Once you have chosen the images that belong in your book, the next step is not opening the editor. It is organising your selection into a sequence that reads well across pages, preparing your files for print, and thinking in spreads rather than single frames. This stage sits between curation and layout, and the time you spend here saves hours of rearranging later.
If you are still narrowing down your images, start with our guide to choosing the best photos for your photo book. What follows assumes you have a working set and need to get it ready for the page.
Setting up your export workflow
Before you think about sequence, get your files into a clean working folder. This keeps the layout process simple and avoids the confusion of pulling images from scattered locations across your library.
IN LIGHTROOM CLASSIC
Create a dedicated collection for the book project. Drag your selected images into it. When you are ready to export, send them to a single folder with a consistent naming convention. Something like 001_silvergrain_book.jpg through to 060_silvergrain_book.jpg gives you numbered files that sort in order and are easy to rearrange later by renaming.
Export settings: JPEG at 95 to 100 quality, Adobe RGB colour space, 300 DPI, longest edge at the maximum dimension your book format supports. For a Silvergrain Premium Hardcover in A4, that means files around 3500 pixels on the long side at minimum.
IN CAPTURE ONE
Use a session or album to isolate your book images. Export with a naming token that includes a sequence number. The same output settings apply: high-quality JPEG, Adobe RGB, 300 DPI.
WORKING FROM FOLDERS ON DISK
If you edit outside a cataloguing application, create a dedicated project folder and copy (not move) your selected files into it. Rename them with sequence numbers. Working from copies means your originals stay untouched, and you can rearrange the sequence by renaming files without affecting your master archive.
FILE NAMING THAT WORKS
A good naming convention does three things: it keeps files in order, tells you what each image is at a glance, and survives being moved between applications.
The simplest approach is a three-digit sequence number followed by a short descriptor:
001_harbour_dawn.jpg
002_fishing_nets_detail.jpg
003_boat_interior.jpg
The sequence number controls sort order. The descriptor helps you find specific images when you are working in the editor. Avoid spaces in filenames (use underscores or hyphens) and keep the total filename short enough that it displays in full in your file browser.
If your book has distinct sections, consider adding a section prefix:
A_001_harbour_dawn.jpg
A_002_fishing_nets_detail.jpg
B_001_market_stalls.jpg
This lets you reorder within sections without renumbering the entire set.
Sequencing strategies
The order of images in a book is at least as important as the images themselves. A strong set in the wrong order feels disjointed. The same set, rearranged thoughtfully, can feel inevitable.
There is no single correct approach. Different projects suit different structures. Here are four that work well for photo books.
CHRONOLOGICAL
The most intuitive structure: images appear in the order they were made. This works naturally for travel books, event documentation, and any project with a clear timeline. The narrative builds itself. The risk is monotony, because chronological order does not guarantee visual variety. You may need to break the timeline occasionally to keep the pacing alive.
THEMATIC
Group images by subject, location, or concept rather than when they were shot. A travel book might group by place rather than date. A street photography book might group by theme: solitude, crowds, weather, architecture. Thematic sequencing gives you more control over pacing but requires clear transitions between sections.
EMOTIONAL ARC
This is the approach many published photobooks use. The sequence follows a mood curve: an opening that draws the reader in, a build toward more intense or complex images, a peak or pivot somewhere past the middle, and a quieter resolution toward the end. It does not need to be dramatic. Even a subtle arc, from morning calm to midday energy to evening stillness, gives the book a shape the reader feels without analysing.
CONTRAST-BASED
Pair images that create tension or conversation: light against dark, close against wide, still against motion, colour against monochrome. This approach works well for portfolios and bodies of work where the images span different subjects but share a visual language. The contrast keeps the reader engaged and gives each image more impact than it would have alone.
Most successful books blend these strategies. A chronological travel book might use contrast-based pairing within each day. A thematic portfolio might follow an emotional arc across its sections. Choose a primary structure and use the others as secondary tools.
Thinking in spreads
A book is read in two-page units. Every time you turn a page, you see two images (or one image and white space, or one image across the full spread) simultaneously. The relationship between the left and right page is a design decision, whether you make it deliberately or not.
