Introduction:
In today's digital age, we capture countless precious moments on our smartphones. However, there's something special about holding a printed photograph in your hand.
There are a number of ways to print photos from an iPhone from using your own home printer, visiting a high street shop or having your digital photos printed by an online photo printing service.
This article focuses on online photo printing services because this option offers an affordable and easy way to transform your digital images into printed photos. This method also ensures high quality photographic printing and offers the convenience of home delivery.
In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through the process of printing photos from your iPhone using an online service to ensure your memories are preserved for years to come.
The benefits of printing photos from your iPhone:
Printing photos from your phone offers several benefits that go beyond the joy of holding a print of your photo in your hands. Here are a few advantages of printing your smartphone photos:
- Convenience: With the rise of high-quality smartphone cameras, you always have a camera at your fingertips. Printing photos directly from your phone eliminates the need for transferring images to a computer and allows you to print them instantly.
- Cost-effective: Printing photos yourself or using online printing services can be cost-effective compared to traditional high street photo printing where you would print a whole roll of pictures at the same size some of which you didn’t want. With iPhone photos you can print only the photos you want, in the sizes you desire, without the need for minimum order quantities.
- Customisation: Printing your own photos gives you full control over the final product. You can choose the size, paper type, and even customise the layout to suit your preferences. Personalisation options allow you to create unique and thoughtful gifts for your loved ones.
- Enhanced Appreciation: Physical prints offer a more immersive viewing experience compared to digital images on a screen. You can appreciate the details, colours, and textures in a way that digital images often fail to capture.
- Decorative Appeal: Printed photos add a touch of personality and warmth to any living space. Whether you choose to frame them, create a gallery wall, or display them in a photo album, printed photos can transform your home into a personal art gallery.
Tips for selecting and editing iPhone photos for printing:
Selecting and editing your photos before printing is a crucial step to ensure the best possible print quality. Here are some tips to help you choose and prepare your photos for printing:
- Choose the Right Resolution: Higher resolution images generally result in better print quality. When selecting photos for printing, ensure they have a resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch (PPI) to avoid pixelation and maintain sharpness in the prints.
- Consider Lighting and Composition: Look for photos that are well-exposed, with balanced lighting and appealing composition. Pay attention to details such as shadows, highlights, and overall contrast. Adjusting these elements before printing can enhance the overall visual impact of the prints.
- Crop and Resize: Before printing, consider cropping and resizing your photos to fit the desired print size and aspect ratio. This can help eliminate unwanted elements, focus on the main subject, and ensure the best composition for the final print.
- Test Prints: If you're unsure about how your photos will look in print, consider ordering test prints or printing on a smaller scale first. This allows you to assess the colours, sharpness, and overall print quality before committing to larger prints.
Remember, photo editing is subjective, and the final outcome depends on your personal preferences. Experiment with different editing techniques, but always aim to maintain the essence and authenticity of the original photo.
What you’ll need to print your photos online:
- An iPhone
- A good internet connection
8 simple steps to successful online photo printing:
Step 1: Choose a reputable online photo printing service
Before starting the printing process, it's essential to select a reliable online photo printing service. There are a number of popular online photo printing services in the UK and so consider factors such those offering high-quality prints with vibrant colours and accurate details, competitive pricing, fast delivery options, good customer support and use customer reviews to decide upon the best choice for your needs.
Once you've chosen a photo printing service, visit their website or download their app to get started.
Step 2: Decide upon your preferred photo print size
Most online photo printing services offer a range of photo print sizes from the very popular 6x4 photo prints up to large format prints. Some online printers also offer custom size photo prints for odd sized frames, contemporary square photo prints, little mini photo prints, collage photo prints and 1970’s inspired retro prints.
The print size and type you require will properly be determined by how you propose to use the photo prints or the size of your photo frames.
Step 3: Select and upload your digital photos
Open the photo printing website or app on your iPhone and navigate to the section where you can upload photos. Browse through your iPhone's photo library and select the photos you wish to upload and print. You can choose to upload a single photo or multiple photos if you want to prints lots of photos in one go. We recommend uploading no more than 200 photos from your phone in one go.
Top tip:
Organise the photos you want to print in an album in your iPhone photo library first. That way it will be easier to find and upload the photos you would like to print.
Step 4: Edit and optimise your photos
Many online photo printing services offer editing tools to enhance your images before printing. You can adjust the crop, select a gloss or matte finish, add white borders or even turn your colour photos into black and white. Take advantage of these features to ensure your printed photographs look their best.
Top tip:
Always check and adjust the crop of your photos because generally speaking the aspect ratio (the proportional relationship between the width and height of an image) of digital images on your iPhone are a different to the aspect ratio to the photo print size you select.
For example, the typical aspect ratio of a smartphone photo is 4:3 whereas a 6x4 photo print has a aspect ratio of 3:2 and this means that the entire digital print cannot be printed without it being cropped to the relevant aspect ratio. This principle is even more important when printing digital photos in square, 1:1 format, as the rectangular digital photo has to be cropped to a square format.
Step 5: Choose print quantities
Once you've selected and edited your photos, it's time to choose how many copies of each photo print you would like to print.
Step 6: Preview your prints and approve them for printing
Before finalising your photo prints, take a moment to review the selected photos to ensure the crop is correct. Also, double-check for any other errors or discrepancies and once you're satisfied add your prints to the basket ready for checkout.
Step 7: Enter your details and checkout
Many photo printers offer guest checkout which speeds up the process and minimises the amount of information required from you before paying. You’ll still need to enter your contact details and shipping address in order to complete the order.
Step 8: Pay for your order and await delivery
After paying for your order, sit back and relax as your prints are processed and prepared for delivery. Most online photo printing companies provide estimated delivery times, so you'll have an idea of when to expect your prints. Some even offer next day photo print delivery. Once your pics arrive, unpack them and marvel at your captured photo memories brought to life in print form.
Conclusion:
Printing photos from your iPhone using an online photo printing service is a convenient and rewarding way to preserve your memories. By following this step-by-step guide, you can easily navigate the printing process and create beautiful prints to cherish for years to come.
Whether you're creating a photo album, decorating your home, or sharing memories with loved ones, online photo printing services make it easier than ever to bring your digital photos to life. Start printing direct from your iPhone today and relive your favourite moments in print form.
PostSnap offers a high quality online photo printing service using their mobile optimised website and mobile apps. They offer easy and fast photo upload, a huge range of photo print sizes and next day photo print UK delivery.
