One of the best parts of traveling is the memories we create. After all, the best trips happen in three stages: the first, when we plan them; the second, when we experience them; and the third, when we reminisce about them.
I come from a time when we’d take four rolls of film with 4 photos each for a month-long trip. When we returned, we’d be so anxious to get them developed, only to find that maybe ten were any good. Yet, every single one was special. They’re the few physical records of moments that shaped me and remain precious.
These days, I come back from a fifteen-day trip with over two thousand photos. Usually, even more than that. Photos that will inevitably get lost in the black hole of some cloud storage, buried among the millions I’ll likely accumulate.
This started to bother me. That’s not why I take photos. I take them to remember moments, to relive emotions, to use each photo as a gateway to a story, an experience—days that will never come back.
Thus, , I began making photo albums of my trips . My first attempts were simply printing the photos in book format, and they left a lot to be desired in terms of design. But over time, I refined my technique, found the best suppliers, the right software, and improved my process.
Creating these albums became one of the most enjoyable parts of traveling. It’s a creative exercise wrapped in the sweetest memories. And they look beautiful displayed on a shelf or coffee table — check out the photo below of the albums from our trips to South Africa and Costa Rica. They turned out great!
So let's learn how to create a beautiful photo album to commemorate your special trip!
NOTE: I don’t make albums for others. This is a tutorial for you to make your own. I also don’t recommend album designers, as I’ve never used their services.
.
1. Decide on the album format, size and number of pages
Let’s start slow, as there are a lot of decisions to make. There’s no right or wrong, no better or worse — it all depends on your preferences, your style, and your budget.
The most important part of creating a travel photo album (or any themed album) is deciding the overall look and feel you want your album to have.
.
Album format
The first decision is whether your album will be square or rectangular. I’ve made both; my earlier ones were rectangular, but now I’m focusing on squares. Both formats are beautiful in their own way.
Below is the rectangular album from our trip to Guatemala, and square one from our Southeast Asia trip.
.
.
Album size
Sizes vary depending on where you’re printing, but the differences are generally small.
For square albums, think of 15x15cm as small, 21x21cm as medium, and 25x25cm as large. Some places offer 30x30cm or even 32x32cm, but frankly, that feels like overkill. I’ve settled on 25x25cm, which I find to be the perfect size for a large album.
For rectangular albums, sizes vary more depending on the printer, but you’re looking at something like 15x20cm for small and 21x30cm for large.
Naturally, the bigger the album, the higher the cost.
.
Type of paper
Printing services usually offer a range of paper types. I’ve tried a few, but I recommend sticking to the basics — matte-coated paper (couche-paper). Photographic paper is fantastic, but it’s usually much more expensive. For the best cost-benefit ratio, I always go for matte-coated paper. I’ve used glossy-coated paper before and didn’t like the result.
.
.
Paper weight
Grammage refers to the thickness (or density) of the paper. The higher the grammage, the thicker and sturdier the sheets will be.
Around 400gr / m2 and above, the pages become rigid (like what you often see in wedding albums).
After experimenting with different weights, I’ve found that for albums with flexible sheets (like a slightly thicker magazine), I prefer around 200 gr / m2 . For albums with rigid sheets, I go with 600 gr / m2 . I’ve tried heavier weights (like 800g/m²), but the album became unnecessarily bulky without any noticeable improvement in quality.
The photos above show an album with rigid sheets on the left and one with flexible sheets on the right.
Albums with flexible sheets are more like magazines, while those with rigid sheets can open flat at XNUMXº, allowing you to spread a single photo across two pages with no crease in the middle. I love the 180º opening style and highly recommend it if your budget allows.
Some printers only refer to albums as those with rigid sheets, while those with flexible sheets are called photobooks.
Of course, the heavier the paper, the more expensive the album, and the bulkier it becomes.
.
Cover type
Album covers come in a variety of materials — leather, fabric, linen, leatherette, padded, or photographic. Some printers also offer plain covers with a central window, letting you see part of the first page through the cover.