THE SPREAD-PAIR CONCEPT
Before you open the layout editor, go through your sequence and pair images into spreads. Ask: do these two images work together? Do they complement each other in tone, colour, subject, or composition? Or do they clash in a way that disrupts the flow?
Some natural pairings: a wide establishing shot on the left, a detail from the same scene on the right. A landscape and a portrait orientation image that balance each other's visual weight. Two images from different times or places that share a colour palette or compositional structure.
Some pairings to avoid: two images that are too similar (the reader's eye has nowhere to travel), two images with competing focal points that fight for attention, a dark image beside a very bright one with no tonal connection.
USING LIGHTROOM'S SURVEY MODE
Select a block of images (six to ten at a time) and press N to enter Survey mode. This shows them at a reasonable size side by side, which approximates how they will feel as spreads. Move through your sequence in blocks, looking at adjacencies. You can drag to reorder within the survey. It is not a perfect simulation of a book, but it catches obvious problems quickly.
PHYSICAL SEQUENCING
If you can print small versions of your images, even 4x6 prints from a home printer, laying them out on a table in pairs gives you the most intuitive sense of how spreads will read. You can physically swap, remove, and insert images in seconds. Many professional photobook editors still use this method, and it remains faster and more revealing than any screen-based tool for finding the right order.
Our guide to making a photo book covers the layout stage in more detail once your sequence is set.
Dealing with mixed orientations
Most photographers shoot in a mix of landscape, portrait, and occasionally square formats. A book needs to accommodate all of them without feeling inconsistent.
A few principles help:
Pair portrait images together. Two portrait-orientation images side by side on a landscape page fill the space naturally and create a strong visual pairing. A single portrait image on a landscape spread leaves a large area of white space, which can be intentional (and beautiful) or can feel unbalanced if the surrounding spreads are all full-bleed.
Use landscape images for full spreads or single pages. Landscape images work well placed across one page of a spread, leaving the facing page for a portrait image or white space. In a layflat book, a landscape image can span the full spread seamlessly.
Be consistent within sections. If one section of your book uses full-bleed images and the next uses images with generous margins, the shift should feel deliberate. Mixing approaches randomly within a section creates visual noise.
Watch the gutter. In a standard hardcover or softcover binding, the centre of the spread curves into the spine. Avoid placing important content (faces, horizon lines, critical details) in the inner 8 to 10mm of each page. In a Layflat Edition, this is not a concern because the spread lies flat.
Openers and closers
The first and last images in a book carry disproportionate weight. The opener sets the tone for everything that follows. The closer is the last thing the reader sees, and it lingers.
CHOOSING AN OPENER
Your opener should invite the reader into the book without giving away the strongest image. It sets mood, location, or theme. A detail shot, an environmental image, or a quieter composition often works better than your most dramatic frame. Think of it as the first sentence of a novel: it should make the reader want to turn the page.
Avoid opening with your single best image. If the strongest photograph is on page one, the rest of the book is a decline. Place it somewhere in the first third, where it can function as an early peak rather than a ceiling.
CHOOSING A CLOSER
The closing image should feel like a conclusion, not an afterthought. It does not need to be dramatic. A quiet, reflective image often works well: a door closing, a road disappearing, a figure walking away, light fading. The reader should feel the book is complete, that this is where the sequence was always heading.
Some photographers mirror their opener with a related closer, creating a visual bookend. A harbour at dawn as the opener, the same harbour at dusk as the closer. This is a simple device, but it works because it gives the reader a sense of return.
A checklist before you start the layout
Before you open the book editor, run through this list:
- All selected images exported to a single folder at high resolution (Adobe RGB, output sharpening applied)
- Files named with sequence numbers that reflect your intended order
- Rough spread pairings identified (even if pencilled, not final)
- Opening and closing images chosen
- Mixed orientations accounted for in your pairing plan
- Any images that need print-specific edits (shadow lift, saturation softened) processed
With your files organised and your sequence roughed out, the layout stage becomes about refinement rather than starting from scratch. You are placing images into a structure that already works, adjusting spacing, sizing, and the occasional swap rather than building the entire book from a pile of unsorted files.
If you are working on a travel photo book, many of these principles apply with the added structure of a journey. For the full process from first image to finished object, our complete guide to making a photo book covers every stage. And when you are ready, you can explore the full range of Silvergrain photo books and start building.
