Top 5 Places to Order Prints Online
Memory keeping is one of my passions as a photographer. Creating tangible items embodying your precious moments in time for years to come is where The Story Keeper stemmed from. Here we’ll explore creating, preserving, organising and maintaining your own family story // Bec Zacher
Have you ever printed images at Kmart (or any other department store) and walked away wondering why they’ve been cropped badly, the image is pixelated or the colours aren’t what you imagined? You definitely pay for what you get when it comes to printing photographs. Professional printing labs monitor the chemical quality in their printers. They analyse colours to make sure they’re correct. Professional labs also offer a large range of paper stocks that will last a whole lot longer (as in, not go yellow after a year or so) like the cheap paper stocks the department stores print with. If you’re after some high quality prints (and, you should be after that run down), here are some of my favourite places to order prints online. Let’s kick off with some of my favourite local Australian print labs.
Australian based print labs
FRED SNOW
These guys sure know how to print… they do it so well! Fred Snow specialise in prints only, offering a variety of paper types depending on the style you’re after – matte, lustre, even fine art prints. So, if you’re looking for some more custom print paper options, definitely check these guys out. Fred Snow also offers scanning services if you have some old film or slides lying around, you can get them all sorted and across to print too. I have boxes of slides from my childhood, so I’ll definitely be looking at getting my favourite images scanned and printed.
Visit Fred Snow at https://www.fredsnow.com
OLIPHAN
Oliphan is a newer printing lab and I love what they have to offer! The ordering process is super simple. Oliphan provide three sizes of photo prints for you to choose from, delivering the prints in a great little sturdy box – perfect for storing loose prints or keeping them in a child’s memory box. I’ve ordered both prints and the flat lay album from Oliphan and the quality has been great.
Visit Oliphan at https://www.oliphan.com
RGB DIGITAL
I have been using RGB Digital for my own personal prints for years. They offer a vast selection of products, from your standard sized prints, right through to canvases and framed prints. They also provide a great guide to Ikea-sized frame prints so you can easily order the sizing that you need. RGB Digital have desktop software that you download to your computer, making it easy to assemble and submit your order online.
BRILLIANT PRINTS - BPRO
This is another Australian print lab that I highly recommend and also use for personal prints and frames and also for my professional client prints and products. They have amazing customer service and are priced really well for the quality products they offer.
Visti Brilliant Prints (BPro) at https://www.bpro.com.au
ORIGRAMI
(Great square and polaroid print options)
This is my go-to print lab for ordering square prints for my children’s memory keeping books and making wall displays with my phone images. They offer a great range of square, rectangle and polaroid style prints and magnets. You even have the option to print Instagram images and have the captions printed to the back of the print. The paper is really thick and I love the little boxes they are delivered in!
Visit Origami at https://www.origrami.com/home
International based print labs
Whenever I can, I tend to opt for local labs here in Australia as I love supporting local businesses. Shipping and currency conversion can be pretty steep when ordering internationally too. That said, these labs offer some pretty incredible products, some which can’t be found locally here in Aus. Whether you’re after something you can’t find locally, or are living abroad yourself, are a handful of my favourite print labs from across the globe.
Artifact Uprising (US-based)
These guys can do no wrong! I love everything they offer and their branding and blog tutorials on a range of memory keeping topics are incredible. They offer a huge range of print products from loose prints to photo books, greeting cards, frames, baby books, calendars and more.
Visit Artifact Uprising at https://www.artifactuprising.com/
Artifact Uprising (US-based) – Board Books
Artifact has launched a product that deserves special mention if you’re after a specialised gift for your own child or someone else. They have Baby Board Book that you can fill with your own photos and words. These books have thick pages, durable construction, and are made for small hands and lots of use.
Check out the Board Books at https://www.artifactuprising.com/photo-books/baby-board-book
Parabo Press (US-based)
This print lab offers a great range of print products, such as loose prints, calendars, framed prints, albums and my fav product which is the large engineered prints which are perfect when you want your favourite images blown up BIG. You can order wood rails as well to easily hang your prints up. These look amazing as wall art! Definitely worth checking out.
Grab Your Story Keeper Preset Pack!
Not quite ready to send your photos to print? Give those memories that loving touch and edit your photos with a Story Keeper Preset pack.
Questions? + Join the Story Keeper Community
I really hope that you have found this helpful and gleaned some tips for yourself that you can start implementing today! I know you might have questions so come join the Story Keeper Private Facebook group where we all chat and share tips together and make sure you come join the Story Keeper Instagram community as well.