Everything You Need to Know About Printing Your Photos
Does printing your photos make you feel overwhelmed?
You’ve invested into having a professional photographer take your photos. You get your gallery back. You’re obsessed!!! You change your profile picture. Post a few photos on Instagram. And now it’s time to print them for your home, BUT, it’s so overwhelming!!!
Where do you start? How many should you print? Where should you put them? There needs to be some method to this madness, right?
I am personally a little bit OCD myself, so what often gets me hung up is choosing which ones to print and where to put them in my house. If you relate to that in the tiniest bit, I hope that these tips will help you take your photos from your online gallery to the walls of your home! (Or your desk, or shelf, or mantle!)
You already know and believe that this season of your life matters. That’s why you invested time and money into having your photos taken. But what you also need to know is this - your photos deserve to be printed! This is living, breathing art for your home. And it’s a reminder of your story. Of who you love. And of why you keep choosing each other. Despite the disagreements or quarrels, despite the tantrums or late nights, despite all the things. Photos are a reminder of why love - in our relationships, in our marriage, in our families - is worth fighting for.
Okay enough sap for now, hehe. Let’s print some photos!!!
Keep scrolling for tips on choosing which photos to print, my favorite print products, and tips on how to create a gallery wall! xoxo
3 Tips for Getting Started
Tip #1: Narrow down your favorites.
Going through your gallery, select the ones that make your heart singggg more than any other! If you’re a past client of mine, using your Pixieset gallery, select the heart icon to add your favorite photos to one list that’s easy to access. This will make the process less overwhelming because you’ll be looking at a smaller group of photos when it comes time to decide!
You can narrow down your favorites even further by adding them to more specific lists and naming them accordingly. For me this might be: “The Girls” for just photos of Wylden & River or even “Living Room favorites” if I know I want to refresh the gallery wall in my living room specifically. I’ve also used this feature when narrowing down my favorites for a Christmas card by making a “Christmas” list.
This video tutorial will show you exactly how to create a favorites list inside your Pixieset gallery!
Tip #2: Choose THREE places around your home to display your prints.
Remember, this is just a starting point! And I think 3 spots is totally manageable.
I want you to literally get out a pen and piece of paper (or used the Notes app on your phone) and write down each spot in your home that you want to add your printed photos to. Then, beside it, write out which size print you would like to go there.
For example: Our bedroom - one 8x10 print for frame on bedside table, three 11x14 prints to hang above our bed
Here are the three different types of spots I want you to choose as a starting point.
Spot 1: Pick a wall in your home that everyone will be able to see! This could be in your living room (family room as I grew up calling it), a well-trafficked hallway, or above a piece of furniture. I recommend printing multiple photos to make a gallery wall. Check out this Pinterest board for inspiration: Gallery Walls Done Right. And if you need help on which print products to choose for your gallery wall, I’ve listed my favs further down on this blog.
Spot 2: Pick a bedroom to display your photos. This could be hung on a wall, framed on a bedside table, framed on a dresser or a desk.
Spot 3: Pick a living space available to everyone, your family and your guests! Now, pick a surface to put a framed print on. In our home, we don’t have many surfaces because we have a small home that doesn’t have a whole lot of furniture, so I utilize our fire place mantle, piano, and built-in shelves.
Once you get started, you might be surprised to see how easy it is and add more spots! But 3 is a great place to start.
Tip #3: Order those prints, baby!
I know, you’re like, but Suzy, I have obsessive compulsive disorder and I don’t know if I’m picking the right photos to print and I don’t know if it’s perfect and I just, I just, I just can’t do it.
Friend, this is just a starting point! Order these photos! Get them framed or hung up and feel the satisfaction of marking that off your to-do list.
Then, if you get that addictive feeling of seeing your memories come to life before your eyes, order more!!! Go back to one of your favorites lists and pick some more for other spots in your home that don’t have any photos or need to be updated.
Start small. Cross it off the list. See your memories come to life. Feel good. Repeat
You got this!
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to add photos to your cart through your Pixieset online gallery. If you want to see some of my personal favorite products & tips on making a beautiful gallery wall, keep scrolling!
My Top 3 Favorite Products
If you are a past client of mine, when you order through my Pixieset online gallery, your prints will come from the print lab I use for prints around our home called White House Custom Color. Below, I’m sharing a few of my favorite products for prints around your home!
Whether or not you order through my specific gallery, you should know that there is a NOTICEABLE difference between ordering from a professional printing lab and your local Walgreens. The color and quality is incredibly different. If you want the color of your prints to match the color of your online gallery, it’s worth the difference in price.
