It may seem to many of our loyal readers something of the most basic, but as this website is also aimed at those who are starting out and have little idea of photography, today we are going to talk about the options we have to convert a photo (or photos) to PDF format. A very widespread type of file (it is multiplatform so it will look the same in any operating system where you open it) but it is not exactly where the cameras and mobiles deliver the images.
That is why you may find that you need to send or upload a photo in PDF format and you don’t know how to convert it from the format and / or place where you have it. Above, what may seem like a simple task is complicated given the large number of possibilities that exist to achieve the same goal.
If this is your case, before continuing we recommend you take a look at this chapter of our basic photography course dedicated to the file formats used to save images. The most common is still the Jpeg so, for this article, we start from the basis that we have the photo that we want to convert into PDF in this format (although, certainly, there will not be many differences if we start from another type of photographic file, as long as it is not vector or RAW).
So let’s see the possibilities we have, that we already anticipate there are many. In fact, if you do a search in Google for “How to transfer a photo to PDF” (we assure you that it is a very popular search) you will see that there is!146 million results! So let’s see which are the best and the simplest according to your needs.
The simplest and fastest: Photoshop
If you are a photographer, it will surely have crossed your mind that what we intend to do is something as simple as open the image in Photoshop and save it to PDF. Simply, once we have the photo open in the application, you have to go to the Menu File / Save As …. A dialog box will open in which we can select the format “Photoshop PDF“and decide where to store it.
We give to Keep and another box will appear with many options, but with choosing one of the presets (speaking of images, it is best to take the one with the highest quality) the conversion will take place and we will have our file in PDF.
If the result were overweight, we can always repeat the process as many times as necessary and choose other settings. The fundamental section that interests us in this case is the so-called Compression whose settings influence the compression that will be set on the images in the new document. For this reason, since it is a photo that we are converting, this will be the section where we can most influence the final result, basically modifying the section “Bicubic downgrade to …“, where will we put the value”72 pixels / inch“for greater compression.
On the other hand, in case you are wondering if there is the possibility of convert more than one photo into a PDF documentPhotoshop also offers this option, although the mechanics are a bit more complicated. To do so, without opening the images yet, we go to the menu File / Automate / PDF Presentation. It will open a dialog box where we can search and choose the photos, in addition to selecting some options. Once done we will give Keep, we will choose the place and then the same window that we had in the option of a single image will open where we can decide the compression of the images.
As you can see, Photoshop is a simple option but it may happen that you don’t have it installed (although you can always download a free trial version of the Adobe program). That is why you should know that almost any other photo editing and retouching program will allow you to do the same in a similar way. It could even be enough to open the photo with any software that allows it and send it to To print but, instead of selecting our usual printer, choose Save as PDF.
Online file converters
Among the millions of possibilities that Google offers, the web pages dedicated to converting files by the simple mechanics of uploading the file, converting it and giving you the possibility of downloading it to your computer. Obviously it is an option in which we will run a certain risk since we will expose our files to the “Network of networks”, but it must be recognized that this is not usually a problem and they result quite comfortable and simples to use.
The truth is that there is many optionsAmong them, of course, that of Adobe itself, which offers the option of converting files of different formats to PDF and vice versa. However, it may not be the best option for two reasons: it only converts images one by one and to download the file requires login in the Adobe account.
That is why you may prefer to try one of the many other options offered online. We have tried several and they are all very similar and usually effective. For example JPEG to Pdf which is simple and effective, allows you to create a document with up to 20 images and the result is a file with a fairly good compression / file size ratio (for viewing on a 1,920×1,080 resolution screen like ours).
If you want something that gives you more possibilities, you have another option like Online2PDF.com that also works for one or more images (again up to 20) and offers quite a few configuration options. From choosing the compression quality to the design of the PDF: if you want each photo to occupy a single page or combine several, the orientation, type of margins, etc.
Format PDF is also interesting, which makes the process extremely simple (after uploading the file by dragging it, a single click is enough to convert it and download it to our computer); It also has several tools to make other conversions with PDFs and even an interesting tips on format section. Of course, you cannot create documents with more than one photo.
From the phone
Until now we have considered the option that we have the photo to convert on a computer but there is the possibility that you have to do it from your mobile phone, in which case you have other methods that are added to the previous ones. One that may come to mind is to use some proprietary application, but the truth is that there are simpler methods without having to install anything.
For example, again we can resort to one of the web pages that convert files, which is still a fairly comfortable option. But surely the best is do it directly on the mobile, with a mechanism similar to the one we have already mentioned at the beginning (try to print the photograph) but with particularities. In fact, it is different depending on the operating system of our mobile, so let’s see how to do it in the two main ones:
On Android
The first thing is to open the gallery of our phone to locate and click on the photo that we want to convert. Next you have to click on the three vertical points that appear (usually at the top right) to open the options. We search and choose Import as PDF, we click on Keep and the process will begin; right away we will have a PDF saved on our phone. As you can see, it is easy and simple, although it has the limitation that only a single photo can be converted.
On iOS
If you have an iPhone or iPad the process is similar but a little more complicated since it cannot be done from the app Photos but from the application Records. Therefore, the first step is to locate the photo in question (if it were WhatsApp you will have to dump it previously to Photos), give the option of Share and choose the option Save to Files, which will ask you where to do it.
The next step is to open Records and locate the photo where you would have saved it. Now you have to press and hold the image, without actually opening it, for a few seconds until an options menu appears. In it you have to look for the option Create PDF and click on it. Immediately the process will start and the new file with the photo converted to PDF will appear in the same location. Again easy and fast, but also with the disadvantage of only being able to convert a single image.
And with this we have finished but, as we are aware that we have talked about a process that can be carried out in many ways, we ask for your collaboration in case you know others methods to convert photos to PDF that are simpler, effective and / or useful. Thanks in advance.