steven mulder
Forum Enthusiast
it's still more cost effective to have a commercial printer "do" your prints for you than doing a 16X20 or 11x14 at home!
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steven mulder
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steven mulder
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printing...
- Thread starter steven mulder
- Start date
Call me crazy, I like do do it myself anyways ..
If you don't snap it, nobody will snap it for you ...
Kafrifelle (Yves P.) Owner of DSC-F707,
No BFS, No hassle but strong vignetting on left
VCL-MHG07A, HVL-F1000 and some close up lenses ...
http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle
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If you don't snap it, nobody will snap it for you ...
Kafrifelle (Yves P.) Owner of DSC-F707,
No BFS, No hassle but strong vignetting on left
VCL-MHG07A, HVL-F1000 and some close up lenses ...
http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle
steven mulder
Forum Enthusiast
--
steven mulder
Just that I enjoy it ... I have so much suffered when I was using 35mm that I wanted to have croped in a certain way and I was getting charged too much money ..
If you don't snap it, nobody will snap it for you ...
Kafrifelle (Yves P.) Owner of DSC-F707,
No BFS, No hassle but strong vignetting on left
VCL-MHG07A, HVL-F1000 and some close up lenses ...
http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle
--
If you don't snap it, nobody will snap it for you ...
Kafrifelle (Yves P.) Owner of DSC-F707,
No BFS, No hassle but strong vignetting on left
VCL-MHG07A, HVL-F1000 and some close up lenses ...
http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle
Bharat J. Sutaria
Forum Enthusiast
Steven,
I print over 200 pictures/month every month, approximately 5 x 8 sizes. I am the official photographer for my temple. I sell these pictures to raise money for the temple.
I buy very very high quality, premium photographic glossy papers in bulk. The box of 500, 8.5 x 11 paper costs approximately $150 on the internet including shipping, and ofcourse no sales tax. This turns out to be 30 cents per full page. I cut this paper in half, each half is now 5.5 x 8.5. I use this half to print pictures up to 5 x8. My HP 990 printer requires 0.5 inch margin on all sides. After printing, sometimes I cut the borders to make the prints borderless. I use a paper cutter for all of this.
Another advantage of doing this myself is: I am not stuck to the commercial sizes of 3 x 5, 4 x 6, 5 x 7 etc. etc. I use all different sizes when I crop my original pictures to achieve different effects. Once I used 2 x 8 inch picture size for a particular ceremony in the temple. The final print looked dramatic and I raised a lot of donations for this picture.
After cropping, when I size the picture in PS, I do not change the original file size or re-sample the picture. This provides me with very high DPI, sometimes over 400 DPI, to be sent to the printer. My HP printer loves this high DPI pictures and produces fantastic print.
My net cost including ink comes out 30 cents/picture, upto 5 x 8 size. I like to crop and size the pictures the way I want. Since I take most of my pictures using flash, I add slight red and yellow to make the picture look "warm". As you know, the flash light is equivalent to harsh afternoon sun light. Adding a slight red and yellow makes pictures look like they were taken during early morning or late afternoon hours. The sun light has more red and yellow during early morning and late afternoon hours.
At times, after looking at first print, I modify the settings and print them again. I get a lot of fun out of this.
All these looks a lot of work. Since I have a lot of practice, it takes me less than four minues/picture, from raw file to final print, ready for sell.
I hope this helps you to make a decision.
Bharat J. Sutaria
I print over 200 pictures/month every month, approximately 5 x 8 sizes. I am the official photographer for my temple. I sell these pictures to raise money for the temple.
I buy very very high quality, premium photographic glossy papers in bulk. The box of 500, 8.5 x 11 paper costs approximately $150 on the internet including shipping, and ofcourse no sales tax. This turns out to be 30 cents per full page. I cut this paper in half, each half is now 5.5 x 8.5. I use this half to print pictures up to 5 x8. My HP 990 printer requires 0.5 inch margin on all sides. After printing, sometimes I cut the borders to make the prints borderless. I use a paper cutter for all of this.
Another advantage of doing this myself is: I am not stuck to the commercial sizes of 3 x 5, 4 x 6, 5 x 7 etc. etc. I use all different sizes when I crop my original pictures to achieve different effects. Once I used 2 x 8 inch picture size for a particular ceremony in the temple. The final print looked dramatic and I raised a lot of donations for this picture.
After cropping, when I size the picture in PS, I do not change the original file size or re-sample the picture. This provides me with very high DPI, sometimes over 400 DPI, to be sent to the printer. My HP printer loves this high DPI pictures and produces fantastic print.
My net cost including ink comes out 30 cents/picture, upto 5 x 8 size. I like to crop and size the pictures the way I want. Since I take most of my pictures using flash, I add slight red and yellow to make the picture look "warm". As you know, the flash light is equivalent to harsh afternoon sun light. Adding a slight red and yellow makes pictures look like they were taken during early morning or late afternoon hours. The sun light has more red and yellow during early morning and late afternoon hours.
