Get cutting and sticking: make a dummy book

Saturday 22 February 2025, 20:02 by Elvira Smit | 3,027 views | 7 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

I regularly mentor photography clubs. Sometimes participants want to make a small photo book. Their first instinct is to use the online editors from Albelli, Blurb or another on-demand photo printing company. I advise against this for three reasons.

I always challenge participants to make a physical dummy. Simply by cutting and sticking. Print your photos with your home printer.

Use a ring binder or a notebook that you can buy for a few euros at a stationer’s. Or, if necessary, just staple some A4 sheets together.

The importance of doing some cutting and sticking yourself is threefold:

1. Online, your photos look (unfairly) better

Photos on your screen are beautifully lit by your own monitor. But in real life, your photos don’t emit any light. If you’re making a book, you need to know what your photos look like on paper. Preferably before you print your final book. That way, you can still correct any editing mistakes.

2. Flicking through a book digitally isn’t the same

The order of your photos matters. By flicking through them, you discover whether a rhythm works or not. And with punched pockets in a ring binder, you can easily move the photos around.

Or use photo corners or buddy (a type of putty you can use to hang up a poster) to ‘stick’ your photos to paper. This makes it easy to change the order.

3. New ideas emerge while you’re making things

When you’re working with your hands, you’re completely immersed in your project, both mentally and physically. And that sometimes leads to new insights. Your brain gets the space to make connections you hadn’t seen before.

An online editor, on the other hand, takes as much of the associative work as possible out of your hands. You get ready-made frames and templates to place your photos in. Nice and easy, so you don’t have to think any more.

And that’s a shame!

That thinking and making things is exactly what you need to give your project your own twist.

So, make something. Make it today. Simply with the resources you already have.

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About the author

Ik heb een eigen fotografieblog, Kronkeling. Daar schrijf ik om de week twee artikelen. Over hoe je je blik kunt scherpen, je creativiteit kunt aanwakkeren, en over fotografen die mij inspireren. Geen technische zaken, wél over hoe je leert kijken. En dat blijkt nog een hele klus. Een mooi startpunt zijn de Kronkeltips, die vind je hier.

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7 comments

Lauran wrote on Tuesday 25 February 2025 at 11:04 | reply
Well, I've left the days of cutting and pasting far behind me. My models see me coming.....
Translated from Dutch.

Wuyts denis wrote on Tuesday 25 February 2025 at 12:22 | reply
indeed as Lauran says cutting and pasting is over I think
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Liesbeth Verkade wrote on Tuesday 25 February 2025 at 13:18 | reply
Dear Elvira,
I strongly disagree with you.
I have been making photo books at CeWe for more than 20 years. No pre-cooked layout etc if you don't want that. You can design your book entirely yourself. Format, type of paper and, if you want, a pre-designed layout (lots of choice)
You can save your project (if you work on a PC) and change anything in it that you want, whenever you want. There is spell check for texts. You can add or remove pages etc. There are lots of creative possibilities that I haven't mastered all of yet, but tutorials are regularly given where you can also ask questions.
The only comment I have to make is that I work with the German version because I live in Germany.
The books aren't cheap, but so far I am very satisfied with the quality.
Translated from Dutch.

R.Engels wrote on Tuesday 25 February 2025 at 14:28 | reply
I'm not into tinkering.
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Nando wrote on Wednesday 26 February 2025 at 09:48 | reply
Crafting with prints, scissors and glue (in whatever form) is fun because you’re not sitting behind the computer (again). Printing is quite an expensive affair though, because printer ink is almost more expensive than gold.
I understand that this isn’t done as much anymore.
For those who want to craft and keep it cheaper: have your photos printed at 10x15 at a print shop, Kruidvat or wherever such a print kiosk is located.
Or you can choose digital crafting, exactly as I explained in my own article. I think this is a good addition.
The link is: https://www.photofacts.nl/fotografie/rubriek/tips_en_truuks/een-fotoalbum-opmaken-zonder-layout-beperkingen.asp
Translated from Dutch.

Elvira Smit wrote on Wednesday 26 February 2025 at 17:27 | reply
@Lauran, @Wuyt, @Liesbeth and R. Engels:
Well, crafting isn't for everyone. And if you don't feel like it, then of course you shouldn't do it. But for those who want to use their creativity in a different - more physical - way, this can be a nice little nudge in the right direction

@Nando: good addition for getting photos printed cheaply!
Translated from Dutch.

Hans van Sterkenburg wrote on Friday 28 February 2025 at 12:09 | reply
Elvira,

I tackle my photos and stories with Blurb. With my own layout, background etc. I like it just fine. I keep the design calm, it doesn't have to become a carnival mask. The paper the photos are printed on is thin. My intention is to make a book out of it and not a stack of photos. and I also always order a pdf with it. Friends and family who live far away -most of them- I send such a pdf album to.

Your idea appeals to me, certainly with Nando's suggestion to have the photos printed elsewhere. Because it just shows that there are also many ways of working in this aspect of photography. And then to share that with each other via PhA. Great.

And one more thing: every Sunday afternoon, especially in wintertime, we look at an album, we have many of them. A glass of wine, a snack, etc. Great fun, also the older albums from the time when we were young.

Thanks for your contribution,
have fun with your photography.

greetings,
Hans.
Translated from Dutch.

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