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.
Here are the photos that made it into the book. Tap any of them to see it larger.
6 photos
Select a photo to see it larger. Use the arrow keys to move between photos.
When to stop
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
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Star photos as you take them
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.
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.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
Start with what you already have
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.
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.
This is exactly the nudge I needed. My camera roll has four thousand photos from this year alone.
Great question. Start with one photo per child per day and swap them on the second pass.
So glad it helped. Let us know how the first book turns out.
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.