Choosing the best quality photobook maker? Read about Inkubook in these reviews.

Are you thinking about making a photo book but haven’t made up your mind which company to use? The best quality photo book? The cheapest photo book? Looking for the best photo book maker?  Then you’ll be glad you took the time to read and watch (yes, there are videos as well) these photo book reviews.

If you like to do extensive research before you do business with a company online then you’re going to love the article published in 2010 and updated in April 2011 by Jason Dunn at Digital Home Thoughts before you make your first photo book. This epic review The Great Photo Book Round-Up Review: Who Makes the Best Photo Books compares online experience, print, covers, paper, overall quality and value of several top photo book publishers including Inkubook. Check it out!

Interested in more reviews? Check out The Gadgeteer or the December 2011 updated review from PhotoBookGirl.com.

Want to watch a review? Check out this one from TheMommyPR or this very recent written and video combo review from Confessions of a Scrapaholic.

After you read these reviews and decide Inkubook is the way to go, use our special review promo code BESTPHOTOBOOK2012 to get 30% off your order*.

*Maximum $100 discount, one use per member, expires 3/31/2012.

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365-Day Photo Challenge

Many of us can’t even remember what we ate for breakfast this morning, let alone trying to remember one thing we did every day for a year. Between our demanding work schedules, spending time with friends and family and the other million things on our to-do lists, there is often little time to step back and appreciate the smaller moments in life.

We challenge you to take one picture every day for a year, starting today, then create a scrapbook that turns those monotonous moments into memories.

It can be something as simple as a meal or outfit you liked that day, or something more sentimental like recording your child’s first year. Not only will you be able to look back at any day and recall the people you were with, what you learned or something you did, but you will also improve your photography skills and creativity as you are faced with coming up with something new every day.

Dust off your old single-lens reflex or charge your digital battery and start taking pictures today!

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Picture perfect: Take better photos and keep more memories

If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll see we post a lot of links to articles about how to take better photos. The better the photo the less likely you are to hit delete, erasing it from your phone or camera and sometimes your memory. Better photos also make for better sharing via cards, calendars and books.

Below are a few tips pulled directly from articles we’ve linked to (and the links to them) I’ve found helpful in my quest to improve my photography.

Contrast

“Keep it simple! Just as too many cooks spoil the pot, too many visual elements are just as certain to ruin to the photo. Limit the number of elements and subjects in your compositions to what you can easily comprehend in a glance. It runs counter to logic, but the human eye lingers longer over the simpler shot while often “sliding off” more intricate shots. So stick to a maximum of three or four fields of color or texture at any one time.” (Pipedreamergrey, http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/12793.aspx)

Color

““Black and white is the best way to learn photography, and in my experience, it’s the photography we all go back to,” said Mr. Versace. “If I had my druthers, I’d never shoot another color photograph as long as I live.” That is because without color to “distract,” he said, a photographer has to learn composition and the skill of capturing a story.” (Roy Furchgott, http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/five-tips-to-get-great-black-and-white-photos/)

Lighting

“I love lighting and it impacts the scene. I also love how I can manipulate the lights to achieve the results I’m looking for.” (Brice Burton, http://weeklyphototips.blogspot.com/2011/10/check-out-these-images.html)

Pose vs. Candid

“Have fun! — Posed images are nice, but your friends and family want to see the real you. Take plenty of images, and even consider using some funny outtakes to show your family’s silly side.” (Kristy Korcz,  http://www.geeksugar.com/Photography-Tips-Holiday-Cards-20245326)

Reflection

“Do rainy days and Sundays get you down? Don’t let them: embrace the photo opportunities afforded by the puddles. The rain is as much a part of the story of your holiday as the food you ate and the sights you saw. Use reflections wherever possible for a different take on otherwise well-known scenes.” (Nik Rawlinson, http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/cameras-and-camcorders/50-essential-photography-tips-50006080/)

Captions

Captions aren’t technically part of the photo taking process, but they are important in recording history.  A short blurb containing some key information will be the trigger you need to remember the photo’s significance down the road. Nothing to quote here, simply something I’ve learned since becoming a mother. But as a mother, in 5 years are you going to remember this picture was her first taste of chocolate?

Create a photo blurb: First taste of chocolate

Hope you find something helpful in these tips and links. Happy snapping.

