Where to order great quality prints online for good prices?

Hi, All.

I hope I'm posting this in the right thread - I apologize if I'm not.

I'm about to do my very first paid photo shoot of a birthday party this weekend and my client is going to request prints of the images after the event. Since I don't have a printer, I will have to order them online, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys could point me in the right direction. I don't think I'll have to order anything larger than 11 x 4.

A few reviews online recommend Snapfish, shutterfly and SmugMug, saying that they're the best bang for the buck, but I'm still unsure.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

If there's a Costco nearby, try them.
Send a few files over and they'll have them ready in an hour or two.
That way you're not waiting for days.
Mpix and Adoramapix are other online sites to check out if you go that route.

Merlin_AZ wrote in post #13640678
If there's a Costco nearby, try them.
Send a few files over and they'll have them ready in an hour or two.
That way you're not waiting for days.
Mpix and Adoramapix are other online sites to check out if you go that route.

Thank you for the response. None of the places mentioned above will compress the files or reduce the resolution, right? I might need to print images as large as 20 MB.

Like Merlin says, Costco is a great option for a local service that takes orders online. Just be aware that you have to "join" and pay a membersip fee to get started.

Whatever service you do use, be aware that these services by default typically do "automatic corrections" to images. So, if your images are good, you need to have the service turn the corrections off!

If you're a Photoshop user, there is also the area of using printer profiles to "Soft Proof" your images. If you want to know more, well, start out by looking at the two "sticky" threads in this section on Color Managing and Color Problems, then open the FAQ thread and read the link for Printing as well as the one covering DPI/PPI. After all that reading, if you still have questions, fire away, but read the stuff first!

Owhat wrote in post #13640831
Thank you for the response. None of the places mentioned above will compress the files or reduce the resolution, right? I might need to print images as large as 20 MB.

When a digital print is made, the print software will either accept the file as-is, or you may need to resize the file for a specific print. You need to check with the printing service as to whether they have a max file size but a good service shouldn't bother with that, you should be able to upload or ftp a good size file.

But for convenience you may want to handle the task of sizing your image for a particular print size. You can do this in your software by specifying a size in inches with a resolution (ppi or, with Canon software, dpi) that meets your print quality needs. Common resolutions are 240ppi, 300 ppi and 360 ppi. Your print service should be able to give a "recommended" ppi value -- my local Costco recommends 300 ppi for "optimal" print quality.

The resulting file size will vary if its a jpeg because jpeg "compression" varies from image to image. Set your jpeg Quality setting to a high value and don't worry about the file size.

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed responses, tonylong. Fortunately, I do have a Costco nearby - I didn't know that they'd be a good option for prints, to be honest.

I am a Lightroom 3 user, but I will still look into the threads that you mentioned, tonylong. I will also call into my local Costco tomorrow to ask them about their recommended ppi value for optimal print quality.

Thank you so much for the help. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Happy New Year!

Printing FAQ.

300ppi sRgb Q10 jpeg at native camera resolution. Optionally resize to the correct number of pixels, sharpen (always the last step in a workflow), then save as jpeg. Soft proofing is a waste of time IMHO, just use a calibrated monitor and work in sRgb. Printing from a Q8 jpeg looks just as good as printing from an uncompressed TIFF - try it with a blind test and you'll see yourself, I did, no difference.

http://www.mpix.com/

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Outstanding quality - I use this for my photography business.
Excellent customer service to go along with the quality of the prints.

I have printed all sizes, shapes and paper types. I host my images on Zenfolio and use Mpix as the print lab.

Joey Ricard Approved!

White House Custom Color. 3 day turn around, no shipping fees on orders over $12, and great customer service.

bayphoto.

Thank you so much for the responses, everyone. Like I mentioned above, I shall try the local, Costco route first and if it doesn't work out, resort to online prints.

Again, thank you so much for the help. I really appreciate it! Wish I could rep' everyone.

Owhat wrote in post #13645752
Thank you so much for the responses, everyone. Like I mentioned above, I shall try the local, Costco route first and if it doesn't work out, resort to online prints.

Again, thank you so much for the help. I really appreciate it! Wish I could rep' everyone.

Costco has a very good service and provides good quality.

Plus, you can upload photos online for them to print and then just walk in and pick them up.

Of course, though, Costco is a "members" place so you have to pay to play. But their prices are super for prints.

All good responses in this post and I can't speak for Costco specifically but I have had prints made from the local lab or shop with decent results for the intended use. I'd have no problem doing it again if I need something right now depending on the situation.

With that said, time is money and I live wayyyyy out in the country and a trip to the shop would be a 2 hr adventure of my time + gas (60 mile round trip ). Prints are inexpensive no matter local or online, but outside the pricing circle is where ordering online works out best for me. Sure you pay shipping, but my 2 hours is not taken away from me and they come right to my door in a couple of days.

tonylong wrote in post #13645820
Costco has a very good service and provides good quality.

Plus, you can upload photos online for them to print and then just walk in and pick them up.

Of course, though, Costco is a "members" place so you have to pay to play. But their prices are super for prints.

Luckily, I have a Costco nearby, as well as a membership.

on2rails wrote in post #13646056
All good responses in this post and I can't speak for Costco specifically but I have had prints made from the local lab or shop with decent results for the intended use. I'd have no problem doing it again if I need something right now depending on the situation.

With that said, time is money and I live wayyyyy out in the country and a trip to the shop would be a 2 hr adventure of my time + gas (60 mile round trip ). Prints are inexpensive no matter local or online, but outside the pricing circle is where ordering online works out best for me. Sure you pay shipping, but my 2 hours is not taken away from me and they come right to my door in a couple of days.

Well put, my friend.

Just submitted some test prints to Costco online and will pick them up in a couple of hours. Hope it all goes well.

Thank you all so much again from the bottom of my heart!

I do most of my own printing, but I have used Bay Photo a few times, and all of the prints I ordered came back precisely as I wanted them. I used their budget service (no color correction) because I wanted to control color myself (and have a calibrated monitor). I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.