My mom has always emphasized the importance of having physical copies of our photos. So if by any chance you come to visit our home, you would see piles and piles of photo albums where our deepest, darkest, and most embarrassing childhood moments were kept.

I've never really listened to her though. Uploading was apparently easier and printing photos was quite expensive. Then I learned my lesson the hard way when the hard drive suddenly crashed and Multiply and Friendster unexpectedly shut down for good. I've only had a few photos left during my college years. And those were the photos that my mom saved by having them printed.

Do you think Facebook or this blog - where I have uploaded most of my best and precious memories - will have the same fate as the now-defunct social media sites? No one knows.

Actually, I had some of our pictures printed. But two years later, they already looked like a photo from the 80s. I guess, since printing photos is a thing of the past, these new photos no longer have the same quality the old photos have. My baby photos look way better than this.

This was inside my wallet and has not even touched moist or water.

When I heard about Photobook, I decided to give it a try. The softcover photo book is regularly priced at Php 1,800. I added Php 100 for a high quality paper upgrade. And paid Php 200 for shipping via DHL.

Check their website from time to time.

I just received my photobook 2 days ago and it was delivered right to my doorstep. And it's no doubt that I absolutely love it!

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT PHOTOBOOK

1. The online designer is straightforward and easy to use;
2. You will be warned if you uploaded a low resolution photo (so this ensures that they only want to produce high quality prints);
3. High quality print;
4. Paper is not flimsy. It's as thick as the photo papers;
5. Binding is excellent. It looks durable;
6. Colors are 95% accurate. But then, this might depend on the settings of your screen. If your screen looks too bright, actual photos may appear darker.
7. Production and Shipping was fast. It was delivered to me a week after I ordered my photobook project.

I heard stories about damaged photobooks due to freight handling. But don't hesitate to contact their customer service because from what I've heard, they will reprint your order without too many questions asked. But as for me, it came with a protective plastic carefully placed inside an envelope.

Anyway, here's a quick peek on some of my favorite pages of our photobook:

I created the quotes and the doodles. If you want to do the same, just create your quotes in a separate photo editor (e.g. Photoshop), save it as .PNG and simply upload it. Photobook's online designer have limited font types.

There were some spacing issues that I overlooked (right photo). I wasn't able to stretch the photo all the way to the bottom that a white space appeared below it. Make sure to check such tiny details especially if you tend to be OC.

Their downloadable software and online designer is highly customizable. So be creative. Add texts and embellishments, arrange it like how you would do a scrap book.

You can use their premade layouts or you can simply create your own layout like what I did with most pages. Just have a little patience with this though. :)

If you are going to stretch your photo across the pages like this, make sure to upload only high resolution photos.

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN PHOTOBOOK

1. Go to their website and create an account

2. Choose how you want to create your book
You can create from their downloadable software or you can just work on their online designer. With their own software, you can choose from a full range of backgrounds, personalization options, page layouts, and embellishments. And you can design your book even when you're offline.

The online designer on the other hand is used best if you choose to start with a blank layout. It has a range of backgrounds, personalization options, and page layouts as well.

You may also opt for their online readybooks where you can just use the layouts that are already arranged for you. All you have to do is just drag and drop your photos.

But since I was too lazy to download (around 500mb) and was too excited to build my own photobook immediately, I decided to use the online designer instead. Besides, I'm going to do everything from scratch because the designer self would be insulted if I used a premade template (Hello, this is Ego speaking).

3. Choose a format
Choose a book size and what book type you want to have (Imagewrap, debossed, softcover, layflat imagewrap, layflat debossed). Honestly, besides the Softcover, I have no idea what the others are.

4. Start designing
You have the freedom to do whatever you want here. How you want the photos arranged, how many photos you would like in a page, or what texts do you want to appear on the page. Be creative and just enjoy.

And for best results, use high-resolution photos only. Otherwise, it might look smudgy on the print. Also make sure to check spelling mistakes because they will not touch anything from your design even if they will see something wrong. What you made is what you get.

4.  Order and wait
The package will be coming from Malaysia and will be delivered via DHL. I created the Photobook on Thursday and it arrived on Friday the next week.

If you do not have a photobook yet, go ahead and create yours. Good memories deserve a better place other than the internet. Don't just upload your pics, photobook it! :)

Visit Photobook Philippines and create your own photobook here.