Outline a plan for your book of photographs. Decide if there will be categories you will place your photographs in, or if you will arrange them randomly. Give consideration to the layout of the photographs. Consider the information you will include with each photograph, such as date taken, location or a brief description of the photo.
Create the main document for your book in a word processor or desktop publishing software. Create an introduction for your book that gives an overview of who you are, your professional background, and what readers can expect to find in your book of photographs. This information might include the time period over which the photos in your book were taken, subject matter covered, and even a brief outline of the types of equipment you used for the photos.
Size your digital photographs in an image-editing program according to how they will appear in your book. Avoid including too many images per page. This will mean your images will need to be smaller, which will make it more difficult for readers to enjoy them. Because this is a book of photography, you want the photos to be the central focus of the book. Use a variety of layouts to make the book more appealing. Avoid placing an even number of photographs on each page, neatly lined up.
Create your photo book in your desktop publishing or word-processing software. Insert the photos one page at a time and then type your caption beneath each photo. If you used a specific technique for a photo, consider including that in the caption. You may want to add anecdotes pertaining to some of the photos, just to make the viewing of the photos more interesting.
Save your finished document as a PDF file, which can be viewed cross-platform exactly as you laid it out. Word 2007, Wordperfect, and newer versions of OpenOffice let you save files directly to PDF. If you don't have PDF-save capabilities, you can download a free virtual printer that will allow you to print to PDF from any program that has print capabilities (see Resources).
Deliver your PDF file to a professional printer capable of printing and binding books. Go over your options with the printer for binding your book. Look for the option that gives you the type of binding you want and that fits your budget. There are plenty of print-on-demand publishers online that allow you to print small runs of your book as you need them (see Resources).