The task of printing out photos always cropped up in random conversations with people, 'I really need to print out my photos', I'm definitely going to print them this week'. I kept saying it until one day I thought to myself I actually really do need to print them out. The thought of losing my photos scared me. Imagine one day I lost one of my memory cards that stored all my favourite ones or it just wouldn't open! All those memories gone! I also wasn't sure on where to start. Should I pop into a shop to use one of those photo kiosks or should I do it online?
This is where Photobox comes in. One of my close friends used this online photo printing service and recommended it. The great news is that I really liked it and found it really simple to use. After creating an account, you can upload hundreds of photos into different albums. Your photos will then be saved there, which you can choose to delete if you wish to or you can leave it there as back up.
There are different print sizes but I wanted a bunch of classic photos so I opted for 6x4 with a glossy finish. You can also choose a matte finish or even add a white border. A majority of the photos were taken with my phone and they still came out really good. The colours came out really vivid and the photos were printed on what feels like good quality paper. There weren't any blurry or misprinted ones.
They were packed in small cute hard plastic cases which provided great protection. Delivery was great too as it was packed well and arrived on time. I didn't experience anything bad during the numerous occasions I ordered from them so I think I would definitely be ordering more in the future!
A word of warning, as most cameras and phones don't take photos to fit for example a classic 6x4 print, depending on what size you choose, you will have to go through each photo to either crop or shrink it to fit. This can be a long process if you've just added 300 photos into your basket, so try to add one album at a time and work through them. The good thing is that you can leave it saved in your basket, log off and carry on later.
Tips
Here are some tips that I think might be useful for when you start your mini photo printing project:
* Whether you have your photos on a memory stick or on your laptop, try and organise them into folders (such as Birthdays, New Years) before you start to upload them onto Photobox for printing. This speeds up the process and makes it a whole lot easier when you're choosing ones to print because you'll be going through folder by folder. There'll be a less chance of you uploading certain photos twice or missing out your favourites. It takes time but it'll definitely be worth it.
* I made the mistake of not printing any photos for years so it all built up. When you feel like your collection is getting quite big, print them out. I'm definitely not going to wait for another five years or more again!
* If you're going to print out a few, it would probably be better to pop into a shop. However, if you're going to print out literally hundreds like I did, I think it's best to do it online. That way, you can do it all from the comfort of your own home, in your own time and it works out cheaper anyway.
* Photobox always has good discount codes on their website which saved me a lot of money. So keep a look out for their special deals!
Once you have them printed, you'll know there'll always be there, to flick through whenever you want to whether that be with your siblings, when you're bored or when you're feeling nostalgic. You might even want to go back to an old photo to remind yourself of how dodgy your eyebrows looked (that's me). I've currently got my photos stored in a shoe box, now I need to find some nice photo albums to pop them in but that's another mission for another day!
