# How to make a photo album, start to finish

> The whole flow, from an unsorted upload to a printed book. 300 × 300 mm square layflat hardcover, 26–80 interior pages, €199–€349, shipping included.

Source: https://makealbum.com/how-it-works · MakeAlbum, Lisbon, Portugal

## The steps

1. **Upload the whole camera roll** — Drag in the full set straight from your phone, laptop or camera card — JPEG, HEIC / HEIF, PNG, WebP, AVIF, up to 50 MB each. Bursts, near-misses and screenshots are fine; the filter is built for them. Add a two-line brief with names, places and dates if you like.
2. **Our AI pre-filters and curates** — Each photo is read for sharpness, exposure, duplicates, faces and content, together with its EXIF time, GPS and camera data. Weak and repeated frames are set aside, the strongest frames are chosen to fill your page count, and each moment is kept together, in the order it happened.
3. **The layout engine builds the book** — In the same run, spreads are generated for the square format from a library of templates, mixing full-bleed pages, pairs and grids so the pacing follows the story. The album title is drafted from your brief. You open a finished book, not a to-do list.
4. **Edit, then approve** — Swap photos from the tray, move them between spreads, move a photo inside its frame, rename the album, re-roll a title or a layout, switch the look, pick the cover and the page count. The price updates as you add pages. Nothing goes to print until you approve.
5. **Print and delivery** — We render print-ready PDFs and send them to our print partner. Production typically takes 4–6 working days, EU delivery 2–4 more; you get tracking by email.

## What you have to do, and what you do not

- Yours: upload the photos, write a two-line brief, approve the book. Optionally edit anything — swap photos, move a photo inside its frame, rename the album, switch the look, pick the cover.
- Ours: filtering the blur, bursts and near-duplicates; keeping each moment together, in the order it happened; choosing the frames that fill your page count; drafting the album title; the page layout; the print file.
- Never automatic: printing. Nothing goes to Saal Digital until you press approve.

## Uploading

Accepted formats: JPEG, HEIC / HEIF, PNG, WebP, AVIF, up to 50 MB per file. 50–200 photos per album works best. HEIC from an iPhone is converted for you — there is no export step.

## Done-for-you album design

€59 on top of the album price.

- Our team curates the photos, designs every spread and writes the album title from your brief.
- You get a preview by email, typically within 2–4 business days. Ask for changes as often as you like.
- Nothing is printed until you press approve. Two actions on your side: pay, then approve.