Thursday, September 4, 2008

Album Design Software

Laura Siivola (http://www.laurasiivolaphotographer.com) wrote in to let PhotoLoveCat know about some research she had done into album design software. She originally put this together during her first year in business and just recently updated it just for us! Here's what she had to say back in 2006:


"I've put together a list of Album Design Software I've found just to get my bearings. There are so many to choose from and so many questions I don't even know where to start- it's very overwhelming! Hopefully this will help other photographers out there looking for this very thing. I'm a lucky person to be a part of some very helpful online communities which have been a big part of compiling this list. I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of these programs you may have used. If I've missed any just let me know- I want to have all the options available here for anyone to view. The software I've listed are (I believe...) all available for output to any lab or binding service… which means you can choose! (Yet another mind boggling experience I'll save for another day!) :0)"


And her update 9 months later:

“Just an update, for ya- I decided to go with the LumaPix Fotofusion and I love it! If you're interested in what it can do, here’s a couple of wedding albums I designed using the software.

Scottsdale, AZ wedding photography at Sassi

Cave Creek, Arizona photo wedding album

I'm learning how to add cool borders and other fun things too! I'll be sure to post more as I design them :0)”

Check out her beautiful designs via the links above, and then use this table to help you with your own album design software decisions!


(If you're viewing this table via blogger, you may not be seeing the last column "demo/trial available"...I'll keep working on trying to fix that. - Jillian)

Software

Website

Templates available?

Save your Templates

Price

Demo/ Trial
Available?

Page Gallery

www.yervant.com.au/

Yes but cannot save your own.

No

$590

Yes

Dg Foto Art

www.pxlsoft.com/

Yes- As separate purchases

Yes

$249- $649

Yes

You Select It

www.youselectit.com

Yes

Yes

$495

Yes

Kubota's auto album

kubotaworkshops.com

As per Page layouts


$399

No

LumaPix FotoFusion

http://www.lumapix.com/

No

Yes- Studio/Pro version

$39.95- $299.95

Yes

Gary Fong’s Digital Album

http://store.garyfonginc.com/gafodialdeso.html

Unsure (auto assemble)


$199

No

Adobe® InDesign

http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/

Yes- From outside sources

Yes

$699

Yes

pixel creator pro

http://www.pixelcreatorpro.com/

Yes

Yes

$379

No

Album DS

http://www.albumds.com/

Yes

Yes

$349-$449

Yes

Photojunction

http://www.photojunction.com/




Yes

Yes

$495 or license per year

Yes


A huge thanks (and a hug) to Laura for being such a love cat and sharing her information…this information can be tough to track down and gather! Be sure to add her blog http://laurasiivolaphotographer.blogspot.com to your blogroll!

9 comments:

  1. There are a few on OSP that sell FotoFusion Templates for a great price. I use FF and I love it. So perfect for album design.

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  2. Hey there! If you're interested in doing a post on what to do once you actually have the album designed (as in... how do you share it with your client and incorporate their feedback?)... my husband just finished putting together a rockin' album proofing application... Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you a link!

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  3. +1 on FotoFusion.
    It's so easy you don't need templates.

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  4. Yes, Lumapix does have templates available. The Extreme version includes 266 page layouts.

    :)

    Vida

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  5. DesignAglow.com also has several album templates as well as a new automatic album builder! More designs, including a stunning wedding album, are on the way.

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  6. Fotofusion is still only Windows I believe, so if you've got a Mac...

    Apple Aperture 2 has an excellent album design tool that now has custom size albums. You can export to PDF, JPEG and TIF and you get the benefit of working directly next to your RAW or JPEG images so you can edit your images even when you've already laid out your design.

    Check out this Sara France video:
    http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/mac/aperture/2008/apple_aperture2_sara-france_20080710_r640-10cie.mov

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  7. Two BIG Thumbs UP! Way Up for LumaPix Fotofusion Extreme. I cant say enough good things about FF. I LOVE it! It is so easy and so fast to whip out an album design. I once completed a 40 sided design for my first KISS sample album in less than one hour!

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  8. I have used PageGallery and still use it in a pinch. However, Fundy's Solution on Steroids (http://www.fundysos.com) works wonders. Now until the end of September, grab a 25% discount for this set of Photoshop actions off of my own blog, Tiffinbox (http://www.tiffinbox.org/2008/09/putting-the-fun.html). Cool?

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  9. Photojunction is now a free design application (they have suspended their yearly subscription program)... and FREE is pretty inexpensive! The have templates both general and specific to album companies, also there are designers that offer templates for reasonable prices, just google "Photojunction templates"

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