Elements lets you create several sizes of pages to use in bound books of photos, which are a popular gift item. To get started, go to Create→Photo Book, and you’ll see several different sizes to choose from. When you click a size on the left side of the Photo Book window, the right side changes to show details about it, as you can see in Figure 15-8. Most photo books are meant to be ordered online, but there’s an 8.5"x11" size (well, technically 11"x8.5") that you can print at home. And in fact, you can actually print any Create project on your home printer, if you like.
Figure 15-8. When you choose a size from the list on the left, the right side of the window changes to show you what you’ll get if order it and how much it costs. Hover over the thumbnails (circled) to see a detailed view or get an animated look at sample pages.
At the bottom center of the Photo Book window (Figure 15-8) is a box where you can enter the number of pages you want, if you know how long you want the book to be. However, the photo books from Shutterfly and Kodak automatically start out with 20 pages, since that’s the minimum number you need to order from them (Kodak’s maximum is 80 pages, and Shutterfly’s is 100 pages plus the title page), so you can’t delete pages to bring the total below 20. If you want to make a 4- or 10-page book, then choose the 11" x 8.5" “print locally” option.
Note
The minimum number of pages required for the online books is subject to change, so don’t be surprised if one day you see a different number in that window. It just means the online services were updated to reflect a new minimum.
Creating a photo book is almost exactly like creating a collage (Photo Collages). The only difference is that you have lots of pages to navigate through in the Content panel’s Pages tab. Just click a different two-page layout to work on those pages. (Elements shows you the double-page spreads you’ll see when the book is open.) You can also use the controls below the preview area (shown in Figure 15-9) to step through pages or type in the number of the page you want to view. The Show Safe Zone checkbox displays aqua-colored guides that indicate the printable boundaries of the page. If they bother you, turn them off while you’re working, but you should turn them on at least once for each page to check that everything you’ve added will fit before you send the book off for printing.
Note
Photo books usually have a cutout front cover, so the first page is the Title page (which Elements calls page number T).
Figure 15-9. When you click Create, Elements gives you a helpful double-page view of your book so you can edit the pictures or change the layout. The control strip below the book lets you move through the pages to see each double-page spread and turn guides on or off. Here you also see the controls for adjusting the left photo and frame so they match up better.
To add pages to a photo book, in the Pages tab, click the thumbnail of the double-page spread you want to duplicate and then click the green + sign at the top of the Content panel. To remove a double-page spread (you can’t remove just one page), click its thumbnail and then click the red – button. (Keep in mind that Elements won’t let you go below the minimum number of pages for the Kodak or Shutterfly books.) And now in Elements 10, you can change the order of pages in a photo book by dragging them in the Pages tab.
Tip
If you decide that a photo needs a little touching up to look right in your magnum opus, just right-click/Control-click it and choose Edit Quick to go to Quick Fix (Chapter 4 explains all the things you can do there to spiff up your photos). When you enter Quick Fix from Create, you see a button at the top that says “Back to Creation;” click it to return to your collage. This is available for any multipage creation, including greeting cards and calendars, but not for single page projects like collages or CD/DVD inserts.
When you finish creating the book, you can click Done or Print as with a collage, and there’s also an Order button that zips you over to Shutterfly or Kodak (depending on whose template you’re using) so you can order the book from them. If you want to order a book from another company, click Done and then save the file in PDF format, which is accepted almost everywhere.
Tip
You can also create a book of photos without using Elements’ Photo Book feature at all. Just connect to the Kodak Gallery or Shutterfly website, upload your photos (as explained on Getting Ready to Print), and then have the company print them in its own style of photo book. (You don’t get any page decorations or layout choices when you use the Kodak wizard, though.)