How to Organize Printed Photos

^{Photo by pepmiba via iStock}

Having a lot of great images means we likely also have a lot of printed photos. How to organize printed photos becomes a matter for us to take care of, so let’s talk about it.

There are several methods of how to organize printed photos that allow us to look at and share the images we think are important. The main options are loose photos we need to organize in an album of some sort, or we can print our photos in a premade book.

Which way of how to organize printed photos is best? Is it better to print individual photos and then put them in some sort of album, or does it work better to use a photo book printer? What other methods might also work out?

How To Organize Printed Photos - Traditional Photo Albums

^{Photo by JanNevidal via iStock}

For a large number of photographers, considering how to organize printed photos will probably involve dozens of already printed photographs in a variety of sizes. The standard photo print sizes are 3 x 4”, 4 x 5”, 3 ½ x 5 ¼”, and 4 x 6”, depending on what format of camera you’re using.

You may also already have some paper print enlargements in 5 x7” or 8 x 10”, possibly some odd sizes too. If you have older photos, perhaps family photos, those sizes could be just about anything.

The type of photo albums used will depend on your pictures' sizes and how fancy you want them to be. The fancier the album, the higher the price point. One type of album that has proven to be popular is the 3-ring binder style with removable pages. These pages can be purchased with pockets for different sizes, but generally one size per page.

Another style of photo album is post-bound photo albums. Just as with a 3-ring binder style album, you can add or subtract the number of pages, and these may have pages with pockets for the pictures, or they may use corner mounts to hold the pictures.

When considering how to organize printed photos, photo albums make sense if you’ll be using prints you already have, including those older photos from various family members.

How To Organize Printed Photos - Hardcover Photo Books

Personally, I think photo books are a wonderful option for how to organize printed photos. Since many of our currently produced images are in our digital storage as JPEG files, we can actually do whatever we want to with them.

Hardcover photo books are a classy option that will last a long time. A great thing about using photo books for how to organize printed photos is that we can size the images any way we want. We can add text to the images or text outside the images. We can also customize the covers of our photo books with many options.

Photo Book Press is a premium photo book printer that produces many different styles of hardcover and softcover photo books with many different ways to customize them. Their hardcover photo books come in 3 major styles. Standard hardcover photo books, Lay-Flat hardcover photo books, and Premium hardcover photo books.

Standard hardcover photo books can be made in sizes of 8 ½” square or 12” square, and also 8 x 10”, 10 x 8”, and 13 x 11”. The pages are printed on silk paper with the covers made as hard, glossy covers. They are customizable as to number of pages, sizes of images, how many images per page, and adding text to images, pages, or the covers.

Lay-Flat hardcover photo books are a great option for how to organize printed photos that we want others to be able to view in all their glory without the curving hump of the pages that many books are prone to when opened up. The binding is designed so that every page lays flat for optimal viewing. These have the same customizing options as their standard photo books.

Premium hardcover photo books are the best looking, fanciest hardcover photo books available from Photo Book Press. These are perfect choices for wedding photos, whether our own or images we took for clients. All of the customization options are there, plus the books are printed with leather covers and premium paper stock.

How To Organize Printed Photos - Softcover Photo Books

Another fine option for how to organize printed photos is softcover photo books. The softcover photo books from Photo Book Press have most of the same customization options as their hardcover books but at a significantly reduced price.

Available as 8 ½” and 12” square or 8 x10” in either portrait or landscape orientation, you can add a lot of photos to these books and then share them with anyone.

How To Organize Printed Photos - Other Options

^{Photo by michellegibson via iStock}

What other options are there for how to organize printed photos? Well, a shoebox stuffed under a bed or on a closet shelf is simple, though inelegant, but it does remind me that there are archival box storage solutions for negatives, slides, or printed photos.

You could also store your images, even older prints, digitally by means of scanning or flat-lay photography. This also gives you the option of restoring or fixing the damage, such as color fading or rips and tears that often happens to older physical prints.

Whatever solution you use for how to organize printed photos, albums, hardcover photo books, softcover photo books, or an archival box, you’ll enjoy the process of sorting, organizing, and creating that goes along with it.