How To Choose The Best Format For Your Photo Book

by Alex Melen on September 29, 2022

How To Choose The Best Format For Your Photo Book

Putting together a photo book can be lots of fun for the entire family. When it comes to the format that you would like to use, there are some things to consider. While there are different formats that you can consider, it is usually wise to get the basics of putting together a photo book right. This way, the selection of a format becomes relatively easier. Here are some factors to consider when you are putting your photo book together and selecting the format to use.

 Less is More

A natural tendency when it comes to photo books is to try to cram as many photos as possible on every single page. A photo book is a storybook, not a photo storage device. Cramming too many photos will naturally lead you to selecting large photo book formats, which in turn defeats the purpose of the photo book in the first place. Instead, allow your photos to take center stage of each page by limiting the number of photos that go into each page. This is not only good for formatting purposes, but it has another hidden advantage. Putting fewer photos in your album forces you to choose the best photos, the ones that have the most meaning to you, and so on. This in turn raises the quality of the photo book and ensures it has a special place in your heart.

 Select Your Centerpiece

 In any collection of photographs, we have one that we think is outstanding. When you find this one, ensure that it gets its own spread. This is in keeping with the earlier formatting rule that less is more. In selecting where to place it, you must make sure that the centerpiece is also in keeping with the story that you are trying to tell through the photo book. If you are torn between two or more favorite photos, you could select one to be the centerpiece, but also give the others a prominent place in the photo book.

Vary The Spreads

To ensure that your photo book retains a certain personality, you should vary the photos as well as how they are spread in the book. This variety is good for the eye, as viewers of the photo book don't get tired of the same formats. How much you vary the spreads will be determined by the format of the photo book that you choose. Let us look at the formats that are commonly available in the market

 Formats Of Photo Books

 In this context, we use photo book formats to describe the shapes and sizes of common photo books. Here is a list of what you can find easily in the market:

  • Small Square - Is small enough to keep in a bag and thus a great photo book to carry around with you. Small squares also make perfect gift items as they don’t take up too much space.
  • Small landscape - This is also a small photo book that is also ideal for personal photos and can be carried around easily. The landscape nature of the book allows for photos of different dimensions to be inserted.
  • Medium Square - This is still small enough to be carried around, but can also be placed on the coffee table.
  • Medium Landscape - Just like a small landscape, this allows you to put different photo formats.
  • Medium Portrait - medium portrait can work great for photos of different sizes. The extra vertical space allows you to play with different formats.
  • Large Square - At this point, we are in coffee table photo book formats. Square photos work great with this.
  • Large Portrait - Large portrait photos are great with this.
  • Large Landscape - If you have landscape photos that you would like to showcase, the large landscape format is perfect for this purpose
  • Extra-Large - Whether portrait, square or landscape, these photo books are ideal for a display or large coffee table.
BACK TO TOP