A trip produces hundreds of photos and, often, very little story. Back home, the camera roll is full of landmarks and empty of the moments that made the trip feel like yours.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
We don’t take more photos than we used to. We just look at them now.
Ana, a reader since the first year
Start with what you already have
Think of each day as a short chapter. A beginning, something in the middle, and an ending.
The people you travelled with matter more than the places. Make sure they are in the pictures.
- Delete the obvious misses: blurs, pockets and thumbs.
- Star one photo per day, even on dull days.
- Pick the cover last, once the month has a shape.
One more thing
Take one photo before the moment and one after. The before and after often say more than the moment itself.
Look back at last year’s book before you start this month’s. It reminds you what you enjoyed seeing again and what you skipped past, which makes this month’s choices quicker and kinder.
| Print size | Smallest file | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Square page | 1800 × 1800 px | Single photos |
| Full spread | 3600 × 1800 px | Landscapes and groups |
| Quarter page | 900 × 900 px | Small moments |
A few small rules
If you have too many photos of one day, that day probably mattered. Give it a spread of its own rather than cutting it down to one.
Some readers keep a short list of rules on a sticky note beside the computer. Ours says: faces first, then places, then anything that made us laugh. It is not scientific, but it stops the session turning into an evening of second-guessing.
- Back up before deleting anything
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Pick a fixed day each month
What to look for
Ask someone else to look at your shortlist. They will spot the photo you were about to drop and the one you only kept out of habit.
Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.
What we got wrong
If a month feels thin, look again at the photos you took without thinking. The best ones are often hiding there.
Quiet months are worth printing too. A month with no trips and no birthdays often turns into the book people return to, because it shows what ordinary life looked like before it changed.
Quick tip: star photos on your phone as you take them. Picking takes half the time at the end of the month.
Why it works
Try to include everyone. It is easy to end up with a book full of the children and none of the person holding the camera.
Think about how the photos sit next to each other. Two busy pictures side by side can fight; a busy one beside a quiet one usually works.
- Delete the obvious misses: blurs, pockets and thumbs.
- Star one photo per day, even on dull days.
- Pick the cover last, once the month has a shape.
Make it a habit
If two photos are nearly the same, keep the one where someone is doing something. A raised hand, a turned head or a half-finished sentence gives a picture life that a perfectly still pose rarely has, even when the still one is technically better.
Try not to edit every photo. A little brightening is fine, but heavy filters date quickly and make a year of books look uneven when they sit together on a shelf. Let the light of the day show.
| Print size | Smallest file | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Square page | 1800 × 1800 px | Single photos |
| Full spread | 3600 × 1800 px | Landscapes and groups |
| Quarter page | 900 × 900 px | Small moments |
Try it this month
Back up before you delete anything. It takes a minute and removes the fear that stops people from clearing out at all.
It helps to know what the book is for before you start. A book for grandparents wants faces and clear captions. A book for yourself can hold the odd corner of the garden, the shadow on the wall and the plate of food that only makes sense to you.
- Back up before deleting anything
- Star photos as you take them
- Leave the cover for last
Keep it simple
Make a cup of tea, sit somewhere comfortable and put the phone on do-not-disturb. The job goes faster when it does not compete with messages.
Set aside a fixed time for it. The last Sunday of the month works for a lot of readers because the week is quiet and the month is complete.
When to stop
Hand the phone to someone else at least once a month. It is the only way the photographer gets into the book.
Print sizes matter less than you think. A small photo surrounded by white space can feel more special than one stretched to fill the page.
Quick tip: star photos on your phone as you take them. Picking takes half the time at the end of the month.
Start with what you already have
If you miss a month, do not try to catch up all at once. Start again with this month and fill the gap later if you feel like it.
On the second pass, look for variety. A month of the same room and the same faces feels flat, even if each photo is lovely on its own.
- Delete the obvious misses: blurs, pockets and thumbs.
- Star one photo per day, even on dull days.
- Pick the cover last, once the month has a shape.
Saving this for the end of the month. Last Sunday it is.
Older kids are tricky. Asking them to take some of the photos works better than chasing them.
Lovely post. The bit about keeping the blurry photos made me go back and rescue a few.
Saving this for the end of the month. Last Sunday it is.