Photographers - Need Printing Advice

[Jussei]

In February I will be doing a photography job for a small dance company.
I'm going to need to provide a variety of prints. 8x10's and wallets mostly, but I'm sure there will be another few sizes I'll need to provide. Nothing should be bigger than 8x10 though.
I currently don't have a printer capable of the results I'd like to be able to provide. I've always sent my photos away for development professionally before so this hasn't been a problem

I'll be photographing about 200 people, meaning roughly 1000-1400 individual pictures. What would be the most cost effective method to print these pictures while still maintaining high quality?

Should I use an online source to print them off for me like Apple, Flickr, etc?
Should I consider purchasing a printer that can provide the results I'm looking for?

I'm leaning toward the printer idea. It seems that I could get a decent printer for around $1000, which would probably be the cost of developing somewhere else and I'd have the printer left over when I'm finished.

 

[lan]

Do you consider your own time?

1400 photos @ 1 minute per print each is about 24 hours straight printing.

1400 x 5MB JPEG each depending on your upload speed could be 24 or so hours also. For me this would take about a day and half.

In either case I would rather not take the time to print myself nor send it off online. I prefer local so I can just put things on DVD as uncompressed TIFFs or PNG as opposed to JPEGs for maximum quality.

To see how the quality of the various places are, I'd just send test files to all of them and see how all the results are. Maybe you don't have time for this now?

Did you actually work out the numbers and found self printing to be cost effective?

 

[Jussei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you consider your own time? 1400 photos @ 1 minute per print each is about 24 hours straight printing. 1400 x 5MB JPEG each depending on your upload speed could be 24 or so hours also. For me this would take about a day and half. In either case I would rather not take the time to print myself nor send it off online. I prefer local so I can just put things on DVD as uncompressed TIFFs or PNG as opposed to JPEGs for maximum quality. To see how the quality of the various places are, I'd just send test files to all of them and see how all the results are. Maybe you don't have time for this now? Did you actually work out the numbers and found self printing to be cost effective?

I haven't worked out all of the numbers yet, but the more research I do, the more it seems that having someone else print them for me would be more cost effective.
Time isn't an issue really as I'd have a week or two after taking the pictures before I'd be sending them out. I'm willing to spend the time to do the work if it'll produce better results at a lower cost.
When you are saying 'local' what exactly are you referring to? Cord Camera, Kinko's, Walgreens, etc? I don't have access to a great deal of stores that offer photo printing near me, but I'd be willing to do some travelling if it'll save me time and money.

 

[mr_baseball_08]

If you've never printed your own pictures before, then I highly suggest you don't start off with such a huge undertaking on your first try. There are lots of factors that go into your own prints including the printer you buy, the ink you'll need/want, and the different kinds of paper (and also the quantity you'll need). The ink/paper costs will likely be very expensive given the number of prints you want. Printmaking isn't plug and play (people spend years learning the art of it), unless of course, you aren't worried about quality control.

With that being said, making your own prints is a rewarding task, but I think you should maybe leave it for a time when you don't have such a huge, important job.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Decide on a printer before you process your photos. Get the white point, colourspace, gamma, etc, values from them so you can set your monitor/program properly. Wouldn't want 1400 pictures coming back uniformly too dark or too bright right?

 

[Jussei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr_baseball_08 /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you've never printed your own pictures before, then I highly suggest you don't start off with such a huge undertaking on your first try. There are lots of factors that go into your own prints including the printer you buy, the ink you'll need/want, and the different kinds of paper (and also the quantity you'll need). The ink/paper costs will likely be very expensive given the number of prints you want. Printmaking isn't plug and play (people spend years learning the art of it), unless of course, you aren't worried about quality control. With that being said, making your own prints is a rewarding task, but I think you should maybe leave it for a time when you don't have such a huge, important job.

Excellent bit of advice. Thanks. I've decided that I'll probably be having them developed somewhere rather than try to do it all myself.
After looking at some of the prices, I really doubt Ill be able to print them any cheaper myself (or with better results).
I think I greatly underestimated the difficultly of making my own prints. I may delve into this, but probably later this year.

If I was to develop these using an outside source, either online or in a store, what would you recommend? That is, which has the best quality to price ratio?

 

[jhupka]

I have had good luck with AdoramaPix.com, although they're mainly the only online printer I've ever used. I've sent "tests" to a local Walgreens and Wolf Camera, but frankly I think their quality sucks compared to Adorama.

I can't tell if you have a digital source, and you mentioned developing somewhere. So I'm not sure if you're doing this from film or digital. I've only used Adorama for digital prints from my D70. They have great prices, along with bulk discounts (25+ prints of a specific size). I've always been pleased with what I've received from Adorama, and have ordered prints up to 11x14 from them. Heck, I've even Photoshop'd up my own birth announcements, and had them print those on 5x7 paper, and they turned out great - I didn't know what to expect since I wasn't really working from a true "photo" source.

 

[Jussei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhupka /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have had good luck with AdoramaPix.com, although they're mainly the only online printer I've ever used. I've sent "tests" to a local Walgreens and Wolf Camera, but frankly I think their quality sucks compared to Adorama. I can't tell if you have a digital source, and you mentioned developing somewhere. So I'm not sure if you're doing this from film or digital. I've only used Adorama for digital prints from my D70. They have great prices, along with bulk discounts (25+ prints of a specific size). I've always been pleased with what I've received from Adorama, and have ordered prints up to 11x14 from them. Heck, I've even Photoshop'd up my own birth announcements, and had them print those on 5x7 paper, and they turned out great - I didn't know what to expect since I wasn't really working from a true "photo" source.

