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.
The clip below is what we put on while sorting. It runs long enough to get through a month of photos.
What to look for
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.
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Write a few words beside the best ones
- Back up before deleting anything
What we got wrong
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.
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.
Picking is a skill. Like any skill, it gets faster.
Priya Nair, Paperleaf print room
Make it a habit
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.
Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
A few small rules
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.
Back up before you delete anything. It takes a minute and removes the fear that stops people from clearing out at all.
- Keep one photo per day at most
- Include at least one place, not just faces
- Leave the cover for last
Try it this month
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.
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.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
When to stop
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.
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.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
Why it works
Share the book when it arrives. Leaving it on the kitchen table for a day is often enough for everyone to have a look.
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.
- Star photos as you take them
- Back up before deleting anything
- Write a few words beside the best ones
One more thing
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.
If a month feels thin, look again at the photos you took without thinking. The best ones are often hiding there.
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
Take one photo before the moment and one after. The before and after often say more than the moment itself.
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.
Start with what you already have
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.
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.
- Write a few words beside the best ones
- Star photos as you take them
- Pick a fixed day each month
What to look for
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.
Write the year on the spine. It sounds obvious, but without it a shelf of books quickly becomes a puzzle.
The book comes, and for one evening nobody looks at their phone.
Marcus, father of three
What we got wrong
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 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.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
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.
Do not wait for a special occasion. The ordinary weeks are the ones people forget, and the ones they most want to see again.
- Star photos as you take them
- Leave the cover for last
- Write a few words beside the best ones
A few small rules
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.
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.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
Such a simple idea and I had never tried it. Doing it tonight.
We have the same problem. Starring photos as we go helped a lot.
Saving this for the end of the month. Last Sunday it is.
Agreed, this was the tip that worked for us too.
We have the same problem. Starring photos as we go helped a lot.
Same here! It got easier after the second month.
Thank you for not telling me to buy a new camera.
We tried the one-photo-per-day rule last month and it made picking so much easier. Thank you!