A Guide to Printing Your Personal Photos
The other day I was thinking about why I am making photos for people, and at the end of the day, I want people to have pictures that they can share with their kids one day. But, unfortunately, we have so many pictures on our phones that will never get seen.
You don’t have to have your photos printed out someplace fancy. Loose prints are the easiest way to go and are relatively cheap.
And, for the sake of this article, we will assume that you will want to print loose photos. Many of these ideas can apply to creating an album as well.
Collecting your photos
This might feel daunting if you haven’t printed photos in a while.
So, where do you start collecting photos?
Starting with a particular month or a year will be more manageable. Then, put them into a folder or album on your phone or computer as you look through them. I like to organize my folders or albums by year. You could even break it down by month or season.
If you have a lot of photos, it might be easier to pick a time that is a little farther back, like last year. This is also helpful because you feel less attached to every photo
How to decide which photos to print?
What do you want to remember about that time in your life? What tells your story? Start looking for those moments. It can be challenging, but try picking the best one or two from a set.
Tips for printing your photos so they look good
Firstly, you can’t print a good quality photo from a crumby photo. Check out my tips on taking better photos of your family in this guide.
Change phone photo settings to JPEG
Second, if you know you want to print your photos and want better quality, stop shooting in HEIC (Apple users) and start shooting in JPEG. You can adjust this in the camera settings on your phone. These photos do take up more space, but I think it’s worth it because I know I will be printing. I don’t use Android, but from what I saw in a quick Google search, your phone is already shooting in JPEG.
A quick lesson about photo size and how to print from a higher-quality photo.
The gold standard is printing from at least 300 DPI (dots per inch). DPI has nothing to do with how a photo is viewed on a screen and is a printing term. Artifact Uprising said it would give you a printing warning at 150 DPI. Not all photo printing places print at 300 DPI either; some print at 200 DPI. And this would be fine for most general 4x6 printing.
You're printing low-quality photos when you screenshot a photo from your phone or grab a thumbnail (the preview image) from Facebook. They will look really grainy or pixelated.
How do you know what size your photos are on your phone?
Divide by 300. That’s the 300 DPI gold standard above. Lower than 150 DPI is going to start having quality issues when printing.
How big can I print my photo?
One photo on my phone was 3024 x 4032. So, if I am going to print at the highest quality (300 DPI), I can print it approximately 8x13 before the quality starts to reduce.
A Facebook thumbnail ranges in size, but let’s just say it’s 700x400. The largest you can print that photo with great quality is 2.3x1.3 inches, and on the lower quality side, 4.6x2.6 inches. That’s not even a 4x6 photo.
Where to print your photos online
You do not need to print all your photos professionally. However, there are a few places I don’t mind recommending for photo printing.
Artifact Uprising
You’ll love them if you want something unique. Their everyday prints are on thick press paper. I love to order them matte with a white border. You do have to order these in packs of 10, 25, or 50.
Their larger, fancier prints are a little different, like buttery velvet. I was impressed with the quality for the price. Also, check the quality of your image before printing larger prints.
Walmart
When I was doing test prints to get some actual data on the professional quality prints I offer, I was shocked to find that one of the highest quality labs I’ve ordered from (and one of the more expensive) printed on the same Fuji paper as Walmart for their every day, luster prints. Their luster print and Walmarts were nearly identical. I could have easily mixed them up.
Need a cheap photo printing option?
On the Shutterfly mobile app, you can print an unlimited amount of free 4x6 prints; you only have to pay for shipping.
When we lived across the country, I wrote letters to my grandma. Each time I wrote her a letter, I would send her a few prints through the app on my phone. Now, the quality of these prints isn’t as good, but it will get your picture off your phone.
Write or make notes for the photos
One day you’ll be the only one who can tell who is who in a photo. But, let’s be honest, there might also be a day you don’t know who is who either. It’s a good idea to write on the back of photos or put photos in a box or album with labels of dates, people, or locations. Even if you only do this with some pictures, you’ll thank yourself later.
Just get started!
You won’t regret printing some photos. Make it a ritual. Print them once a year or every month. Just start printing.
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