Despite most picture-sharing now taking place in the digital realm, nothing compares to seeing a printed photograph in person. And even though your mother or your friends might love to receive your photographs via text or check up on your work on social media or your website, what could be more thrilling than receiving a finished print of one of your images? Many photographers still believe in the photo print as being the final form of their imagery, the sum of all of their efforts. When viewed in person, the color, brightness, and contrast of your image stand as the truest representation of how you depicted a scene. With all of this weight and value placed on a print, it’s worth taking the actual process of sharing this print seriously, too. In the case of this article, I focus on how to mail a print.
As simple as the process of mailing a print can be, it can also be complicated, depending on a number of variables, including size, quantity, type, and so on. Regardless of the details, the goal is the same: to get it to its destination safely and without damage. There are many unique situations for mailing a print, so a bit of creativity on your part will be necessary. Let’s take a look at a few of the more common scenarios.
Mailing a Single Modest-Size Print
By modest size, I mean anything from about 5 x 7" up to 11 x 14" or so. Anything larger than these sizes and you’ll want to look below for more specialized tips, and anything smaller, well, these tips can be used but they’ll be a bit overkill.
Keeping your print flat in the mail is the only way it will be perfectly preserved on the receiving end. You might be thinking, “Well I have this really nice cardboard (or, even better, PVC) tube and it will protect the print against any kind of damage!” And that’s true, for the most part, except that it won’t protect your print against the damage caused by rolling it up. When putting such force and flex on any fine print, you essentially create micro-cracks in the emulsion, finish, or coating of the paper. The paper base will also be trained with this new curl, and getting your print to lay flat again will be quite the chore. When you mail a print flat, you skip all of this inherent damage at the expense of a slightly more cumbersome package. With a little caution, though, it should be okay.
To start, I always like to protect the print surface by inserting it into a clear plastic sleeve and then sealing the flap with a piece of tape. Just having this simple layer of protection makes it much easier to handle your print when packaging it up.
Having sealed the print, the next step is to secure it between two sheets of mat board or mounting board. I choose something thick, like a 4-ply board, and select a size larger than the print I am mailing, if possible; for example, an 8 x 10" print fits nicely on an 11 x 14" board. I use mat board because it has a flat surface, as opposed to something like corrugated cardboard or some foam core boards that can leave impressions or marks on the print.
Tape the plastic sleeve with the print inside directly to the mat board, securing it around the edges of the sleeve so the print is sitting in the middle of the board with a sufficient border around it. Next, sandwich the print in-between the two boards. Line up the boards and tape the edges together so you have a sealed package of sorts. I then repeat this step one more time, but on the outermost layer use a thicker substrate, like a corrugated cardboard or gator board or something thicker and more rigid; this time it won’t matter if it’s textured or corrugated since the mat board is protecting the print. Tape around all four edges again, and now you have a finished package ready for the mail. I write “Fragile: Do Not Bend” on the outside, for a bit of added caution. Additionally, you might consider adding insurance or requiring a signature from the recipient for even more security for the delivery of your package.
Mailing a Single Large-Size Print
Above I said that it’s best to pack prints flat, and I stand by that advice. Even if you have larger scale prints, say 16 x 20" or larger, it’s still best to mail these prints flat, but it becomes prohibitively expensive and sometimes it’s just too inconvenient of a process. Sometimes you do have to resort to rolling a print in a tube. There are a few key suggestions to having good success with mailing rolled prints that go beyond simply rolling your print up and sticking it in a tube.
First, use a “two tube” method of packing. This involves choosing two tubes of different diameters, one slightly smaller than the other. Roll the print around the smaller tube. I like to put a sheet of protective acid-free paper on the tube first, then roll the print emulsion side in around the paper, and then add a final sheet of paper around the back and secure this with tape. Then isolate this smaller tube within the larger tube using bubble wrap at the ends of the tube for added protection.
Second, choose the widest diameter tube possible. The wider the tube, the less compression you’ll have to put on the print. This will reduce how curled the print will be once it’s removed and will lessen any potential damage to the surface.
Third, make sure the length of the tube is slightly longer than the width of your print. If you’re mailing a 16 x 20" print, then you’ll want a tube at least 18", if not 20", long so there’s a buffer between the edges of the print and the edges of the tube.
Last, consider what the tube is made out of; PVC is a highly protective material, but its weight might cause an unnecessary increase in postage.
Mailing Several Smaller-Size Prints
Surprisingly, it’s easier to mail large quantities of prints at once than single prints because the prints themselves help protect each other. Whereas a single, loose print is prone to bent corners or creasing, when you have a healthy stack of prints, they tend to stay safe.
I like placing the prints in a well-sized archival box. This is the most important step of this process because you want to avoid leaving excess room for the prints to move around. You can also use the box your paper came in, since it should be perfectly sized for your prints. Make sure to take up any slack in excess space by putting in some bubble wrap or folded paper or something similar, again to prevent the stack of prints from shifting when being handled.
Once your archival box of prints is packed up, just wrap this box in some bubble wrap or maybe paper and put it inside of a larger box. Simple but effective.
Mailing Several Larger-Size Prints
This is a tough situation, and something that depends a lot on circumstance. If you’re mailing prints to a gallery or museum, you’ll be better off mailing a series of individually packed prints using the above methods in order to prevent any damage. But if your circumstances aren’t quite as demanding, you can try doubling or tripling up prints inside your tube, or stacking a couple/few prints together in your cardboard sleeve. I’d just avoid combining too many prints together at once; it should feel obvious when you’ve hit the threshold point from stuffing too many prints into a tube or, for example, your cardboard sandwich is beginning to bow around a stack of prints; then you’ll be better off splitting your shipment into multiple pieces.
Hopefully these tips help keep your prints safe in the mail. A little bit of extra time and some extra precautions can mean the difference between receiving a print in perfect condition versus one that’s damaged. Let us know if you have any print packing questions or other ideas on how to safely protect a print in the post, in the Comments below.