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Developing Digital Photos
When people ask photography teacher Sheila DeLemos where they can get the best prints for less, it's not an easy answer. It really comes down to three choices: buying a printer, going to a mini-lab, or uploading your pictures to an online service that prints and sends them to you.
Mike McNamara with Popular Photography and Imaging has weighed the pros and cons of each option so you can decide which is best for you.
Developing Your Digital Photos
Online Printing Services
It seems like you can do almost anything online these days, so why not sign on and get your pictures developed? To get started, you can register on certain websites. The following is a list of three main ones:
Once you have created your account, look out for some great deals, "they [websites] usually give you some freebies like... your first fifteen or twenty prints for free," McNamara says.
Prices on these sites vary by the number of prints you order and the size. McNamara says you can sometimes get prints for half the price of what you can get them for in a digital mini-lab. McNamara says prints usually run between thirty and fifty cents per print but if you order in bulk you'll get an even better price.
Next, upload your pictures onto the site. McNamara says you can upload them using a scanner, or by putting your pictures on a c.d. You can organize the photos by events into separate "albums" that you create on the websites. It's also easy for you to email pictures to your friends.
When it comes time to pick your pictures, Sheila says it's a snap, " It's very simple because it gives you choices on sizes, quantity, and it allows you to do it with one touch of the mouse."
Bright Idea!
These sites also accept film! McNamara says that the sites will charge a two or three dollar processing fee. Once the company has processed the film, they will post your pictures on their site. You can then pick and choose which pictures you want or email them to friends. Then you pay for each print you want.
McNamara says the sites also offer tools that let you crop the pictures or fix red eyes. You can even tweak the colors if needed. But as Sheila points out, the services never check to make sure you cropped or made color adjustments correctly. She says you may end up with a few heads chopped off!
Mini-Labs
"More and more drugstores and mini-lab chains and superstores.. have installed digital mini-labs," McNamara says. That's right! McNamara says you just bring your memory card over to the mini-lab, and they'll print the pictures for you.
If your local mini-lab can't develop your digital photos, you may have another option, "if they don't have a digital mini-lab most of them have a [digital] kiosk." McNamara says that you will get the best quality prints at the mini-labs and the kiosks come in a close second.
Bright Idea!
McNamara says more and more mini-labs are making it easier and less of a hassle to get your pictures. Some labs allow you to upload your digital photos from home, and when they are ready, you go to the lab to pick them up. Check and see if your local lab offers this service.
McNamara points out another added benefit of taking your pictures to a mini-lab: customer service. He says you can go directly to the person behind the counter if your pictures are cropped badly or the color is poor.
Prices at the mini-labs range from about twenty nine to fifty nine cents per print. But McNamara also says you can pick and choose which pictures to print, so you don't have to pay for unwanted pictures. He adds that prints from a kiosk can cost close to a dollar.
Print at Home
Printing at home used to be expensive, but McNamara says you can find quality printers without unloading lots of money, "the vast majority of ink jet printers in the one hundred dollar and up range can print a photo."
Keep in mind; while it can be cheaper to print at home, there will be some added costs in addition to the printer. McNamara says you will have to buy additional cartridges and special photo paper. Depending on how much you print, those costs add up.
Bright Idea!
If you want to make sure you get the best photo quality, McNamara suggests buying a printer that uses a six-color cartridge. He says your standard printer will print with four colors, but the colors in your pictures come out as crisp.
For Sheila, printing at home is a big convenience, "there's just so many more opportunities if they're working… at home with a color printer." At home, Sheila can crop, add text, and she knows exactly what the picture will look like when it prints.
If you are serious about your pictures, McNamara says the following printers will give you great quality for a price $200-$300:
Epson Stylus Photo 900
Cannon i 950
HP Photo 7550
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When people ask photography teacher Sheila DeLemos where they can get the best prints for less, it's not an easy answer. It really comes down to three choices: buying a printer, going to a mini-lab, or uploading your pictures to an online service that prints and sends them to you.
Online Printing Services
Bright Idea!
