How to pick the right photo for a fridge magnet

Most people open their camera roll, scroll for ten seconds, and pick whatever makes them smile first. That's usually the right instinct, but a few things separate a photo that looks great as a fridge magnet from one that looks a bit muddy once it's printed small.

Resolution matters more than most people expect. A screenshot of a photo, or a photo that's already been through three rounds of messaging apps, has usually lost a lot of detail along the way. If you can, send the original photo from your camera roll rather than a saved-again copy from a group chat. At 50x50mm the print is small, so it forgives a lot, but it can't add back detail that's already gone.

Square-ish crops the cleanest. Every tile is a true square, so a photo that's already close to square (a lot of phone photos taken in portrait mode are) will lose less of the edges than a wide landscape shot. That doesn't mean a landscape photo won't work, we'll centre and crop it for you, just know that a very wide shot might lose whatever's happening at the far left and right edges.

Light matters more than composition. A slightly off-centre photo taken in good light will almost always print better than a perfectly composed photo taken in a dim room. If a photo already looks a bit dark or grainy on your phone, it'll look the same way at 50x50mm, printing doesn't fix lighting.

And if you're not sure, send it anyway. If a photo genuinely won't print well, too blurry, too dark, too low resolution, we'll email you before we print it rather than send out something you won't be happy with. Most photos are fine. This is more about knowing what to expect than talking yourself out of the one you actually want.