Where to get your photos printed?

cphasma14 · Jan 27, 2017

Hey guys,

I am new to the photography world and just wanted to ask where to get your photographs printed. Thanks!

greybeard · Jan 27, 2017

Superior photo in Morgantown WV. They print, mount and custom frame at reasonable prices. They are on the web too.

Home | Superior Photo & Frames

phogan2292 · Jan 27, 2017

TCampbell · Jan 29, 2017

The answer could be anywhere from Walgreens to a specialty printing shop... I use Aluminyze (Aluminyze.com) which specializes in printing on aluminum sheets (it's not photographic paper).

Since you're new, one important detail that probably won't occur to you is that each unique combination of printer/paper/ink type will literally have a different look to it. It's not just that... but the papers absorb the inks differently. This literally causes the colors you see in the photo to NOT be the same color once printed on the paper. To compensate, the labs "profile" the printer/ink/paper combinations. Suppose a printer tends to under-apply the reds... so maybe the printer profile causes the printer to apply more red than it otherwise would to compensate.

If you just send what you think of as your final image to the printer, you may be disappointed with the results.

Some of these labs will take your image and then apply their own adjustments to get it to print on the printer in such a way that resembles your photo. But some places let you download the printer's color profile and you can upload a print and ask them to NOT adjust it. Photoshop (just picking on that as an example) can let you apply the printers "profile" to your image so that it produces an output file that might look wonky on the screen... but actually causes the printer to produce a more accurate image. That way when the lab prints it, you actually get what you want. If you're not good at this, most labs will apply the profile for you. But you need to be aware of the option and know if the lab is going to apply the profile or not.

You also get to pick the type of paper ... not just matte vs. gloss, but whether it has a luster, or whether it's a specialty material such as canvas or wood or metal, etc. There are "metallic" prints that aren't really metal -- they're actually paper but the printers don't print in "white" ink... the paper itself is "white" and anything in the image that isn't supposed to be white has ink applied to it. So imagine... if the paper itself was a pearlescent white with specular luster... or a gloss white... or a flat white... etc. and this choice completely changes the look.

If I want soft delicate color, subdued contrast and tones (think "pastels") I might go for a matte finish. If I want something a bit more edgy, high energy, saturated bold colors and high contrast, I might go for a gloss finish (it looks more contrasty).

If you plan to mount the image behind glass, the glass itself will alter the look of the image and you have to take that into account.

So my suggestion... test your options:

Pick a lab with options that look attractive, take an image (or a few images) and have a series of small inexpensive prints produced with all the various options you might be interested in using... so you can compare. Getting a bunch of 4x6" prints produced shouldn't be expensive and it'll help you decide what options you want for something you want to print in a larger (more expensive) size without having to guess at what the final product will look like.

dunfly · Jan 30, 2017

I use Walgreens for snapshots, but if I want enlargements and special papers I use Adoramapix.com. They do an excellent job on art prints.

JonA_CT · Jan 30, 2017

I only use mpix for normal photographs now. I find their printing and paper selection to be superior, especially when compared to local pharmacies or super stores, and to shutterfly.

KmH · Jan 30, 2017

The most common type of print people get is a C-print, also known as a Digital C-print or sometimes called a Lambda print or LightJet print if the print is made using a Durst Lambda print making machine or an Océ LightJet print making machine.

C-prints are made with dye instead of ink.
Some C-prints, mostly used for advertising and art, are made on clear plastic that is then lit from behind.
C-print papers are coated with light-sensitive material - a silver halide emulsion - that is then chemically developed to activate three main dye layers—cyan, magenta, and yellow. It's a reaction between two chemicals that create the color dyes that make up a photographic image.
The emulsion responds to both exposure and development. A blue-light-sensitive layer forms yellow dye, a green-light-sensitive layer forms magenta dye, and a red-light-sensitive layer forms cyan dye. A series of processing steps follow, which remove the remaining silver and silver compounds, leaving a color image composed of dyes in three layers.

The 2 major brands of C-print paper are Kodak Endura and Fujifilm Crystal Archive, which is how you can tell if the lab making your prints is making you a C-print.

Inkjet printing is a whole different ball game.
Both inks and dyes are used and can be aqueous or solvent based.
Some inks/dyes dry, some have to be heated, and some are cured with UV light.

Home inkjet printers generally have just 4 colors of ink/dye - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black.
High end inkjet printers have intermediate ink/dye colors up to a total of 12 to 14 colors.

As Tim mentions there is a very broad range of papers we can choose from and we can also get prints made on other media - like canvas, metal, wood and acrylic.
The texture of a inkjet paper (and to some extent how absorbent the paper is) is described as how much 'tooth' the paper has. The more tooth a paper has the rougher the texture of the paper.

One last note.
If you are going to frame a print (have a print framed) with glazing (glass or acrylic) in front of the print you want to make sure the print does not touch the glazing. As indoor humidity fluctuates a print in contact with glazing can become stuck to the glazing. A mat between the print and the glazing, or glazing spacers keeps the print away form the glazing.

Toshanda · Feb 1, 2017

My wife stopped printing regular pictures these days. She switched to printing books, just puts pictures in themes and puts them in a storyline type of a book. She uses Shutterfly or Photobook Canada, depending on the sales they have and specials, she does Xmas Cards through them as well. Sometimes, like last Xmas, one of the companies was doing a promo that got us free regular prints, small magnet calendars and something else.

I was not sure about it at the start, but looks like when the books are sitting under the coffee table in the sitting room - people tend to look at them more...

Just my 2 cents.

jcdeboever · Feb 1, 2017

Picture This, Jackson, MI. They have a wonderful Fuji printer.

cherylynne1 · Feb 1, 2017

I've always been happy with Costco. They let you download the printer profile for the store you'll be going to, and the colors have always turned out well for me when I do that. Just don't let them autocorrect, whatever you do!

Whenever I have something more serious, I go to my local camera store. They aren't exceptional, really, I just try to support them whenever I can because I like having a dedicated camera store nearby.