Forget animal sacrifice, this is about image sacrifice, and why it is - quite frankly - morally and photographically unethical! What I’m talking about here is panoramic layouts and when to 'cut' an image (and when not to). Queensberry doesn’t make leaves with prints continuous across the spine of the book, as some manufacturers do. Instead, the prints on our digital pages are split at the centreline, leaving a gap of about 2mm (about 1/16”). The reason for this is because if the print is folded - it almost invariably discolours and/or cracks. Our albums are all about protecting images rather than mistreating them. So when it comes to using a panoramic spread and splitting a print in two over the centre spine - it should be purposeful and only an occasional feature. I often see designs where an image is sacrificed at the expense of a 'cool' layout design - and a person, arm or leg is literally cut down the centre because of image placement over the centreline of the album. This isn't Chainsaw Massacre 5, people! In the image above the layout is completely symmetrical - which is nice - but the couple's hands are being cut in half with the centre spine (and aren’t their hands part of the story of this image?) Below is an alternative layout that works just as well - but doesn’t cut anyone's limbs in half. When designing it’s a good idea to think about a layout not just as a spread, but also as two pages (left and right). A good design should be about enhancing the images themselves, not so much about creating intricate patterns that can get in the way of visual flow and story telling. Above is a layout of apertures that looks quite good on the screen, but when it's made the spine will be cutting right through those small apertures - and you’ll end up with a little slither of photo on the right hand layout. A large panoramic image (image below) can look spectacular, but cutting an aperture that is smaller than a 7x5 doesn’t do the image any favours. The best way to lay out a montage is to use a standard layout and work with the spine rather than against it - see image below. Large group photos can be really tricky because you'll often want them to be as big as possible - but it’s probably a better solution to use a full page on one side rather than cut Aunt Mildred's head in two! (see my example of the massacre below). Happy selective slicing. Anna Disclaimer: No images were harmed in the making of this blog post. PS I think this is good advice even if your album manufacturer doesn't split prints at the spine.