I got pictures on my mind.

September 20, 2006 6:05 AM

I have seen some pretty cool things to do with photos/video : the flip books, postage stamps and the cool new moo.com cards. I love all of those kind of things. I am thinking of christmas gifts- any one have any links or ideas I may not have seen yet? And/or places where you liked the results or may NOT have liked the results? Thank you!
posted by beccaj to Shopping (5 answers total)

Best answer: If you have a mac their photo books through iPhoto are AWESOME! I made one for my boyfriend and one for my brother for the holidays last year. I couldn't believe how great they turned out. A few other places have photo books also but I don't know of the quality level. Any reputable place (snapfish, ofoto, etc) will probably have a good quality. The mac one was absolutely amazing and well worth trying to borrow a friend's computer if that's what you have to do. My roommate had a friend that did mini flip books with the mac software as well and they were really cool (that was where I got the idea).

I've also done the photo stamps thing through Stamps.com. It's fun but a lot of people don't actually believe it's postage. You usually have to tell them. Plus you might want to choose a pic that people would be okay with putting on an envelope and sending through the mail. There are usually coupon codes for free shipping, FYI.

The photostamps are usually a novelty gee-whiz kind of gift, but the photobooks are really nice and can be looked at over and over or shared with other people. My mom suggested it could be a coffee table book, so there's that option too. Mine were mostly photobooks of trips, but I've had friends do them for relatives' new babies, weddings, or even just the year in review.

You could also take a favorite picture and blow it up and frame it. Those tend to go over well also but usually work better with landscapes or scenes (like a favorite beach picture) than with groups of people.
posted by ml98tu at 6:28 AM on September 20, 2006

I haven't used it yet, but there's a make-a-classy-book program called Blurb.
posted by Alt F4 at 6:28 AM on September 20, 2006

Tabblo is pretty neat. Sort of a poster-sized photo-collage, and the service has good photo editing capabilities right on the page. I had one made -- submitted Sunday, and the poster came yesterday. Spiffy quick. And it really is gorgeous, very high quality. Visit this review for more info about the service AND a coupon code for 10 bucks off your first order -- it brought my 16x20 color poster to only 15.95 including 3 day shipping (and it arrived early).
posted by Soulbee at 6:50 AM on September 20, 2006

The Rasterbator
posted by verytres at 7:30 AM on September 20, 2006

Best answer: Flagrant Disregard may be the best of the flickr* add-on developers. Some of their options are: CD covers, photo calendars, captioner, and widget maker. There's also FotoMagico, which allows you to create Ken Burns-style QT movies, including captions and soundtracks. (App goes for US $79, but you can get a free 5-day demo.)

And Alt F4, thanks for the Blurb link. Looks pretty sweet!
*Not limited to flickr members; photos must be online in .jpg, .gif, or .png format.
posted by rob511 at 4:24 PM on September 20, 2006 [1 favorite]