulate the mood and theme of your book. 

Step Five – Create Your Own Main Characters

As previously mentioned, a photo book should have a story. Whether that’s a vacation away, your senior year in college, or a whole collection of special life moments. The perfect photo book will take the observer on a journey from one page to the next. In this way, it can be a good idea to scan through the contents and choose to highlight the people who have made the journey so fun to begin with.

If you have a lot of memorable moments with a friend or partner, then bring them to the forefront of your book and tell the story through them. If the photobook focuses on your wedding, for instance, try to find pictures of your partner from the very beginning. Include the first date, the second date, the first time you moved in together, the engagement photos. Place the both of you into the heart of the book and make the story about you. This will make for a far more emotional and satisfying photo book for anyone who picks it up. 

Of course, a few side characters will also be necessary to add a bit of variety. Make sure to include friends, family, or even your pets. In fact, recognising your pet as an important character when making this book can be important for the future. Everyone misses a pet when they leave us, so having those memories put into print can be a perfect way to look back and remember just how much they inspired our journey.

Step Six - Blend in Timelines

Lastly, in order to make the perfect photo book there is no rule saying you cannot share your story with someone else’s. Of course, our friends, family and partners all play an important role in our lives, so splitting a photo book into two separate stories can be a great way to acknowledge that.

Integrating two separate social medias can do well to bring some variety into the pages. You can see what you were both doing on a particular month, day or time, and you can watch your timelines weave together. There are still ways to tell a story. There will simply be two happening at the same time, coinciding before moving apart and taking the observer down different, equally gripping paths. Having two separate social medias in one book can also be a great talking point, allowing friends and family to gather around and experience the years of your life you have decided to show. 

Just remember that, if you are planning to do this, then it may be worth creating two books. Fighting over who gets to display it on their coffee table can be tiresome, and it may make you regret making a shared book in the first place. Unless you already live together. In which case, you’re winning.

Fortunately, photo books represent the ultimate gift idea. Personal and unique – and endlessly useful – they’re a convenient trick to keep up your sleeve. 

Step Seven – Have Fun with It

Now that you know how to make the perfect photo book, the last thing to do is have fun with it. A photo book can be a great gift for yourself, a friend, a family member or a partner. Not only this, but it can be a treat just to make it. The cathartic nature of going through old social media memories and giving them the glossy treatment is something we all need to do. You will thank yourself down the line. After all, these photographs are precious memories, all of which deserve to exist outside of a place where they could disappear with just a click. Taking your life from the cloud and into your own home is a must if you want to preserve it. 

With My Social Book, all of this is possible. What’s more, it is faster and far more cost-effective than most other photo book makers. You can print straight from your social media, making the whole exercise more efficient, intricate and streamlined for a great user experience. If you are thinking of making your memories tangible, then My Social Book can do that for you in the easiest way possible. So don’t resolve to leave your memories on a hard drive. Every life is so important, every moment poignant, every second a story. Wrap it all up and give it the new life that it deserves.