Guide

How to make a photo calendar – step by step

A photo calendar hangs on the wall for a whole year, so a little planning pays off. With the right photo for every month, the family's birthdays and a layout that suits your pictures, it becomes more personal than any ready-made template. Here is the way from a folder of photos to a finished PDF.

Format and timing

Before you sort photos, decide on the format. It sets how much room the photo and the calendar grid get. The tool uses ISO paper sizes, which are standard in Europe and at most online print shops.

The calendar does not have to start in January. For school children August or September is practical; as a birthday present, the month after the birthday.

Allow time for printing. In a German comparison by heise, photo services took three to six working days to deliver – often longer before Christmas. Printing at home takes an evening plus, if you like, a trip to a copy shop for binding.

Choosing photos

You need 13 photos: one for the cover and twelve for the months – more if you use collages or pages with two to four photos.

• Put your best photo on the cover. It makes the first impression.
• Match the season: snow in January, the beach in July, autumn leaves in October. The tool reads the capture date from the photo data and puts photos into their month automatically.
• Mix it up: close-ups, landscapes and group shots in turn – not twelve times the same pose.
• Use originals, not copies from a messenger: sending photos usually shrinks them a lot. More in Photo calendar image size.
• Mind the orientation: landscape photos fill the full width in “Photo on top, calendar below”, portrait photos suit “Photo left”.

Layout and style

One layout for all months looks calm and high-quality. Single months may break the pattern – say, the holiday month as a collage. In the tool, change “Layout of this page” for that.

The style sets fonts and colors: “Colorful” or “Pastel” for children and family calendars, “Minimal” or “Nordic” for landscapes, “Classic” for grandparents – with easy-to-read numbers.

Birthdays and dates

This is what makes the calendar truly personal – and useful.

• Enter birthdays once, with the year of birth. The age appears automatically, e.g. “Anna (37)”, and it is right again next year.
• Anniversaries (wedding, moving in) work the same way.
• Many at once: paste a list like “2027-03-12 Anna” or import a calendar file (.ics) from Google Calendar, Apple or Outlook.
• Public holidays are not pre-printed. Add the ones that matter to you as dates.

Final touches

1. Check the crop: drag and zoom the photo in the preview. Don't cut off heads, and don't put the horizon exactly in the middle.
2. A caption for each month, e.g. “Summer at the seaside” – short and without the year, which is already printed.
3. Watch the quality indicator: red means the photo is too small for its area. Pick another photo or zoom out.
4. Look at all pages together: the overview shows when two similar photos sit next to each other. Swap pages by dragging.
5. Cover title such as “The Smiths” or “Our year” – the year is added automatically.

Printing: at home or at a print shop

For a print shop, choose the “Print shop” mode in the tool: the PDF gets 3 mm bleed and leaves room at the top for the binding. All details on print files, paper and binding are in How to print a photo calendar.

Ideas for your calendar

• Family calendar with every relative's birthday – the classic present for grandparents.
• Travel review: one month per destination, with the place as the caption.
• Children's calendar with their drawings: photograph or scan them and use them like photos.
• Pet calendar – instant photo layout with the “Playful” style.
• The garden through the year: the same bed every month from the same angle.
• School-year calendar starting in August, with holidays and parents' evenings as dates.

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