How to turn a phone photo into a postcard that prints well

The best postcard you can send is probably already on your phone. Not every photo prints well, though, and a few small choices decide whether the card looks sharp or muddy. Here is what to check before you order.

Pick the right photo

• Good light beats a good camera. Photos taken outdoors or near a window print cleanly. Dim indoor shots look grainy on paper even when they look fine on a screen.
• One clear subject. A face, a dog, a view. Busy group shots with small faces lose detail at postcard size.
• Use the original. Photos saved from a chat app or a screenshot are often shrunk. Pick the photo from your camera roll.
• Landscape if you can. A postcard front is wider than it is tall. A sideways photo fills the card; an upright one has to be cropped hard.

Crop for a 4×6 card

A 4×6 inch card has a 3:2 shape. Most phone photos are a little squarer than that, so a strip gets trimmed from the top and bottom.

• Keep faces and anything important away from the edges.
• Leave some sky or floor around your subject so the crop has room.
• If you want a handwritten-style caption on the front, leave a calm area near the bottom, such as grass, water or a plain wall, so the words are easy to read.

On postcards.lol you upload a JPEG, PNG or iPhone photo and crop it in the browser, so you see the final framing before you pay.

Quick fixes worth making

• Straighten the horizon. A tilted lake is the first thing people notice on a printed card.
• Brighten a little. Paper is not backlit like a screen, so a photo that looks slightly bright on your phone usually prints about right.
• Skip heavy filters. Strong filters tend to look harsher in print than they do on a screen.

No photo that fits?

Describe the picture you wish you had in one line, such as "our dog driving a red convertible down the coast", and pick a style. The front is made from your description. It is a good option for jokes and for moments nobody photographed.

The back matters too

A great photo with nothing on the back is a missed chance. Three short sentences are enough: what the photo shows, why you thought of them, and when you will talk next. If you would like a starting point, give AI a one-line brief and edit the draft.

Before it prints

Check three things on the preview:

1. Nobody's head is cut off by the crop.
2. The caption, if you added one, is readable against the photo.
3. The name and address are right. We mail anywhere in the United States.

After that, we print the card on thick 4×6 inch stock in full color, add the stamp and mail it. You get tracking by email.

Have a photo in mind? Start a card and upload it.