Ever started to put together your photobook only to find that your layout’s just not quite coming together, that your photos aren’t somehow ‘fitting’ together? No, it’s not Dad’s shoddy photography skills - your book’s the wrong way round!
Landscape and portrait photo books lend themselves best to different types of shots and styles, picking the right one for your project can make a world of difference to your design and the end feel of your book.
Landscape Photo Books
Landscape books, almost conversely, lend themselves particularly well to portrait photos. With a double page spread you can fit four portrait photos at a large size. This layout also lends itself to showing chronological events through your photos, creating a visual storyboard.
Using stylized shots in this layout can also create an ‘art gallery’ feel, especially when teamed up with thick borders. Landscape books are also the place to truly show off your panoramic shot. If you’ve got scenic sunsets and rolling countryside vistas simply set them as double page backgrounds and let the pictures do the talking.
Portrait Photo Books
If you’ve got lots of photos that you want to feature in your book, portrait is definitely the way to go. With the inherent height of the pages, portrait books lend themselves to creating rows of images. The thing to remember here, however, is to mix up your layouts and not have every page looking the same. Take a normal couple of rows of photos and try enlarging some slightly, rotating others to create a more fun ’scrap book’ type feel to add some fun to your design.
Just as landscape books are good for showing portrait photos, portrait books are great for displaying lots of landscape shots. Simple layouts with two equally sized shots forming a column on each page are the perfect way to showcase lots of panoramic shots at a good clear size.
If you’re still not sure which orientation is best for you, or if you’ve got a mix of both types of photos, don’t worry - that’s what square photo books are for!
