What size?

[oscaralley]

I Just made my first two pages, but I don't want to make any more until I figure out what size is the best size to make. I want to make a photobook through shutterfly or one of those printing sites. I saw on shutterfly an 8.5x11 but it was printed in the opposite direction. Are there some special instruction that you need when you are loading your own layouts and not using their templates? Do I have to add inches so that it is printed into the binding? Thanks in advance. Tanya Alley..

[Cassie Jones (1gr8muggle)]

Hi, Tanya -

Shutterfly provides answers to all of your questions, it's just a little tricky finding them.

I create my pages 12x12. This allows me to print any size square album I wish (12x12, 8x8 @ Shutterfly, or various sizes at other sites). Shutterfly's 8.5x11" is landscape orientation, so you would want to create your pages that way. When I want to make an 8x8 album, I still upload a 12x12 page. SF will resize it appropriately. As long as the ratio is the same, you're safe.

To see SF's instructions do the following:

1. Click on "Print Services" at the top of this screen.
2. Sign in to your SF account.
3. Click on "Start Shopping Shutterfly."
4. Click on the size book you'd like to make (just click 12x12 if you don't know, because any of the sizes will get you to the next step).
5. Read the paragraphs about the book you selected. It's got hyperlinks to all the specs and step-by-step instructions for creating a book.

You can access this through the regular SF URL, but by clicking "Print Services" on this site, you go directly to the digital scrapbooking products instead of trying to find them on the main site.

Basically, you will create your main pages the size of the book and just keep anything important (text/faces) away from the outer 1/4" of the page. You would still have your background paper go all the way to the edge.

The main reason you'll want to download templates is for the covers and spine. They are a slightly different size.

You also want to BE SURE to turn OFF the Vivid Pics option. You do this when you're viewing your pages in the photo album you upload them to. Click on an image in the album, go to Edit > Apply Effect, then check the box next to "Don't apply automatic corrections to picture." If you had multiple photos selected (like the whole album) you could click the option to "Apply this effect to selected pictures." If you don't turn off vivid pics, SF will color-correct your pages, which will often make the same background picture look like different colors since it bases the correction on the entire image (like one page has photos with a lot of pink on it and another has a lot of green . . . it will color-correct the whole page based on those colors).

I hope this helps!

[oscaralley]

Thank you so much Cassie. I done my first two pages 8.5x11 but I can still make changes. Thanks again.

[JALong]

Thanks, Cassie. I have been wanting to see a guide through Shutterfly and now I have one. You're the best!