Review of Online Scrapbook Companies: Shutterfly, Snapfish and Scrapblog

Photographs are a timeless way to remember experiences gained from travel, and help refresh memories of places seen and discovered. Unfortunately, many of these images often end up in piles along with other memories, only to be seen during the occasional spring cleaning ritual. Why? Because traditional scrapbooking takes a tremendous amount of effort and time. At least, that used to be the case. Now, digital scrapbooks, also known as photo books, offer a new way to organize and display memories in only a matter of minutes or hours.

Shutterfly is a website that offers a variety of options for digital photo printing, including photo books. You must first register with the website in order to upload your photos and save any work. Shutterfly offers a number of different photo book templates, and frequently offers promotions and discounts for registered members. When picking a photo book, you design individual page templates, which vary based on number of photos. Shutterfly offers a catalog of background page designs, as well as the ability to create your own background using an uploaded photo. Certain templates also allow for captions to be typed under individual photos or as titles on individual pages. Photo books are available in sizes ranging from 5 x 7 bindings, up to 12 x 12 bindings. Photo books can be created with soft or hard covers, including leather backings and photo covers, depending on your preference. The vast array of themes and art designs make it easy to create a photo book that matches any travel destination.

Snapfish is an online photo printing service that also offers many multimedia products as well. In addition to the photo books, which are online scrapbooks for digital photos and scans, Snapfish offers digital collages and multimedia pages. The digital collage are exactly as you would expect, a tool that allows you to arrange your digital photos or scanned photos into a collage. The digital collage can then be shared online or printed in poster form. A multimedia page allows you to use videos, photos, and music to create a slideshow of your travel photos, adding to it a theme or cultural identity that reflects the location. For example, you have the ability to add reggae music to the background of your slideshow to Jamaica. Many other products are available from Snapfish, including mugs, photo cards, posters, and customized photo accessories.

Scrapblog is an easy-to-use website that allows you to create your own scrapbook in minutes. After logging onto the website, you pick your scrapbook layout, upload your photos, and arrange them as you please. If you have a collection of photos, but do not have an idea of how you plan to arrange them, Scrapblog will randomly assort them for you, making a digital scrapbook in just seconds. If you want to arrange photos by travel location, or add captions to photos, it will take a little more time to customize your scrapbook, but still save hours when compared to traditional scrap-booking. After creating your digital scrapbook, you select whether to share the scrapbook online with friends and family, or order a printed version of the scrapbook. Printed scrapbooks are available in 4 x 6 and 6 x 9 soft cover versions, and an 8 x 12 hard cover album.