Photography tips – where to print

Now that you have these absolutely fabulous pictures, you really should get them printed someplace nice.  Although the local Walmart is cheap, they don’t produce good quality prints.  I don’t necessarily print all of my pictures at the more expensive places, but the ones I want to hang on the wall, I do.

Most of my scrapbooking pictures I get printed at Shutterfly.  I buy the big print package with the discounted rates, so it is around $0.12 per print.  It also allows me to add fun borders, which saves me time in scrapbooking.  If I want to print and pick up the same day, I use RitzPix and can pick them up at the store.  I had heard good things about Costco, but they did a horrible job the last time I went there so they lost my business.

My hanging-on-the-wall pictures get developed at MPIX.  They also are where I do our Christmas cards.  They aren’t as user friendly as Shutterfly, but I really like the product.  Ordering isn’t that difficult from them, the first time it is a little confusing at all the options they offer, but after that it is pretty simple.

I have also heard good things about these places, as well:

WHCC – A lot of professionals use this place, but the ordering system is complicated requiring you to download their software.  But, good results.

Color Inc

ProLab Express

A short tips section for today, but valuable!  You really need to order from one of the better labs just to see the difference.  It is pretty remarkable how much better the color and clarity is at the these labs.  For pictures that you plan to showcase on your wall, spend the extra dollar or three on a nice print.

8 Replies to “Photography tips – where to print”

  1. I second Mpix. I love that place and shudder whenever I’m forced to get something printed at the local Walmart.

    I highly recommend the metallic prints. A little more money, but very, very cool!

  2. Have you tried Snapfish? I’ve been using them for ages. I’m afraid I can’t say whether they’re better or worse than other places because once I used them I never tried anywhere else. Just wondered if you had an opinion.

  3. I like MPIX, too. They have a super-fast turnaround time!

    For everyday stuff, I use our local Walgreens. I can upload photos online and they’re ready for me before I can get into the truck and make it to the store–even 8×10’s. The only have glossy, so for matte stuff I’ll use MPIX, but otherwise their printing and colors are awesome. And cheap.

  4. I love MPIX too! I just tried them for the first time a couple months ago and I was amazed by the difference in quality. From now on, framed prints will be through them.

    I’ve also heard that Costco really is a quality printer with top-of-the-line equipment rivaling the more exclusive printers. But…I’ve never used them.

  5. Colleen, I’ve actually heard some not so good things about Snapfish, so I would suggest just trying one of the other places to see if there really is a difference. I don’t have any personal experience with Snapfish, though.

    Yeah, for fellow Mpix-ers! Julie I will definitely try the metallic prints. I’ve been wanting to try that but haven’t yet.

    Christina, I think it depends on the Costco. The first time I tried out local Costco their machine was down, so the one-hour took 2 days. The didn’t give a discount or anythign for the inconvience and my prints looked like CRAP. Terrible customer service!! I’ll never use them for my photos again.

  6. I have used Snapfish for 7 yrs now and have never had any big issues. After hurricane Katrina they sent me a credit for every photo I had in my online albums (over 3000) in case my pictures had been damaged in the storm. Very nice!!! Only incident I ever had was this past Christmas I ordered some photos from them and ended up with a couple of pictures of someone else’s children as well.

    I would also love to try the metallic prints at Mpix. Maybe I will do that today. 🙂

  7. I realize my comment comes about two years after the original post was written but I wanted to add to what has been said 🙂
    I have ordered prints from both Mpix and Whcc – I love them both. Once the whcc ordering program is downloaded to your computer the ordering process is a cinch, the customer service is TOP NOTCH!!!
    I direct my clients to Mpix because from my experience their prints are better than snapfish, walgreens (or any other local drug store lab).

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