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Connect with the grandparents each month – personal message photo calendars

Let grandma and grandpa know they are loved with each passing month by creating a calendar of messages from your little ones. Have your children write messages and draw pictures saying things like happy birthday, Happy Valentines’ Day or simple messages like “Hi”, “I love you” and “I can’t wait to see you this summer”. If your kids are very young, you can write the messages and have them color them in. When you have 12 messages complete, take a picture of your child holding up each one. Consider changing outfits to match the season or switching locations. Then, upload the photos and build a calendar.

When you use Inkubook you can choose seasonal and holiday backgrounds to correspond with the months or you can choose all white or black for a sleek look and allow the images to stand on their own. Have the kids help with the calendar design and make it a gift from everyone.

Grandma and grandpa will smile and feel loved each time they flip the page of their very special gift.

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Your Wedding is Personal. Make Your Guestbook Personal Too.

Getting married soon? Consider a wedding guest book with personality – your personality.

Real Simple, Martha Stewart and The Knot have a lot of great ideas from simple and fast to complex and time consuming for unique wedding guest books. Our suggestion is to get personal by building a wedding guestbook photo book.

Personalized Wedding Guest Book

Many betrothed couples had gorgeous engagement photos taken and those that didn’t likely have a vast collection of photos from your time as a couple.  A photo book guestbook is the perfect way to show those sharing your special day with you the great times you and your fiancée have shared.

For most weddings a 20-page book is sufficient for capturing the well wishes and signatures of your guests. Start by collecting 10-20 of your favorite photos. Decide what size book you want to make (we suggest 8.5×11 landscape or 8.5 square) and select a hardcover, so the book will lay open well while your attendees write. We suggest placing images on left facing pages (and the covers) and while you’re placing photos, add borders and captions if you like. Place the guestbook templates on the right facing pages. Our guest book templates are found by clicking on Backgrounds within the editor (be sure you have your book open to any page but the covers). In Show located on the upper left of your workspace, select Specialty – Romance – Wedding. Within the wedding section, you’ll find Classic Guest Book, Modern Guest Book, B&W Classic Guest, Modern Words of Wisdom and Black Guest Book.  Choose the one you like best and place on right facing pages. On your cover, we recommend a great picture of you as a couple as well as your names, wedding date and the words “Guestbook”. Be sure to proof your book and while it only takes 2-6 business days to print and then another 2-6 to deliver, you should place your order at least three weeks before your wedding (longer if you’re having a destination wedding) just to be safe and to lower your last minute stress.

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.

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The 90/90 Book: Put 90 Days of Summer Fun into One Photo Book 90 Days Before Christmas (Fast and Easy)

September 25 starts my 90-day holiday giving “crunch time” countdown allowing me time to make or purchase everyone on my list a thoughtful, creative gift. This year, I have extra incentive to get some of my photo-based gifts made first – I purchased a couple of Groupons and they expire at the end of the month. Even without the looming Groupon expiration, placing my more time-consuming gift making earlier in the crunch period lessens my stress over things like shipping and delivery.

This past summer was a 90-day whirlwind between travel, festivals, summer camp and days at the pool, we were busy and we were also shutter-happy (my iPhone makes it so easy to snap, snap, snap). As a result, I have about 400 photos from just Memorial Day to Labor Day!

I’ve decided to upload all of my photos to Inkubook using the Autofill feature and have Inkubook do the heavy lifting by building a chronological album for me.

Selecting Autofill

Since I had a lot of photos to upload – two books worth – I will have about a 20 minute wait while Inkubook builds for me. Twenty minutes is a lot shorter than what it would take if I were placing the photos myself. I will need to go in and rotate and adjust a few photos, but again, much less time than if I’d done it manually. Note: Before uploading photos to Inkubook, sort through and delete or withhold any you don’t want to have included, or in the case of the iPhone, hold back on the duplicates (low-res vs hi-res) to prevent from double image uploading.

Photo upload process

I’m keeping it simple using the portfolio option with white pages. The only addition I need to make to each page is add black photo corners, because I dig photo corners. I also figure this look is easy enough to replicate and will provide consistency volume after volume.

Adding Corners

From start to finish this book took me about two hours to build a 200 page book from pressing “I want photos placed for me” to pressing the Buy button where I ordered four copies, one for us and one for each set of grandparents. Three heartwarming, handmade (ok, Autofilled) gifts in two hours.

