Yes, It Matters

 The digital files, everyone wants them for sharing online and hopefully even printing their favorites, I don't blame you, I would to.  I have thankfully seen many prints at clients homes and love to see my work on display.  Seeing and holding that hard copy print in my hand is something I really miss from my darkroom days.  There are endless options for where to print your images.  Some are super cheap, others a little pricier, but really from what I have seen, no consumer lab is too expensive.  I have been working on a little experiment to demonstrate the variation of print quality from lab to lab.  Consumer labs can have a huge variation in color balance, contrast, and brightness and don't consistently calibrate their equipment.  Professional labs take greater care and pride in keeping their equipment calibrated to a set standard so photographers can trust that our work is going to come out as expected every time.  My monitor that I use for editing your images is also calibrated to the standards which my professional lab uses.  When I edit your images the brightness, color, and contrast is adjusted for the way it looks best on my calibrated monitor, which is also VERY close to how the print will look from my professional lab. 

It is entirely up to you where to print, that is after all what copyright release means, however, I just wanted everyone to be aware of the differences that can come from different labs.  I do everything in my power to make sure my product is the best that it can be and I of course want what is hanging on your walls to reflect that as well.  A few tips on printing; if you have the option, always choose a satin, pearl or lustre finish as opposed to glossy, never choose color correction, I have already done that in the editing, and lastly, don't always just choose the cheapest, your spending hard earned money on a professional photo session, the prints should reflect that and be something that you cherish.  

All of the following prints were scanned in at the same resolution and settings.

 

In all of my trials, M-Pix (online) seemed to do the best, most consistent job.  They are reasonably priced and come fairly close to the original. 

Black and white prints are a matter of personal taste more than anything.  In darkroom printing we were taught that a good black and white image posessed as many shades as possible from white, not blown out, but still showing some detail, through to black, but not too black that there is no detail in the shadows.  So that is what I strive for when editing a black and white image.  While any of these images could be accepted, notice the difference in contrast and range from the whites to the blacks as well as the amount of greys in between. 

 

 

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