A photographic album,
or photo album, is a collection of a series of photographs, generally
in a book. Some albums have compartments which the photos may be
slipped in to; others albums have heavy paper with sticky substance
and on top, a piece of large plastic in which photos can be put between.
Older style albums often were simply books of heavy paper which photos
could be glued to or attached to with adhesive corners, or pages.
Online photos can be uploaded and made into a coffee table style
photobook. Different online services offer options such as photo
editing, varied sizes, varied bleeds, layouts, cover design, colors,
etc. Some services even expand the idea of a photo album by allowing
a photograph to become part of many photo albums, add comments and
keywords to these photographs and use these keywords as the mean
to create new photo albums. Some online photo albums provide services
such as photo printing and options to upload pictures to your cellular
phones.
Showing photo albums at home is becoming an increasingly popular
pastime. With most homes owning one or more digital cameras and inkjet
printers, albums can be created as a family or event record, for
both a short duration or as part of the family archives. An album
can be a record of family history, the development of a baby/child,
a wedding, party, holiday. It is often displayed as coffee table
book or presented as a gift.
It may record a social or business function
- or even act as a mundane guide to a product. Print-your-own inkjet
photo albums have distinct advantages over on-line services. Firstly
the results are quick - interest value wanes if the producer has
to wait. An album can be printed on the evening of an event and taken
away by those attending. It can also be modified and added to later.
Printed photo albums are also more interesting than 6x4" (15x10cm)
prints, whether printed at home or at a lab.
The designer can use
a variety of shapes, multiple photos per page (thereby saving cost)
and can add titles, text, borders and backgrounds. Photo album production
can be allied to scrapbooking, particularly digital scrapbooking.
There are several software packages for designers of albums. Examples
of these are Fotoslate 4 from ADC Systems, Scrapbook Factory from
Nova Development and products from printer OEM’s such as HP,
Epson and Canon as well as offerings from Serif and Corel. A comprehensive
guide to the design of a photo may be found on the OPUS Albums website "How
to design a good inkjet photo album for my digital photos" [1] |