Now, on to making holiday cards…

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Autumn Is Upon Us: Take or Leaf These Fabulous Fall Photo Tips

Friday, September 23rd is the official first day of fall. Depending on where you live, the leaves around you could be changing now or you may still have a few weeks left to enjoy nature’s canopy. The rich colors autumn provides can make for some amazing photography – from nature to family to pets.

Fall Photography

Below are just a few sites I came across with some great tips for making the most out of landscape around us. I’m sure you can find many more through a Google search.

http://pittsburgh.about.com/library/weekly/aa1

http://www.foliage-vermont.com/phototips.htm01201a.htm

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/12793.aspx

http://betterdigitalphotography.blogspot.com/2004/09/autumn-photo-tips.html

If you’re interested in adding some pop to your pics, take in a few tips and then take out the camera and snap away.

Slide into Fall

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Getting an early start on holiday gift making: calendars and cards

With autumn just around the corner, your schedule will start getting jam-packed with weekends of football and fall festivals, as well as homework, Halloween parties and the list goes on. So, why not get a jump start on some holiday card and gift making and lower your stress level when it comes to crunch time.

Holiday cards - easy

Photo Cards are fast and easy to make, bring a smile to the recipient’s face and aren’t just for the December holidays. Make Halloween party invitations, Thanksgiving family greetings and New Year’s wishes too.

If you’re going to make holiday cards, think about when you’ll want them to arrive at your family and friends homes, how long it’ll take you to address them and then order them 10 days before that. Have in mind the pictures you want to use – or still need to take and decide the background you want to use. Once you have the picture and background selected, you can make a beautiful card in about 10 minutes.

Photos organized by holiday

Photo calendars make a great gift. They arrive right at the end of the year and will bring smiles to Grandma’s and Great Aunt Dawn’s face each month.  If you’re planning to make a calendar whose images matches celebrations that typically occur in certain months, like Halloween for October, make the process of laying out a calendar easier by putting photos in buckets such as holidays, birthdays and other events like family reunion, vacation and playing in the snow. This type of categorization will allow you to apply pictures to the appropriate month. Other calendar themes could be a year of family fun time, baby’s first year, wedding and so on.

Layout for October

Get creative and have fun.  Like cards, remember to order early to allow for you gift wrap and deliver to the recipient – beat the rush, don’t get caught in weather delays and keep your holiday stress down.

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BIG INTERVIEW? MAKE A PORTFOLIO PHOTO BOOK THAT DOES ALL THE TALKING.

Standing out in job interviews these days takes a lot more than fancy resume paper. Now it’s all about showcasing your achievements. With Inkubook’s Portfolio Photo Book, you can organize a career’s worth of highlights into an impressive collection of projects, samples and successes.

You don’t even have to worry about references. Share all the positive feedback from former employers and coworkers by inviting them to comment right in your portfolio photo book.

In an interview, presentation is everything, so organize your portfolio photo book in the way that best illustrates what you want to convey.

• If you’re trying to illustrate growth, layout your photo book chronologically.

• If you’re doing a straight showcase of your work, then present projects like a story with a beginning, middle and end.

• Know your portfolio like the back of your hand. Have a few go-to pieces of standout work that you can flip to if your interview gets cut short. That way you can quickly say, “This is the quality of work I can bring to your company.”

Don’t get stuck at your next interview trying to tell someone how good your work is. Let them see it for themselves with a portfolio photo book, and in no time at all you’ll be leaving a lasting impression.

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Rearrange your Inkubook workspace to fit the way you work

Everyone works differently. I have my phone on my right and keep my notepad on my left, because I am left handed. I have sticky notes taped to the top of my monitor, because I look up when I’m thinking. Your workspace is probably much different than mine. Here at Inkubook we know there is more than one way to do something, so we’ve provided our users the ability to arrange their workspace to better suit their work style and the type of project they are working on.

Default Inkubook workspace w/tray on top

On the above image, we’ve circled the button that allows you to move your tray from the default placement at the top of your screen to the left side.

Now with tray on the left

If you’re working on a portrait book or a calendar, you’ll gain some additional workspace by moving your tray to the left. If you’re project is landscape or the large square, you may want to keep your tray anchored at the top for space maximization. Or there’s always personal preference. We just wanted to let you know you have some flexibility in how you work with Inkubook.

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