Polaroid and Instax picture ideas, from friend portraits to Christmas morning, each planned around what instant film does best: close range and plenty of light.
Every idea below says where to stand and what light to use, so the print comes out the way you pictured it. Unless a line says otherwise, they work on any Polaroid or Instax camera. A disposable camera handles them too, but you see the results days later, after the lab.
How to pick an idea that works on instant film
Instant film rewards three things: lots of light, a subject between about 0.5 and 2 m away, and a plain background. Indoors, the flash only reaches so far. Polaroid gives its cameras’ flash range as usually 1 to 2.5 m, and Fujifilm gives about 0.3 to 2.2 m for Instax. Anything beyond that goes dark.
Film is also limited. A Polaroid i-Type, 600 or SX-70 pack holds 8 photos, a Polaroid Go double pack 16, and an Instax pack 10. Pick ideas with one clear subject per frame, and plan series to fit a pack. Our tips for taking good Polaroid pictures cover the camera side: flash, distance and temperature.
Polaroid picture ideas with friends
- One print each: line your friends up and photograph each one alone against the same wall, about 1 m away, flash on. An Instax pack of 10 covers ten people, and everyone goes home with their own print.
- Back to back: two friends stand back to back against a plain wall. Step back about 1.5 m and frame them from the waist up. Outdoors, keep the sun behind you.
- Hands only: stack everyone’s hands, or show off matching rings or nail colours. Move in to your camera’s closest focus (0.3 m on Instax Mini cameras in close-up mode, 0.4 m on the Polaroid Now Generation 3 and Flip) in light from a window.
- The jump: outdoors in full sun, sun behind you, friends about 2 m away. Press the shutter as they leave the ground. It may take two frames.
- The timer group shot: stand the camera on a table and use the self-timer. The Instax Mini 13, Wide 400 and Mini 99 have one, as do the Polaroid Now Generation 3, Go Generation 3 and Flip. The Mini 12 and Square SQ1 do not. Keep everyone within flash range.
- Pass the camera: each person photographs the next one in the circle. You get a set of portraits in which nobody is the photographer.
Cute Polaroid picture ideas
- Pets at their eye level: get down on the floor, about 0.5 to 1 m away, near a window or with the flash on.
- Food from above: set the plate on a table by a window and shoot straight down at the closest focus. Leave extra space around the edges, because close up the viewfinder does not show exactly what the lens sees.
- Flowers in window light: one stem in a glass on the windowsill, shot close, with the window to the side.
- Small things in a hand: a ticket stub, a shell or a ring held in an open palm, at the closest focus.
- Two cups: two coffee cups touching on a café table, from above, in daylight.
Aesthetic Polaroid picture ideas
- Shadows through blinds: strong afternoon sun through blinds onto a wall or a face. Turn the flash off if your camera allows it. The Instax Mini 12 and Mini 13 always fire theirs, so pick the strongest sun you can.
- Sunset with the sun to one side: Polaroid’s own guide warns that facing the sun gives dark photos. Put the low sun at the edge of the frame or behind your subject’s shoulder, not in the middle.
- Window portrait: Fujifilm’s advice for Instax is to stand your subject near a window and turn them slightly away from it. Bounce light into the shadow side with a white card.
- Mirror selfie without the glare: stand at an angle to the mirror so the flash does not bounce straight back into the lens, or switch the flash off in a bright room.
- Black and white: load Instax Monochrome (sold in Mini, Square and Wide) or Polaroid black-and-white film, and shoot textures: brick, bark, fabric, shadows. Polaroid’s black-and-white film develops in 5 to 10 minutes, faster than its colour film.
- One object, plain background: a chair against a white wall, a pair of shoes on a wooden floor. On a small print, one subject reads better than a busy scene.
Cool Polaroid picture ideas
- Double exposure: two pictures on one sheet. Cameras that can do it include the Polaroid Now Generation 3, Now+ Generation 3, Go Generation 3, Flip and I-2, and the Instax Mini 99. Shoot a person against a bright sky first, then a texture such as leaves or a brick wall.
- Light painting: Polaroid lists light painting among its creative techniques. In a dark room, with the camera steady on a table or a tripod, draw with a torch or phone light while the shutter stays open. The Now+ and Flip have a light painting mode in the Polaroid app, and the Instax Mini 99 has a bulb mode that holds the shutter open.
- Your shadow: with the sun behind you, photograph your own shadow on the pavement or sand.
- A print inside the scene: hold an earlier print at arm’s length in front of the place you took it.
- One view, one pack: shoot the same window or street corner at different times of day until the pack runs out. Eight Polaroid frames or ten Instax frames make a set.
Christmas Polaroid ideas
- Someone in front of the tree: stand them about 1 m in front of the tree, flash on. The flash lights the person and the tree fills the background.
- The unwrapping: shoot from about 1 m as the paper comes off. Wait for the face, not the box.
- Ornaments up close: one bauble at your closest focus, with the tree lights behind it.
- The whole family: camera on a shelf, self-timer on, everyone within about 2 m so the flash reaches the back row.
- Prints as gift tags: photograph each person on Christmas Eve and use their print as the tag on their present.
New Year’s Polaroid ideas
- The countdown: everyone in front of a wall within 2 m, flash on, shot in the last minute before midnight.
- Sparklers: outdoors, flash on to light the faces. For the trails themselves you need a long exposure: bulb mode on the Mini 99, or light painting mode on the Now+ or Flip.
- Resolution prints: photograph each guest and have them write a resolution on the border. Keep the set for next New Year’s Eve.
- The first morning: the first photo of the year, in the soft morning light from a window.
Polaroid picture ideas for your wall
- The grid: nine portraits, all shot at the same distance against the same wall, hung in a 3 x 3 grid. That takes two Polaroid packs, or one Instax pack with a spare.
- One colour: shoot only red things, or only blue things, for a whole pack, then hang them in a row.
- A year in twelve prints: one print on the same date each month, from the same spot.
For frames, clips and grids, see how to display Polaroid pictures.
After the shot
Write on the border with a fine permanent marker: a date, a place, a name. The wide bottom border on a Polaroid print has room for a short line.
Polaroid’s support site also lists techniques for finished prints: emulsion lifts, cross-stitching and transparency layering. Try them on a spare print first.
If you have no camera with you, our free Polaroid frame template puts a phone photo in a true-size Polaroid or Instax frame in your browser.
FAQ
What should I take Polaroids of?
People within about 2 m in good light, close-up details, and scenes with one clear subject. Instant film struggles with distant landscapes at night and big rooms lit only by the flash.
Can you take Polaroids at night?
Yes, with the flash on and your subject inside its range: usually 1 to 2.5 m on Polaroid cameras and about 0.3 to 2.2 m on Instax. Put a wall or something solid behind them, or the background comes out black.
How many photos are in a pack?
Polaroid i-Type, 600 and SX-70 packs hold 8 photos. A Polaroid Go double pack holds 16. Every Instax pack, Mini, Square or Wide, holds 10.
What can I do with Polaroid pictures after I take them?
Hang them in a grid, clip them on a string, keep them in an album or use them as gift tags and guest book pages. Polaroid says to let prints dry for 30 days before you seal them in an album or sleeve. Our display guide has the details.