At times, after looking at first print, I modify the settings and print them again. I get a lot of fun out of this.
All these looks a lot of work. Since I have a lot of practice, it takes me less than four minues/picture, from raw file to final print, ready for sell.
I hope this helps you to make a decision.
Bharat J. Sutaria
Johnny B.81195
Leading Member
Great post. I never really though of doing that way. Duh, cut the paper in half. I was going to buy a Sony dye sub for 4x6. This seems much more cost effective. I only really looked at how much 8x10 versus 4x6 printing that I would be doing.
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Johnny B.
http://www.pbase.com/frsty50
Ann Chaikin
Veteran Member
Can do up to 11X17 on my Epson Photo EX. Does the trick 99% of the time. Ann
also known as PT Kitty > ^..^
http://www.pbase.com/ptkitty/galleries
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also known as PT Kitty > ^..^
http://www.pbase.com/ptkitty/galleries
Ann Chaikin
Veteran Member
This may be in another thread, but ... could you illuminate us? Thanks, Ann
Bharat J. Sutaria
Forum Enthusiast
Ann,
First of all, let me tell you something about photo papers. In general, important thing about photo papers are their technical specification, not who makeks them or the printer brand. Epson, HP, Kodak etc. buys their papers from large paper mills.
Important specs to look for in a premium quality paper is as follow:
(1) Thickness: Minimum 9 mills for photos upto 11 x 17 inches. Higher the paper thickness, better the paper and more expensive.
(2) Opacity: Minimum 90 %. Higher the opacity, better the paper, more expensive the paper.
(3) ISO Brightness: Minimum 89 % for photos upto 11 x 17 inches. Higher the brightness, better the paper and more expensive the paper.
(4) PH level: Maximum 5.8. Lower the PH level, better the paper and more expensive the paper.
(5) Photo life: Minimum five years. More the life, better the paper and more expensive the paper.
(6) Water resistance: All papers are highly water resistant now. Determining factor is the ink.
There are many other specs to consider. However, you do not want to buy the best (highest) quality paper. You want to buy, second one from the top of the line. The difference between the first (top of the line) and the second from top of the line is not much. But, you save a lot of money. You want to buy top of the line only when you are going to enlarge your picture beyond 8.5 x 11.
Enough about technical details. I buy Epson S041272. For prices, refer to :
http://www.nextag.com/Epson_Photo_Paper_500_SP~2339756z3znzzz1zmainz2-htm
I have a HP printer but I use Epson paper. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the brand of the paper or brand of the printer is not important. The technical specs of the paper is the most important thing in deciding which paper to buy.
By the way, when you cut the 8.5 x 11 paper in half, or whatever size, do not forget to tell the printer the paper size. This way, your picture will always be in the center. Select the "User defned paper size" in the printer property box and say, 5.5 x 8.5 or whaever size of the paper you are putting in the printer.
I have been doing all of above successfully for over three years now.
I hope, this helps.
Bharat J. Sutaria
First of all, let me tell you something about photo papers. In general, important thing about photo papers are their technical specification, not who makeks them or the printer brand. Epson, HP, Kodak etc. buys their papers from large paper mills.
Important specs to look for in a premium quality paper is as follow:
(1) Thickness: Minimum 9 mills for photos upto 11 x 17 inches. Higher the paper thickness, better the paper and more expensive.
(2) Opacity: Minimum 90 %. Higher the opacity, better the paper, more expensive the paper.
(3) ISO Brightness: Minimum 89 % for photos upto 11 x 17 inches. Higher the brightness, better the paper and more expensive the paper.
(4) PH level: Maximum 5.8. Lower the PH level, better the paper and more expensive the paper.
(5) Photo life: Minimum five years. More the life, better the paper and more expensive the paper.
(6) Water resistance: All papers are highly water resistant now. Determining factor is the ink.
There are many other specs to consider. However, you do not want to buy the best (highest) quality paper. You want to buy, second one from the top of the line. The difference between the first (top of the line) and the second from top of the line is not much. But, you save a lot of money. You want to buy top of the line only when you are going to enlarge your picture beyond 8.5 x 11.
Enough about technical details. I buy Epson S041272. For prices, refer to :
http://www.nextag.com/Epson_Photo_Paper_500_SP~2339756z3znzzz1zmainz2-htm
I have a HP printer but I use Epson paper. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the brand of the paper or brand of the printer is not important. The technical specs of the paper is the most important thing in deciding which paper to buy.
By the way, when you cut the 8.5 x 11 paper in half, or whatever size, do not forget to tell the printer the paper size. This way, your picture will always be in the center. Select the "User defned paper size" in the printer property box and say, 5.5 x 8.5 or whaever size of the paper you are putting in the printer.
