Picking is the part nobody warns you about. Taking photos is easy; deciding which ones deserve paper is where most monthly books stall. The trick is to make several quick passes rather than one slow one, and to decide before you start how many photos the month actually needs.
Reader tip: one family keeps a paper list on the fridge of moments they want in the next book.
We don’t take more photos than we used to. We just look at them now.
Ana, a reader since the first year
Try it this month
Start with the photos you would rescue from a fire. There are usually five or six, and they make every other choice easier because the month already has its anchors.
Do not compare every photo with every other photo. Compare each one only with its neighbours, keep the best of a small group and move on.
- Star photos as you take them
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Pick a fixed day each month
What to look for
If you share a camera roll with someone, agree on who picks which month. Taking turns means each book has a slightly different point of view, and nobody ends up doing all of the work every time.
Leave a little space. Not every page needs to be full, and an empty corner gives the eye somewhere to rest.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
When to stop
Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.
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.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
What we got wrong
Write the year on the spine. It sounds obvious, but without it a shelf of books quickly becomes a puzzle.
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.
- Write a few words beside the best ones
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Include at least one place, not just faces
Start with what you already have
Back up before you delete anything. It takes a minute and removes the fear that stops people from clearing out at all.
Hand the phone to someone else at least once a month. It is the only way the photographer gets into the book.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
Make it a habit
Be generous on the first pass. You are not deciding what goes in the book yet, only what is definitely out.
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.
Good to know: every Paperleaf book has room for thirty photos, so there is no prize for keeping more.
One more thing
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.
Most people find the first month the hardest. You are learning what you like, and every photo feels important. By the third month you will notice yourself moving faster, trusting your first reaction and spending your time on the handful of close calls instead of on every single picture.
- Star photos as you take them
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Hand the camera to someone else
Keep it simple
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.
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