Printing "Snaps"

[Mark300SL]

After many years of taking pictures and not printing many of them I finally decided to have some of my better ones lab printed

I have had several very large prints done of some of my best ever shots and i can only suggest that with the cost of online printing these days that any other snap happy person should be considering the same


I have several copies of this in 30"x20" Including one to Glojo as a a small thank you for our recent GTG

Quite simply the output quality of the print far exceeded my expectations and I was actually looking at a photo thinking it was one of the best pictures I have ever seen in my life - and it was one of mine!




I have had my Zabriskie pano as a 2m x 50cm wide print for my wifes office wall at work. She works for a US specialist tour operator and its how we get cheap holidays and Virgin flights

Along with my Virgin 747/Red Arrows pic in 30"x20"

All in all I have had about 18 printed the smallest of which were 18"x12" - and every single picture looked 10x better in real life than it did on the web.


If you keep saying (as I did) - I will print that one day - then start now, have a few real pictures printed and then you too can wince at the cost of framing them!
The only problem now is that even with the cheap print rates I can see the possibility of spending thousands in the future getting all of my decent prints printed & framed.


Mark

 

[Sp!ke]

I keep meaning to do the same

How much does a 20" x 30" cost roughly and can you recommend a printer, it sounds like you've found a good one.

The 2M print must have caused been very expensive.

 

[Mark300SL]

Thats the thing - the 30x20s are only £16! I have a very good Canon printer but at those sort of prices someone else can have the job

The first batch were from www.snapmad.com - this is the print arm of 7 day shop based in the Channel Islands. Very good quality if you have a calibrated monitor. Delivery was about a week or so but we also had a post dispute so that didnt help

The big Zabriskie and my Eastern Sierra Storm pic are special orders as they are very much oversize panoramas at over 6 feet wide but even they were good value under £35 hand printed !

 

[wallingd]

30*20 are £4.87 @ Tesco & the quality must be 95% of what you have there..

 

[Rory]

We gathered up some digital snaps from a wedding recently and my daughter put them together into an album on Kodak's web site.

I must say I was amazed by the quality of the item we got back - a very presentable book with the pictures printed onto the pages. Cost was an astonishing £15, and it came within a couple of days too.

I gather the family paid £800 for a photographer just to be there (pictures chosen are extra) and they're not that thrilled with his output.

 

[Mark300SL]

30*20 are £4.87 @ Tesco & the quality must be 95% of what you have there..

I need to look again then , the last time I looked they were not available in that size from Tesco or Asda. That said the quality of the output on mine is exceptional and exactly matches my monitor output.

I will try a few from Tesco and compare the results

We gathered up some digital snaps from a wedding recently and my daughter put them together into an album on Kodak's web site.

I must say I was amazed by the quality of the item we got back - a very presentable book with the pictures printed onto the pages. Cost was an astonishing £15, and it came within a couple of days too.

I gather the family paid £800 for a photographer just to be there (pictures chosen are extra) and they're not that thrilled with his output.

I had exactly the same result from my cousins wedding a few years ago when they printed a book from my efforts. I was there for a wedding and not as a photographer but as usual my camera always goes with me.

Mark

 

[Ade B]

Nice pics.

Which canon printer you got Mark? I've just bought an MP620 for a general home hack and I'm really impressed with the prints (from my D90) that come out without any fiddling..


Ade

 

[crockers]

We put together an album for our granddaughter's 18th birthday of her family going back over the generations. Obviously this involved scanning old B/W pics - some were badly creased so I had to photoshop those creases out.

Must say - we too were very pleased with the results and she Loved it

Mark - I am amazed at the clarity and sharpness of your photos - do you touch them up in photoshop to achieve this? If so what do you do to them to achieve this? Have you downloaded any special filters? What lens did you use?

 

[Mark300SL]

Nice pics.

Which canon printer you got Mark? I've just bought an MP620 for a general home hack and I'm really impressed with the prints (from my D90) that come out without any fiddling..

I have a canon Pixma pro 9000 and an older S9000 that Kirsty now uses
Both of which may be for sale soon

Mark - I am amazed at the clarity and sharpness of your photos - do you touch them up in photoshop to achieve this? If so what do you do to them to achieve this? Have you downloaded any special filters? What lens did you use?

