Few Thoughts On Printing

I am a big fan of digital photography. The ability to take as many pictures as one's card allows and having no need to develop the images in the lab have empowered the masses, and never before the present has been so well documented.

However, as people upload gazillions of digital images to their computers and servers every day, one aspect of photography is getting more and more overlooked - the print. I think we often forget what photography is all about - it's about the print. After visiting Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite and Weston Gallery in Carmel, I once again was reminded that the image really should end with a print, and only by print one may judge it's quality.

So I been experimenting with printing my images, and below is the list of services I have tried and my opinion of them.

-- Costco Photo Lab - good quality prints at a cheap price, and they even have custom color profiles for all their printers, which is good if you want the colors you see on a monitor match the colors you will see in a print. They are fast, and I liked them better than any other photo lab in that category (Wal-mart, Wulf Camera, etc.). When I need to print a lot of 4X6's, that's where I do it.

-- Mpix.com - great online service. They currently don't have custom color profiles, which I find limiting, but they have a very fast turn around and shipping, and the quality of their prints is a step up from Costco. I actually tried out a canvas print from them, and it turned out great. I liked the balance between texture and detail. You should try it too.

-- ImageKind - I use them for my fine art printing right now. They have the highest prices of this bunch, but the quality of their prints is worth it. I also like all the options they offer for custom matting and framing. It's a one place stop for this type of work, and is also worth a try.

-- Epson R1800 printing. My friend Mark have let me try his printer and I made fine art prints on various kinds of paper. This is where I was the most impressed with the quality, especially when I printed on Epson Premium Luster Paper. I also loved the simplicity of printing through Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and this is how I will print from now on when I get my own printer. Images were the most sharp, colors were saturated yet very natural and I loved the detail in every inch of print. I compared the same prints (image, size) done with this printer and the labs I described above, and the quality of Epson prints was more superior. I am currently saving for R2400, which is basically the same printer, but offers more tonal range for B&W images, and it convinced me that this is the way to go for me in the future.

I will try out couple more services, because even with my own printer, I will have to use someone else for poster prints or for other kinds of prints (say, on canvas), but this is my assessment for now.

Are there other services you are impressed with that I should try?