All the albums I’ve made have had photographic covers, like the Japan one in the photo below. A photographic cover simply means that the image is printed directly on the cover. (Okay, I lied — I did make one with a central window once, and I didn’t like it.)
Albums with rigid sheets have a hard cover; albums with flexible sheets can have a flexible cover or a hard cover.
.
.
Number of pages
You don’t need to decide upfront exactly how many pages your album will have, but it’s important to have a rough number in mind.
The number of pages directly impacts the cost of the album and how many photos you’ll be able to include.
Additionally, some print shops have limits on the minimum and maximum number of pages — usually, the minimum is 20, and the maximum can be 60, 80, 100, 120, or even 150 pages.
One important distinction: a page refers to each individual side of a sheet, just like in a book. A spread, on the other hand, consists of two pages — when you open the album, you see a page on the left and one on the right. Together, these make up one spread. So, a 20-page album will have 10 spreads.
In the photo below, you’ll see the album from our trip to Portugal with 36 spreads (72 pages), the one from Andalucia trip with 32 spreads (64 pages), and the one from Greece and Rome trip with 56 spreads (112 pages). The Greece and Rome album is the largest I’ve ever made, and looking back, I wouldn’t make one that big again. Not only is it heavy, but it’s also tiring to flip through. I think the ideal albums have between 24 and 32 spreads.
.
.
Choosing a printer for your album
I recommend choosing where you’ll print your album at this point, or even earlier.
This is because the options mentioned above — such as formats, sizes, cover types, paper choices, and grammages — vary depending on the printer. Each printing service has its own standards.
I live in Brazil and my favorite printer services are recommended on the Portuguese version of this post. After researching the internet and testing a few, and found a great printer service, with whom I print my albuns for the last eight years. I recommend you do the same: research and do a test, send a small album as a "test", eventually you'll find one that you love.
Usually the printing services offer free software for designing the layout of your album and cover. I used these free softwares for my first albums and found it simple and easy to use.
This is not a sponsored post. Every album I’ve made has been fully paid for by me at the standard market rate. This post is purely to teach you how to make your own travel photo album.
.
.
2. Select your photos
For me, this is the hardest part of creating a photo album. I think all the photos are great, so I want to include every single one, haha. But seriously, it’s a monumental task to narrow them down. From our trip to Japan, we came back with nearly 4 photos, and the album (one of the largest I’ve made, with 68 pages) ended up with just 186 photos.
But let’s be practical: the album should highlight the best moments of your trip.Not necessarily the most perfect photos, but the most special memories.
Here’s a rule I learned through experience: less is more. . Don’t overcrowd the album. It’s meant to be a photo album, not a comic book.
On average, I aim for about 2,5 photos per page. For a 20-page album, that’s around 50 photos. For 52 pages, it’s about 130 photos. But this is just an average.
At this stage, I usually select 40% to 60% more photos than I plan to use. So, for a 20-page album, the initial selection would be around 70 to 80 photos. For a 52-page album, that would be between 182 and 208 photos. When it’s time to design the album, I’ll make the final selection, choosing the images that best fit the story and aesthetic as the layout comes together.
.
.
3. Edit the photos
There are plenty of free and paid software options available to enhance your photos. It’s definitely worth spending a few minutes on this step, even if you don’t have much experience with photo editing.
Here are some simple adjustments that can make a big difference:
- Straighten the horizon
- Frame and crop the photo if needed
- Adjust the hue (white balance)
- Lighten shadows
- Check the saturation
I use Adobe Lightroom Classic - in the image above, you can see a screenshot from my editing process for the Guatemala trip. However, there are many other excellent photo editing tools, including native apps on iOS and Android, as well as apps like VSCO and Snapseed.
.
.
4. Layout the album
How to create an aesthetic and balanced album
Now comes the most fun part: arranging the photos in the album!
But be careful — it’s not just about randomly placing pictures on the pages. I like to think of the album as telling a story, capturing the best moments of the trip, evoking emotions, and bringing back memories.
