about me my website my shop contact FAQ links Image Map

Thursday 15 May 2014

where to print your instagram photos


whenever I post photos of my printed instagram photos I get a bunch of comments and messages and emails asking for advice on where to get them printed. to save myself replying the same information constantly I thought I'd put together this handy little guide! before I start, I'd just like to say this is only my personal experience of printing Instagram photos, and also I haven't tried every single place. I'm not claiming to be the font of all online photo printing, but hopefully this will help steer you in the right direction!

so I'm going to talk about four places I've printed my photos before. Polabora, printed.com, instaprnt, and Sticky9. all are very different, and all have positives. which you choose depends very much on your budget, what you want to use the pictures for, and how you want them to look! here is a side by side comparison so you can see the different sizes and styles available....


okay so first up are Polabora - these are the new guys on the scene, but that doesn't mean they are brilliant at what they do! the actual print itself, is rectangular, and is made to look like a polaroid photo, which I personally really like. the photo part is still in the classic square format so none of your picture will be cropped off or anything like that. the paper is like normal photo paper - normal thickness with a gloss finish. they are a really nice size too at 4" by 3" - not too big and not too small. they would be great for so many things, and are probably my go to for printing my instagram pics now. they are about £9 for 20 prints, so not the cheapest around - if you wanted to print a lot of images it could get very expensive. I've been ordering two lots of 20 prints every month or so which works out perfectly.


also from Polabora are these retro looking photobooth-style photo strips. these are really cute and novel, and make a change from just having individual photos printed out. they are printed on the same photo paper as the polaroid style prints from Polabora, so they feel very much like the photo strip you'd get from a photobooth! I wouldn't get all my photos printed like this as I like having the images individually, but these are a nice way to mix it up a little. I have these dotted around my studio and bedroom, and have sent some to friends. they cost about £4.50 for 6 strips (each strip has three photos so 18 photos in total) so are still reasonable, and would be a fun way to remember a specific event like a wedding or holiday.


these traditional photo prints are from instaprnt - they are just like normal photo prints except they are square to fit your instagram photos perfectly! at only 35p for each 4"x4" photo they are probably the cheapest way to print your photos too. they are a UK based company, so delivery was super speedy and no horrible customs charges or anything like that! the quality is also really good AND they use a really nice matte/silk finish paper which is a big deal to me (not a fan of gloss finish photos but that's another story!) these are the largest prints out of all the places I tried, which is good if you want pictures that are easier to see, but not so good if you are after cute little novelty pictures. these prints look great grouped together on a wall in a kind of grid pattern as they stand out much better than the smaller prints. I'd recommend these for printing off a big batch of photos, or if you're looking to make a scrapbook/album of a special occasion.


although these aren't traditional photo prints, I had to mention Sticky9 and their instagram magnets. they are the most expensive way of printing your photos, they are probably the cutest and most practical! I have these stuck on the metal trolley in my studio, but I'm going to order a bunch more so I can cover my fridge! the print quality is excellent, they stick really well, and they are perfectly dinky which I love. they cost £10 for a set of 9 magnets, so they're not going to break the bank, but save them for your favourite photos! (also worth mentioning that Sticky9 do instagram phone and ipad cases too - adding one to my wishlist as they look really nice!)


and last, but by no means least, are printed.com! now I've mentioned printed.com MANY times before as they are the company that prints all my packaging, stickers, labels, postcards, and promotional materials. they are AWESOME (and no I don't work on commission for them, I just believe in recommending good companies!) and all their products are really good quality. so when I found out they also printed instagram photos I obviously had to try it! their instagram photo prints are made to look like polaroids, but they are printed on really high quality thick cardstock, with a lovely gloss finish (but not that horrible gloss that you leave fingerprints all over!) they are also VERY reasonably priced - if you order 36 prints they work out about 40p each excluding postage. I've used up most of my prints from here sending them out as little thank you notecards, because they are so thick they are like little postcards almost! I probably owuldn't use these in an album or for scrapbooking as they are much thicker than normal photo paper, but they are perfect for sending to friends, writing notes on, or sticking on your wall! (also I've just noticed that they now also print your instagram photos as cute stickers! I'll be ordering some of those this week and will let you all know what they are like!)


does anyone else use any other websites to get their instagram pictures printed? let me know if you use any of the sites I've mentioned - I love seeing other people's pictures all printed out together!

8 comments:

  1. These are all so cute! I've been wanting to order some instagram photos for ages but have never got round to it! I'm so bad with not actually uploading all my best photos to instagram just due to the fact that I take pictures more with my DSLR than my phone.
    Lauren | OhHay Blogs!
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great post, very helpful thanks! I've used Sticky 9 and have been so happy with my little magnets, but didn't know what other options were out there. BTW I think there's a typo in the Polabora paragraph, it says "but that doesn't mean they are brilliant at what they do" but it sounds like you did think they were good, LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Although i'm relatively new to Instagram this makes me more excited about using it, I love those 'polaroid' style ones and the magnets would make a great present x

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have almost 2000 photographs on Instagram so far... :/ I think I shall have to save up before starting to print them out!! ^__^

    ReplyDelete

  5. If you want to join Instagram but you are put off by not knowing how to use it,
    then you should read ahead to know everything there is to know about Instagram.
    i thought about this

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing blog that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free.
    buy instagram followers cheap

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was reading some of your content on this website and I conceive this internet site is really informative ! Keep on putting up.
    Online research repository

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info.
    cavitation machine

    ReplyDelete

I love getting comments and read every single one. I try to check out the blogs of people who leave comments, and reply wherever possible :) Thank you! xoxo