Shutterfly introduced its "Simple Path" solution to creating basic photo books some time ago and is now giving users access to their photos on Facebook directly.

iPhoto has been a popular piece of software for Apple users for many years. I've always been tempted by their photo books but have never got round to ordering one. I'd like to create one to sample the quality and service and will feature the results on Cool Photo. If you've never used the software, its actually very straight forward to use. Simply select the photos you want to include in the book (select more than you need as you can always narrow down your selection) and click on "Book" at the bottom of iPhoto.

The following photos came bundled with my MacBook Pro under a Tibet photo project, so I selected all of them:

Finding a company that will print your images into a hard cover book at an affordable price and with great quality? No way!

Remember those days where it was virtually impossible to do this - it really wasn't that long ago! I remember as a photographer I began offering photo books years ago, but the cost was high and the process was lengthy in getting an order uploaded. But not anymore! Now there are many companies that offer this one-off printing - some good, some not so good.

But one I have found that seems to offer great quality, pricing and even sense of community is Blurb.