Shutterfly Gallery is bursting with photo books that use words to enhance the story. Here are five original and evocative ways to tell the story behind the pictures.
Capture through captions
Adding captions is an easy way to connect a moment to a particular season or event. This works well for all types of photo books—a year in review, the trip of a lifetime, holiday time or a family reunion. Captions can be as simple as a date or name and as elaborate as excerpts from your journal.
Through their eyes
Some stories are best told by the stars of the photo book.
Greg_Z gets inside the mind of a toddler and tells this year-in-review from the perspective of his two young daughters
Amy and Julie.
Quotables for notables
saraS272 recorded quotations from politicians, poets and naturalists found on signs throughout the park on her recent trip to
Yellowstone and used them as captions for her shots of the majestic scenery. The effect creates an homage to this wonderful national treasure.
Lyrical miracle
Put your photo book to music by writing the lyrics to a favorite song under the pictures.
KarenB43 uses the lyrics of “
In My Life” by the Beatles in A Book for Mom, a photo book she created to celebrate her mother’s life. The pictures coupled with these poignant lyrics turns this photo book into something extraordinary.
Literally literary
Aspiring children’s book authors can let out their inner Eric Carle by writing a story to accompany their pictures.
DeborahL109 does this beautifully with charming rhymes in her photo book
A Trip to the Zoo.
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:24 pm
some good tips, it’s rare to see people post any captions or editorial content along with their pictures but when they do it definitely adds an extra bit of sizzle to the steak imo
August 24th, 2008 at 8:42 am
What great ideas and examples to help us to better visualize them at work! I love to use quotes and sayings when creating books when there is really no story to tell. This is sure to be helpful to those of us needing a little direction! Thank you for sharing!
Cheryl_Whitesel
Shutterfly Gallery Guru
August 24th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I had to check out all these books. I had only seen 2 of them. I love the idea of using quotes throughout books, I love using lyrics throughout a book. Although when i did a couple for my books, i didn’t think to use the lyrics throughout the book. I really like that idea and may use for a future creation. I also enjoyed the idea of rhyming throughout the book.
Thanks for these great ideas and examples.
Joanna T
Shutterfly Gallery Guru
August 25th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I always struggle to find the right words for my books without feeling redundant and saying exactly what everyone can see just by looking at the photo. This is where I am at a loss. I love the idea of us of lyrics. Check out this book by jenniferH1369
about Disneyland and the simple use of When You Wish Upon A Star. It was perfect…sniff…. …http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/post/start.sfly?postId=/gallery/1/post/GMGDFg0atnDVuwbgMXb-Go
That is something I think I could pull off…:)
Ann Abbott
Shutterfly Gallery Guru
August 25th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I really need to work on this subject matter. I am inspired by all the books with the great captions and stories… and then I make a new photobook, and can’t think of anything to say. I will have to try harder!
Gallery Guru
August 26th, 2008 at 6:26 am
I loved all of these books. I know that sometimes it is overwhelming to try and journal and get it right. I usually do an online search to get quotes. For example when I fixed my niece’s 1st bday book I searched for poems and sayings online and added those to the book. I did the same thing for my cousin’s wedding books that I did. They were much more powerful with the poems and sayings added and it took pressure off of me to get down exactly the mood I was looking for on the pages.