Although the art of scrapbooking includes several elements to tell a story - photos, words and embellishments - each component is important for the finished product.
To ensure a story is told and it's told well, the photos on the page should do as much and maybe even more talking than the words themselves. To ensure the best photo layouts, it's important to do some advance planning for each scrapbook page.

When choosing photos for a page:
* Determine the book or at least the page's theme in advance. If the page is about a trip to Europe, don't include a picture of little Timmy at school Weigh each photograph for its relevance along with its beauty. If it doesn't fit, get rid of it. (At least for that page or book.)
* Once photos are chosen for a page, do some mock ups of the design. Keep a look out for the photo you'd really like to be the center of attention for that page. The "anchor photo" as newspaper designers will tell you is very important for drawing attention to a layout. The photo should be larger than others, more eye appealing and tell a story in and of itself. Others on the page should add more details, but the theme should shine through with the anchor.
* Don't crop, adhere or otherwise alter photos until you're in love with a design concept. Unless you have a lot of spare copies of a shot, there's no turning back once a cut has been made. Try to visualize the finished page and play around with different designs by physically arranging the photos before you cut or alter.
* Once you're in love with a layout, it's time to crop any photos that might need them. Since you'll want to vary the sizes of your photos, this very likely will be necessary. When cropping, try to make natural breaks in the shots. Don't cut out a person, but leave their arm. Don't chop off mid-waist. If you're in doubt of good crops, look at magazines or newspapers you admire. Look at what they do to crop.
* Consider matting instead of cropping for some shots. This can not only preserve the original, avoiding cutting, but it can also add a nice design element to a page.

While it's true that more than photos make up a good scrapbook, it's important to treat the photos with care. These give the "visual side of the story,' and oftentimes tell it better than words ever can.