Allred Design Blog: How to Print Instagram Photos at Home

I get asked this question ALL the time. I love Instagram and I love those cute little square photos but I like to print at home and I have tried so many different ways to print them easily at home while I'm working on a project.

So hopefully I can share some easy tips and tricks on printing from your Smart Phone and your desktop computer! Here's what I used:

iPhone 5s

PicFrame App

Canon PRINT App

PicMonkey Website

Desktop Computer

Canon SELPHY CP910 Wireless Compact Photo Printer

Canon PIXMA iP8720 Crafting Printer

PRINTING Instagram Photos from your
SMART PHONE
You should be able to use any app that allows you to create collages. I have tried a few and still continue to use PicFrame. This is the app I use to create collages for Instagram and it defaults to square. So once the app is open you will need to change the image finish size to 4x6. You do this by clicking the small number in upper right hand corner and change it to 3:2 (landscape) or 2:3 (portrait).

Once you've changed the size you will select your collage design. For this example I will use the 6 squares. You simply click on the square to add photos. You can pinch them to fill the frame and then SAVE.

The saved image will look like this.

I selected to print to my Canon PIXMA iP8720 Crafting Printer directly from my phone using the Canon Print app. You can select another wireless printer to print to as well, which is pretty darn slick!

That's it people, super easy to do! But keep reading because some of the tips that I share for your desktop computer might help you even on your phone.

PRINTING Instagram Photos from your
DESKTOP COMPUTER

I cannot say enough how much I love PicMonkey.com. I use this ALL the time. I am pretty profecient at Illustrator and Photoshop, but still find myself using this web based program more then those. It's quick and easy! And I highly recommend upgrading be a Royale member but it is not required.

1. You simply select that you want to create a collage at the top of the home page.

2. The program will automatically open a screen to allow you to pick your photos off your computer and import them to Picmonkey.com.

3.PicMonkey defaults to a square image for collages. But we need a 4x6" image for this project. It's easy to change. Down at the very bottom of your page is the SIZE. Click on first box and change that number. Then click on the "lock icon" to the right, to unlock proportions. Last you'll change the number in the second box. Here's a quick reference for the correct sizes:

4x6 (portrait) = 1200 x 1800

6x4 (landscape) = 1800 x 1200

4. To change the layout design before placing photos, simply select the second "Layouts" icon to the far left that looks like boxes. From there you will select the layout of the images...pick the six squares.

5. You can drag your images over into each box.

6. To resize your image simply click on on the image in the upper left corner on the "Edit" button and resize.

7. Once everything is the way you want it, SAVE the image to your computer.

This is what the image looks like when saved. These print out 1 1/2 x 1 1/2". Oh the possibilities of what you can create with these.

AWESOME TIP>> You can remove three of the bottom squares by clicking on the small "x" in the right corner. Then resize the remaining image to fill the bottom 2/3rds to get a larger Instagram photo. This will print approximately 3x3".

For those of you that love to send your photos somewhere else to let another person print, in hopes that your photos turn out great....you can send these OUT to be printed. Printing your Instagram photos elsewhere can be super expensive so reformatting these to 4x6 does help. I did this will all the Instagram photos I took in Italy...mainly because I was printing photos for two albums.

PRINTING TIPS

So now that your photos are all formatted you can easily print from your phone or computer to any printer that will print 4x6" photos. I love the quality of prints on either of my printers.

Canon Selphy CP910 Wireless Compact Photo Printer

Canon PIXMA iP8720 Crafting Printer

AWESOME TIP>> I have learned when printing these so many times that you need to leave the "border." If your printer program gives you a choice between border or borderless printing then opt for border. If you print borderless then it cuts off all your images and isn't the end result you want.

I used many of these tips on printing collages for similar projects on My Craft Channel, I simply adjusted the collage layout. To view those shows, simply click below: