Photo book sizes: square, A4 and landscape compared
Choose the shape before the size: square for a mix of portrait and landscape photos, portrait for people, landscape for places. Then size it by how many photos each page must hold.
Sizes are given as width by height, in inches or millimetres. An 8 by 8 inch book is 203 mm square; an A4 page is 210 by 297 mm, or 8.27 by 11.69 inches.
A book opens to twice its width, so the spread you design is far larger than the size in its name. The table gives both, converted at 25.4 mm to the inch.
Make your photobook
Arrange your photos on A4 pages, check the proof and order a printed copy.
| Size | Closed page | Open spread | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small square, 6 by 6 in | 152 by 152 mm | 305 by 152 mm | One photo a page; a small gift or a single event |
| 8 by 8 in | 203 by 203 mm | 406 by 203 mm | One to four photos a page; a mix of portrait and landscape |
| 10 by 10 in | 254 by 254 mm | 508 by 254 mm | Up to six photos a page; a year or a family book |
| 12 by 12 in | 305 by 305 mm | 610 by 305 mm | Large grids and group photos; heavy on a lap |
| A4 portrait | 210 by 297 mm, 8.27 by 11.69 in | 420 by 297 mm | Portraits, two landscapes stacked, pages with text |
| A4 landscape | 297 by 210 mm, 11.69 by 8.27 in | 594 by 210 mm | Landscapes and wide views; panoramas across the spread |
| Large landscape, 13 by 11 in | 330 by 279 mm | 660 by 279 mm | A few big photos of one place or subject |
Shape first: match the photos you have
Count how many of your chosen photos are portrait and how many landscape. A square page treats both the same; a rectangle favours one.
A portrait book makes landscape photos small unless two are stacked. A landscape book does the reverse, and its portraits end up in pairs.
A 4:3 photo filling a square loses 25 per cent of its long side. Filling landscape A4, it loses about 5.7 per cent of its height; rotate those directions for portrait photos.
Size: count the photos per page
A 6 inch square has room for one photo and a margin. A 12 inch square can take a grid of nine small photos.
By area, an A4 page is about one and a half times an 8 by 8 inch page, and almost the same as a 10 by 10.
Print your busiest planned page on ordinary paper at its real size. If faces in a group photo are hard to recognise, choose a larger book or fewer photos per page.
These table dimensions describe ideal page rectangles. Bleed, cover overhang and the centre fold change what remains visible; compare the printer's actual specification before exporting.
Where it will be read
A book read at a table or passed round a room can be large. One that lives on a shelf of ordinary books, or travels in a bag, has to fit there: measure first.
Large books are heavy to hold. A 12 inch square spans 610 mm when open on a lap.
Read the exact size, not the name
Size names round the numbers. A book sold as A4 may be near-A4 rather than 210 by 297 mm, so check the trimmed page size in millimetres before designing.
On a hardback the cover can be a little larger than the pages. Design to the page.
In tbf scrapbook, a book can be ordered printed in A4 portrait or A4 landscape after you check its print proof. Square sizes cannot be ordered, and the price shows in the editor first.
Steps
Sort the photos by orientation
Group the photos by orientation, then try the same mixed spread on square and rectangular pages. Compare the crops and caption space instead of applying a fixed portrait-to-landscape ratio.
Find the busiest page
Pick the spread with the most photos, often a party or a group day out, and note how many it must hold.
Print it at two sizes
Print that spread at both sizes you are weighing, on plain sheets taped together. Check faces and any writing at reading distance.
Measure where it will live
Measure the height and depth of the shelf or drawer it will go in, and rule out any size that does not fit.
Questions
How big is a 10x10 photo book?
Each page is 254 mm square, and the open book is 508 by 254 mm. By area a page is almost the same as A4.
Is A4 bigger than 8x8?
Yes. An A4 page is 210 by 297 mm against 203 mm square: about one and a half times the area, and 94 mm taller.
Which size suits mixed portrait and landscape photos?
Try a square first, then compare a rectangle with paired portraits or stacked landscapes. The winner is the layout that keeps the faces, captions and details readable with the least unwanted crop.