# (Amateur poll) Do you print your images? Do you have you prints made?



## ak_ (Aug 12, 2015)

My main objective with photography as a hobby is to edit down a day's photography to around a half dozen pictures which I then get 10x8s made at the local (Fuji Frontier) print shop.

This is what gives me the satisfaction rather than putting images on Flickr etc/the web.

I'm interested to know how many other amateurs regularly get prints made or print for themselves (and it's a fundamental aspect of the hobby for them).


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## JustJazzie (Aug 12, 2015)

It's always on my to do list, and it rarely gets checked off. I am literally YEARS behind on printing. I started playing catch up, and put in a huge order. UPS lost half my order and the other half arrived looking like it for run over by a truck..... It was disheartening and I haven't repeated the order as of yet.


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## ak_ (Aug 12, 2015)

JustJazzie said:


> It's always on my to do list, and it rarely gets checked off. I am literally YEARS behind on printing. I started playing catch up, and put in a huge order. UPS lost half my order and the other half arrived looking like it for run over by a truck..... It was disheartening and I haven't repeated the order as of yet.



Oh dear that's not good. Is there a local drug store lab you could use? I relate to the catch-up problem and I started afresh recently - new pictures (although I do pick a couple from the past to add in with the current ones).


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## JustJazzie (Aug 12, 2015)

ak_ said:


> JustJazzie said:
> 
> 
> > It's always on my to do list, and it rarely gets checked off. I am literally YEARS behind on printing. I started playing catch up, and put in a huge order. UPS lost half my order and the other half arrived looking like it for run over by a truck..... It was disheartening and I haven't repeated the order as of yet.
> ...


Local! Haha. Don't I wish!. The nearest grocery store is 30 minutes down the mountain. Nearest photo printer is an hour away. I'd really like to invest in a photo printer, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards right now.


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## ak_ (Aug 12, 2015)

JustJazzie said:


> ak_ said:
> 
> 
> > JustJazzie said:
> ...



 Oh well.


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## spiralout462 (Aug 12, 2015)

I really enjoy editing and printing right at my own desk.  I do allow MPix to handle larger sizes.  They do a nice job for a reasonable rate.   A nice print is the reason I take pictures!


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## Orrin (Aug 13, 2015)

I don't do many prints these days, but when I do, it's on my own printer!


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## waday (Aug 13, 2015)

I have a cheap Canon 4-in-1 (out of which I've only ever used it as a 3-in-1.. seriously, who sends faxes nowadays?).

I print select ones every now and then. Post them on the wall or in an album.


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## dennybeall (Aug 13, 2015)

Karen and I both have laptops that are on most of the time and screensavers that cycle through the PICTURES folder so we rarely print any of those. My sisters and our friends all have computers so they may print but not often. I do some publicity shots for a Canine Training Facility we work with and those mostly go on Facebook or the website so a few are printed for the wall at the training center.
Business photos go to the client with copies to archive so no prints there either.
Any hard copies I need are done on the Epson in the office.


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## ak_ (Aug 13, 2015)

Thanks for the responses!


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## Peeb (Aug 13, 2015)

If I can accumulate something worth of printing, then I certainly would!

It would not be on MY printer, tho- very poor quality photo printer at my house.


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## ak_ (Aug 15, 2015)

Peeb said:


> If I can accumulate something worth of printing, then I certainly would!
> 
> It would not be on MY printer, tho- very poor quality photo printer at my house.



Sometimes I print out little 'index' previews of a few pictures on my desk printer, just to step away from the monitor screen and consider them as a set.


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## sleist (Aug 17, 2015)

I own an Epson 3880 printer and print my images.
I was not ever really happy with the results when I sent my images out to several labs.
I enjoy the process and am happier with the results as well.


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## ak_ (Aug 18, 2015)

Bump, and i'm pleased the ratio of printers to non printers is as high as it appears so far.


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## Fred Berg (Aug 19, 2015)

Yes, I print. I use iPhoto and an HP printer. I scan and print my B&W negatives, but am slowly getting the darkroom equipment together so as to be able to make wet prints of these. My Polaroids take care of themselves!


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## KmH (Aug 19, 2015)

Print making is an art into itself.

Print making has technical considerations not related to photography, and there are technical considerations that apply during editing and prepping a photograph for printing. Many of those considerations do not apply to electronic display of a photograph.
In other words, a photo edited and prepped for printing likely won't look as good displayed electronically as it does as a print.

If you want to make high quality, long lasting inkjet prints there is a lot to learn:
Fine Art Printing for Photographers: Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers

I don't know of any amateur photographers that have at home a machine that can make C-prints from digital photographs.


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## Th0r4z1n3 (Aug 19, 2015)

I have an artists portfolio that I got from a local hobby store for about $15. Since I'm just starting out I don't feel that everything I do is "print worthy" yet, but when I get a few shots together that I do want to print out, I'll have some 14x11's made for my portfolio just so I have something physical to show to friends & family. Having something to physically show somehow legitimizes things a bit more than "hey look at my phone/computer screen" to me.

