Gifts : Buying Guide – The best photo album

Saving all your well-organized photos in a photo album is a plus of comfort and benefits for you and your memory. We only want to explain the different photo albums that exist and make a simple analysis of the options that exist in the market.

What is a digital album

difference between book and album

A digital photo album is a book where you can organize your best moments and your memories physically or online, where you can put your heart into it and it can transport you to past moments just by immersing yourself in its pages.

But what do you need to make a good photo album? The first thing is to have all the photos organized and ready to be placed in the album you want. You need to have desire, creativity and time to make a creation that lasts forever. You have to know what type of album you want; in what format and size and how many photos are you going to place on it. An album for your silver anniversary is not the same as an album of your holidays in Mallorca.

You must choose the paper you want to use, the type of opening, the budget you want to invest in this treasure of memories, etc; and although all this seems very complicated it is not, we tell you the differences. Let’s go step by step.

How to choose the perfect digital album for my photos

Creating a digital photo album is a diametrically opposite task from taking photos. If photographers usually tend to take dozens and dozens of photos in search of the perfect image, when editing that mountain of images and selecting a few to create a story, may not be as easy as it seems.

Space is limited and deciding which photos to enter and which to leave out is by far the most difficult part of the process. However, creating a digital album is a very rewarding experience and one that can lead to fun afternoons reviewing photos of our latest events.

At the end of this article we will talk about how to make a suitable selection, so we will not insist on the need to tell a story through images. However, we will talk about the importance of selecting an appropriate format. Because making a digital photo album of a beach or mountain getaway with friends is not the same as doing it on an important celebration in the family.

The first thing to learn is the difference between album and photo book.

What is the difference between album and photo book

In the table below, we show you the main differences between a photo album and a photobook so that you can choose the one that suits you best according to your objective.

differences between album and photos

If you have any doubts among those that we offer at Hofmann, we explain the differences here.

Traditional or digital printed photo album

The traditional albums They have been around for years, who hasn’t seen these albums that we all have at home when we were little? Of course all the photographs used to be the same size and format and the development was quite a rite. Go to the store with the reel, pray that they were well made and be amazed at the result. Today, we have replaced the printed album by folders of lost photos on the computer. Do you not miss the availability and speed of reaching out and reaching the photos of your travels, your vacations or your childhood?

Within the different types of album there is also the digital format album which adapts the size of the photographs to the pages; having the possibility to choose the format, the number of photos per page, captions and everything you want. In addition, the difference with analog printing is that you will not have to enlarge any photo after development, in the process of creating your album you can choose the sizes you want.

Photo album sizes

The size of the photo album should be chosen in accordance with the photos you want to put in it. If you prefer small photos, you can choose a Smart Album, if you want landscape photos the best thing could be a square Maxi. We leave you the measurements of our albums and photo books for you to compare yourself and decide.

Photo album formats

Opening your album

Opening your photo album will make you see the photos 100% or like a normal book.

180 180 Aperture: This panoramic aperture is ideal for landscape photography, or for putting double-page photos on one page, also known as Lay Flat.
◘ Classic opening (Photo books): it is the opening that we find in all normal books.

Types of covers or covers for your album

Tops are a very important part of your album; it is the wrapper to a world of photos and memories. The cover is the first thing that we are going to see before opening the album, you have to take into account what images you are going to use, what title and what material. You can choose between two types of covers, one more rigid and the other softer and padded.

photo album covers

Types of paper for your album and print format

Now that you have all the chosen photos; You have included the captions you wanted and you have adjusted your photos on each page, you just have to decide what type of paper you want to use in your album.

digital printing

The difference in printing is in the used paper and in the way of printing it. Digital printing is done with 500 gr / m² coated paper with a gloss finish and photo printing, as its name suggests, is done on anti-fingerprint photo paper. The thickness of the sheets is approximately 0.8 mm if it has up to 33 pages, and 0.45 from 34 pages.

  1. Photographic paper: with more vibrant and realistic colors and greater resistance to wear.
  2. Standard paper: 118 g / m².
  3. Digital Printing Paper: Premium paper with stiff 500 g / m² sheets.
  4. Glossy paper: Also known as coated paper, it is a shiny and very smooth paper, with no pores and great smoothness.
  5. Anti-fingerprint paper: only exists in the premium version.

Types of photo album by theme

In addition to size, opening or paper, you have to know what the theme of our album will be. This will affect how creative the image backgrounds and frames are and what type of font is included.

  • Travels: To collect all the memories of your last vacation we recommend that it be a hardcover album. For short trips, about 24 pages will suffice, but if the summer has been long you may want to extend it to 120. As it is an album to show, we recommend that you opt for anti-fingerprint paper with a thickness of sheets of at least 0.45mm.
  • Romantics: If you are looking to surprise your partner or save all the photos of your anniversary, we recommend choosing a square format with a hard cover and 180º opening. A larger format of 29 × 29 cm will make you want to be more creative and have more space to combine the photos. Don’t forget to demand at least digital printing paper.
  • Professionals: For those who make a living from photography, it is very important to make a good impression with your photos. That is why an album for professionals must have anti-fingerprint paper and professional photo paper. Choose a hardcover binding here and sheet thickness 0.8mm. Choosing a vertical or passive format will depend on the project and the style of your photos.
  • Cooking: making a kitchen album with all the recipes gathered is a great idea to not miss any and always have a guide on hand to surprise your guests. The best in this case are large landscape A3 albums, especially if they are elaborate recipes. If you are looking for something more practical and manageable for quick recipes, a small format of 17 × 12 cm may be useful. Choose whether you can book binding and make sure the paper is anti-fingerprint so it won’t spoil when used in the kitchen.
  • Wedding: Just like the professionals, you want your wedding album to be of the highest quality so that it is preserved over time. In order for the images to have professional quality, the printing must be photographic on the paper. Choose a resistance binding and a landscape format of 40 × 30 cm.
  • Of the year: Use it to save all the moments of your year and collect memories that will not fade over time. It is very possible that you have a lot to remember so you will be interested in an album with a capacity of more than 100 pages and glossy photo paper. A landscape size is what will best fit your year. If you want to know how to do it with Hofmann, check out this simple tutorial.

