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.
The clip below is what we put on while sorting. It runs long enough to get through a month of photos.
What we got wrong
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.
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Include at least one place, not just faces
- Leave the cover for last
Start with what you already have
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.
Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
What to look for
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.
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.
Reader tip: one family keeps a paper list on the fridge of moments they want in the next book.
Keep it simple
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.
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.
- Star photos as you take them
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Include at least one place, not just faces
Try it this month
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.
Back up before you delete anything. It takes a minute and removes the fear that stops people from clearing out at all.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
Why it works
Take one photo before the moment and one after. The before and after often say more than the moment itself.
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.
Good to know: every Paperleaf book has room for thirty photos, so there is no prize for keeping more.
Make it a habit
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.
If a month feels thin, look again at the photos you took without thinking. The best ones are often hiding there.
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Back up before deleting anything
- Write a few words beside the best ones
A few small rules
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.
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.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
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.
Hand the phone to someone else at least once a month. It is the only way the photographer gets into the book.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
One more thing
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.
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.
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Write a few words beside the best ones
- Leave the cover for last
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.
Delete duplicates as you go rather than saving them for later. Later rarely comes, and a cleaner camera roll makes picking much easier.
Picking is a skill. Like any skill, it gets faster.
Priya Nair, Paperleaf print room
Start with what you already have
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.
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.
Reader tip: one family keeps a paper list on the fridge of moments they want in the next book.
What to look for
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.
Be generous on the first pass. You are not deciding what goes in the book yet, only what is definitely out.
- Back up before deleting anything
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Write a few words beside the best ones
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.
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.
The book comes, and for one evening nobody looks at their phone.
Marcus, father of three
My grandmother cried when she got the book. That is all I wanted to say.