Quiet Pages

Quiet Pages is the default photo booklet: sixteen white pages, one or two photos on each, a title page and one line of text at the end. If you have a folder of photos and no theme in mind, start here. It is the template we suggest to anyone who wants to print their own photo book at home for the first time, because there is nothing to get wrong. The minimal style uses Inter, no frames, no textures and no filters, so the photos look exactly like they do on screen. The cover is a photo with a title and subtitle. Page two is a plain title page. Then the pages run through full-bleed photos for landscapes, framed photos with generous margins for portraits, two photos stacked, two side by side with a caption, a photo with a caption and date, and a three-frame strip.

Page fifteen is a quote or dedication, and the back cover has a small photo and a sign-off. Alternate strong and quiet images as you fill it: a full-bleed page followed by a framed one gives the book a rhythm. Portrait photos go in the framed and strip slots; landscapes in the full-bleed slots, which crop to the page's proportions from the centre, so leave room around your subject. The white pages print well on ordinary 100 to 120 gsm matte paper, and a double-sided inkjet matte photo paper at 140 to 180 gsm makes it feel like a real book. Because the pages are plain, slight duplex misalignment is invisible; only the full-bleed pages show a white sliver if your printer's back side is offset, and the free test page will tell you by how much. Sixteen pages is four sheets and two staples, about fifteen minutes end to end.

Printing this booklet means two pages per side on both sides of the sheet: 16 pages is 4 sheets of A4 or Letter, nested and folded to A5 or half-letter. If your printer duplexes, use the flip-edge setting shown on the download card; if not, print Side A, reload the stack and print Side B, and run the free one-sheet test page first so you learn your printer's flip before spending photo paper. 100 to 120 gsm matte paper for the inside, 160 to 200 gsm for the cover if your printer's bypass tray takes it, and score the fold on anything heavier than 160 gsm. Two staples on the spine with a long-arm stapler, or open a normal stapler flat over a folded towel. The template uses 19 photos across 16 pages.