Shutterfly Photo Book Review

Shutterfly is a good site for a beginner to intermediate user. The only photo book software option they still lacked and kept them from getting an A+, was the capability of using a picture as a background, with the option of putting pictures on top. Also, keep in mind that they carry "regular" and "premium" books. The regular books have more options available when you're creating a book. There are options to change backgrounds, layouts and edges of the pictures. The premium books are laid out with predetermined backgrounds with very little options to change.

In designing your book you have a new storyboard tool that will help you organize your photos before you design your book or help reorganize them after you are done.

Shutterfly recently introduced "Simple Path" books - layouts that are created for you from you pictures. This is a little more sophisticated than an "autofill" option. It does create a nice book, but does not give you much flexibility. Be sure to edit your photos before you add them to the book because it does not allow in-book editing as it does with the regular books. I also had a case where I had taken my pictures with less resolution than usual and one layout showed the picture to have too low of resolution. I tried switching several pictures and that didn't work. What I could not do was to change the layout on the page to have a smaller picture. But all in all, it is a good option if you want a to put together your book with a touch of a button.

This photo book printer is partnered with Target and you can order pictures and print them directly to your local Target store for pick-up in as little as one hour.

Shutterfly has a large Gallery section with a wide assortment of books submitted by users. I loved the fact that you could sort through the tags and find your area of interest quickly.

This site has many idea books, among them are:

Keepsakes Photo Books – The scrapbooker in you can create beautiful scrapbook-style embellished photo books designed by well known designers, simply and easily. Included in this group are guided books which help you create a special theme book the easy way. The books come in either a 12x12 or 8x8.

Kids Adventure Books – You can turn your child’s story into a personalized adventure with these books: Go Diego Go, Dora the Explorer, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Thomas & Friends, Angelina Ballerina and SpongeBob SquarePants. These books also come in either 12x12 or 8x8.

Center Stage Books - Personalize these books with a favorite "face" picture of your child featured on the cover and in every scene throughout the 38 full color pictures. See Personalized Children's Books for the difference between the two books. Center Stage books feature: SpongeBob and Me: Super Detectives, Diego and My Zebra Rescue, Dora and My Rescue Adventure, My Happy Day on Sesame Street, My Adventure on Sesame Street and My Amazing Alphabet Adventure.

Our Family and Our Wedding – By Martha Stewart. "Our Family" book is nice for those photo bookers who want to create a family history. You have the ability to put a timeline to your story and to bring two sides of the “tree” together on a page. "Our Wedding" showcases the special moments including "The Big Day", "The Perfect Dress" and "The First Dance". These books also come in the two square books - 12x12 and 8x8.

Other theme books include: Baby, Baby's First Year, Birthday, Celebrate Her, Celebrate Him, Christmas, Christmas Medley, Class Year Book, Father's Day, Halloween, Kids, Love Book, Mother's Day, Portfolio, Print Your Digital Scrapbook, Recipe Book, Seasonal, Sports, Travel, and Wedding.

Shutterfly lets you share your stories or send out your favorite photos through customized share sites that are easy to create. See how simple it is at Shutterfly Share Site.

Besides photo books, you can also make cards, calendars, posters and a nice variety of other photo gifts. Visit our Coupon Page for current deals and promotions.

For the six steps you'll need in creating a photo show DVD with Shutterfly, visit Create Your Own Photo Slide Show.

Need help, have questions? Help comes in the form of email submissions which I found to be timely.

Updated: September 28, 2009

Shutterfly Photo Book Review

Comparative Photo Book Software Review

Background Themes	Nice variety
Layout Variety	A wide variety
JPG as a Background	No
Digi-Scrapbooking Friendly	Extremely
In-book Editing	Yes
Text - Variety and Full Page	Good variety, also able to easily change font.
Embellishments and Corners	Top variety of edges that you can apply to your pictures.
Full-Page Bleed	Yes
Final Grade	A

For an explanation of the Feature Set Review

Photo Book Sizes

The prices given are based on a 20 page book with printing on both sides of the pages. Additional pages are available for an extra charge. The price given is the lowest price for that size category.

Hardcover
8x8	29.99
8x11	29.99
12 x 12	54.99
Softcover
5x7	12.99
7x9	19.99

For a more detailed pricing, please visit Photo Book Covers and Sizes

Learn about other photo book publishers