It’s a familiar formula: summer equals vacation, vacation means taking a lot of photos, and photos… well, they usually – and sadly – at best end up in a long forgotten folder on your computer, at worst are deleted forever. But such memories of this summer fun deserve better than that!
So why not create your very own photo book? Not only will it preserve your summer photos, but they are also very elegant and fully customizable. With such a book you can bring back those fond summer memories in an instant, especially if you let your imagination go wild and create a book with warm colored covers, fill it in with smile-inducing embellishments and add your thoughts via creative captions. But no matter what you choose to include, how big you want your book to be or from which device you start the building process, the only limit is your creativity.
Summer Vacation Photo Book Ideas
The first thing to remember about creating a summer vacation photo book is to avoid overthinking it, and try not to force it too much. In other words, have fun first and take photos of anything you like – including those ordinary summer days as well. But with that said, it’s a good idea to already have a concept in mind from the start. Keep notes of what you see, how you feel at the time or anything that comes to mind, while sorting your photos into a theme or a story is always going to be a good start for when it comes to the creation of the photo book.
Best Photo Books of 2024
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Another thing to keep in mind is that many photo book builders have limited photo editing features, so a superb app like Instagram with its many filters can add a bit of soul to the would-be book. But regardless of the device, you should still strive for creating quality photos; they don’t have to be masterpieces, just good enough to satisfy your expectations and that you’d be happy to share with the world. A word of advice regarding photos: an image of a landscape or environment can be applied as backgrounds, while pictures with a smaller focus – say, on a particular person or object – are the ones that should be placed as regular photos.
But when it comes to extras like the theme, additional doodles, embellishments, and captions, there are no restrictions here, they are completely up to you. Maybe aside from captions…
Fun Photo Captions
Creating photo book captions is surprisingly challenging at first, but it can actually be fun. Just make sure to avoid using cliched quotations for describing a photo or your feelings, that is a strict no-no.
If you have no idea what to write, remember that the internet is filled with ideas. But if you heard something funny or you just want to simply tell readers what they see, try including that. You don’t have to write a full novel for captions, though – unless, of course, that is your driving idea. Speaking of which, try to choose or write captions that are suitable within the theme of the photo book or help the photos tell the story of your vacation. A great example of this is having a picture of a sand castle with a caption that explains a memory from your childhood that revolved around sand castles. However it is still best to try to keep your captions short, one line is enough. Besides, the stars of any photo book are the photos, aren’t they?
Photo Book Apps
While smartphone cameras will never match the quality of a professional camera, they are more than able to help illustrate your photo book. It’s possible to even upload your vacation photos directly to some photo book builders through their mobile app. This way you can start composing your new photo book right away without having to connect your device to your computer, so when you arrive home your only task is to make slight adjustments or hit “Order”. However, there is one major drawback of using photo book apps: they either only have partial compatibility with their matching desktop builders or are completely different tools.
Mixbook’s Mosaic app and Shutterfly’s Groovebook are perfect examples of independent apps: with them you can only add a certain amount of photos to your book and have more limited alteration options. However, Shutterfly’s very own iPad app, Photo Story, is more than just a carbon copy of the desktop version, and is in fact a slightly advanced version with a more logical interface and clever additions like doodling.
Recommended Summer Photo Books
Now that the do’s and don’ts of preserving your fondest summer memories in a photo book are known, you’ll now need to pick a photo book editor – and by association the companies that produce them – to create your photo book with.
Mixbook
Mixbook is a rare example of acing in every possible area. The company features a simple and straightforward editor with little to no flaws and plenty of editing options for photos, themes, backgrounds, embellishments, and so on. Customers can choose from over 300 different themes (including summer and travel related ones), three different shapes and seven sizes that can be paired without restrictions. Furthermore, if you prefer ‘instant books’, there’s an option to use Mixbook’s special app, Mosaic, and get a 20-page long 7×7 books delivered to your doorstep in no time. Although the starting price of $15.99 (shipping not included) for an 8×6 book might seem a bit discouraging at first, at least you’ll be guaranteed to get a quality product within a short period of time.
Blurb
Although Blurb’s downloadable editing software, BookWright, is far more advanced than the online editor Bookify, both solutions are ideal for creating a nice photo book for preserving your summer memories in a quick and simple manner. Additionally, you can create eBooks, combine your project with 11 templates, five sizes and three shapes, get an exact estimation of the book’s final price, and even include up to 440 pages in your book. But possibly the best thing about Blurb is that it is possible to sell your photo books via the company’s web shop, making it an ideal option for those family members and friends who are interested in your summer vacation memories. Blurb sells its products at very modest prices: books start from $14.99 and are shipped within less than 11 business days.
Amazon Photo Books
If you have an Amazon account then you’re just one step away from getting your summer photo books created with Amazon Photo Books’ simple and straightforward builder. Not only that, but there are extra benefits like spell-checked captions, an ocean of embellishments, 14 different styles, and a special app with which you can import your photos to your Amazon account from your smartphone.
Since the company is a relative newcomer (having started its services in 2016), don’t expect a huge variety in terms of sizes and cover types, but there are choices from four sizes with three covers, with the smallest size coming with only one type of cover. However, Amazon’s books are extremely cheap and can be purchased from as low as $8.99.