The Dos & Don'ts Of Printing Photos

Are you getting photos printed? Hooray! I'm so glad to hear that! But did you know that it does matter where you get those precious images printed? If you want to be happy when you pick them up or open that package, here are a few dos and don'ts of printing photos.

The Options
Photographers ALWAYS encourage their clients to print out photos. Many, if not all, offer the option to print directly from the gallery. It's simple, convenient, and can be pricey. There are a lot of stores and online printing services. What is the best option? There are four main choices when it comes to photo printing.

Professional Lab Printing
When you order through your gallery, your photos are being printed with the highest quality inks and papers. They are designed to last for decades and are calibrated for accurate color.

Shutterfly/Snapfish/Mpix
This is my go-to when I want to print a lot of photos or smaller prints. The color is still good but the pricing is more accessible for quantity printing. Mpix offers archival quality but anyone can use them, not just professional photographers.

Costco/Sam's Club/Walmart/etc
For this example, I've only ever used Costco and I feel like it was pretty good. Unless it was somehow more convenient, I would probably choose one of the previous options and many stores like this are dropping or scaling back their photo services. However, if you do use one of these stores, or one like it, your photos should look okay.

Drugstores (CVS, Walgreens, etc)
Please, DO NOT use these places for printing your photos. The color is almost never accurate and it's not off by just a little bit. I know, the price is great and you can get them in an hour, but Snapfish and places like it are not that much more and the quickness isn't worth the poor quality. You will not be pleased with the results.

We got a graduation invite in the mail and when I saw it, I knew it had been printed at a drugstore. The colors were awful. I ended up hearing the story from the mom of our friend and she confirmed my deduction. Because she was behind, she tried printing one of the wallets there as well, for the one-hour turn around, and it was so bad she knew she couldn't do it. So she ended up using Mpix and getting the order rushed and was SO happy with the quality. I was also impressed when I was at the party. They had printed some of his senior photos as 8x10s and they were very high quality.

When Should I Print Through My Gallery?
If you have invested in professional photography, then it might feel hard to spend even more on the lab-printed photos. I get it. Some people save for a year for their photos or budget for the session and then can't justify more on photos. I always tell people that if you are printing small sizes and/or in bulk, that you will be just fine with Shutterfly/Snapfish/Mpix. I have less experience with Mpix, but from what I just saw, I would probably go with them first. Even an 8x10 looked great.

Snapfish and Shutterfly offer a lot of other products, including photo books. The quality is okay, but the thing is that, most of the time, people make these books to commemorate a very special event. If it's big enough to make into a book, it's probably big enough to put a little money into making it nice. That's my opinion. But if you get a book from them, the colors will be fine, so don't worry about that.

The time I most recommend printing through your gallery is when you are ordering larger prints or canvases. These are investment pieces and the bigger the item, the more the quality of the materials matters. You will also get great service if there is any issue because your photographer knows you and will make sure things are fixed for you.


What has been your experience printing photos? Which of these options have you used?


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