Can we print our own photos?

“Can we print our own photos?” Absolutely!

Every session includes a selection of digital images AND prints.  Clients have the ability to print their own images but more and more we are finding clients ordering the prints, especially large items from their walls, directly from me.

Why the change?

• Families are busy and prefer having their products show up on their doorstep than ordering them themselves
• There are fewer and fewer options for ordering printed photos

The invention of digital photography put cameras into the hands of people around the world. This made the art form of photography accessible to nearly everyone.  The downside of the digitization of the art of photography is that the quality of printed products isn’t what it was decades ago when printing the images was as much an art form as the process of taking the photographs.

Can we print our own photos?

Photographs printed at retail outlets are done in high volume batches without the attention of a trained professional.  To save money, the ink and paper aren’t always of the highest quality. This means the photographs may not last for decades without fading nor will the colours be especially accurate.

What does this mean for you?  When you look at the images on your computer or smart phone they aren’t going to look the same as what they do on my computer screen.  Very few people have home or office computers that have been calibrated. Nor are they looking at the images with the ideal amount of ambient light on their monitor.  

What is calibration? When you calibrate your computer monitor you are adjusting the settings to ensure that colour and brightness are reproduced accurately on your screen.  Because my professional print lab continuously adjusts their machines to ensure they are reproducing accurate colour I know that if my digital images on my monitor match the test photographs I regularly print, I am providing my clients with the most beautiful images possible.

At the end of the day, what’s most important is that you don’t let your kids grow up to be jpegs!