A Guide to Making a Travel Photobook in the UK
by William Kenny
A Guide to Making a Travel Photobook in the UK
You might think it would be hard work to make a beautiful travel or holiday photo book after that dream trip, but nothing could be further from the truth. This short, easy-to-follow guide for UK readers will show you how to make your photos into a book, answer common questions, and help you make a keepsake that will last forever.
Why make a travel photo book?
Whether you call it a travel photo album or book, the idea is the same: turning the best memories from your trip into a beautiful story in print. A travel photo book helps you remember the places, people, and things that happened on your trip without having to look through a lot of digital files. A well-made photo book can also be a nice gift for family and friends or a good way to start a conversation over coffee.
Choosing Your Story and Theme
Before you start uploading pictures, take a moment to decide on the general theme — because every great travel photo book tells a story. Deciding on a theme will guide how you arrange your pages and choose the right photos.
Q: How do I choose a theme?
Before you upload any pictures, think about what you want your photo book to say. A chronological structure tells the story day by day, while a thematic structure groups things by mood, activity, or place. For example, if you went to the Scottish Highlands, you could make sections for lochs, castles, and whisky tastings.
Tip: Jot down a list of the important parts of your trip. This will help you when choosing your pictures and designing the pages.
Picking the Best Service for Your Photobook
Once you’ve outlined your theme, the next step is choosing a provider. This decision will affect the quality, durability, and look of your finished travel photo book, so it’s worth taking the time to compare options. Going with a respected provider like MYPICTURE is always a good idea when choosing your next photo book — whether it's a personal keepsake or a thoughtful gift for loved ones.
When choosing a provider, keep these things in mind:
- Quality of printing: Look for printing with a high resolution on paper that is meant for professionals.
- Delivery options: Check to see if the service ships to the UK and gives clear delivery times.
- With some services you'll need to fully design each page yourself, while others will offer layout suggestions helped by AI. Look for providers that make it easy to create your own photo book, with flexible templates and customisation options.
- Price and extras: Check the price per page, the cover options, and any extras you want, like metallic highlights or lay-flat binding.
Arranging your pictures and making changes to them
Q: What kinds of pictures should I include?
Pick pictures that are clear and tell the story of your trip. Maybe include some panorama shots of landscapes, as well as candid shots of meals, buildings, or street scenes. Try to have no more than four pictures on each page to keep things tidy. If necessary, use editing software to change the brightness, crop out unnecessary detail, and make sure that any colours grouped together are in the same palette.
Q: How should I organise my pictures?
Make folders on your computer for each section, such as "Day 1 – London Arrival" or "Food & Markets." This makes it easier to upload and organise. Rename the files in each folder in the order they were made to keep things in order.
How to design your travel photo book
Not sure where to start? Here’s how to design your photo book step by step, from layout and colours to captions and finishing touches.
If you’re unsure how to arrange your pages, use a ready-made template. These templates are designed to look good and be balanced. You can also design your photo book from scratch by changing the colours, fonts, and backgrounds to match the mood of your trip. For beach holidays, use soft pastels, and for mountain hikes, choose bright, earthy tones.
Add captions to give your photo book more meaning — include dates, places, quotes, or inside jokes. Images of tickets or local maps can also work as decorative elements.
Keep spacing and margins consistent across your design, but experiment with layouts. Full-page photos mixed with collages make the book more engaging. Leave some white space around busy images so they can “breathe.”
Pro tips for designing your photo book:
- Keep a consistent style: Stick to the same colour palette and fonts across all pages so your travel photo book feels cohesive.
- Highlight your best shots: Use full-page spreads for your favourite landscapes or portraits to make the design pop.
- Balance text and images: Short captions or travel quotes add personality, but don’t overcrowd the page. White space is part of the design too.
Ordering and Final Touches
Glossy paper makes colours look brighter, while matte paper cuts down on glare. Some businesses in the UK — MYPICTURE for example — offer photo book options made with recycled paper, which is great news for eco-conscious buyers.
Cover design: Choose a picture for the cover that captures the essence of your trip experience. As for the binding style: softcover is convenient and more affordable, but hardcover is undeniably more impressive.
Proofreading: Go through each page before you complete your order to make sure everything’s in order. Once the photo album’s printed it’s too late for corrections.
Ordering: Double-check the delivery times, especially if you need the book as a gift. Allow yourself a few extra days for production and possible delays in the mail in the UK.
Frequently asked questions
What size should my travel photo book be?
Some of the most common sizes are A4 portrait, 20×20 cm square, and A5 landscape. When choosing a size, it’s worth thinking about where you’ll have space to store your book so it won’t get damaged.
How many pages does a travel photo album need?
20-40 pages should be enough to do justice to a week-long trip. Note that some printing services will have a page minimum and/or maximum.
Can you add text in more than one language?
Yes. Most UK platforms support English by default, but you can add captions in any language. Make sure the fonts you use can handle special characters if you're adding place names from other countries.
Is there a certain number of pictures that works best for each page?
Try to change things up from page to page. Use full-page single images to highlight your best photos, and group related pictures together in collages of 2–4 images. But remember that a page with too many pictures can look busy.
How long does it take to ship inside the UK?
Delivery times vary by provider. Here at MYPICTURE the total production/delivery time for photo albums is 5-9 business days, which is fairly standard for the industry. Super-fast services are available online – but they’ll cost you.