Making a printed photo book - recommendations needed

November 15, 2019 6:52 AM

I would like to create a printed photo book, for a Christmas gift. There are a lot of websites that do this, I assume some better than others. Who do you like? Who don't you like?

Requirements as follows: easy software to use, good quality printing (not looking for professional quality), quick turnaround, will ship to Canada. Easy of use is more important to me than the print quality - if that helps narrow down the recommendation. Thanks in advance

posted by walkinginsunshine to Technology (12 answers total)

I don't know about shipping to Canada but I've had great success with Snapfish. I found it easy to use and was really happy with the print quality. They also have good sales so keep an eye out for them.
posted by Neely O'Hara at 6:57 AM on November 15, 2019

I've done this with Google Photos, and it was extremely easy.
posted by neushoorn at 7:12 AM on November 15, 2019

I've used Shutterfly, which has levels of customization (/ease) available, including a "Have some one make it for you" option, apparently (which I haven't used).
posted by damayanti at 7:23 AM on November 15, 2019 [2 favorites]

And I've used Blurb and liked the results. Let me add that I have some background in graphic design and didn't much use their design software. The results are beautiful. Not cheap.
posted by tmdonahue at 7:59 AM on November 15, 2019 [2 favorites]

I found Collage.com to be the easiest and most straightforward to use out of the major ones (Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc.). They do ship to Canada, as far as I can tell, but you may want to do it soon in order to get it in time.

I was just looking to add photos and no text, though.
posted by darksong at 8:04 AM on November 15, 2019

I have used shutterfly and snapfish and been pleased with both. It may just come down to which one I have coupon for or which has the better interface for layout. I got one done at Walgreens recently as they had a sale and it would be available in an hour. I picked a time that allowed them about 7 hours to print and bind the book, and while the printouts were nice and accurate, I was not pleased with the binding and they printed the whole book backwards. If I had paid full price and not 75 percent off, I probably would have returned it.
posted by soelo at 8:14 AM on November 15, 2019

Shutterfly is my go to. And they guarantee their products. I recently made a 50 page hardback book in response to one of their offers (unlimited pages). A couple of the photos I'd used didn't print as shown on my laptop screen. When I notified them they allowed me to edit those photos and they reprinted the book at no charge. That's service I will reward with a return visit!
posted by SoftSummerBreeze at 9:49 AM on November 15, 2019

I just got a photo book from Shutterfly yesterday on The Wirecutter's recommendation, and I'm not crazy about the photo quality. It's okay for my purpose and was cheap, and the sofware was the easiest of the few I tried.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:03 AM on November 15, 2019

I've used Shutterfly and Blurb and found them both plenty easy to use and they both shipped to Canada. If you sign up for Shutterfly's mailing list, you'll eventually get some pretty great coupons -- sometimes as good as a free (if small) book -- though perhaps not in time to order for Christmas.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:27 AM on November 15, 2019

Blurb is my preference. They have coupons and promos, which I've waited to receive one before publishing, as it's expensive, but the best option I've encountered (shutterfly (decent), apple (decent) and artifact uprising (disappointing)).
posted by icaicaer at 11:01 AM on November 15, 2019

A quick note that 1) most photo-printers who also print books (and mugs, and blankets and ...) have coupons quite regularly, and 2) the sites I've used in the past have a few ways to set up your photo book, from upload photos and let the site automatically populate a book to advanced features for serious fine-tuning. If you're really picky about layout, you can also make your own pages in a photo editing program and upload whole pages to these platforms, planning for an appropriate page border.

From my experience, Shutterfly and Snapfish are comparable in terms of pricing and quality, so I often pick based on who has a coupon out now. At least in the U.S., you can also get free book coupons (with shipping being extra) with everything from a tech purchase (at Best Buy) to on bags of candy.

I'll poke around to confirm some Canadian options later, and give more in-depth reviews of the platforms I've used in the past, if they deliver to Canada.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:07 PM on November 15, 2019

Mrs Fabius uses Blurb a lot, using their software to put the book together, and likes it and the results. She often waits for a cheap offer before ordering the book.
posted by fabius at 1:36 AM on November 17, 2019