I use a half decent semi pro camera with some very good glass

The arch picture was the one real shot that I wanted to take this year and was my Canon 5D with 24-105 L lens
The Zabriskie pano was multiple shots with exactly the same combination (as over 95% of my pictures are ) stiched in PT gui and then processed in CS4

The 747 at Biggin Hill this year was with the same 5D but with a Canon 200mm F2.8 prime lens (and maybe a 1.4x converter)

All of pictures are shot in RAW and I don't think I have shot a jpeg in 3 years, All are then processed in Photoshop although mostly I just do levels and curves. RAW is a godsend if you ever under or overexpose especially with the very good sensor of the 5D

Current kit list for those that are interested is

Canon 5D & 30D cameras
Canon 200mm F2.8L,
Canon 135mm F2L,
Canon 1.4x Converter for use with the above
Canon 24-105 F4L IS,
Canon 28-70 F2.8L,
Canon 70-200 F4L
Canon primes 24mm F2.8, 50mm F1.8, 85mm F1.8,
Tokina 12-24,
Canon Speedlite 580EX & ST-E2

Still looking for a Canon 300mm F4L IS, Canon 100-1400L if anyone just happens to have one of them cheap

 

[ringway]

If you are not fussed who supplies your broadband and wish to have printed pictures check out the deal below.



VIRGIN BROADBAND.
As part of the collaboration, home broadband customers gain access to a certain number of free prints each month.

Subscribers on Virgin Media's M or L broadband tariffs receive 25 free photographs per month, while those on the XXL contract can print 100 images per month.

Looks fair enough to me.

 

[Sp!ke]

If you are not fussed who supplies your broadband and wish to have printed pictures check out the deal below.



VIRGIN BROADBAND.
As part of the collaboration, home broadband customers gain access to a certain number of free prints each month.

Subscribers on Virgin Media's M or L broadband tariffs receive 25 free photographs per month, while those on the XXL contract can print 100 images per month.

Looks fair enough to me.

A word of warning on this one... the offer requires you to upload your photo's using the virgin backup software which is so slow its completely unusable.

Nice offer but in practice its better to spend £0.75 on prints each month than struggle with their useless software.

 

[ringway]

A word of warning on this one... the offer requires you to upload your photo's using the virgin backup software which is so slow its completely unusable.

Nice offer but in practice its better to spend £0.75 on prints each month than struggle with their useless software.

As usual, all that glitters is not gold.

 

[Mark300SL]

I have ordered a few from Tesco to compare side by side
Tesco large pics are actually posters though (at least from their online offerings) and wont be printed on decent photographic 260g media.

I will let you know what I find later in the week


Mark

 

[del320]

Mark, you may also wish to consider Bonusprint. I've used them ever since I got my DSLR, habitually ordering 6" x 9" prints which come down to 19p each if you order sufficient numbers.

Can't say I've been disappointed. Uploading in quantity may take a couple of hours but the results are usually in my sticky paws within three days.

 

[Mark300SL]

Thanks Del,
I will look, but for run of the mill printing I normally use Costco, and I have done a lot with them in the past but their max print size is to small for some of my really "special" prints

For normal 6x4, 7x5 etc and up to 12x18" Costco have been fine.


Mark

 

[wallingd]

Wilko's have 16*20 frames from £3...................

 

[Carrotchomper]

I love those pictures Mark. The one with the planes really puts a smile on my face. Plane geek, clearly although, completely OT, I think the recent Virgin advert is superb

I agree about the cost of framing, though. I brought back a rolled canvas earlier in the year from Thailand- Really nice, original oil painting that I picked up for £100.

Framing it? £250 upwards

Ended up just having it stretched in the end without frame since it looks equally good anyway

 

[Mr E]

Framing it? £250 upwards

Wow!!!

We have a framer in the village - he's doing 6 20x30 oils for us for £150. He also did 2 12X60 pano frames with glass for £90.

Depends whether they work from a high street outlet or a workshop in the back garden, I suppose.

 

[Mark300SL]

Wow!!!

We have a framer in the village - he's doing 6 20x30 oils for us for £150. He also did 2 12X60 pano frames with glass for £90.

Depends whether they work from a high street outlet or a workshop in the back garden, I suppose.

I think I need a trip to the village !
Would you mind sharing this gem with us please


I regularly visit customers in Sussex so I'm sure I can find time to detour.


Mark

 

[crockers]

If you ever visit customers in North Wiltshire - I have a friend and she is fantastic at framing and at very fair prices....works from home...just done some fantastic Movie posters for a client with his home cinema in Russia...I want the Gladiator one...
I would strongly recommend you pay a little extra and get the non reflective glass when framing them.