How [and Where] to Print Your Wedding Photos
You’ve just gotten your wedding photos back from your photographer and you’re so excited. Understandably so. You’ve probably waited months to get your images back. Looking through the gallery, you’re relieving all your favorite moments from the day and seeing moments you may have missed amongst your family and friends.
You want to print them all. And you want to do it fast. So you download the photos to your phone, upload them to Walmart’s photo center, and head to your nearest location to pick them up. You have the photos within the hour.
And they look terrible.
Well, there’s a reason for that. Why? Places like Walmart and other consumer print labs can’t match the quality of a professional printer.
As a wedding photographer, I beg of you, please don’t be like the example couple I mentioned above.
In this article, I’ll explain what you should do when you receive your wedding images, where to print them, and why.
Why You Should Have Your Photos Professionally Printed
You know by now that it takes weeks – and sometimes months – to get your wedding photos back. That’s because not only does your photographer have hundreds – if not thousands – of photos to comb through to choose the best shots, but they spend a lot of time meticulously editing them.
It takes a lot of focus and time to go through each photo to make it perfect and tell the story of your wedding day. Each photo is edited to remove things like blemishes, flyaways, and other sorts of distractions. In addition, your photographer color grades your photos. This is the process of editing images to fix color imbalances and make the images pop. They’ll adjust the hue and saturation of the photo to change its color tone and give it the desired look that matches their unique photography style.
The result is a gallery of high-quality, high-resolution, gorgeous images. If you take these images to a consumer print shop, they simply can’t match the quality. They don’t have the specialized equipment or the expertise. Simply put: The high-quality images on your screen won’t be what’s printed. The color won’t match. The images might look pixelated or blurry. Sometimes consumer print shops even crop the photos.
A professional print lab, on the other hand, is well-equipped to print your images exactly as your photographer intended them to look. Not only do they have the expertise, but they have the professional tools to get the job done. That includes specialized equipment for color precision and different types of print paper you can’t get anywhere else.
Where You Should Print Your Photos – Professional Print Labs
First and foremost, make sure you understand the copyright agreement you signed with your photographer. If your photographer owns your images, they may also hold the printing rights. In that case, you’ll have to order prints from them. It’s becoming more popular for photographers to give couples printing rights, which means you can print them freely as long as you aren’t earning a profit off them.
Whether or not you own the copyright to your photos, check to see if you can print your wedding images through your photographer. Oftentimes your photographer already works with a professional print lab and you can order images directly online through your gallery. Otherwise, they can usually recommend a good professional shop.
If your photographer works with a specific print shop, more than likely they’ve taken a long time to vet them to ensure they’re a quality printer. As photographers, we spend a lot of time on your photos and we want them to look as beautiful printed as they do on our computer screens. Not only that, but photographers work with specific printers who can nail down the color profile used in their photos.
If printing through your photographer isn’t an option for you, some online print shops like Miller’s Professional Imaging or Whitehouse do a good job.
Where You Shouldn’t Print Your Photos – Consumer Print Labs
Consumer print shops – such as any local drugstore, Walmart, or store that otherwise doesn’t specialize in printing photographs – should be skipped. They’re known for bad color calibration and flimsy paper stock.
It might be fine to print some random photos off your iPhone at one of these spots, but for high-quality images that have been carefully shot and edited, these places simply won’t cut it.
If you want subpar photos, that’s what you’ll get at a consumer print lab. Cheaper isn’t always better. Chances are, you won’t even save that much money either; there are plenty of affordable professional print shops. You spent a lot of money on your wedding photographer. It doesn’t make sense to throw that away by ordering low-quality prints.
Print Quality Photos You Love
When it comes to printing your wedding photos, quality matters. After waiting patiently for your meticulously edited, high-resolution images, it's essential to choose the right printing method to preserve your cherished memories. Consumer print labs may offer convenience, but they often fall short in reproducing the beauty of your photos.
Your wedding photographer invests time and expertise in selecting, editing, and color-grading your images to perfection. This effort creates a gallery of stunning images that deserve precise reproduction. Consumer print shops lack the tools and expertise to replicate these images accurately, resulting in color discrepancies, pixelation, blurriness, or unwanted cropping.
To ensure your wedding photos are professionally printed, consider using a reputable professional print lab. These labs have the expertise and equipment needed to recreate your images as intended.
Your wedding photos are invaluable memories that deserve the best presentation. By choosing professional print labs, you ensure that the beauty and emotions captured on your special day are faithfully preserved for years to come.
When you work with Frolic Photo Co., you can rely on beautiful images and access to professional printers like Miller’s Professional Imaging, Whitehouse, ProDPI and Mpix. It’s easy to print your images right from the gallery link I’ll send you.
