ShortlistBuddyGuides

How to prepare your photos for a photo book

Photo book services like CEWE, Mixbook and Shutterfly do not want you to place 1,000 photos one by one. They import a set — a folder or a cloud album — and auto-fill the pages. The work you actually need to do happens before the book editor: choosing and ordering the right set.

Here is how to prepare a set that drops cleanly into any photo book tool and auto-fills into a story that makes sense.

Preparing the set

  1. 1

    Pick the right number for the page count

    Roughly 2–4 photos per page works well. A 26-page book wants about 60–90 images. Choosing too many means the auto-fill crams pages; too few leaves them empty. Decide the book size first, then the count.

  2. 2

    Order chronologically

    A holiday book reads best as the trip unfolded. Make sure your files are sorted by capture date, not by filename — phone and camera names rarely match the order things happened, especially across two devices.

  3. 3

    Keep the filenames in date order

    Most auto-fill tools place photos in filename order. If you rename files with a date prefix (e.g. 2026-06-13_001.jpg), the book fills itself in the right sequence with no manual dragging.

  4. 4

    Put everything in one flat folder

    Auto-fill works best from a single folder of full-resolution JPEGs — not nested subfolders, not thumbnails. Export the originals of your chosen photos into one place.

  5. 5

    Hand it over via folder or cloud

    Upload the folder directly in the book editor, or point it at a cloud album (CEWE, for example, imports straight from Dropbox or OneDrive). Then let auto-fill do the layout and fine-tune a few spreads.

Frequently asked questions

How many photos do I need for a photo book?
Plan for about 2–4 photos per page. A typical 26-page book uses 60–90 images, a larger 50-page book 120–180. Start from the page count rather than guessing.
What resolution should the photos be?
Use the full-resolution originals, not thumbnails or social-media downloads. Most printers want at least ~200 dpi at print size, which a normal phone or camera photo easily meets — but a downscaled copy may print soft.
Do I have to place every photo manually?
No. CEWE, Mixbook and Shutterfly all offer auto-fill: you give them the set and they lay out the pages in order, which you then adjust. The selection and ordering is the real work; the placement is automatic.
How does ShortlistBuddy fit in?
ShortlistBuddy produces exactly this kind of set: it selects the strongest photos, sorts them by capture date, and exports either a flat ZIP of full-resolution originals or a cloud "Selection" folder that a photo book service can import directly.

Let ShortlistBuddy do the first pass — turn your holiday photos into a reviewable shortlist in minutes.

Try the demo