Almost every soft print starts here, not in the camera. A photograph sent as a normal image through a messaging app is compressed on the way, and the damage is invisible on a phone screen and obvious on paper.
The fix takes one extra tap.
Send them as a Document, not as a Photo
On WhatsApp, use the attachment menu and choose Document rather than Photo or Gallery. Then pick the images from your files.
Same chat, same app, same recipient. The difference is that Document transfers the file untouched, where Photo re-encodes it smaller. A 4 MB original arrives as 4 MB instead of 300 KB.
| How you send it | What arrives | Prints well at |
|---|---|---|
| Photo / Gallery | Compressed, often ~1,000 px | Small placements only |
| Document | The original file | Any size |
| Email attachment | Usually the original | Any size |
| Saved from social media | Already compressed twice | Small placements only |
| Screenshot | Capped at screen resolution | Small placements only |
| Shared album or drive link | The original | Any size |
Where the quality was already lost
Some files are small before you send them and nothing on this page recovers them.
Anything saved from Instagram or a website. What you saved is a compressed copy made for screens. The original sits on the photographer’s phone.
Screenshots of photographs. A screenshot cannot contain more detail than your display does, which is far less than the photograph.
Forwarded pictures. Every hop through a messaging app that compresses can compress again. A photograph forwarded four times is four generations down.
If the original exists somewhere, one message asking for it is worth more than any amount of care afterwards.
Old printed photographs
Photographing a print with a phone beats a cheap scanner, and it is what most family projects end up using.
Lay it flat. Daylight from a window, never flash — flash produces a hotspot in the middle. Hold the phone parallel to the photograph rather than leaning over it, and fill the frame so the print occupies the whole picture. Crop the edges afterwards.
Done that way, a phone photograph of a 1980s print reproduces well at half-page size.
Turning old family photos into a book →
How many to send
About four photographs fill a page, so roughly 64 for a 16-page magazine — but send 100 to 120 so the layout has choices. Sending too few is a far more common problem than sending too many.
We check before anything prints
Every file gets looked at against the size it is placed at, and anything that will reproduce badly is flagged before design starts and again on the proof you approve. You will not discover a soft image in a finished book.
Frequently asked
How do I send photos without losing quality on WhatsApp? Attach them as a Document rather than a Photo. Document sends the original file; Photo re-encodes it smaller.
Why do my photos look worse when printed? Almost always compression in transit. It is invisible on a phone and obvious on paper at anything above postcard size.
Can you use a screenshot? Only small. A screenshot is limited to your screen’s resolution, which is well below the original photograph.
How should I photograph an old print? Flat, in daylight, no flash, phone parallel to the print, filling the frame. That beats a cheap scanner.
What if a photo is too small? We flag it before design starts. Usually it can still be used at a smaller placement rather than dropped.
Part of our guide to ordering a personalised gift. See also: photo resolution for printing and how to choose photos.
When your photos are ready: Photo magazines from ₹499 · Polaroid prints from ₹270
Also asked: Can I order without using WhatsApp?