I have been doing all of above successfully for over three years now.
I hope, this helps.
Bharat J. Sutaria
Bharat J. Sutaria
Forum Enthusiast
Ann,
one more thing. You do not need to buy 500 page box like I do. They are available in 50 and 100 page boxes also. In either case, if you buy on internet rather than in retail store, you will save a lot of money. You need to know the manufacturer's part number first. Just visit Epson's web site and select "papers and media". You will see all different papers and package sizes listed. Copy the part number of the package you like. Than go to Cnet.com and enter the part number in the search box. You will see all kinds of info including the prices for the packages you selected.
I hope this helps,
Bharat J. Sutaria
one more thing. You do not need to buy 500 page box like I do. They are available in 50 and 100 page boxes also. In either case, if you buy on internet rather than in retail store, you will save a lot of money. You need to know the manufacturer's part number first. Just visit Epson's web site and select "papers and media". You will see all different papers and package sizes listed. Copy the part number of the package you like. Than go to Cnet.com and enter the part number in the search box. You will see all kinds of info including the prices for the packages you selected.
I hope this helps,
Bharat J. Sutaria
Teresa51867
Leading Member
I hesitate to sell my prints because of the limited life expectancy of them. Have you had any problems with this? A friend has asked me to photograph and put together an album of her son's informal wedding reception (the couple eloped). I always print my own stuff on an Epson 870 using matte paper but am concerned with something as important as a wedding reception I should send the shots somewhere else for printing. Any suggestions?
Teresa
. I sell these
Teresa
. I sell these
rameshpkumar
Senior Member
I have tried both printing at home and printing it outside.
I have used three stores for printing: Walmart, Ofoto and Walgreens.
1. Walmart is OK, you can print with their kodak picture maker. I found
that color is really off, every photo has a yellowish tint to it. This is not
good for portraits. Price is 49 cents for 4*6 and $4.74 for 8*10 prints.
2. Walgreens is SUPERB. They have installed a new facility called Aladin
photo counter 2 weeks ago. You can take your picture their in a CD
(I do not know if they take memory stick directly) and they print it on
their regular machine. This is a 1 hour service. Prints are exceptionally
good. I have tried only 4*6 so far and the cost is 38 cents per photo. I
used to shoot with 35 mm slr with portrait lens, and the prints that I
got from Walgreens using f707 is definitely better than prints from my
SLR. If you are familiar with 35 mm SLR and fuji NPS portrait film(this is
the film used my most wedding photographers) , f707 and walgreens
combination give smae or better results than 35 mm and NPs
combination. I have trid Walgreens only once, I hope they keep the
same quality always.
3. Ofoto is not badd too: better than Walmart, but not as good as
Walgreens.
4. Printing using HP Photosmart 1100 is not close to any of the above, may
be close to Walmart.
======================================
I have used three stores for printing: Walmart, Ofoto and Walgreens.
1. Walmart is OK, you can print with their kodak picture maker. I found
that color is really off, every photo has a yellowish tint to it. This is not
good for portraits. Price is 49 cents for 4*6 and $4.74 for 8*10 prints.
2. Walgreens is SUPERB. They have installed a new facility called Aladin
photo counter 2 weeks ago. You can take your picture their in a CD
(I do not know if they take memory stick directly) and they print it on
their regular machine. This is a 1 hour service. Prints are exceptionally
good. I have tried only 4*6 so far and the cost is 38 cents per photo. I
used to shoot with 35 mm slr with portrait lens, and the prints that I
got from Walgreens using f707 is definitely better than prints from my
SLR. If you are familiar with 35 mm SLR and fuji NPS portrait film(this is
the film used my most wedding photographers) , f707 and walgreens
combination give smae or better results than 35 mm and NPs
combination. I have trid Walgreens only once, I hope they keep the
same quality always.
3. Ofoto is not badd too: better than Walmart, but not as good as
Walgreens.
4. Printing using HP Photosmart 1100 is not close to any of the above, may
be close to Walmart.
======================================
Joshua99895
Member
I know there's archival, pigmented inks one can buy for long lasting pictures (100+ years of stability), Does anyone know a good source for them?
PS: I know there's also the issue of getting the inks correctly profiled for your printer...
Joshua
PS: I know there's also the issue of getting the inks correctly profiled for your printer...
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Joshua
Bharat J. Sutaria
Forum Enthusiast
Teresa,
I do not "sell" "sell" pictures. I pay for everything from my own pocket. Any donations temple members want to give for picking up my pictures for their personal use goes directly to the temple. All the money received by the temple is used by temple directors for charitable causes. My reward is the satisfaction I get for selfless activity. I do not worry about the life expectancy of these pictures for following reasons:
(1) If pictures are stored in the album and not exposed to the light continuously, they will last for many many years.
