A custom photo book is one of the best ways to remember special events such as weddings, a birth, or a once-in-a-lifetime trip. A photo album book is also great for showing your talent and style to potential clients if you engage in photography for profit, whether full-time or part-time.
For the images, the theme, or your photographic work to stand out best, it may be advantageous to compile them into a custom photo book. Our good friends at Printique have a nice selection of custom photo books to choose from specifically for this purpose.
Let’s take a closer look at a few of Printique’s options and see how you might use them for your own personal photo album book or as a custom photo book to offer customers as part of your special photography services.
Table of Contents:
- Picture Album vs Custom Photo Book
- Types of Custom Photo Books
- Leather Custom Photo Book
- Hardcover Photo Book
- Fabric Photo Book
- Mini Softcover Books
- Full-Service Photo Printer
- Recommended Photography Gear
Picture Album vs Custom Photo Book
All of us are familiar with the family photo album. Our parents would stick pictures in or on a removable page that went into either a binder-style or post-style album. These could even be pretty fancy - look at some older wedding albums, which were a work of art in themselves.
What I like about a custom photo book, instead of an album, is that you’re not stuck with sizing and placement issues for different-size images. A large image can be printed across the fold using two side-by-side pages.
Plus, once you design a custom photo book, you can come back to it to rearrange the layout or reorder additional books without any extra effort. So while I do still like looking at photo albums from various people, I am leaning toward the custom photo book printers for myself and especially for providing to my clients.
Types of Custom Photo Books
Two basic styles of custom photo books cover most of our photo book needs: hardcover and softcover. Some other types include leather photo books, fabric covering, and mini books.
Let’s see how some of these custom photo book ideas are best used for your photography. I’ll discuss personal and business applications, but I’ll focus on the photography business side of things. I’ll use Printique for my examples since I already use them quite a lot for my printing.
Learn More:
Leather Custom Photo Book
Custom leather photo books from Printique are made in 13 different colors, three shape options, four sizes, and with five available paper types. You can have up to 100 total pages and any number of images.
The leather cover adds a classic appeal that benefits wedding photos, portraits, or other special groups or events. You also have an option of vegan leather, which many people enjoy having as a choice. Include a gift box to add to the special feel of receiving one of these items.
Printique has several pre-made templates, or you can completely customize your own. You can add text to the cover or on individual pages. A leather custom photo book can be included in your photography pages or sold as a standalone or add-on product. Printique’s pro service white label shipping adds to the appeal of offering these to our clients.
See what top wedding photographer Paul Woo has to say about Printique in the video above from the Printique YouTube channel.
Hardcover Photo Book
A hardcover custom photo book is a durable style of custom photo book. These books from Printique come with a lay-flat option. A lay-flat custom photo book adds appeal in that there is no page bulging or bending up as you flip through the pages.
You can commemorate a once-in-a-lifetime special occasion, tell the story of a baby's first year, or showcase a travelog journal by creating a hardcover photo book. Alternatively, you can offer a hardcover photo book to wedding clients as a way to share memories of their day with family and friends.
Fabric Photo Book
The person who would enjoy a fabric-covered custom photo book would be similar to anyone ordering leather photo books. You can customize it with a die-cut window to show a preview photo or with foil stamping and a presentation box.
Hardcover, leather, and fabric photo books from Printique are all available in lay-flat binding, and so are the regular-size softcover photo books.
Pro tip: A fabric custom photo book makes a great portfolio for showing your work to prospective new clients!
Mini Softcover Books
Used as an add-on to wedding and portrait packages, mini softcover books will increase your profit margin as you give your clients a satisfying method to express appreciation for the special people in their lives.
These are made with lay-flat binding and are printed on recycled paper, giving them extra appeal and value to your special clients. The mini books are a ton of fun for all of your regular snapshots, too!
Follow along with the video above from Printique, which discusses how simple it is to order a photo book.
Full-Service Photo Printer
Printique is part of the Adorama family of photography businesses. Adorama is a great source of new equipment, accessories, and even film, and is a full-service retailer. With that background, it’s no real surprise that Printique is a full-service printing company.
The pro services and business-friendly features set them apart from a lot of other printing companies and will keep you coming to them as your business grows. Check out what they provide for custom photo books and other photographic goodies!