Get Your Photographs:
When your goal is to put a photo book together, your fist goal should be, of course, to gather a lot of photographs together. Try to get in the habit of taking your camera with you wherever you go, because you never know when a quintessential fall moment will appear. Those ragamuffins selling pumpkins in from of the store, squinting in the crisp autumn sun? The tree at the park whose leaves have suddenly exploded into bright orange? Those crazy Halloween costumes that you want to remember forever? These are the moments that you want to be prepared for. You will find that the more you have your camera on you and at the ready, the more you begin to have the mindset of a photographer. In other words, the more you look, the more you'll see.
When you are taking your photos, don't simply take one and move on. The advent of digital photography has enabled all of us to snap away without fear that we are wasting any film. The more shots you take the better chance you have of getting a great one where the subject, the lighting, and the composition all come together.
Get Some Words Too:
Just as you take your camera with you everywhere, you should also get in the habit of keeping a small notebook in your pocket. Photo books work great with bits of text interspersed, whether they come in the form of captions or in small essays or quotes. If you are a writer at all you will relish this part of the project. If not, you can look around for quotes that have to do with autumn, have some friends or family members contribute some thoughts about the photos they are in, or simply stick to captions and short explanations.
Arranging and Design:
If you do not have Photoshop, take a look around for a similar program so you can do at least some basic photo editing. You can do a lot of great things with photos with such simple tricks as cropping and adjusting the brightness and contrast. Of course, the better you are at these type of programs the more you can do. It might be worth your while to look around online for a tutorial if you have the time and inclination.
As far as layout, there are free templates available online if you don't have access to programs like PageMaker or Indesign. Whichever route you choose to go, give some consideration to the flow of your book. Do you want it to be chronological or more thematic? Let your creativity be your guide, and be sure to use some blocks of text to keep things flowing along and to provide context if necessary.
Printing and Binding:
Use the best color printing method that you can get your hands on. When it comes to binding, you will either want to see what your local print shop has to offer as far as hardcover options, send it all away somewhere, or pick up your own binding machine. These machines can be had for remarkably little money, are dead simple to use, and offer the speed and flexibility to make whatever books you want to make whenever you want to make them.
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