Just like my clients, I am always so eager to see how my family portraits turned out after our session. I am excited to go through each picture and decide how to share them. In this post, I share what to expect after your session. But what is the best way to print your images after your session? I am so glad you asked because there is a RIGHT way!
Best Way to Print Your Images: Rule of Thumb
To put it simply, my rule of thumb is this: only print your images from a lab whose sole purpose is to print images. It doesn’t have to be my lab, it doesn’t have to be the most expensive lab. But you do need to avoid consumer photo labs, like CVS, Target, Walgreens and Wal-mart at all costs.
Why? Because this is not their sole focus. Consumer labs change their processes all the time to make them more efficient and cost-effective (usually for them, not you). That means, that the quality of the images you just invested in won’t necessarily be mirrored in your final product. I firmly believe that if you are going to invest in family photos, you should print them with a quality lab to reflect that investment accurately.
Best Way to Print Your Images: A Warning
I have had clients in the past print at CVS and Walgreens and have been terribly disappointed in the quality. Please know that as a photographer, I can do literally nothing to fix that. It’s the quality of the printer and I have no control over that. Unfortunately, I have had to add this to my contract in order to encourage clients to print at actual photo labs.
The only lab that I can GUARANTEE quality from is Bay Photo Lab. They are the lab that I order my products through. If you choose to order your portraits through me, I will guarantee their quality.
That being said, you don’t have to break the bank either. Here are my favorite places to print images.
When I print cell phone pictures for my own family, I use Shutterfly and swear by them. They print great products, and printing images is their sole purpose. For our family portraits that we have done every year by another photographer, I print through Bay Photo Lab to have high-quality prints for my wall.
I hope this helps as you decide where to print your images to get the best quality that reflects your investment.
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