They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s why photos make for some of the most fun and heartfelt gifts. There are all sorts of photo-related gifts you can give to your friends, family, and colleagues. These don’t have to break the bank, either. With today’s technology, adding photos to gifts is simpler than it has ever been!
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Here are 7 ways in which you can turn memorable pictures into wonderful presents.
1. Canvas Photo
A canvas photo is a photo that’s been printed onto a large painting canvas. Canvas photos have become very popular in the last few years. They have the “look and feel” of a painting, but they’re not nearly as expensive. They also weigh less than a painting, so they’re easier to hang in the home.
There are quite a few businesses that allow you to customize canvas photos, and you’re usually able to select different canvas sizes.
2. Framed Photos
Why not give the gift of a simple, framed photo? Don’t go thinking that framed photos are “ordinary” or “commonplace.” Lots of people have framed photos in their homes, but many would prefer more—they just don’t have the time or money to go out and get their favorite images printed and framed. And nowadays, we view photos mostly on Facebook or Instagram. There’s a pleasant tangibility to a framed photo. Select the best pictures and have them framed.
If you’re going to frame a digital photo, you’re going to have to print it out, first. You could have the photo printed professionally, but that will cost you extra money. If you’ve got a home printer, just print the photos at home! Use this helpful post and learn how to connect a printer to a computer. Load your printer with photo paper. Buy a frame that matches the photo paper size.
3. Silhouettes
A silhouette drawing is just that! It’s a framed silhouette of your body, usually of your head and shoulders. It’s minimalist and classy. The person doesn’t need to be present when the artist is tracing a silhouette. You can bring a photo of the person to the artist, and the artist can use the photo as a reference to create a silhouette.
4. Jewelry
You can make photos into small pieces of jewelry, which makes for a lovely and very personalized gift. You can have this done professionally, or you can make photo jewelry as a DIY project. The best pieces of jewelry to make are necklaces or bracelets, because these are the easiest accessories on which to paste photos, but if you’re good at working with very small items, you could even customize earrings.
5. Collage
You’ll need dozens, if not hundreds of photos to make a collage! But that’s why a collage makes a truly impressive gift. Collages are perfect for special occasions. For a wedding, for instance, you can make one entirely out of the couple’s photos together. You could even arrange the collage in a specific shape, like a heart.
Another example would be to commemorate a vacation to France by making a collage of travel photos in the shape of the Eiffel Tower. There are tons of possibilities. You can find a variety of collage makers online, or you can find a local shop that’ll craft it by hand.
Eiffel Tower can be a great shape for creating a photo collage
6. Pull-out Photo Album
A pull-out photo album is one of the more unique photo-related gifts. It’s a fun DIY project that’ll definitely impress the person you’re giving it to. It’s a relatively simple gift to make. First, get a small and lovely jewelry box, preferably one that has a hinged lid. Get a long piece of cardstock, and fold it at proportional intervals so you can open and close it like an accordion. Paste photos onto each folded portion, and then plop it into the jewelry box. When your gift recipient opens the box, they’ll be able to pull out a lovely band of photos (check out this pull-out photo album tutorial). Not only are thee unique, they’ll help capture some lasting memories that are also fun to look at!
7. Photo Luminary
Another impressive DIY gift is the photo luminary. A photo luminary is any kind of photograph that is beautifully backlit by a candle or subtle light source. It’s easy to make, and it makes for a wonderful piece of décor for the mantel, kitchen, and any surfaces in the home. Photo luminaries usually feature the recipient’s family, and so it’s one of the more sentimental photo gifts you can give (learn how to make a photo luminary here).
A photo luminary is a printed photo with back-lighting
Not only does a photo gift make for a great piece of home décor (or fashion accessory), it also can capture one of the recipient’s favorite and most meaningful memories. Remember that not all the best gifts are packaged.
About the Author: This article was provided by Adam Pepka. Adam enjoys a comfortable life in Tucson, Arizona but is proud of the humble beginnings from which he came. Adam enjoys teaching his audience about various investment strategies and how any Average Joe like himself can build a profitable portfolio. Apart from real estate, he’s very much interested in Silicon Valley, venture startups and the technology industry. He watches that arena with a careful eye, and is the first to alert his readers to major news or events.
Essentials for organizing your digital photos
Here are the essential products and services I have come to rely on for many years to keep my media collection organized and safe. Even though these are affiliate links, I wholeheartedly recommend them. 
Excellent Lightroom and Picasa alternative. If you need a cheaper and simpler photo manager then ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac (save 30% until May 24th) or ACDSee Pro for Windows (save $30 until May 24th) is my preferred solution for organizing all my media. It has a very fast browser, great image editing and it's simple to use.
If you do a lot of image editing like I do, I recommend using Adobe Lightroom Classic CC via the annual Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Lightroom has best photo editing capabilities even though it comes with a steeper learning curve. If you do image editing, Adobe Lightroom is my favorite.
I recommend Backblaze Cloud Backup for affordable & reliable unlimited cloud backup. I have been using Backblaze for backing up all pictures & videos for more than 5 years now. All my invaluable digital memories are safe and secure. This is the best solution especially if you have a large quantity of media files.
Use a reliable & affordable external hard drive for backing up everything on your computer. It is absolutely essential for keeping all your memories backed up and safe.
Start organizing now using detailed, step-by-step instructions and videos:
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YOURS FREE! 10 crucial steps most people miss when organizing their digital photos
Most people want to just organize their digital pictures and ignore these crucial steps right at the beginning...when they are shooting and transferring their digital pictures. Then they wonder why they can't organize their digital photos! Avoid most people's mistakes and start on the right track!