https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 25 Apr 2026 02:20:35 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860963 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 21:42:05 +0000 808love 2860963@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Shutterfly on IPAD is the ticket. I used to make a bunch...then got lazy. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860950 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 20:27:07 +0000 Silva 2860950@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I do it in seasonal chunks. So four times a year I get photos from my husband, make sure I’ve uploaded from our camera, and then go through and put the best from that season into a folder on iPhoto. Upload the folder to Shutterfly, and put them in the album. I’m sure there Are more high tech ways to do this but it works for me. We do one album a year, they get bigger each year as our family grows, I think this year it will be 75-100 pages?? I can’t remember. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860900 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:39:48 +0000 Foodnerd81 2860900@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I decided to just start with last year and worry about catching up on the previous years later. I save favorites in my phone as I go (just hitting the heart button) and every once in a while, I add my recent favorites OF those favorites to another album called “2018 photobook”. This way come January most of the photos I want are already selected. I use plain white backgrounds and the provided layouts with a decent number of pics per page, like 3-6 pics. I’ve used Mixbook mostly and been very happy. Last year mine was about 75 pages. I do it mostly chronological but will go out of order to get things to fit best on the page and group events together. </p> <p>It did take a really long time but wasn’t too overwhelming. And I love looking at it and even better, my kids love looking at it. It makes me so happy, sometimes I see them just flipping through the pages and pointing out pictures of different things. </p> <p>Oh- and the pictures are 99% just my own iPhone pics. I’ll occasionalyly add some from DH’s phone or a pro photo shoot if we did one. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860896 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:22:53 +0000 brownepiano 2860896@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I do it like @MrsBucky: except I try to sort through photos (phone and camera) once aonth. I have monthly folders and a "favorites" folder for the whole year. My albums are all black background. I do about 2 pages per month with a few extra for vacation/family photos/birthdays. About 4 to 5 pictures per page because I like to document the month. Bigger 1-2 pictures per page if I have professional photos or some really awesome favorites.</p> <p>I don't really do stickers orcaptions except for each month page with the name of the month. Up to 12 months I'd also put how old the baby was, so baby book and family book in one. </p> <p>At MPIX you can start the book and just work on it forever. I looked into chatbooks but I didn't want my kids faces and pictures living on even a private Instagram forever so I do it the hard way. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860894 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:17:41 +0000 Becky 2860894@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I did Shutterfly and used the option that just arranges them chronologically for you. I’m happy with how it came out. I didn’t do captions but it’s easy to add them. I just did one year, and I have two years to catch up on. It’s SUPER long. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860885 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 15:29:16 +0000 bhbee 2860885@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>keeping photos organized (like monthly dump to a laptop folder) helps me a lot. I delete many that I don’t really need, edit if needed, etc. It’s a pain but makes it easier to start. So as mentioned above I’d go back and do that first. one doable chunk at a time. Then I set weekly goals for my yearly book and expect it to take about 3 months to do since I don’t have much time at once ... like each week I try to do one month, one day I pick the photos I want, one day I place them on pages (I do all white and very few captions if any). The last week I go back and edit it all. Then I wait for the best code to show up. I’ve had books up to 100 pages and yeah, probably nobody will care in 30 years, but maybe I will! I also give them as grandparent gifts (usually Mother’s Day since the prior year is finished by then). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860875 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 14:27:56 +0000 josina 2860875@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Another Chatbooks fan... I don't have time/desire to do a full album and Chatbooks are sooo easy! Mine are synced to instagram, my LO's get probably 4 a year right now, and then I do one for my step-daughter as well for the year.<br /> (I can not RAVE enough about their customer service as well!!) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860872 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 14:19:24 +0000 snowjewelz 2860872@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I do Chatbooks so I just straight upload from my phone, any picture I want included; that's it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860859 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 13:27:26 +0000 MrsBucky 2860859@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So my strategy starts with organizing the photos. I dump all of the photos into a yearly folder for the year. I then create sub folders for each month. And I go through the entire months photos and select the ones that are my favorites that I want in the book. I put those in a folder with in the monthly folder. Then when I go into the photo book creation tool am only uploading the photos that I want in the book. Then I use very simple backgrounds usually just white pages with various combinations of photo sizes and drag them in in chronological order. That’s the Way that I do it. And it results in a good looking book that has all of my favorite photos in it. My photo books tend to be about 50 pages or so for the entire year. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860857 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 13:17:13 +0000 annem1990 2860857@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetCaroline: We’ve done a yearly family album for the last 5 years. Typically around 20 pages? Some pages just have 1 picture, some have 10. We just use the templates on shutterfly. </p> <p>You won’t regret doing it! It’s a pain to do for sure and takes a lot of organizing and time. But SO worth it. Our extended family even looks forward to it every year and ask every time they come over to see the new one (it usually takes DH until at least March to complete the previous year’s). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860854 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 13:05:18 +0000 Mrs. Champagne 2860854@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I used to do annual books and I’m like 4 years behind. </p> <p>Check out Chatbooks. It’s an app that your photos from Instagram or your favourites folder on your phone automatically get sent to. When there’s 60 pics in your book, it ships to you. It’s really handy! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860848 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 12:56:18 +0000 erinbaderin 2860848@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So I've only done one for each of my kids' first years, because that was overwhelming enough. To get a consistent look I just go all white, but that's also a personal preference. Each one is about 100 pages, which I'm aware is absurd. I tried to go monthly, and within the month I'd sometimes group similar pictures together - Halloween on one page, bathtime on one page, etc.</p> <p>Instead of doing annual albums other than these I subscribed to chatbooks - most of my favourite pictures end up on Instagram anyway, so I find this to be a good compromise. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860842 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 12:50:40 +0000 ALV91711 2860842@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS is 5.5 and I’ve only done his first year! I’m seriously behind. I overthink everything when doing them. Following in hopes of some good tips. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860836 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 12:24:01 +0000 SweetCaroline 2860836@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Also, if you do an annual album, generally how many pages do you have in it?</p> <p>I'm leaning toward putting 3+ more pictures per page for everyday pictures, but having fewer pictures per page 1-4 for birthday, Christmas, Halloween, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/photo-book-strategies#post-2860835 Fri, 07 Dec 2018 12:18:59 +0000 SweetCaroline 2860835@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I know many of you often print photo albums, annual family albums, etc. I'm a photo album drop out. I started actual physical photo albums but decided that was not sustainable. I will still print some pictures but annual printed books for each child will be what I do going forward.</p> <p>So....my daughter is 3-1/2 and I have some catching up to do. As I have been working on the albums I can't help but wonder what your method is. I'm so type A I'm wondering if I have the right number of photos on a page, if my backgrounds are coordinating, etc. How do you get in, get out and get a quality, decent looking album?</p> <p>I know once I catch up it won't be so bad...it's just the getting there part that's taking awhile! </p>