How to print several photos on one page
Print 2, 4, 6 or 9 photos on a single sheet for contact sheets, wallet photos, mood boards and school projects, with even spacing and nothing cut off.
Published
Tools for this job: Image to PDF · Multiple PDF Pages Per Sheet · Crop Image
Printing one photo per sheet wastes paper when you only need small prints: a contact sheet to choose favourites, photos for a school project, a set of small portraits for relatives, a mood board for a client. Arranging them by hand in a word processor is fiddly. Two tools do it neatly: one turns the photos into PDF pages, the other places several pages on each sheet.
Step 1: make the photos the same shape
Photos of different shapes leave uneven gaps on the sheet. If you want a tidy grid, crop them to the same aspect ratio first in Crop Image: 3:2 for classic prints, 4:3 for most phone photos, 1:1 for squares. For a contact sheet of a whole shoot, skip this step; uneven shapes do not matter there.
Step 2: turn the photos into a PDF
- Open Image to PDF and add all the photos.
- Put them in the order you want them on the sheet.
- Choose “Match image” for page size, so each page is exactly the shape of its photo.
- Set the margin to none, and create the PDF.
Step 3: put several on each sheet
- Open Multiple PDF Pages Per Sheet and add the PDF from step 2.
- Choose how many per sheet: 2, 4, 6, 9 or 16.
- Choose the sheet size (A4 or Letter) and orientation, or leave orientation on Automatic.
- Set the gap between pages, and tick the light outline if you will cut the photos apart; the lines show where to cut.
- Download and print at actual size, on photo paper if you have it.
How many per sheet
| Per sheet | Good for |
|---|---|
| 2 | Two medium prints, side by side |
| 4 | Postcard-sized prints, school projects |
| 6 | Small prints for albums and cards |
| 9 | Wallet-sized portraits, mood boards |
| 16 | Contact sheets for picking favourites |
Printing tips
- Choose the right paper type in the print dialog. Printing on photo paper with a plain-paper setting gives smeared, dull colours.
- Print one test sheet on plain paper first to check the layout.
- Do not use “Fit to page” twice. The sheet is already laid out; print it at actual size so the cutting lines stay where they should.
- Same photo many times? Add it to Image to PDF several times, for example nine copies of a portrait for wallet photos.
Exact print sizes
The grid fits photos to the space available, so the final size depends on the sheet and the number per sheet. If you need an exact size, such as 35 × 45 mm passport photos, use a tool built for that: see making a passport photo at home. For which pixel sizes print sharply, see pixels needed for common print sizes.