If you have not been a client of mine, but would like for me to order prints for you, send us an email at hello@suzycollinsphotography.com and we can take care of you! They must be photos you have personally taken or photos that you have printing rights to that have been taken by someone else, we can help you get your photos printed.
Favorite WHCC Product #1 : Standout Prints
In my opinion, standout prints are essentially the modern canvas for your home & are less expensive. No frame needed, these prints are modern and sleek with clean edges. They are 3/4" in depth so they will stand out from your wall similar to how a canvas would. The back panels contain pre-drilled holes making them easy to hang on simple nails or screws, too.
I typically choose the white edges and select lustre finish for the photos. The lustre finish makes the colors pop, but isn’t as reflective as the glossy finish, so if hanging where there is a lot of light, there won’t be as much glare. I also love the matte finish for black & white images.
Favorite WHCC Product #2 : Gallery Frames
Another modern option that saves you the time of finding and framing your prints are the Gallery Framed prints. I prefer the black or white frames for a sleek, modern look or the “Ashland Gray” frame for a little bit warmer, natural look. Lustre finish for color or deep matte finish for black & white and I love choosing a white mat to help your photos pop!
Favorite WHCC Product #3 : Framed Canvas
This is the daddy of all the print products. The canvas is beautiful as you can imagine, but the frame adds a sort of modern elegance to its look with the “float frame” style. Framed Canvas Prints are mounted with a space between the frame and the canvas, so that your print appears to be floating within the frame.
All canvases are printed on Premium Fine Art Canvas with Semi-Gloss Laminate, and measure 1½" in depth. They come fully assembled with a wire hanger, paper backing and bumpers so that they are easy to hang. In our house, I would choose the gold, white, natural wood, or walnut wood frame option.
3 Tips for Making Your Own Gallery Wall
Gallery Wall Tip #1 : Choose a Layout
If you need help getting started, check out this Pinterest board for inspiration: Gallery Walls Done Right. You can choose more minimal, symmetrical layouts with 2, 3, or 4 frames. You can keep it simple with a grid style. Or, mix in other artwork and pieces for more of an eclectic style.
Gallery Wall Tip #2 : Measure Your Wall & Plan Your Placement
Measure the amount fo space you want to fill on your wall. Then, using those parameters on your floor, lay out your frames and other items and space them out evenly, making sure to keep all frames the same distance apart and paying attention to not leave dead space.
If you want to go a step further, you can trace and cut out all of your prints and other art on top of craft paper and then sticky tack the craft paper cut outs to the wall to get an even more accurate visual of what your gallery wall will look like. This method will take longer, but is the better method for perfectionists. :)
Gallery Wall Tip #3 : Just Do It
Nothing is permanent. Though it may feel like it is! After we renovated our house, all the walls were perfectly smooth from fresh sheetrock and paint and we were afraid to hang anything on the walls for a while! But if you wait for everything to be perfect, it will never happen. And having your memories printed and displayed for you to enjoy is more important than a perfect gallery wall anyways. :)
Bonus Tip: If the thought of putting holes into your wall is giving you a heart attack, you can use heavy duty command hooks and strips instead.
But what do I do with my old photos?
I can get hung up on this same question too sometimes! I think old photos belong in a few places!
Old Photos Idea #1
Keep your old photos in an album or book of some kind! That way, even when you replace your framed photos with new images, you know that those memories are still kept somewhere special to look at whenever you want. There are so many incredible options these days for big or small albums. I personally like to make 2 photo books a year to document our family’s adventures. For example, a 2020 Part I book and 2020 Part II book. Artifact Uprising is a great resource for designing and printing your own photo book.
Old Photos Idea #2
Keep older photos in smaller frames around your home! While you might be refreshing your gallery wall or more prominent areas in your home, you can move the photos that are being replaced to books shelves, mantles, or other sweet spaces.
Old Photos Idea #3
Some old photos fall into the category of “classic” to me. It might be an old photo of your parents on their wedding day or just a photo of your child as a baby that feels like the most iconic photo of them from that age that you want to remember often! I think those photos can still be kept framed in prominent places in your home to remember those sweet seasons on a more regular basis! The more time passes, the more those classic photos seem to rise to the top.
Old Photos Idea #4
If you don’t have any spots left for an old photo in your home, I think they are still worth saving! I am not big on clutter, my husband often gets onto me for the things I purge from our home, but when it comes to photos, I will always save them! Use boxes to keep your photos categorized by person or by year and store those old photos away in a dry, safe spot so that you can pop the lid on days you really want to get into your feels.
