Two years after being shut down, Flickr’s photo printing service is back. Whether you want to preserve your memories in a tangible form or decorate your (or someone else’s) home, you can order professional quality prints straight from your Flickr account again.
To offer you the printing service, Flickr is partnering with Bay Photo, Loxley Colour, and WHCC photo labs. You can order different shapes and sizes of prints, and Flickr promises professional-quality prints each and every time.
Types of prints
So, what kinds of prints can you get? There are three types: metal, paper, and canvas. If you want a print “as bold as your most epic photo,” Flickr recommends metal prints. I’d sure love to see some of my photos from urban exploration trips printed this way. As for paper prints, you can order them in various sizes: from stacks of 4x6s to frameable statement pieces. You can also select a different paper finish for your favorite photos. Finally, you can also order canvas prints in various sizes if you want to hang your photos on a wall.
How to order prints
There are two ways to order prints. Once you log in to your Flickr account, you can select the brand new Prints menu item in the upper navigation. From here, choose Prints & Wall Art. You’ll be able to select the photo you want to print, choose the product style, size, and finish and add to cart. When you’re done making your selection, go to your cart and check out. Alternatively, if you’re browsing through your photostream, you can choose any of your photos, click the new shopping cart icon, and select the product to add it to your cart. Repeat this step as many times as you like to add more photos and items to your cart. When you’re done shopping, head to your cart (accessible through the Prints menu item in the upper navigation) and check out.
If you’re interested in printing through Flickr, they also invite you to join a new group: Print Boldly. There will be lots of discussions and conversation around preparing your photos for printing, finding inspiration around what to print, and exclusives and deals for all members. Flickr points out that they have been lucky enough to lean on SmugMug to develop this new feature, adding that it truly was a team effort. In my opinion, since SmugMug took over, Flickr has been slowly but surely improving. First of all, it finally ditched the mandatory Yahoo login. It brought back a limitation to free accounts, but made it way more reasonable than before. It also teamed up with Pixsy to protect your photos from theft. I love seeing Flickr coming back to life and offering new (or bringing back old features). As someone who’s been there ever since my photography beginnings, I sure hope that the platform will continue to improve and grow.