I usually arrange the photos in chronological order, but depending on the situation, it might make more sense to group them by location or theme (such as nature, friends, events, etc.).
Adding short descriptions or captions gives context to the photos. You can include dates, locations, and even brief stories about what was happening in each picture. Don’t hesitate to add images of tickets, boarding passes, or event tickets if they fit the narrative of your album.
This is also the stage where I finalize my photo selection. As I start placing the photos on the pages, I might realize that certain combinations work better together, some photos feel repetitive, or others just don’t fit. This is the time to fine-tune and decide which photos truly deserve a place in the album..
And let me emphasize once again: less is more. Overloading the album with too many photos makes it overwhelming, and the final result won’t be as satisfying. Trust me on this.
Another tip is to experiment with different layouts to avoid making your album feel monotonous. For instance, one page might feature several smaller photos (but not too small!), while another might showcase a single large, impactful image.
As you practice, you’ll start to discover your own style and improve your technique. Below is an example of the album spreads from our Andalucia trip, which gives you a sense of the style I prefer 🙂
.
.
Album layout software
I’ve used the free design software provided by print companies for creating albums in the past, but now I use SmartAlbums, a paid software that’s incredibly easy to use, intuitive, packed with features, and allows you to save your design as a PDF for printing with any provider.
his is not a sponsored post. Every album I’ve made has been fully paid for by me, including the layout software, at market rates.
.
.
5. Create the cover, spine, and first spread
Most printing companies offer a variety of cover types, but my favorite is the photographic cover—essentially, an image printed on the cover.
The software provided by printing companies, as well as SmartAlbums, includes tools for editing the cover, allowing you to add text and effects. However, I personally love creating the cover in Photoshop , which is still the go-to software for this kind of creative project. I’m a huge fan of Photoshop, and even though I only know how to use maybe 2% of its features, the covers I make turn out beautifully, each one more stunning than the last.
Above, you can see the album cover from our trip to Japan. It consists of three parts: on the right side (the image of Matsumoto Castle) is the front cover; in the center is the spine; and on the left is the back cover, which is the reverse side of the album.
I also design the first spread of the album in Photoshop. . A spread is a double-page layout — when you open the album, you see the left and right pages together. I design this spread in Photoshop, save it as a .jpg file, and then include it in the SmartAlbums layout. On this first page, I like to add details about the trip: destinations we visited, specific dates, and other relevant information. Lately, I’ve been creating the first page as an infographic. It’s a lot of work, but it looks stunning and adds an interesting touch — just take a look below at the first page of our Alaska roadtrip, doesn’t it look amazing?
Don’t forget the spine of the album. Be sure to pay close attention when adding text to the spine: I like to rotate the text 90º clockwise (as shown in the photo below) so that the title is legible when the album is lying flat on a table.
.
.
6. Review and send to print
You’re done! Preview the album (export it as a PDF), carefully check everything, and then send it off to the printer.
Now, all that’s left is to contain your excitement while waiting for the album to arrive—and then enjoy reliving the memories.
I’m sure that once you’ve made your first album and seen the results, you’ll be itching to create more! You’ll find yourself on future trips thinking, “This shot is going to make the perfect album cover…”
.
The albums featured in this post were the result of the following trips (plus a few others that I haven’t had time to post about yet):
Japan – The ultimate 4 week itinerary
2-week Alaska RV roadtrip itinerary - The best of the last frontier
3-week Southeast Asia itinerary
10 days in Andalucia – Our itinerary through southern Spain
15-day Peloponnese itinerary - The best of mainland Greece
.
Posts that will help you travel more and better:
Stay Connected!
Instagram @danae_explore
Pinterest @danaeexplore
Got comments or questions? Feel free to leave a comment here or connect with me on social media—I love chatting about travel 😉.
Before you go, don’t forget to SAVE THIS PIN to your PINTEREST account, so you can find this post that teaches you how to make a travel photo album, whenever you need it!
