How many photos do you need for a photo book?
As a rule of thumb, 40 to 120 photos fill a photo book nicely. Here's how to work out the number, and how to choose the best ones.
Work it out
The number of photos depends on two things: how many pages the book has, and how many photos you put on each page.
A photo book has from 28 to 120 pages, and a page can hold from one to five photos. If the book has 40 pages and you put two or three photos on each page, you’ll need 80 to 120 photos.
Most good photo books mix it up. The best photo from a day gets a whole page to itself, and a series from the same place shares a page. That gives the book a rhythm, so it doesn’t feel like an album of nothing but small photos.
When you have too many photos
This is the most common problem: your phone is full, and everything’s gone in. Here’s how to cut down:
- Take out the ones that are almost the same. If you took ten of the same moment, keep the best one.
- Drop the screenshots and photos of receipts, signs and car parks.
- Choose photos that tell you something. One photo of the whole family round the table says more than five of the food.
- Put more on a page. A layout with four or five photos can hold a whole day.
- Add pages. The price is for the minimum number of pages, and extra pages cost from DKK 5 per 2 pages.
When you have too few photos
- Give the best ones a whole page. A large photo fills the space and looks good.
- Write a little text. A date, a place or a few lines about the day make the book personal and fill out a page.
- Choose a smaller book. If you only have a few dozen photos, stick to the minimum number of pages.
Choose photos that tell a story
The best photo book has a beginning, a middle and an end. Think in chapters: setting off, the first few days, the highlight and the journey home. Mix the big pictures with the details, the little things you’d otherwise forget.
Put yourself in it too. The person taking the photos often isn’t in a single one.
Will the photos be sharp enough?
When you edit a photo in the app, it shows you how sharp it will be in print. Read more in Will your photos be sharp enough for a photo book?
Ready to start? See the photo books, or read How to make a photo book on your iPhone.