Nothing makes my photographer heart happier than to see my clients print their photos and display them in their home. I love when my clients send pictures of my work framed on their walls! I also love printing my own family photos in a photo book and hanging them on my walls. It brings me so much joy to see them often! If I don’t print them, they end up stuck on my computer where I rarely see them. It makes the cost and preparation of getting family photos done feel like a waste! I get asked often where the best place to get photos printed is. My number one response is to use a professional photo lab. It is soooo worth it once you see the difference in quality between them and your typical one-hour photo lab! I offer professional prints and I try hard to keep them affordable because I want all my clients to be able to have quality printed photos. If you are interested, just shoot me an email at madison.jj@hotmail.com and I will send you my pricing list and answer any questions you might have.
I have seen print comparisons online before (this one is great if you want to see a comparison to Costco), but I wanted to do an experiment of my own. I chose the two photos below and printed each of them at my professional lab, Wal-Mart and Target to compare. I know we have all been in a hurry to order photos and have ordered them at the closest one hour photo lab to save a little money…. but I’m hoping this post will make you think twice the next time you choose where to print your precious photos. Especially if you will be framing them for your walls!
It’s a little tricky taking photos of photos, so the difference in quality is more obvious in real life, but the images below are unedited.
From a distance, I bet you are thinking the Walmart one doesn’t look too bad, but let’s take a closer look…
The biggest problem with the Walmart print is that it’s not even sharp! Can you see how it looks like the image is fuzzy and out of focus? The next problem is the white balance or coloring. Overall the images is cooler (more blue toned) and the greens are just sad.
I don’t even know where to begin with the Target print…. I needed a quick photo printed to use at church one day, so I ran to target and used the instant print machine. It didn’t even resemble the original file! I should have just printed it at home. I was thinking maybe it was just the instant machine, so this time I ordered a one hour print online and picked it up in store. It was NOT a fluke. The colors are soooo far off! The greens are neon, the contrast is very strange and the paper itself is extremely glossy. It looks like the quality of print you get off a cheap printer with photo paper at home. I’m a huge Target fan in all other areas, just pretty please don’t print your photos there!
Here is the same comparison with the second photo:
The fuzziness I was talking about is more obvious in this photo.
In summary, if you are printing a photo for your child to use at school or cut up for a church project, go ahead and use Walmart. But if you are saving this print in a photo book or framing it for your walls, a professional print is the way to go! Email me at madison.jj@hotmail.com to get your professional photo order started! You will get amazing quality and they are shipped directly to your house in just a couple days. If you would still like to order them on your own, I made a list below of my favorite places. Just pretty please don’t use Target, K? Thanks!
Watch for next weeks blog post for ideas on what to do with your gorgeous photos once you have them printed!
