Clean the lens before you blame the phone

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.

Here are the photos that made it into the book. Tap any of them to see it larger.

Why it works

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.

• Hand the camera to someone else
• Write a few words beside the best ones
• Back up before deleting anything

Make it a habit

Delete duplicates as you go rather than saving them for later. Later rarely comes, and a cleaner camera roll makes picking much easier.

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.

We don’t take more photos than we used to. We just look at them now.

Ana, a reader since the first year

Keep it simple

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.

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.

Good to know: every Paperleaf book has room for thirty photos, so there is no prize for keeping more.

When to stop

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.

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.

• Pick a fixed day each month
• Leave the cover for last
• Star photos as you take them

A few small rules

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.

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.

The book comes, and for one evening nobody looks at their phone.

Marcus, father of three

What to look for

Be generous on the first pass. You are not deciding what goes in the book yet, only what is definitely out.

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.

Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.

Try it this month

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.

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
• Pick a fixed day each month
• Keep one photo per day at most

Start with what you already have

Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.

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

What we got wrong

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.