What You Should Know Before Printing
I might be one of the only photographers that will tell you that you don’t have to print through me.
When I deliver your gallery, I give you the download code to save all of your photos to a zip drive, external hard drive, etc. I will keep your gallery live for 1 year guaranteed. That way, if anything happens, you can jump back on, access your full gallery, and re-save in the event you lose your flash drive, your computer crashes, or some other totally awful (and likely unanticipated) event occurs wiping out your gallery.
If your gallery is no longer active (say it’s been a few years), please reach out and I can usually access your gallery for an archival fee. I cannot guarantee, however, so please ensure you’re saving your galleries and ordering prints in a timely manner.
Having access to your portraits digitally is pretty common practice these days. You can share them on Facebook and Instagram, and use them for Christmas cards and life announcements, which can be enough for most photos.
When it comes to your favorite portraits, however, the reason why your photographer loves when a client orders prints is for the transformation an image on a screen makes into a tangible keepsake. Your moments become pieces of art.
And truly, who knows how long Facebook or Instagram will be around? Even though it’s great for sharing with all your friends + family, I want the documentation of such precious times in your life to live in the real world, not just the digital world. And honestly, you probably know exactly where at least half of your boxes of family photos are from the pre-digital days. Can you say the same for all of the photos you’ve taken digitally in the last 5-10 years? I know I can’t.
Even though storing prints takes more physical space, I love knowing exactly where they are. Archiving photos digitally has always given me a little bit of added stress because it feels cumbersome to organize effectively and ensure they are safe. There is always added fear when so many of your photos are stored on your phone or computer. And when that’s your photo’s end destination? Well, it runs the risk of being permanently destroyed due to countless factors beyond your control. Yikes!
Plus, I don’t know about you, but I’m also the type of person that prefers a real book to an e-book. Same with photos, it’s more fun to revisit a photo album, or pass around childhood photos with your family, than click through a folder on your computer.
So why doesn’t everyone print their images? One of the biggest barriers for people ordering prints or products? Price. And if we’re being honest, I know you might not want EVERY photo printed either. Canvases and prints are usually more expensive when ordering directly through your photographer and there are a few reasons why:
Professional printing ensures quality.
When you drop the price on a product, rarely does the quality remain the same. And the same applies to your printed portraits. When you choose to print with a consumer-grade printer, like CVS or Walgreens, they may give you a stellar discount, but I can assure you that they are not spending the same amount of time reviewing your photos to ensure that the color composition, detail, and paper quality remain intact and of the highest quality. Your portraits should last decades. And that’s not something that consumer-grade printers can guarantee.
Professional printing saves you time.
Choosing to print with your photographer eliminates another task on your to-do list. I can ensure that your prints are handled immediately following a session and all you have to do is let me know what products you want. I’ll handle all the rest. Hassle-free. Not sure which sizing to do or which images will look nice together? I will help hand-select options for you.
Yes, prices generally run higher when it comes to portraits and canvas pieces, but if you have an extra special memory you want to preserve it deserves extra special printing. There’s never any pressure or judgment when it comes to ordering with me, the most important thing is that you make informed decisions. Any other questions? Please shoot me an email at hello@zeacorrinne.com.
If you choose to print on your own I have a couple of tips:
Make sure there are no auto-corrections on the images selected. This can greatly affect the editing that I have done for each of your images. This often can result in disappointment when you receive your prints and they don’t look like those from your gallery.
Make sure that your prints are not printing blurry or pixelated. Usually, if the file size is not big enough, your photos will lose detail and print pixelated. Some consumer-grade printers, like Shutterfly, will give you an error or alert message, but not all will. If this happens, you may need to drop your print or canvas size down to a smaller option.
NEVER screenshot your photos. Whether your sharing on social media or printing, using screenshots compresses your image and almost always results in a decreased image quality. This will be one of the biggest culprits for blurry or pixelated issues when printing your photos. Always, always, always, correctly download and save your photos from your gallery.
I can never guarantee quality for you when printing on your own. When printing with a consumer-grade printer, I cannot ensure that the product you receive is the product you should be getting. I can’t make sure that the colors remain true, or that the quality or detail is intact. When electing to print on your own, you accept that the quality of your images may be of lesser value.
