Best Font/Layout to use?

I thought I would try and make a book of my own but would be grateful for any advice before I mess things up.

 I am not good at creative things so will struggle with a few things when trying to place images correctly on page and writing good text to go along with it, but could do with some good tips:-

I have decided the Standard Landscape book is best option as images would fit on that, if I take the large landscape its just too big for my purpose

1. What is the best optimal font to use in a standard landcape book?
2. What is the best size of font to use?
3. Some of my images have a black background. Is it a good idea to make the page background black too and make the text white?
4.  Is it good practice to put a small border around images to make them clearer?

Read "The Non-Designers Design Book" and/or the "Non Designers Type Book" both by Robin Williams and published by the Peachpit Press. They are worth their wieght in gold.