Photo Book Perfection: Your Ultimate Checklist
When you make a photo book, you capture a moment in time. And creating perfection is a breeze with our ultimate checklist. After all, we all want to display our fabulous photos to perfection.
You’ve captured birthdays, weddings, holidays and countless other events. But now it’s time to make a photo book, and you’ll turn your photos into something to gift or treasure. And with so many themes and layouts to choose from, you’re sure to create something brimming with unforgettable memories.
Best of all, you're not limited to your treasured snaps. Add funny or thought-provoking text with scans of tickets and other memorabilia to enrich your story. Then, it’s time to get started with myFUJIFILM’s photo book editing tool.
What should you include in your photo book?
There's one aspect that can shape and elevate your entire photo book. So, if you want to move beyond a collection of images, you need a strong theme. Of course, your photos will look great reproduced on our beautiful Fujifilm paper — but telling a story will unite everything as a cohesive and memorable whole.
We all love to tell stories with images. And your photo book theme shouldn’t put a limit on the stories you tell. Comedic, romantic or nostalgic, your stories deserve to be told. Organise your photos so the narrative has a clear beginning, middle and end. The beauty of the myFUJIFILM photo book editor is that you can add, edit and save content to use in your projects anytime. If a theme doesn't jump out at you, think about who the book is for or what it represents. Remember, you can chop and change as much as you like until you get the perfect result.
There are plenty of photo book design trends to choose from. You could pay tribute to a lost loved one with a book of remembrance. Or capture a year in the life of your and your children's lives. Set yourself a month-long photography challenge and translate the best images into book form. Or document the first precious year in your newborn’s life.
One of our favourite themes is creating a children’s storybook. You'll ignite their imagination when you make them the hero of their own adventure. Or create the perfect wedding album that lets you reflect back on your amazing day. And with careful curation and funny anecdotes, even those simple holiday snaps transform into unforgettable memories.
How do you structure a photo book?
There's no right or wrong way to make a photo book. After all, nothing is stopping you from including just about anything you want. In most cases, it makes sense to order your images chronologically. Your holiday book might start with an airport selfie and end with the last sunset of your trip. And your baby book is bound to show your little one growing from bump to toddler.
You can also organise your photos by season of the year or by month. But you could also use complementing colour schemes to group your photos. Often, your best images will leap off the page. In that case, "best of" photography books show off your most extraordinary snaps of landscapes and architecture.
Once you're happy with the structure, label each photo. Store it in a folder ready to upload to your myFUJIFILM photo book maker. Trust us — a bit of organisation will make your next project much more straightforward.
What’s the best shape for a photo book
Square or rectangular, neither shape is better than the other when it comes to photo book creation. However, it’s worth thinking about which shape will fit your theme and photos:
- Landscape: Showcase your landscape photography with a large landscape premium photo book. The horizontal, lie-flat pages will make the most of your panoramic shots. And for coffee table photo books, this layout has the most significant visual impact.
- Portrait: Love taking portraits? A vertical book is the best choice to showcase your images. Stick with one photo on each page to capture more people that matter to you.
- Square: Try a versatile square photo book for Instagram pics, selfies, and candid shots. They're also perfect for commemorative birthday, anniversary or wedding books because you can easily resize your best pictures.
Mini photo books are the right size to slip into a bag and make fabulous gifts and keepsakes, giving you just enough room to add messages and captions.
Medium books make a fantastic present and fit nicely on any shelf or coffee table. Or go large to showcase your travels or a selection of fleeting moments. Our large format photo books are ideal for capturing a wedding or family celebration.
Final checks before you print your photo book
You’ve organised and uploaded your photos. You’ve found a theme and structure that works. And you’ve picked the perfect size photo book. Be sure to run through this final checklist before you print your photo book:
1. Do you have the desired number of pages?
The number of pages depends on the theme and subject. As a general guide, we suggest around:
- 20-30 pages for a baby book
- 30-40 pages for weddings, family celebrations and travel
- Up to 50 pages for photography books
Collages and page layouts will help you maximise the number of photos per page. But less is usually more, so keep filtering as you go. At myFUJIFILM, our photo books are between 20 - and 150 pages. But 30 to 50 pages is a good range to start with.
2. Does the layout work?
There are so many photo book layouts to choose from. You might be set on minimalist chic, eclectic scrapbooking or a year in review. But be careful that the layout showcases your images and looks cohesive. Of course, you don’t have to choose one layout for every page — go with what looks best with the images you have. Just remember to keep things uncluttered so your photos shine.
3. Are the margins wide enough?
For best results, always give your photos some white space. Widen your borders if you need to capture every detail.
You can also choose to have a photo printed to fill the entire page. If so, make sure there's nothing important remaining around the edges. If there is, opt for a margin or print against a background.
4. Are your photos the correct resolution?
Resolution is everything, and it's essential for lie-flat double-spread layouts. The higher the resolution, the better the reproduction. So go through your photos and weed out any that will give a blurry or pixelated result.
Try zooming in on your images so you’re viewing them at 200% of their actual size. Any issues you notice will also be visible in your printed book. Swap out any problem images for a fantastic final result.
5. Is everything aligned?
You’ll instantly spot if anything isn’t aligned correctly. It’s a question of playing with text boxes and other elements so they line up and look pleasing to the eye. Fortunately, our myFUJIFILM photo book maker takes the guesswork out of the way. However, it’s always worth having a final check before you order.
6. Have you checked your spelling?
There’s nothing like a typo to ruin the effect of your carefully planned photo book. So, you’ll need to check and double-check that everything’s spelt correctly. Keep your captions short and pithy. And keep your font use consistent. Choose something showy for the title and a sans-serif font for legibility.
7. Have you got the paper type you want (lustre or gloss)?
Paper choice is the key to a perfect photo book. Of course, it's also subjective and guided by your taste. But the paper you select will affect the outcome. Matt and gloss papers give quite different results. So, be sure you've picked the right one for your project.
- Lustre paper has a subtle texture and soft sheen. It’s the traditional choice for portraits and wedding albums because of its reflective, timeless quality. We’d suggest choosing a premium photo book if this is the finish you crave.
- Gloss paper is distinctive and highly reflective. Your photos will have rich colours and sharp blacks — the crisp results are perfect for images that pop.
8. Is your photo book design consistent?
Consistency is key to design success. Does your eye naturally move from page to page? Is there plenty of balance between your images and white space? Are your fonts easy to read? Does your layout look clean and uncluttered with beautiful photos? If so, you're ready to print your photo book.
Make a photo book you can treasure with myFUJIFILM
Your photo books are designed to last a lifetime. And our ultimate checklist makes creating your own project a piece of cake. So why not start planning and designing your next incredible photography book at myFUJIFILM today?