Simple Answer.... because quality matters.
After you make a large investment in having your photos taken, it makes sense that you may want to save some money on prints by using the cheapest photo printer. I totally get it. I’m always down for saving money! However, printing photos is not an area in which I want to sacrifice quality. If you want your professional photos to look good when they are printed, you should buy them from your photographer.
1.quality control
At retail labs, the machines aren’t calibrated and the technicians aren’t trained to make consistent professional prints with correct color. You might see anywhere from a slight to drastic quality difference between the images you see on your screen and the prints you receive from them. When you buy prints from your photographer, you are ordering from a professional lab that consistently prints photos that are true to color.
2.satisfaction
If you have a problem with your print order from your photographer, you can contact them to fix it. For example, one of my customers placed an order recently and the mail delivery service bent the photos. She contacted me and I contacted the lab to reprint her photos. Problem solved!
3.convenience
I deliver my photos in an online gallery that is connected to a professional printing lab. If you order from a different lab, you have to download your photos from your gallery, then upload it to the printer of your choice and order. If you order from your online gallery, all you have to do is click the photo and start your order. It saves you time and the hassle of having to download the photos and upload them yourself.
What's The Big Difference?
a few notable differences:
- Exclusive Printing Lab: Professional photographers work with labs that ONLY sell to professional photographers – seriously, it’s like a club and you have to have a legitimate photography website to join. I work with Miller's Lab in Missouri.
- Color Accuracy: The spectrum of colors that the printer can print- a professional printer can print a wider range of colors than the average printer and therefore print the colors in your photos more accurately.
- Paper and Ink Quality: The type of paper and ink used makes a huge difference. These will impact the life of your print, and how long the colors will remain trout to the original print. Poor quality prints will show their age by yellowing and cracking of the paper.
- Image Sharpness: Images need sharpened in post-processing depending on the surface on which the image will be printed. An image sharpened for printing on photographic paper may look too “crunchy” if printed on metal. Likewise, an image printed on wood may need more sharpening. Big name printers do not check your image for sharpness quality before it is printed.
- Guaranteed Product: When you order your prints, canvases, or other print products through my contracted lab, you are getting a guarantee that those products look the way they are intended. You are getting a guarantee that the quality of product is something they are proud to have their name associated with. If you are paying to have a talented photographer come to capture your photo needs, don’t settle for mediocre (at best) prints – do your printing professionally.
- Professional Cropping:. Have you ever ordered a 5×7 from a local store and it comes back missing half a face? The reason is because professional cameras take a picture at a 2:3 ratio. So when you see your image, nothing will be cropped out if you print it at a size of 4×6, 8×12, 12×18, etc. Unfortunately, frame manufacturers tend to sell frames at sizes such as 5×7, 8×10, 11×14, or 16×20. This means that some of the image has to be cropped. A photographer will see if the image can be cropped without losing the qualities that make it a good composition.
That Sounds Expensive....
My ultimate goal is that you will love your photos enough to print them in large format and display them everywhere throughout your home. I set my print prices affordable enough to do just that. While it is affordable, it is not cheap. I price my prints lower than most so that clients will be able to enjoy seeing their photos hung proudly in their homes without taking out another mortgage.
