Your phone is a better camera than you think. Most disappointing photos come down to light, distance and a dirty lens, not to the hardware. A few habits fix nearly all of them.
This is how the two pictures sit together on one spread.
A few small rules
None of this needs an app or an accessory. It only needs a moment of attention before you press the button.
If you try only one thing this month, try this one. It takes no time and the difference shows up on the first page of the book.
- Star photos as you take them
- Back up before deleting anything
- Keep one photo per day at most
Start with what you already have
Take one photo before the moment and one after. The before and after often say more than the moment itself.
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.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
Make it a habit
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.
Keep the phone charged and the lens clean on days you expect to matter. It sounds small, but a flat battery or a smudged lens has cost more good pictures than any missing piece of equipment.
Good to know: every Paperleaf book has room for thirty photos, so there is no prize for keeping more.
When to stop
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.
Do not wait for a special occasion. The ordinary weeks are the ones people forget, and the ones they most want to see again.
- Leave the cover for last
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Keep one photo per day at most
What to look for
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.
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.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
Keep it simple
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.
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.
Reader tip: one family keeps a paper list on the fridge of moments they want in the next book.
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 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.
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Keep one photo per day at most
One more thing
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.
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.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
Try it this month
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.
Keep a note of what happened that month as you go. A few words beside a photo are worth far more than you expect a year later.
Reader tip: one family keeps a paper list on the fridge of moments they want in the next book.
Why it works
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.
Back up before you delete anything. It takes a minute and removes the fear that stops people from clearing out at all.
- Star photos as you take them
- Leave the cover for last
- Write a few words beside the best ones
A few small rules
Watch the light at different times of day in your own home. Most houses have one window that is lovely for an hour every afternoon.
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.
The book comes, and for one evening nobody looks at their phone.
Marcus, father of three
Start with what you already have
Do not forget the in-between moments: the car park before the party, the coats piled on a chair, the walk home in the dark. They are the parts of a day that nobody photographs on purpose and everybody recognises straight away.
Be generous on the first pass. You are not deciding what goes in the book yet, only what is definitely out.
Quick tip: star photos on your phone as you take them. Picking takes half the time at the end of the month.
Make it a habit
Share the book when it arrives. Leaving it on the kitchen table for a day is often enough for everyone to have a look.
A good caption answers the question someone will ask in twenty years. Who is that? Where were we? Why is everyone wet? Write the answer while you still know it, even if it feels too obvious to bother with today.
- Leave the cover for last
- Write a few words beside the best ones
- Include at least one place, not just faces
When to stop
Leave a little space. Not every page needs to be full, and an empty corner gives the eye somewhere to rest.
If a month feels thin, look again at the photos you took without thinking. The best ones are often hiding there.
Picking is a skill. Like any skill, it gets faster.
Priya Nair, Paperleaf print room
I never thought about the light from the window. Moved the high chair and the difference is huge.
Older kids are tricky. Asking them to take some of the photos works better than chasing them.
The bit about writing names on the back hit home. We have a box of strangers in our loft.
My grandmother cried when she got the book. That is all I wanted to say.
Try giving them the phone for a day. Worked with my teenager.
Thank you for not telling me to buy a new camera.
I printed our first book after reading this and my daughter has not put it down since.
I never thought about the light from the window. Moved the high chair and the difference is huge.