where to get pictures printed?

[Gonthro]

im looking for a local place to print photos up to 16x20 for a reasonable price... anyone know of such a place?


(or even online in canada with reasonable shipping rates/time)

[rage2]

I think my dad's shop does 16x20 straight from a digital image. The Photo Experts, 265-0609.

[sputnik]

ABL Imaging does nice work.

Don's might do a 16x20 as well... but im not sure.

[Melinda]

It's not the cheapest, but London drugs does upto big poster sized prints. I generally use Technicare when I don't print my own but I'm not sure how big their prints go to

[Gonthro]

what kind of printer do you use?? i find high quality 4x6 paper is only pennies cheaper than getting walmart to print it, so in the long run its cheaper (with the cost of ink ect...)

[Melinda]

I use professional high gloss Canon photo paper. I'm very picky with my colors and finished product so I like to have the manipulation abilities when I print it myself. I RARELY print 4x6 cause clients rarely want them and I never print that size for myself. If it's worth printing in my mind then it's worth printing big and showing off for a bit before I find something else I like.

If you have a printer and arent picky about your paper that you use, go to costco, epson has a package of 100 sheets of glossy photo paper for like 23$ or something like that...pretty good quality prints, puts most of the work on how good the printer is but if it's just printing 4x6 pics for a photo album it's not bad at all. Put in a sheet of 8x10 and put 2 pics on one document in photoshop and you can do 2 pictures at once on one piece of paper

[Gonthro]

thanks for the info... i do print a few picture on my own at home, but i find the matte turn out really crappy looking, no matter the paper, the glossy seems alright though...


(i just have a crappy $150 HP photo printer)

[Melinda]

Matte ends up pritning just like regular paper, I hate using matte paper. Gloss all the way Gives it a cleaner look too IMO

[Gonthro]

yea, i prefer gloss as well when i am printing my own stuff... but it was a request from a friend...

is there any good matte paper?, i bought a pack of hp paper and it doesn't look special.. just lookslike heavy weight paper... im lookin for somepapaer that has the backing liek the glossy paper does with the brand watermarked on the back. (looks more professional)

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by Melinda
I use professional high gloss Canon photo paper. I'm very picky with my colors and finished product so I like to have the manipulation abilities when I print it myself. I RARELY print 4x6 cause clients rarely want them and I never print that size for myself. If it's worth printing in my mind then it's worth printing big and showing off for a bit before I find something else I like.

If you have a printer and arent picky about your paper that you use, go to costco, epson has a package of 100 sheets of glossy photo paper for like 23$ or something like that...pretty good quality prints, puts most of the work on how good the printer is but if it's just printing 4x6 pics for a photo album it's not bad at all. Put in a sheet of 8x10 and put 2 pics on one document in photoshop and you can do 2 pictures at once on one piece of paper

what kind of printer do u have, mel? different photo printers need different kinds of paper. epson paper and epson printers are designed to work well with each other and canon is designed to work with canon. for example, epson paper doesnt really work well with anything but epson printers cuz its designed for pigment based ink, which only epson uses. so what im saying is, stick to your printer brand for paper. use hp paper for an hp printer, canon paper for a canon printer, etc etc.

the main purpose of gloss on paper is to hide flaws in the print outs. higher gloss = better at hiding flaws.

another thing about paper is that u really do get what u pay for. if u ever use that burlington or IBM crap where u get a massive pack for 5 bucks, dont expect much. the ink might run, the paper curls easily, and the color gradient is reduced, especially on darks. for a general purpose, all printer paper, kodak premium and ultima are definitely the best in my experience. fuji paper (more rare) is also pretty good stuff. if u are feeling rich, go to an actual camera place (not costco hehe) and ask them for the professional photo printer paper. (cant remember the brands right now)

[Melinda]

Yeah I use canon paper for my Canon printer. However, doing test sheets I have done a few sheets of the epson and I used it all the time for printing at SAIT and they have a few different brands of printers and I got half decent quality out of all of them. However, when framing something or giving it to a client, I will always use my canon stuff or I'll take the picture to get a print made. More expensive but well worth it in the end

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Melinda
Matte ends up pritning just like regular paper, I hate using matte paper. Gloss all the way Gives it a cleaner look too IMO

Glossy also has much nicers "blacks".