DO I PRINT MY OWN PICTURES??

[random2]

Or do I pay a company to print them for me.. and if I do are they still my pictures?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Either way, they are yours.

 

[Big Mike]

For most applications, printing at home is only best for the convenience. You will get consistently better results by using a good lab. And when you figure in the price of good quality inks & papers, it's probably cheaper to use the lab anyway.

Unless you specifically sign away the rights to your images, they are still yours. Having them printed at a lab does not relinquish your ownership of them (but be sure to read the fine print if you are uploading them to a site for hosting/printing etc.)

 

[AlexColeman]

YES THEY ARE!!!!!!! I DON'T KNOW ABOUT WHERE TO PRINT THEM!!!!!

 

[ecnal]

I've used mpix.com a few times and have no complaints. Just be sure you check them twice over (if not more!) before you upload them to be printed. First time I had prints done for me I got a couple back and I was like "I can't believe I didn't fix that in PS!"

 

[KmH]

Mpix has a web page that explains what you need to do, to prepare your images for printing by them: Mpix.com - Help

In the days of film a lot of post processing was done by photo lab. With digital, most of the post processing now has to be done by the photographer.

Most towns will have a local shop(s) that can make prints for you, but Mpix and the other online printers do a lot of business with amateur and Pro photographers.

 

[Overread]

Also I find it very beneficial to calibrate your computer screen using a hardware based calibration setup - like a Spyder 2 or 3 - the free online ones are no good since your eyes are highly adaptive and subjective.

In addition if I am sending prints out I tend to first send off for orders of postcard sized copies of the image - compare them to what you want the shot to look like and then adjust. For example I find that with prints the whites will blow out on a print far quicker than they do on screen - whilst the darks will blacken rather than show hidden detail. So you have less scope at the two extremes so often you might have to adjust a shot to get those areas to look correct.
The bonus is if you use the same printing company and calibrate your screen you should be able to get consistant results after a time and thus be able to print without worries