Types of Hofmann photo album

Once you are clear about the type of album you are looking for, we show you the albums that we have available in Hofmann

photo album - which is better

one. Vertical photo album: 180 ° opening and size of 21 x 29 cm. There is no limit of photos per page and you can create from 18 to 122 pages.
2. Smartalbum: With different sizes this small album is ideal for photos on your mobile as they will be placed automatically. 24 or 48 pages of photos in square format (13 × 13) -in a subtle reference to Instagram- although there is also a landscape format (12 × 17). To collect on trips or topics of moderate interest.
3. Maxi photo album: Our square format album is ideal for you to unleash your imagination and to print your most spectacular photos in this giant size.
Four. Landscape album: With a 180 ° aperture, this photo album is perfect for landscape photos. If you have impressive photos of your vacation, this is your album.
5. Professional photo paper album: With anti-fingerprint paper, it has a capacity of 18 to 98 pages. This album is ideal for great moments.
6. Baby album: Perfect for babies to use due to the stiffness of the pages and their rounded corners; Contains easily washable pages for when they are stained.
7. Premium album: The ideal album for weddings, baptisms and communions. Anti-fingerprint photo paper and fabric bag to transport it. A special version with luxury binding and high quality materials that is specially designed for special occasions. It has various finishing options and the possibility of ordering copies in book format to share with friends or family.

I want to create my photo album

How to select the best photos for your album

Now that you have chosen what type of album you want, the most difficult thing comes: choosing the photos. If we want to create an attractive photo album that generates interest instead of boredom, the first thing is to have good photos.

Once we collect a good number of images on a common theme (vacations, trips, parties and events, etc.) we already have the excuse to create an album. Of course, a difficult moment comes for any photographer and it is that to properly edit a subject, a critical view of the photographs themselves is mandatory.

Although all our photos “look” good, not all of them are valid for creating an album, and not necessarily for lack of quality. Being self-critical with our own photographs is as complicated as it is necessary, and even more so if we want to continue having friends who don’t run away every time they come to dinner at home.

To make a successful image selection there are several points to keep in mind:

Make your album tell a story

The first thing is to be clear that you have to tell a story with the images. If you look at the wedding albums, the photographers usually describe the development of the event in a chronological way. For this they collect situations and scenes that go from before the ceremony to a long time after it ends. The selection of images includes at least one photo of each key moment and goes through the best of the wedding counting through the photographs everything that happened.

Put variety in the photos

Another good trick that is also used by wedding photographers is to vary the type of photos. Such a portrait album of a child, of landscapes of our vacations or of dishes of food at a party, no matter how handsome the child is, incredible as the places are or appetizing the dishes are, is a direct instance of boredom. It is much more interesting if we mix a little of each. For example, if it is an album of a trip you can combine landscapes, portraits of the natives, details of objects (architecture, food, crafts), some self-portrait -selfie- and typical moments or situations

A detail that everyone will appreciate, even if you don’t realize it; do not repeat similar photos. Choose the best of each moment or person and reject the rest. No matter how handsome the child is, no one enjoys five photos of the same baby doing exactly the same thing in sequence and whose only difference is only discernible by the photographer himself.

Use your creativity

If to this last we add the possibility of apply filters or styles – always in moderation – we can create an album with color photos, combined with some in black and white. The result is very attractive and is commonly used by fashion photographers in their magazine reports.

Your digital photo album

Once we are already in the editing process, it is very interesting to use different sizes in the images we select to make our album. We must play with the composition on page of each particular photo, as well as its position and connection with the adjacent ones. By the way, don’t shoehorn more than two or three photos per page. Photos are as important as the space around them that allows you to enjoy them.

We must not forget the importance of cover photo. In a magazine or newspaper, the cover image should summarize the most important content and, of course, have a great visual impact. The same should apply in the case of digital album including a suitable selection of the type of letter with which the title will be written. To counter, the back cover image can be a more informal and fun photo with somewhat more explanatory text.

From this point of view Hofmann albums offer a wide variety of styles, finishes and editing functions that will make it easier for us to create an album to our liking.

How to make a Hofmann

➞Choose your photo album ➞ Choose your photos and texts ➞ Add your extra options and paper type

To create your album you can create it from automatically choosing the model you want and uploading the photos to the album automatically sorting on the pages, then add text.
You can also do it manually, choosing each design and background per page, deciding which photos go on which page and adding illustrations and texts wherever you want.

Whatever your choice, we guarantee it will be a good choice. If you want to start with your album, we advise you to take a look at this tutorial that we have created for you.

Choose your photo album

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