I will admit that I am not a Project Life crafter. However, I have been drawn to the unique smaller sizes of photos often used in Project Life scrapbooking. As a means of stretching my own abilities, I recently went looking for services that could print my photos in the unique sizes. Today, I will share with you what I found from my search.
In general, I order my photos in the standard 4” x 6” size and wait until I have accumulated a large quantity of photos in order to save on shipping and cost of photos. However, I have found that photos taken with my iPhone are sometimes not all that fabulous. With these thoughts in mind, I have considered several printing services with a few things in mind: cost per photo, shipping, ease of use, printing options, and smart phone compatibility. Overall I did not find much of a difference between the companies with respect to color and sharpness of photos. As this was the case, I did not include this in my review. Another point to keep in mind is that I am based in the United States – shipping availability and printing costs may be different for out-of-country orders.
1. Persnickety Photo
I learned about Persnickety Photo by doing a Google search. Additional searching resulted in finding several happy customers across the scrapbooking online communities. I was very impressed with their vast number of options for printing photos on different mediums and different sizes. To be truthful, I found the number of options to be both highly gratifying and a little overwhelming. I was unable to determine through their website what each of their different print mediums were. However, I was not deterred by this and ordered a little haphazardly.
Pros
- - They offer tons of different sizes and finishes.
- - You can select what photos you want in which sizes during checkout.
- - Checkout process is easy.
- - Shipping is based on a flat rate.
- - They have an iPhone app which allows you to upload from your phone.
- - The Manual Crop Option allows you to identify the aspect of the photo you want printed.
- - They are based in the United States – Utah specifically
- - The cost of photos is per photo with discounts on higher volume orders
Cons
- - I was uncertain what type of finish I was ordering as these were not described anywhere on the company website.
2. Prinstagram/ Print Studio
I found Prinstagram in the same manner that I found Persnickety – by Googling about printing Instagram photos. I like the simple format and limited options offered by this particular company. Currently they offer you printing options in four different sizes – 4” x 6”, 2.5” x 2.5”, 4” x 4”, and 2.15” x 3.5”.
Pros
- - They have apps for both the iPhone and Android.
- - They have limited options, which makes for easy ordering.
- - You are able to select different print sizes and add to the same order on their website.
- - It syncs with your Instagram account.
- - All photos come with a nice white border that does not cost extra.
- - The shipping is based on a flat rate.
- - They are based in the United States (California).
Cons
- On the iPhone, I was unable to sync the program to an updated Camera Roll.
- You cannot manually crop photos in either the iPhone app or on their web-based interface.
- On the iPhone you cannot create multiple orders in one order, meaning if you want some photos in a square format and others in a rectangle format you have to submit separate orders, which means higher shipping cost.
- There is only one type of finish option: Smooth Satin.
- They charge flat rate photo printing costs. It starts at one price for a specific number of photos and an additional fixed price for every specified increment after the first set amount.
* For 4” x 4” photos: $25 for the first 48 and an additional $4 for every 10 additional photos after
* For 2.5” x 2.5” photos: $15 for the first 48 photos and an additional $5 for every 20 additional photos
* For 2.15” x 3.35” photos: $15 for the first 48 photos and an additional $5 for every 20 additional photos
* For 4” x 6” Photos: $25 for the first 48 and an additional $4 for every 10 additional photos after.
- Although based in the United States, photos are printed in and shipped from China.
- They were the slowest to ship and when I was not home to receive the package it was not left – the package required a delivery signature.
3. Winkflash
While making a regular order I noticed that Winkflash had added additional square photo options. Winkflash is my go-to photo printing service when ordering a large quantity of photos.
Pros
- - They provide good quality prints.
- - 4” x 4” prints are approximately 12 cents a print.
- - Photos can be printed in both matte and glossy.
- - They were the fastest to ship (these photos arrived first).
Cons
- - They have limited printing size options.
- - You cannot crop photos yourself on the site.
4. Walgreens
I personally did not order any photos from Walgreens – for various reasons. However, I did want to mention this service as an option. Several places online indicate that Walgreens offers the ability to print your Smart Phone photos through their app and in store. Additionally, it is indicated that you are able to print your squares photos at in-store kiosks.
