One of the criticisms of digital photography which I hear again and again is the fact that the photos are stuck on my PC where others can’t see them. The obvious solution is to have a select few printed.
So, where do you go to print your memories?
I’ve tried online printing services in the past and considered foto.com with their 9c prints. That sounds good except when you add postage fees, it isn’t that much cheaper than local priting services.
Bricks and mortor chemists and photo shops are reasonably priced, although the market leader, Spectra, have been increasing their prices, they recently slashed the cost of 6×4 prints to 17c a print.
Sam Mc Cauley Chemists have an offer until the end of January of 100 prints for 13.99 Euro using Fujifilm paper, and a local chemist here in Blarney, Walshs Pharmacy, will print 100 photos for 15 Euro using Kodak paper. Both offers only apply to 6×4 prints. I tried both and I’m impresed by the quality.
Photos submitted were from the Sony 717 (a wedding in 2004), Panasonic FZ5 and Canon 20D. Where I had shot in RAW+jpeg on the Canon, I used the “small low quality” files generated from shooting in RAW+S mode. Can I tell the difference? No! Even images with a lot of noise came out looking really well and I’m very happy.
I have 200 photos out of some 26,000 shots to show friends and relations and the memories that go along with them. The next thing to do is attempt to build nice looking frames for larger prints!
The best thing about printing? I found my favourite photo of 2005. It’s one of Jacinta in Cobh at sunset. She has a radiant smile, the light is great, and she’s so beautiful!