5 Tips for Putting Together a Photo Yearbook

Although advances in digital technology mean we’re now taking more photos than ever, they also mean we’re printing fewer of them. But since each year is different and special in its own way, it’s important to find ways to enjoy and display your favourite photographs.

Annual photobooks make wonderful keepsakes and thoughtful gifts for close friends and family, and going through your archive of photos and selecting the best ones to add to your photobook is also a great opportunity to reflect on everything that’s happened over the past year.

Of course, staring at a blank page can be a little intimidating, so if you’d like to turn some of your best photographs from the past year into a year-in-review, highlights, or travel photo book, here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Get organised

Before you start putting your family yearbook book together, it’s always a good idea to spend some time organising your photos so you can easily find what you’re looking for. Once this is done, you can also work on deleting any duplicate or poor quality photos.

Android and iPhone devices do have built-in photo management apps, but there are other apps, such as Google Photos, Amazon Photos or Flickr, that are great for making your photos easily accessible on multiple devices. For storing and organising photographs on your laptop or PC, Lightroom is also a great tool that allows you to search for specific photos using metadata and keywords, and make any important edits before printing your photos.

2. Start with an outline or theme

If you’re not sure where to begin with your yearbook, think about the outline or theme that you’d like your photobook to have. For instance, you might want to create a travel yearbook that features primarily photos from all the trips you’ve taken over the past year, or maybe you want it to document your children’s most important milestones.

You can also use the seasons as inspiration for your yearbook and add four different sections with spring, summer, autumn and winter-themed photos. When creating your outline, one way to make sure you don’t leave anything important out is to make a list of all the people, places and events you’d like to include, such as close friends and family members, pets, holidays, and fun events. Significant events or milestones such as your child acting in the school play or learning to ride their bike can also be nice to include.

3. Mix things up a bit

Although your photo book can be anywhere between 26 and 178 pages long, resist the urge to include too many photos that are overly similar or numerous images from a single day or event. Instead, mix things up a bit by including a variety of images from different times and events throughout the year, as this will make your photobook more interesting to flip through. 

For instance, if it’s a travel photobook, you can include a mixture of food photos, family photos and photos of the activities you engaged in, as well as a few landscape and cityscape photographs. 

4. Select high quality photos

If you want your photo books to really stand out, it’s important to select high quality photos that are sharp and well-lit. Of course, you might be able to use photo editing software to make adjustments to a photo that’s poorly lit, but it’s best to steer clear of blurry photos entirely.

Also, keep in mind that since Bob Books are printed at 300 dpi, for the best results you must ensure that any images you want to include in your photobook meet this requirement. Not sure how to check a photo’s resolution? Simply right click on the photograph and go to “Get info” or “Details” and you’ll be able to see details such as image dimensions and resolution.

5. Remember the little things

When choosing photos, it’s good to select photos of important events, but don’t forget to add at least a few photos of seemingly ordinary everyday occurrences. Photos of an ordinary lunch at home with the kids or your dog’s antics in the forest paint a picture of your daily life and will be even more meaningful to look back on years later when your daily routines have changed.

Finally, remember that even if your yearbook isn’t perfect or you forget to include something, having any photobook is better than having none at all, so just enjoy the process.

Looking for more tips for your family yearbook? Check out these creative ideas for family photo books or head over to our products page to choose your preferred paper type, size, and layout.