Nations Photo Lab Metal Print Review: A Product Worth Every Penny

If you’ve been on the hunt for a metal print, Nations Photo Lab might have found its way into your search. This printing company offers serious quality and can be a perfect option for those looking to professionally print and deliver images to their customers. We recently ordered some metal prints from Nations Photo Lab and spoiler alert: they’re really good.

In this Nations Photo Lab metal print review, we’ll give you the lowdown on what makes these prints so great and what to expect from placing your order all the way to receiving it on your doorstep.

Lets get started!

Placing an Order on Nations Photo Lab

Making an order on the Nations Photo Lab website is relatively straightforward.

Choosing Your Metal Print

It is worth mentioning that Nations does offer a metallic print, but this is not the product we set out to order. To find the metal print, you need to head to the wall decor tab, and you’ll see a metal print listed as a product.

Once you’ve clicked on the metal print tab, you’ll get taken to a page where you can select your print size and find out the cost of your print. Sizes range from small 4×4″ prints to large 24×36″ prints, with a price range of $16-230. Yes, the price is perhaps higher than some of the competition out there, but it may be worth it for your needs.

On this page, you can also determine your print orientation (if you’re not making a square print) and decide if you want color correction.

When you’ve made all your selections on this page, you’re going to hit the Customize Now button.

A Side Note About Color Correction

If you haven’t prepared your photos for print (or you’re not sure how to), we recommend utilizing the color correction services. At Nations Photo Lab, a certified Technician will review each individual photo and correct the colors for optimum print quality.

To put the service to the test, we had our prints color corrected and we were not disappointed with the service. And if the color correction isn’t to your standard, Nations Photo Lab will reprint your photos at no extra cost.

Customizing Your Print

If you haven’t already logged into Nations Photo Lab, you will be redirected to a log in/create account page before you can start uploading your images and customizing your print.

Once logged in, you’ll be taken to an upload and editing wizard. If you’ve previously used Nations Photo Lab for prints, previous images will be stored here for you to access.

Upload your image(s) for print and then get creative!

You can change the layout, add text, change the background color/pattern, and even add borders to your prints.

We opted for simplistic prints with no extra frills, but the selection available is quite impressive and we love the option to make montages out of your images if you want multiple photos on one metal print.

Note that this editing functionality is all at no extra cost!

Checking Out

When you’re happy with your print, hit the add to cart button at the top of the editing wizard and you’re ready to check out. From here, the process is much like any other order you might place.

Unfortunately, like many other print companies, Nations Photo Lab tries to sell you extra “frequently purchased together” products. This is a minor gripe and you can easily just hit the next button and proceed with your order as intended.

Once you’ve put in your shipping and billing details and hit place order, all that’s left is to wait.

Note that Nations Photo Lab even offers you the ability to “drop ship”. If you’re ordering prints for a customer, they can be shipped directly from Nations Photo Lab with no Nations branding in or on the packaging.

You’ll receive a confirmation email in your inbox and updates when your prints are dispatched.

Delivery and Finished Product

After placing the order it took four days for the prints to arrive. In our opinion, that is fast.

Shipping and Handling

The prints were delivered only two days after their dispatch and arrived in a neatly packaged cardboard container. The box was marked with “Do Not Bend” labels to ensure your prints come damage-free. When we opened the box, there was an additional set of cardboard pieces, and sandwiched between them were the two larger prints. Affixed to the outer were the mounting stands and the smaller print.

Initially, we didn’t realize the smaller print was on the outside of the card – there is a label that says “prints between cardboard.” Naturally, we assumed this meant all of the prints.

Labeling aside, the prints were well packaged and arrived undamaged in a timely manner.

The Metal Prints

When we ordered the prints, we made sure to get a mix of more general-purpose prints — in the form of two casual dog portraits — and an artistic print. In both scenarios, the Nations Photo Lab metal print was outstanding.

The color correction service didn’t disappoint, the images looked well and truly stunning and they were very true to the original photos. The overall color depth was impressive across the board, including capturing the detailed tones in the black and white print.

Overall image detail was impressive too. The images don’t appear blocky or lack sharpness, even when examined close up. Compared to other metal printing service experiences, this is quite a refreshing change.

Holding these prints in your hands, you know they offer good quality and the visual appeal is second to none. The finish on the prints leaves us with confidence that these prints will last a long time and a slight knock or two isn’t going to ruin the print (though we haven’t tested that, so don’t hold us to it!).

Unfortunately, one area where we were disappointed was with the display fixtures. The stands didn’t come fixed to the prints and there were no instructions to direct you on the proper method of placement and the best place to fix the stands. We spent a long time trying to figure out where to place the stands and how they actually worked.

Once this muddle was figured out, the prints were fully functional and really looked great. So despite the minor blip, the Nations Photo Lab metal prints are still some of the best we have seen on the market.

Final Thoughts on the Nations Photo Lab Metal Print

Nations Photo Lab really outdid themselves when it came to producing metal prints. The business promises high-quality products and certainly doesn’t disappoint. Ultimately, we were very happy with our metal print purchases from Nations Photo Lab and would have no problem recommending their product to anyone. Yes, the price is high, but it is absolutely worth it if you want the best metal prints on the market.

These metal prints make great gifts, personal decor items for your home, or professional products for your photography business.

Find Out More

If you have any questions or want to share your experience with Nations Photo Lab, let us know in the comments!