Collect all of your 2017 in one program.

Complete Tier 1 of the Two Tier Method.

You should have about 1,000 – 4,000 photos in your 3-star Smart Collection / Album.

Complete Tier 2 of the Two Tier Method.

You should have under 1,000 photos in your In 100 Smart Collection / Album.

Use feedback and sharing on social media to help you select your favorite photos.

Continue to lower the number of photos in your In 100 Smart Collection / Album.

Narrow your photographs based on important events and everyday moments.

Consider the layouts to further refine your photos.

Reduce your selection to 150 photos in your In 100 Smart Collection / Album.

Export your selected photos to a folder on your desktop.

Design your photo book from start to finish.

Order! Receive! Happy Dance!

If you are giving your photo book as a gift, find a special way to wrap your book.

Use your photo book as a tool to assess your photography and set goals for the upcoming year.

What are the photos you love? Why?

Where do you want to improve?

YES! I don’t worry so much that this book doesn’t have my December photos. My #1 priority is having something…and having something at the holidays to share with friends. Plus it will be my gift to mom and MIL. That’s what I focus on.

That’s why I keep this book neutral and don’t announce the months or really mention any specific time. It follows our year but loosely.

Also – I completely understand the emotional attachment to photos. I think it’s a very healthy part of our photography journey. Equally though, is stepping back and looking at your work and deciding what you love and why.

Yes, certain ‘moments’ will need a couple of photos. But there are also times where only one is truly necessary.

I think photo selection is a really important part of learning photography. On some level, it’s easy. It’s easy to pick the blurry photos to delete. It’s a little less easy to pick which photos to edit. It starts to get hard when you have to determine which photos to post to Facebook or a blog. Finally, it’s really hard to select just one for a book.

It sounds weird to say – because it’s not like learning the exposure triangle – but it does take practice.

And don’t worry, this happens at all scales. I see it during my Intro workshop where we talk about selecting 100 photos per month. That can still be a challenge. Whether it is a 100 page, 200 page, or 400 page book – there are always selection challenges.

Here’s the crucial part:

If you’re having a hard time separating the emotional attachment to images, try to resign yourself to the fact that they have a place in a different album and that’s okay.

All too often, I see people have a difficult time selecting photos so they give up. Even if you never make that different album – because life got away from you, you are still going to have this book. You are going to have something. Years goes by so quickly and trying to dig through an old LR catalog… Forget it. I seriously can’t tell you the last time I looked in my 2011 LR catalog. But I have my 2011 book.

And if you do make that different album, all the better. I hope you make several different albums.

I’m not trying to minimize the emotional attachment. Believe me, I have it. I just want you to take pleasure in your ability to print photos. To take action and have something that you can hold.

Oh – and you didn’t quite ask this – but most likely – my annual book will have most of the photos I use in my 100 Page book and I’m totally cool with that. Since I include more photos and have more a time-based structure (in it’s organization and with text), the context is a little different. It’s like having the same characters in a novel but placing them in a different setting.

First, I will admit, I make both types of books, each year. At least for the last two years. I had this idea for a mini-workshop because I realized that some people may want a photo book but don’t want to go through the whole process of a comprehensive annual book.

Next, what constitutes an annual book vs. my 100 page photo book? My 100 page book, as you’ve seen, is treated like a ‘portfolio’ book for the year. They are my favorites. Not in a technical manner like a true portfolio…but how I want to curate my favorites from the year.

My annual book is more about documenting the entire year (at least how I’ve photographed it). I include snapshots, creative/artistic photos and personal projects (like P52) in one book. Way more “events” than what I describe in the 100 page lesson. My annual books are 240 pages and way more organized. For example, I always have a spread announcing the month with a large photo representative photo. This is the basis of my Intro WS. And I include about 1,200-1,400 photos in my annual book.

For this particular project, and for your 2016 photo book – I still think that you could cull more and create a 100 (or 150) page book. The main question is: What is it that you want? What will make you the happiest to receive in about 3-4 weeks? What does a family album mean to you?

To conclude, my only fear, without culling more for a 2016 book, when you get into the Artifact Uprising software, you’ll have to design all pages with a 4-photo layout (4 photos x 200 page maximum = 800 photos) and then you will stress about which photos to actually use when designing the pages.

I always like to comment with a clear, actionable plan – so here’s my first thought:

I say, you should stick with 2016 (original idea), cull more, design a 100-200 page book that you feel adequately encapsulates the year. (Just in case you don’t make another 2016 book.)

If your gut was telling you something else (like a 2017 favorites) when I asked about what you want, let me know and I’ll change my answer.