Smart Photo Selection guide
How to Create an Album Project
Start an album in Smart Photo Selection's Album Studio: name it, choose the AI, automatic or manual route, set the size, and manage projects from Recent albums.
By Smart Photo Selection TeamUpdated Published 4 min read
Short answer
Open Album Studio and click Create album. Type an Album name, choose one of the three cards — Create with AI, Automatic album or Manual album editor — set the canvas under Album size, Custom size or From template, then click Continue with AI, Continue or Open editor. The project appears under Recent albums, where its menu offers Open, Rename, Duplicate, Download generated files and Delete.
What You Need
- A photographer (studio) account — Album Studio opens only for studio accounts.
- A booking with photos uploaded, so the project has a gallery to pull from.
- Your lab's spread size and resolution (12 × 36 in or 14 × 40 in at 300 DPI are common defaults).
- At least one verified template if you plan the automatic route — otherwise upload a PSD first.
The three ways to start
A project is one album: its chosen photos, its sheets and its generated files. How it begins decides what the first steps ask for. Create with AI ranks the booking's photos and designs each sheet around them. Automatic album maps your photos into the slots of a design you already trust — a system template or your own verified PSD. Manual album editor starts you in the layer-based editor with a template or a blank canvas, arranging everything yourself. All three end in the same editor and the same export.
Step by step: create the project
- 1
Open Album Studio
Go to
/album-studio. The header shows Create print-ready albums from your PSD templates and booking photos, withTemplates (N)andCreate albumon the right, andRecent albumsbelow. An empty studio offersUpload templateandCreate albuminstead. - 2
Click Create album
The
Create albumdialog opens with Build the album automatically from a template, or design it yourself in the editor. Type anAlbum name— Wedding — Rahul & Priya is the placeholder for a reason. - 3
Pick a route
Choose the
Create with AIcard (AI ranks sharpness, exposure, faces and duplicates, then lays them out), theAutomatic albumcard (photos placed into slots in sequence), or theManual album editorcard (arrange photos, text and shapes yourself). - 4
Set the canvas
For a manual album choose
Album size(a spread preset),Custom size(width, height, unit and DPI) orFrom template(the size a verified template already has). Spread and landscape presets fold in the middle. If no verified template exists yet, the dialog says so and you can upload one in the next steps. - 5
Create it
Click
Continue with AIfor the AI route,Continuefor automatic, orOpen editorfor manual. Missing input is refused with messages such as Give the album a name. or Choose a template, or use a canvas size. - 6
Work on it later
The project is now a card in
Recent albums, showing its mode (Automatic, AI or Manual), photo and sheet counts, the album size, its booking and a status badge. Its three-dot menu hasOpen,Rename,Duplicate,Download generated filesandDelete.
Choosing between the routes
| Card | Choose it when | First real step after creating |
|---|---|---|
Create with AI | You want ranked photos and designed sheets | Run AI selection in the AI selection step |
Automatic album | You already trust a PSD or system design | 2. Album template, then 3. Photo → slot mapping |
Manual album editor | You compose every sheet yourself | The editor's Photos panel and canvas |
You can also start from a design instead: on /album-studio/templates, a template card offers Open with AI or Open in Editor, and a system template offers AI Editor with Continue with AI or Open Manual Editor. Both create the project for you.
Tips
- Name projects the way you will search for them later — studio, couple, and size if you run several books per wedding.
- Set the canvas before generating: layouts are composed for their ratio, so a size change means starting the sheets again.
- Use
Duplicateto try a second direction from the same selection instead of rebuilding it. - Keep one project per delivery;
Download generated fileson the card collects what you have already produced.
Common Mistakes
Creating the project before the photos are uploaded
The picker reads the booking gallery, so an incomplete upload means an incomplete album. Finish the upload first.
Starting manual with no verified template
Upload and verify the PSD first — see upload a PSD album template — so
From templategives the right canvas.Expecting projects on another computer
Storage is per browser. Export the sheets before switching devices, or duplicate the work locally.
Wrong route, then fighting it
Delete and re-create rather than converting: the route decides which steps the project asks for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I find my albums?
In Recent albums on /album-studio, with mode, counts, size, booking and status on each card.
Can I change the route after creating?
Not on the same project — the route decides the steps it shows. Duplicate or create a second project with the other card.
Do album projects include the client's selection?
No — projects reference the booking's photos. The selection matters when you choose which photos to include, as in choose photos for an album.
What does the status badge mean?
It tracks the project's last job: draft while you edit, processing during a generation, and completed when the files are ready.
Related Guides
- How to Choose Photos for an AlbumPick the photos that go into the book: use client picks and folder filters in Album Studio's photo picker, and decide how many frames a sheet can hold.
- How Album Automation WorksUnderstand Album Automation: booking photos are read in sequence and mapped into the verified slots of your PSD design, sheet by sheet, for export.
- How to Create a Wedding Album With AIStep-by-step: pick a booking, run the AI photo selection, choose a size and design style, generate the spreads, then review and export your wedding album.
- How to Upload and Use Your Own PSD Album TemplateUpload a PSD album design to Smart Photo Selection, verify the detected photo slots, set the fill order and reuse the template for every wedding, with automatic photo mapping.
Related Features
Further Reading
- From Selected Photos to a Finished AlbumTurn a couple's submitted selection into printable album sheets: create the project, choose the photos, generate, review, edit and export at full size.
- What Is Wedding Album Automation?Wedding album automation explained: upload a PSD template once, confirm the photo slots, and map every wedding's photos into finished sheets automatically.
- The Complete Wedding Photography WorkflowOne workflow from the wedding day to delivery: folder uploads, culling, client selection, face scan for guests, gallery delivery and album sheets.
Try It in Smart Photo Selection
Open Album Studio with a photographer account, pick a booking and follow the steps above on your own photos.