to print... or not to print... that is the question

Printing Your Images: Professional Photo Lab vs Retail Print Lab

Picture this: You've hired a professional photographer to capture your precious memories. Your photographer has edited your image to perfection and now it's time to bring your image to life - to print it out, hang it up and be able to relive that moment each time you pass it by. But what happens if you trust your image printing to any printing lab you can find? Well, lots! The colours could be all wrong. They could be splotchy, have weird hues, they could appear dull and lifeless, the printing could be pixelated, and worst of all, what you see in front of you may have very little resemblance to the beautiful image you started off with. What a disappointment after all that investment!

In truth though, when you hire a professional photographer, we have a little secret to help you bring that amazing print you desire to life! Printing through a Professional Photo Lab over a Retail Print Lab is not only going to give you an amazing end result, but it will allow you to see those beautiful memories we captured in all their glory! Generally though, Professional Photo Labs are not available to the public - they are usually only available to professional photographers. Never fear though, 'cause I'm here! You get access to print through a Professional Photo Lab through me!

When you have had your photography session with me, after your gallery is released for download, you have access to a store to purchase/download your digital products. This also gives you the option to purchase print products through Atkins Pro Lab - which is a Professional Photo Printing Lab. I strongly recommend that you take advantage of your access to the Pro Photo Lab while it's available to you if you wish to make prints.

In this blog, I'm going to share with you my comparisons between some images I've photographed for some lovely families who have trusted me with their precious memories. I've printed them through both Atkins Pro Lab and some commonly used Retail Labs (which are available to everyone, including Harvey Norman, Snapfish and Kmart). I've included lots of photos comparing all he prints so that you don't have to take my word for it; you can really see the difference between the quality with your own eyes!

To Print or Not To Print? The Answer's Easy...

Do you really want your photos to be stuck on your digital device where you likely won't even be viewing them regularly? You just spent all this money getting these beautiful photos, don't you want to enjoy them and make the most of them? Take your favourites and get them up on your walls to make you smile every time you walk past. It really will make your house, feel like your home.

This was my personal favourite of my family at the start of 2022 and I've been enjoying looking at it every single day since it's been up on my wall... definitely needs to be updated now though! We have a new family member to add to it.

Individual Image Comparison

There is a reason for prints looking different between each lab, without getting too technical, it is to do with the colour space used by the printer as well as where images are sent off to for printing. The colours won't look right through a retail lab and you will be seeing a different photo in your hand to that from my screen (I say "my" screen because all screens look different, mine is calibrated to the Print Lab that your Gallery will be linked to). Professional Photo Labs print in-house and hold a high standard to their printing. They also use the colour space that I save my files with. If you love your digitals, you will really love your prints if you print through the Pro Photo Lab connected to my store.

The quality of photo paper is vastly better when printing though a Pro Photo Lab too. My personal favourite is a Matte Art print. There is zero sheen on your photo and you can see it beautifully. I am in love with printing my own personal images on this paper.

Having said that, you need to also be aware that you're viewing digitals on an illuminating screen, so your prints will look a little darker as a result which will be especially evident if you view your photos at full brightness - though I have compensated for this in the editing process. When I edit, I view my screen at a comparable brightness to a print and I edit my photos for print.

Below I've printed each of these images at Atkins Pro Lab, Harvey Norman, Snapfish and Kmart - I figure the latter 3 may be some of the most commonly used retail photo printing labs. You can click these pictures to view an enlarged image to take a better look. As you can see though, without even looking too closely, there really is value in printing through a Professional Photo Printing Lab. The colours are such a perfect match.

Generally, Harvey Norman's photos were dull, flat and muted compared to the other images in the sample.

Snapfish gave a "soft" look and pulled green colours in the direction of blue.

Kmart's version of Lustre had the highest sheen as well as having really over-saturated colours and a tint which discoloured whites and skin tones.

These comparisons would mean nothing to you without also seeing the digitals, so I've included them. Remember, the way I'm viewing these digitals on my screen (which is set to match prints through Atkins Pro Lab) will be vastly to your screen, but you should be able to see that the digital and the Atkins Pro Lab Print are a colour match.

Disclaimer

Whilst care was taken to ensure the images look colour accurate, as you can see, some slight colour variations still occurred depending on where the image was placed from the light source. As you can see in the image below, I've placed the Atkins Pro Lab image over the Kmart one in the first image so that you can see it side-by-side next to where it was placed in the second image. When viewing photographs in real life, did you know that depending on the type of light that falls onto it and even how much light, your image will actually appear differently also? The same photo here, side-by-side but placed in a different spot on the table has changed to appear less warm in the first image.

Let's Take a Closer Look at this Image

Feel free to click on each picture for a larger image so you can more clearly see the flaws in the retail print lab prints.

Atkins Pro Lab:

• colour accurate
• high quality photo paper
• beautiful quality printing

Harvey Norman:

• dull and flat image
• colours appear cooler than the digital image
• image lacks warmth

Snapfish:

• image appears very soft
• you can see the pixels from lower quality printing
• greens appear bluer than the target green

Kmart:

• image is more saturated
• you can see the pixels from lower quality printing
• image lacks the same warmth

Looking at these images as a collective

Because I absolutely have the wrong tripod for this kind of thing... you'll have to excuse the tripod legs! And since there was no avoiding getting them in the shot, I left my laptop in there for balance and for the aesthetic!

Anyway, that's not what the point of this next section is about...

Let's have a look at each batch of images. You'll immediately be able to see the differences:

Black and White Photos

Just a point on black and white photos: In terms of "colour" there is a slight variation in the tint of the whites in each image depending on where the images were printed. The most significant difference you will notice, however, is the quality of the paper and printing between the different print labs. One more point to make is that, printing from the same retail lab on two different days will even produce a different tint to your images! There just is no consistency which will always leave room for disappointment.

Column 1: Atkins Pro lab - top photo: Lustre - warmer print produced, bottom print: Matte Art - cooler print, but no sheen.

Column 2: Harvey Norman - highlights exaggerated leaving skin looking undesirable, yellow tint to images. Image also looks further sharpened.

Column 3: Snapfish - flat and dull-looking image with overall focus being softer than it should look. Minimal contrast in the blacks.

Column 4: Kmart - top print has a blue tint, bottom print has a magenta tint and dots from the pixels are visible due to inferior printing.

What paper to print on?

The quality of photo paper is vastly better when printing though a Pro-Photo Lab too. My personal favourite to print on is Matte Art. There is zero sheen on your photo and you can see the image beautifully. I am in love with printing my own personal images on this paper.

As you can see below, I am comparing the same images side-by-side - all printed through Atkins Pro Lab - which is where your Gallery is linked to. Photo 1 is printed on Lustre. Photo 2 is printed on Matte Art. The Lustre images do print slightly warmer but both are beautiful. I love that you don't have to ever fight glare to look at your images on Matte Art (until you frame them that is).

So, to print or not to print... what do you think?

So, there you have it. A mini guide to printing your photos, comparing some commonly used retail photo labs with a Professional Photo Print Lab.

If you want to make the most of your photos purchased through Golden Locket Photography, I can only recommend printing through the Professional Photo Lab that you have linked to your Gallery while you have access (remember, Atkins Pro Photo Lab only provide their services to professional photographers) because I'm certain you wouldn't be happy with the colours, inconsistencies and print quality otherwise.

So, with all that in mind, I guess the only question is... to print, or not to print?

If you're yet to have booked a photography experience with me and you'd like me to tell a part of your story through photographs, click the button below and send me a message.

I would love to hear from you!