Ordering Prints of the Photos That Matter
Okay so last time we found buried photos when someone asks for them, and hopefully that saved somebody an awkward text where you have to admit you can't find the picture your sister-in-law wants. Today we're doing something with those photos instead of just storing them. We're printing some.
I'll be honest, this is the old-fashioned part of the class. But I stand by it. A phone can die, a cloud account can glitch, but a print sitting in a frame on the wall doesn't need a password or a charger. It just sits there being a photo.
Why I bother with this at all
Inez, my mother-in-law, asked me for the photos from her and Travis's temple day. I said sure, no problem, and then spent forty five minutes digging because they were buried under about six hundred screenshots. That whole mess is basically why I got serious about folders in the first place, and it's also why I print things now. If it matters to someone, I want it out of the phone and into their hands, not sitting in a backup they're trusting me to maintain forever.
Sooo. Let's actually do it.
Step one: pick the photos, and pick fewer than you think
Go to whatever album you've built, your year folder or your family shared album, and pick out photos that actually matter. Not the whole month. Not every recital. Pick the ones you'd frame or hand to someone.
I feel like people freeze up here because they want to print everything, and then they never print anything. Start with ten. Maybe fifteen. You can always order more later.
Step two: know your file, know your size
Before you order anything, check the photo isn't a screenshot that got mixed in (we talked about this, screenshots do not belong with your real photos, and this is exactly why, they print blurry and weird because they're not actually camera photos, they're a picture of your screen).
Also check the photo isn't zoomed in a ton on your phone. If you pinch zoomed into a picture to crop it tighter, that can shrink the actual quality you're printing from. A 4x6 print is forgiving. An 8x10 of a heavily cropped photo can come out soft. I've had this happen and it's disappointing when you open the envelope.
Step three: order through your photo app or a print service
Most phone photo apps (Google Photos, the Photos app on iPhone) have a print or "order prints" option right in the sharing menu. You tap the photo, tap share, and there's usually a print option listed with your other choices like Messages or email. Costco also does photo printing if you want to just run it through a Costco trip you're already making, that's honestly what I do most of the time.
Either way the steps are basically: select photos, pick your size (4x6 is standard and cheap, 5x7 and 8x10 cost more), pick your paper finish if it asks (glossy or matte, I'm a matte person, I don't love the glare off glossy under our lights), and check out.
Step four: actually put them somewhere
This sounds obvious but I mean it. Buy a frame. Put them in an album. Give them to the person they're for. Don't let the prints sit in the envelope in a drawer, because then you've just moved the buried-photo problem from your phone to your junk drawer.
The part where I admit I don't finish things
I want to be honest with you about something. A while back I sat down to organize my whole 2019 camera roll into monthly folders. I got through January, February, March, all the way through August, feeling great about myself. And then I just stopped. Got bored, moved on with my life, and that folder still trails off after August to this day. Nobody finished September for me. It's still sitting there unfinished.
I tell you that because printing is the same kind of project. You do not have to print your whole camera roll in one sitting. Pick this year's ten photos. Order them. Stop. Do next year's ten later, or don't, that's fine too. Little chunks, done and actually finished, beat one huge project you abandon in August.
A word on cost
Prints aren't free and I know that adds up if you go overboard. This is another spot where I'd rather you spend two or three dollars getting ten good prints made than spend an hour agonizing over whether it's worth it. I feel like your time deciding is worth more than the money you're trying to save.
Before next time
Pick one event or one person, Inez getting her temple photos, a grandkid's first year, whatever comes to mind first, and order at least five prints of it before we meet again. Bring one with you if you want to show the room.