Make Your Own Photobooks

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

    What is the Quality of the Photo Books?

    The review on this page only reviews the software that you use to make your photo book. In order to review the quality of the photo book you receive or the quality of any help please go to Photo Book Experiences. Here you will find what other people have said about this printer/publisher.

    The quality of these comments are only helpful if Make Your Own Photo Books site visitors take the time to leave comments about their experiences. Please pay it forward to other site visitors by taking the time to leave a comment (good or bad)if you have made a photo book.

    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

    Photo Book Coupons

    Kodak Gallery

    Picaboo
    Picaboo - Create a Photo Book. Special Offer: buy 1 get 1 free!

    Picaboo

    Shutterfly
    Shutterfly.com

    Snapfish

    Hoorray
    Hoorray 20% off Photo Books



    Vote for your Favorites

    Main Menu


    | Homepage | About Us | Contact Us | Photo Book Experiences |

    Copyright© 2007-2009. To see our Privacy Policy click here.