My "portfolio" really just serves as a large photo album though, I don't have any delusions of having a gallery showing or anything... yet lol.


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## EddyP (Aug 20, 2015)

I do this quite often and either put them up somewhere in my apartment or give them away to friends. I find that in this way it brings me closer to the subject of the photo. They also make great Christmas presents when you are a little short on money too.


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## ak_ (Aug 20, 2015)

The day I decided that I'd only keep an image file if I felt it worthy of printing (retouching/prepping for print), was the day things became more productive and constructive. I can reduce down a couple of hundred bracketed shots from a day's shooting to a between five and ten images, copy these to a master SOOC folder, prep them for print and save those print output files to second folder. Often I do keep a couple of similar shots, as the better exposure of the two is not necessarily the better 'moment' when I compare them. That's the only excess/duplication I'm retaining in my archive.


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## ak_ (Aug 20, 2015)

EddyP said:


> I do this quite often and either put them up somewhere in my apartment or give them away to friends. I find that in this way it brings me closer to the subject of the photo.



I agree. I read a good comment the other day, that someone said  (paraphrasing) you have to really feel, believe in the subject for yourself to expect anyone else to feel it also.


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## EddyP (Aug 21, 2015)

ak_ said:


> EddyP said:
> 
> 
> > I do this quite often and either put them up somewhere in my apartment or give them away to friends. I find that in this way it brings me closer to the subject of the photo.
> ...



I totally agree with you. 

With regards to the printing photos; there is something so much more personable by creating prints, an image on a computer feels so cold!


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## ak_ (Aug 21, 2015)

EddyP said:


> I totally agree with you.
> 
> With regards to the printing photos; there is something so much more personable by creating prints, an image on a computer feels so cold!



Thanks, I'm really pleased and I agree with you. Many of us have gigabytes of photos by this point. The novelty of Y2K-2005 digital point & shooting has come and gone, the high-tide mark of Flickr sharing has. I was sitting around thinking so..why? why have all these image files? Printing has given it direction and a certain purpose rather than just a compulsion to shoot for the sake of it. The computers as creative tools are fantastic in that we can work-up our pictures  - all the steps that would take so much materials and time. It is a great litmus test for (in editing down a card full of files): would I spend $5 or so prepping this up and printing it? If I know the answer is yes, I keep the image. Editing decisions was never so cut and dried up to this point.


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## stevenrialto (Sep 1, 2015)

If you get to the point where you are making money off your prints its easy to justify owning a printer, and certainly more convenient than having them printed elsewhere. I have even seen wide format epsons on Craigslist going for a fraction of what they once cost, I sold a 44" 9600 last year for only $500 - in perfect working condition. I am personally a fan of Epson's print quality and have never had any real problems.


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## Dewman (Sep 10, 2015)

I print my own as long as they are 8 1/2" x 11" or smaller.  If I want a larger print, I take them to the local UPS/Print Source and have them printed.  I use an inexpensive Epson XP-610 printer and have had superb results from it.  A few years ago, I bought their Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner and was so impressed, I ditched my old HP printer and went with the Epson printer.... and I've never looked back!


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## BananaRepublic (Sep 10, 2015)

Well my club has a photo challenge every month to a print format 10x15 so I do print for that but I go to the local printer. I  don't do printing as you described. 

Reviews, Critique, Opinions, needed | Photography Forum


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## Pierre_f1/8 (Sep 14, 2015)

Hello 
I print a lot of my photos too. Every two months approximately, i print between 10- 20 photos, that i put on my photo wall in my flat, or that i keep on my desk. 
Even if like scrolling on the internet to see pictures, the feeling to keep in your hands your own creations is great. I only print into a photo shop in my city


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## Empiric (Sep 17, 2015)

I got few of my images printed on B2 international format. They are my current decorations in my room  ALways makes me happy.


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## Tailgunner (Sep 17, 2015)

Well considering most of my work is printed up on canvas or aluminum metal (dyes infused to sheets of metal), it's mostly out sourced to printing labs.


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## ak_ (Sep 24, 2015)

stevenrialto said:


> I sold a 44" 9600 last year for only $500 - in perfect working condition.



What would it cost per year to use and maintain (say for example ten "A3" size prints per week, quality inks and papers)? ~500 prints per year.


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## limr (Sep 24, 2015)

Every few months, I'll order a stack of prints from Adoramapix.com. Sometimes I'll print on my inkjet at home, but only small and only to test colors or contrast, or maybe to make a bookmark or something, just to have. I also participate in things like print or postcard exchanges. Just got a stack of postcards delivered today, actually. And like Fred, my Polaroids take care of the printing for me   One day, I'll be setting up a darkroom.


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