Photo Books vs Photo Albums

large square photo book open showing forest image and typography page

Your precious memories shouldn’t be forgotten – they should be celebrated! And what better way of doing so than presenting them in a photo book or photo album? That way, you have easy access to all your photos and prized memories, perfect for reminiscing among friends and family. But what is the difference between a photo book and photo album? The products seem similar, but there are some major differences between the two.

What’s the Difference Between a Photo Book and a Photo Album?

What is a Photo Album?

Traditional photo albums typically have small sections or pockets where you can add individually printed photos. The idea with photo albums is to avoid having hundreds of photo prints boxed away, never to see the light of day. You could spend hours deciding which photos you want to put in your albums, selecting each family memory individually. It is a time-consuming process, but one that could be lovingly pored over with family and friends. Other traditional photo albums are more like scrapbooks, where you stick prints into an album, adding a creative touch to the entire process.

What is a Photo Book?

With a photo book, you select all the photos you want to include before your photo book is made. You design your ideal photo book either online or using CEWE Creator Software. Trust us - it’s a real time saver! Whether you want to preserve your wedding day, look back on your annual family getaway, or record baby’s first steps, the options for creativity are endless. Photo books are fully customisable: you can change as many aspects as you like. Create a holiday timeline, or add captions to your favourite moments. You could even create your own story to read to your little one, featuring early photos of family memories.

Photo Book vs Photo Album: A True Comparison

	Traditional Photo Album	Personalised Photo Book
Choosing Photos	Albums can only be created with photo prints usually based on a set format, like 6x4”.	Create a folder on your phone, computer, Dropbox, CEWE myPhotos or Google Photos Account.

How many photos can I have?	Often traditional slip albums are sold with a set number of pockets you can add photos to and set number of pages.	Photo books adapt to you and your photos. If you have a lot of images, you can easily add more pages to your personalised photo book.

Paper Types	Albums usually come with sturdy card stock or smooth craft paper as their paper type making them suitable to stick things to and write on.	Photo books can be made from a choice of papers to suit the final look and feel you want for your photos. Choose from Gloss, Classic or Matte paper in standard or photographic quality.

Cover Options	Most photo album covers are not customisable, or have limited creativity. Adding one photo to sum up your entire album with no allocated space for text can be reductive.	You can fully customise your photo book’s cover. You can even choose linen or leather to encase your book. Shiny Highlights can also be used to create striking text and graphics with an effect similar to embossing.

Can I have more than one?	Replicating an album is costly and difficult as it means printing multiple copies of photos and taking the time to build another album by hand.	Yes, you can create as many identical photo books as you like. Share them with relatives to keep everyone in the loop. They can even be scaled to smaller or larger formats.

Can I change the photos I’ve chosen?	Photos can be swapped out but if you have already themed your album, it can be time consuming rearranging and swapping images by hand over and over again.	Once you’ve ordered your photo book, no. However, you can take as long as you want to rearrange and swap photos until you’ve created the perfect book.

How much space will it take up?	This can depend on the number of photos you include in the album. Constantly adding photos can result in a bigger album, taking up more space. Sometimes you can be left with an album that doesn’t lay flush when closed.	As your book has your photos directly printed onto the paper, there is no additional thickness. However, adding more pages to accommodate more photos will result in a slightly thicker book.

Unique Aspects	Putting an album together by hand can make the whole experience of going through photos enriching and joyful.	Every page can have a different background colour. Video QR codes can be added and beautiful graphics can be chosen from a digital gallery. Photos can be placed at angles and themes automatically applied based on the subject of your book.

Photo Book vs Photo Album: Which is Right For Me?

Now you know the difference between a photo book and a traditional photo album, you can decide which is the right option for you. If you’re likely to want to change the photos you display on a regular basis, consider a photo album. If, however, you want modern, professional looking pages of photos filled with all your precious memories, we recommend a photo book. You can customise everything – from cover options, paper types and the photos themselves.