How to make a photo book from thousands of photos
Do not start by choosing layouts. Put every photo in, sort them by day, settle each group of near-identical shots first, then pick favourites. About one photo in twelve to one in five as a favourite makes a well-paced book, and those favourites decide the big pages.
1. Put everything in
Add the whole trip, including the bursts and the doubtful ones. Deciding what to leave out is easier when photos are side by side than when you are scrolling a camera roll.
2. Sort by day
A trip already has chapters: its days. Sorting by the time each photo was taken gives the book its order and its chapter openers without any decisions from you.
3. Settle the look-alikes first
Most of the bulk in a big set is the same moment taken five times. Compare those shots two at a time and keep the better one each round, until one is left. It is faster than judging five at once, and it removes hundreds of photos before you have chosen a single favourite.
4. Pick favourites, with a number in mind
Go through what is left once, quickly, and mark the photos you love. A useful target is between 8% and 20% of the photos: for 300 photos, that is 24 to 60 favourites. Fewer and the book has no highlights; many more and every page is trying to be the highlight.
5. Let favourites shape the pages
Give each favourite the biggest spot on its page, or a page of its own, and let the other photos from that moment sit around it. The best one or two go on the cover.
6. Write a few captions, not all of them
A handful of captions is enough to make a book feel told: roughly one for every ten photos in the book. Answer a question about the photo (where was this, what happened next) and you have a caption.
7. Check, then print
Before printing, look for photos that are too small for their frames, text too close to the edge and empty spots. Then export the files and take them to a print shop.
How Tadabook does this
Each step above is a small game in Tadabook: Keep or skip for favourites, Best of the bunch for look-alikes, a question per photo for captions, and print quests for the final check. Photos are sorted by day and laid out for you along the way.