A photo book is a sequence, not a collection — and it's a physical object with a fold down the middle of every spread.

The Gutter Problem

The gutter is where facing pages meet at the binding. Depending on the binding type, 5–20 mm of each inner edge is either curved away from view or physically inaccessible:

  • Perfect binding / glued — worst case; the pages don't open flat and content near the gutter disappears into the fold.
  • Layflat / photo-book binding — pages open flat, so spreads work much better. Worth paying for if you want full-bleed spreads.
  • Spiral / wire — flat, but the holes eat the inner margin.

Rules that follow:

  • Never put a face across the gutter. It's the single most common photo-book regret.
  • Keep text at least 15 mm from the inner edge.
  • Full-spread images work only with layflat binding, and even then keep the subject to one side.
  • Ask the printer for their gutter allowance and design to it.

Resolution

Standard book viewing distance means the usual print rule applies:

  • 300 DPI at final printed size, or 250 DPI at a minimum.
  • A full page on a 20 × 20 cm book needs about 2362 × 2362 px.
  • A full spread on the same book is 40 cm wide: about 4724 px.
  • Phone photos (12 MP, ~4000 × 3000) comfortably fill a page but are marginal for a large full-bleed spread — plan which photos get the big treatment.

Why Prints Look Darker Than Your Screen

Screens emit light; paper reflects it. An image that looks rich on a bright display often prints muddy, especially in the shadows.

  • Brighten slightly before printing — a small lift to shadows and midtones.
  • Reduce heavy contrast; deep blacks block up on paper.
  • Calibrate your screen if you make books regularly, and turn screen brightness down to a moderate level when editing.
  • Use the printer's colour profile and soft-proof if they provide one.
  • Order a single test page or a small book first if colour matters.

Sequencing and Layout

  • Consistency beats variety. Pick two or three layouts (full page, half page with caption, grid of four) and reuse them. Books where every spread has a different layout feel chaotic.
  • Vary the rhythm deliberately: a full-bleed image after several smaller ones creates emphasis.
  • Give strong photos space — one image per spread with white margin is a luxury that reads as confidence.
  • Edit ruthlessly. Forty great photos make a better book than a hundred good ones.
  • Keep white space consistent; uneven margins are the most visible amateur signal in print.

Before Ordering

Check every image's resolution at its placed size, confirm nothing important crosses the gutter, verify bleed on full-page images, embed fonts, and read the proof PDF page by page at 100%. Then wait a day and read it again — sequencing errors are much easier to see with fresh eyes.