An album is the heaviest thing we make, and the one where it pays most to work out first whether you need one at all.
The answer comes down to a single number: how many photographs you actually have.
What an album is here
A rigid hardcover book with lay-flat binding — each spread printed as one piece and mounted, so the pages hinge open with no gutter down the middle. Inner leaves are 250 GSM matte, heavier than a magazine’s, because an album is handled differently.
| Album | Magazine | |
|---|---|---|
| Pages | 20 to 100 | 8 to 40 |
| Holds | 80 to 400 images | About 24 to 120 |
| Binding | Lay-flat hardcover | Saddle-stitched |
| Inner paper | 250 GSM matte | 170 GSM non-glare |
| Price | ₹1,299–2,299 | ₹499–1,099 |
| Opens flat | Completely | Nearly |
What you choose, and what you send
At checkout you pick two things: square or A4, and a page count. Lamination is an optional tick-box on the same page. Everything else — which photographs run large, the order, the cover — is worked out with a designer after you have paid.
Then the photographs. We message you on WhatsApp within hours of the order, during working hours. Send the folder as documents on WhatsApp so nothing is compressed, or through the upload link on your order confirmation. Send more than the page count strictly needs: the spare frames are what a designer uses to pair and pace the spreads.
Unsure of the page count? Share the folder before you choose and we will tell you what size it should be. That one message is the surest way to avoid paying for pages your photographs will not fill.
What comes back first is a proof, not a parcel. A full digital preview of every spread and the cover arrives on WhatsApp. You ask for changes; nothing prints until you approve. After that it is printed, hand-packed in Noida and dispatched on a Monday. What happens after you place an order →
The archive test
About three photographs fill a magazine page and four an album page, so:
Under about 120 images — a magazine. An album at this count is a heavier object holding the same thing, and the extra money buys weight rather than room.
120 to 400 — an album genuinely earns it. This is where a magazine would have to be split into several books.
Over 400 — an album, or several magazines by year. Both are right; they are different gifts. Which format suits a huge archive →
What lay-flat actually buys you
Not just flatness. A photograph across two pages arrives uninterrupted, which is the thing a stitched or glued book cannot do — and it changes what images are worth including.
A wide group shot, a landscape, a room: those work across a spread and are cramped on a single page. If your archive is full of them, that is an argument for an album independent of the count. Designing for the full spread →
Occasions, and the size each tends to need
Each occasion produces a differently shaped archive, and the shape suggests a starting size. Test it against your own count once the duplicates are out.
| Occasion | What the folder usually looks like | A sensible first guess |
|---|---|---|
| A wedding | Professional coverage plus the family’s phones, often several hundred frames | 60 to 100 pages, and more than one household wanting a copy |
| A parents’ 25th or 50th | Scanned prints from the early years, phone photographs from the recent ones | 40 to 60 pages |
| A baby’s first year | Hundreds of near-identical frames around a handful of real milestones | 40 pages: twenty spreads, roughly one a month with room to open and close |
| A long trip, or a year of them | Wide landscapes, few faces, a lot of repetition | 40 to 60 pages |
| A family history | Decades of prints spread across several cupboards and relatives | 60 to 100 pages, or two albums by period |
| A pet | Fewer usable frames than people expect | 20 pages, or a magazine |
Weddings are where a second copy comes up, because both families want one; a family history is where written names matter most. Both have their own guides below. Albums as heirlooms →
The decisions, in order
Format first — square or A4, and they are genuinely different objects. Square or A4 →
Then page count — 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100, decided by your photograph count. Page counts and what each holds →
Then lamination, which is optional and costs per sheet. Is album lamination worth it →
Then the cover. Choosing an album cover →
Three questions that settle most of it
Who will hold it? A grandparent on a sofa, a toddler on the floor and a room full of relatives at a function all put different demands on a heavy book. The answer decides the page count and whether lamination is worth paying for. How heavy an album is →
Is it for now, or for later? An album for three households to enjoy this year wants copies. An album meant to be inherited wants one copy and every face named. A second copy for another household →
Is there already an album of this? Many wedding photography packages include one. A second book needs material the first does not have. Your album or the photographer’s →
What an album here is not
Not available in other materials. There is one construction — a rigid hard cover with lay-flat binding — and no leatherette option.
Not available between the steps or above them. Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty or a hundred pages. There is no 30-page album and nothing past 100.
Not a paperback or a glued photo book. If you want something light and flexible, that is the magazine, which is saddle-stitched.
Not quick. Dispatch happens once a week, on Mondays. An order placed by Friday goes out the coming Monday if the proof is approved when it arrives; a weekend order goes the Monday after. There is no faster option to pay for. Ordering for a fixed date →
Not a digital file. The proof is a watermarked preview, and no print-ready file is handed over — the album is the object.
Everything else in this guide
Album pricing, step by step · How heavy an album is · Your album or the photographer’s · Albums as heirlooms · A second copy for another household · Album or coffee table book · What goes wrong with albums · When an album is the wrong choice · How to brief an album · Travel album or travel magazine
Frequently asked
What is a hardcover photo album? A rigid book with lay-flat binding, so spreads open completely and a photograph can run across two pages uninterrupted. Ours are 20 to 100 pages, ₹1,299 to ₹2,299.
How many photos does an album hold? About four per page, so 80 at 20 pages and roughly 400 at 100.
When is an album better than a magazine? Above about 120 photographs, or when your archive is full of wide images that need a full spread.
What paper is used? 250 GSM matte inner leaves, heavier than a magazine’s 170 GSM, because an album is handled more.
How long does one take? 5 to 14 days from order to doorstep, 5 to 12 to Delhi NCR, same as anything made to order.
See also: album, photo book or magazine and how to choose a photo gift format.
Albums from ₹1,299: Hardcover albums · Hard Cover Album