A print is not a screen. Light bounces off paper instead of shining through it, and that changes how colours, darks and fine detail look. Knowing a little about paper and size helps every book look the way you hoped.
This is how the two pictures sit together on one spread.
Keep it simple
Most of this is invisible when it is done right. You only notice it when it goes wrong.
If in doubt, print a single test page first. It is cheaper than a whole book.
- Leave the cover for last
- Star photos as you take them
- Back up before deleting anything
What to look for
When a month has a big event in it, such as a wedding or a first day at school, let it take over. There is no rule that says every week needs equal space. The book should feel like the month felt.
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.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
A few small rules
Do not wait for a special occasion. The ordinary weeks are the ones people forget, and the ones they most want to see again.
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.
Quick tip: star photos on your phone as you take them. Picking takes half the time at the end of the month.
What we got wrong
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.
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.
- Back up before deleting anything
- Include at least one place, not just faces
- Star photos as you take them
One more thing
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 sizes matter less than you think. A small photo surrounded by white space can feel more special than one stretched to fill the page.
The book comes, and for one evening nobody looks at their phone.
Marcus, father of three
Make it a habit
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.
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.
Good to know: every Paperleaf book has room for thirty photos, so there is no prize for keeping more.
When to stop
Keep the rejected photos somewhere safe for a while. Tastes change, and a picture you passed over may be the one you want next year.
Share the book when it arrives. Leaving it on the kitchen table for a day is often enough for everyone to have a look.
- Back up before deleting anything
- Leave the cover for last
- Pick a fixed day each month
Try it this month
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 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.
Picking is a skill. Like any skill, it gets faster.
Priya Nair, Paperleaf print room
Why it works
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.
Be generous on the first pass. You are not deciding what goes in the book yet, only what is definitely out.
Good to know: every Paperleaf book has room for thirty photos, so there is no prize for keeping more.
Start with what you already have
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.
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.
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Keep one photo per day at most
- Back up before deleting anything
Keep it simple
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.
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.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
What to look for
Back up before you delete anything. It takes a minute and removes the fear that stops people from clearing out at all.
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.
Quick tip: star photos on your phone as you take them. Picking takes half the time at the end of the month.
A few small rules
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.
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.
- Leave the cover for last
- Keep one photo per day at most
- Star photos as you take them
What we got wrong
Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.
Do not be afraid of imperfect photos. A little blur or a stray elbow often tells you more about the day than a tidy, posed shot.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
Such a simple idea and I had never tried it. Doing it tonight.
Saving this for the end of the month. Last Sunday it is.
Such a simple idea and I had never tried it. Doing it tonight.
Agreed, this was the tip that worked for us too.
We tried the one-photo-per-day rule last month and it made picking so much easier. Thank you!
Thank you for not telling me to buy a new camera.