Sorry if I was a little vague there. It's a digital SLR that I'll be shooting with.
I'll be sure to check out their service. Bulk discounts will be great and I've been searching around for the best deals as far as those are concerned.
This is a completely new foray for me as I'm far from a professional photographer, it's just that there aren't too many around my area and I feel I can stack up to those that are here. I've been working with Photoshop since version 4.0, so I've got a fair amount of experience there and I'm willing to put in the work to create pictures I'm pleased with.
I can also undercut the prices they charge by a substantial amount.

 

[jhupka]

Good luck with everything. I know what you mean about filling in the gaps of professional photographers. With our four kids, it gets pricey with school pics, family pics, etc. We've found our D70 is just as good, if not better, than some of the outfits pro's have used to take our pictures. We just need to spend another $100 in lighting and backdrop, and we can do all these pics ourselves.

But for now my wife has done some wedding photography on the cheap for family members on a budget.

 

[Omega]

Check out Sam's Club or Costco as well. They tend to have larger, better printing machines than Walmart/Walgreens/etc, and usually have a non-idiot working them. Personally, I've gotten great results from Costco, as long as I do my own color profiles in Photoshop first, and make sure they don't "autocorrect" it for me. On that topic, make sure you get a good color calibration, and don't muck it up when you Photoshop them.

The big plus for using Costco or the like is that you aren't sitting around waiting for an online service to deliver. If you hit a deadline or need something fixed, you have a local person to work with. Price should be comparable to Adorama.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

x2 on Costco. I was impressed with their print quality. They are quick as well. I wasnt very impressed with Ritz camera. The images werent sharp and the colors were a bit over saturated.

I would stay away from buying a printer and doing things yourself. It does involve a lot more work than the advertisements suggest. Its easy to make casual prints occasionally. But if you want good prints, there are just way too many things to consider and experiment with before settling for the setup that works for you.

I am not in favour of the online idea as well. I somehow dont think compressing it to jpeg to fit the size limits is a good idea especially since you are using an SLR.

Dump all of them in a bunch of dvd's, as suggested previously give a sample pic to a few different stores and see which one looks the best and go with that store.

 

[beerguy0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jussei /img/forum/go_quote.gif Excellent bit of advice. Thanks. I've decided that I'll probably be having them developed somewhere rather than try to do it all myself. After looking at some of the prices, I really doubt Ill be able to print them any cheaper myself (or with better results). I think I greatly underestimated the difficultly of making my own prints. I may delve into this, but probably later this year. If I was to develop these using an outside source, either online or in a store, what would you recommend? That is, which has the best quality to price ratio?

One thing you should look into before sending images out to be printed is getting your monitor calibrated. If you make corrections on an uncalibrated monitor, the prints you get back may not be what you expect. There are many monitor calibration devices on the market today, and some are less than $100. The Pantone Huey is around $80, and I've seen it on sale for like $60. I do my own printing, and getting my monitor calibrated was the best thing I ever did. I enjoy printing, but I don't pretend it's cost-effective, especially for 8x10 or less. I do think it's a bit cheaper for larger prints, though. (12x18, for example). I just like having the ability to do my own printing. Reminds me of my darkroom days, only easier.

Do a Google search on monitor calibration and do a little reading - it will save you a lot of grief.

 

[fault151]

Hi, normally what i would do is send them to a printers. Iv found the most cost effective way and time consuming way is to find a local printers capable of producing them. See if you can work out some sort of deal. The more you print the cheaper they will be. It often sounds cheaper to print them at home but when you actually consider what you need to get a good quality priint, you'll be better of going to a proffessional printer. If your looking at 1000+ high quality prints, think of the ink/toner that user + you need to buy the printer followed by the paper.

We normally use external printers in my job. Im a graphic designer by the way.

Hope this helps! good luck!

 

[Jussei]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. The self printing is definitely ruled out now. I don't want to drop a couple of grand for poor images (or headaches trying to figure out something I know nothing about in a few weeks).
I read a lot of good things about Sam's Club and Costco and this will probably be the route that I go. Both offer extremely good prices compared to the other services I've found and both got good ratings.
I appreciate the calibration advice as well. What I intended to do is get 10-20 images I think look good on a few of my different monitors and then bring them down to Sam's Club (unfortunately no Costco near me). I'd use these test images to determine what changes need to made and any adjustments that need to made. Luckily, every image will be taken with the same lighting and backdrop, so I won't have to worry about changes different images for different light settings, etc. I may look into the calibration tools as well, especially if they can be had for under $100.00.
Thanks again and feel free to throw out any other suggestions as they are very helpful.

 

[bloodydoorknob]

My suggestion would be to search around for a local photo studio that has the skills and equipment to get the job done right and see if you can work out a deal. Check your local mall and see if their's any independent photo studios. Don't bother with Glamour Shots or Picture People, because they usually don't have the equipment or the skill.

I'm a photographer at a local photo studio in Atlanta and we do prints in bulk for extra cheap for freelance photographers and wedding studios. We have a Fujifilm and a Noritsu printer that takes 4", 5", and 10" roll paper and we use an Epson Stylus Pro 9800 for larger prints like 20x30s. We give the option of using either Kodak Royal glossy (expensive) or Mitsubishi luster paper which is not that expensive and more popular with our clinets, but all the people we do prints for seem very satisfied with the quality since everyone at the studio is well-versed in photoshop and our equipment is top notch. We also have some nifty workflows set up to make calibrating a breeze for huge workloads. We even change the backprints on the prints so that photographers can put their contact information on their photos!

Don't be afraid to look around and ask, local studios should start getting slow this month and I'm sure they wouldn't mind making some extra dough to pay for expensive businessl space and equipment loans!