Printing your layouts
 

I'm just starting my PL for 2020 and have some more questions for those that print photo books.

• What company do you use for printing? I'm in Australia so postage and exchange rates are a consideration.
• What size do you make the images? I will want to print at least 8x8 and maybe up to 12x12 depending on what is available
• If using a stitched pocket layout do you put a plain background cardstock?
• If you use a background cardstock do you resize the layout image or the canvas? If so to what size?

Sorry if the questions have been answered a hundred times before or if they don't really make sense, I know what I mean in my head :blink:

I don't do PL but I use Shutterfly for my books and print at the 10x10 size, I found that the 12x12 books are too big and 8x8 books too small for my liking.
I scrap at 12x12 so I don't have to resize my layouts.

I’m in Norway so I had to find a local photobook printer so I can’t help you there.

When I started PL someone advices me to order a test print in 8x8, 10x10 and 12x12 so I could see just what size things would be. I went with 12x12 for my PL and 8x8 for vacation albums.

I also print everything at once in a bound book as I personally like the bound albums better than the ones with loose pages. But here you’ll need to go whatever works for you.

Also shutterfly mentioned above here, do have sales so if you finish a book and it’s expensive, you can always wait for one of their super sales.

We have some Australian scrappers here that might pop in later to answer your questions.
One of our babes, Kim B (jak), is on holiday at the moment, so she might respond to this a little later. :)

I can't help as far as the postage rates, but I personally love Prestophoto.com

They have an 8.5x8.5 size that I love. I think it's perfect, I'd printed 8x8 and 12x12 before, and I feel like the 8x8 is too small at the 12x12 is way too big. I've done over 40 albums with presto photo I've been print with them since 2009.

I scrap 12x12 and resize.

Here's an old article I did about the way I organize to scrap, but you can see the different sizes of my albums lined up in my cabinet. If you want to see an 8.5x8.5 in comparison to the other sizes. https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/i...be-sunday-712/

I scrap at 12x12 and then resize to 8x8. I have always ordered from Persnickety Prints or Shutterfly and don't have any complaints about either. 12x12 would be nice but I'm too cheap for that LOL

I use Winkflash and print1100 page 12x12 bound books. I wait until they have their flat-rate sale and go for it. Sadly this year, I didn't see an so I'm really stacking up on the books!

I scrap and print 12x12. I put a lot of photos and text on each page, so if I wanted to go smaller I'd probably have to scrap more pages with less on each. I also printed a couple sample pages at a few sizes to decide what size photo books to print.

I shrink the templates to 95% (except for the background, which I leave at 3600x3600 pixels) to make sure nothing is too close to the edge. If I want a colored border around the edge I duplicate the background layer then shrink everything except the lowest layer to 90 or 93%.

I don't bother replacing the white of the template background with a digital cardstock unless I'm using something other than white. I like the smooth, bright white look, and when printed it looks the same.

I print at Shutterfly when they have an unlimited pages sale. Usually that's 50% off the basic 12x12 20-page book plus around 80 free pages. I don't know anything about their international shipping rates.

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Do you upload your 12x12 layouts into a 10x10 template on the printing site? Is a 12 or 14 sized font large enough to read?

Do you resize the image to 8x8 at 300 dpi? What font size do you need to use in order to read it clearly?

Thank you! Do you shrink the templates before you fill them? Do you ever have a problem with things too close to the edge? I've never had layouts printed so trying to figure it out before I commit.

Yes, I shrink before I fill. Every printer is a little different, but most do cut off a little around the edge. That's never been a problem with any of the layouts I've resized, but I suspect it could be on some if I used them as-is. I run my embellishments right to the edge since I don't care if part of a flower or star is cut off, and it's sometimes obvious to me that has happened.

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All of my pages are made at 12x12. I wrote and action I run that adds a white ¼" bleed around the perimeter, so there is no chance of anything ever being cut off, but I do not shrink the page since it will only lead to quality degradation. You always want the maximum number of pixels you can have. I typically print at 8x8 since I print several copies of each book and it's more economical. You can look at my gallery for reference on text size. I've never had any issues with readability.

yes, 300ppi and i always zoom in at 100% to be sure that the text isn't too small xo

I have printed at 6x6, 8x8, 10x10 and 12x12.

10x10 and 12x12 are my favourite sizes, especially if I want to easily read any text. I have used Shutterfly and Blurb. Blurb is my 'go to' as there is a Canadian site so I get the total in Cdn. dollars and I love the books I have had printed through them.