(2) I am the official custodian for all the temple's pictures. I have them properly organized in various folders in my computers. They are catagorized by the year, month and the type of ceremony. I save all the originals on my hard drive. Once a month, I burn CD to save last month's picture. One copy of the CD stay with me and other copy of the CD stays in Temple's library. It is available for any temple member to borrow. I have over 10,000 pictures now.
(3) I do not know the difference between the life expectancy of prints made by Walmart, Ophoto or any other vendor. The quality of the photographic papers and ink used by today's home printer exceeds 20 years under normal storage condition. If stored properly, the life expectancy is far greater.
(4) Since I print over 200 pictures/month every month for Temple ceremony, economically, I can not justify using outside services. My net cost is 30 cents per picture upto 5 x 7.5 inch. I use high quality glossy photographic papers and OEM HP ink.
(5) I enjoy doing this at home since I am not forced to use their conventional sizes like 3 x 5, 4 x 6, etc etc. If I do not like the first print, I adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, colors etc. and print again. As I mentioned earlier, once I printed 2 x 8 size picture for a special temple event and I raised a lot of donation for this picture. I do not know if any commercial printing service that would do this without charging a lot of money.
Granted, everybody's needs are different and my needs are unique. For most people, outside printing services might be a way to go. I kind of like my own "dark room".
Thanks for your comments.
Bharat J. Sutaria
I do not "sell" "sell" pictures. I pay for everything from my own pocket. Any donations temple members want to give for picking up my pictures for their personal use goes directly to the temple. All the money received by the temple is used by temple directors for charitable causes. My reward is the satisfaction I get for selfless activity. I do not worry about the life expectancy of these pictures for following reasons:
(1) If pictures are stored in the album and not exposed to the light continuously, they will last for many many years.
(2) I am the official custodian for all the temple's pictures. I have them properly organized in various folders in my computers. They are catagorized by the year, month and the type of ceremony. I save all the originals on my hard drive. Once a month, I burn CD to save last month's picture. One copy of the CD stay with me and other copy of the CD stays in Temple's library. It is available for any temple member to borrow. I have over 10,000 pictures now.
(3) I do not know the difference between the life expectancy of prints made by Walmart, Ophoto or any other vendor. The quality of the photographic papers and ink used by today's home printer exceeds 20 years under normal storage condition. If stored properly, the life expectancy is far greater.
(4) Since I print over 200 pictures/month every month for Temple ceremony, economically, I can not justify using outside services. My net cost is 30 cents per picture upto 5 x 7.5 inch. I use high quality glossy photographic papers and OEM HP ink.
(5) I enjoy doing this at home since I am not forced to use their conventional sizes like 3 x 5, 4 x 6, etc etc. If I do not like the first print, I adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, colors etc. and print again. As I mentioned earlier, once I printed 2 x 8 size picture for a special temple event and I raised a lot of donation for this picture. I do not know if any commercial printing service that would do this without charging a lot of money.
Granted, everybody's needs are different and my needs are unique. For most people, outside printing services might be a way to go. I kind of like my own "dark room".
Thanks for your comments.
Bharat J. Sutaria
Shay Stephens
Forum Pro
Unless you are printing a lot I have found I spend less money sending photos to ofoto. If the volume is low I find the quality from inkjet prints to be too variable. Some good some bad, ink blobs here, ink dropouts and banding there. At least in the volume I wind up doing.
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Shay
My Sony F707 Gallery: http://www.shaystephens.com/portfolio.asp
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Shay
My Sony F707 Gallery: http://www.shaystephens.com/portfolio.asp
rameshpkumar
Senior Member
I was planning to buy Canon S900 or S9000 to use with my digital camera. Before that I wanted to try other options. I am very much impressed with Walgreens print (although I hated their prints from film). But they use the same machine for film/digital printing. Since this is ia reglar photograph, not like the one from kodak picture maker, I think Ofoto or Walgreens prints will last a long time.
So I decided not to buy Canon printer for 4*6 photos.
So I decided not to buy Canon printer for 4*6 photos.
Bharat J. Sutaria
Forum Enthusiast
Shay,
I have HP990CSE printer. I use photo quality glossy papers. I use OEM inks only. I never had a problem you mentioned, whether I print only one picture or hundred at a time. Sometimes, my printer is sitting idle for days. Than I just print only one picture and turn printer off. Picture quality still comes out great.
Printing at home is always economical than outside services, provided you buy papers in packages of 50 or more on internet. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I buy 8.5 x 11 inch paper and cut in in half which gives me a paper size of 8.5 x 5.5 inches. I normally print pictures upto 8 x 5 inches on this paper. If I want boarderless prints, I cut the boarders off using paper cutter. My net cost, including ink is 30 cents per picture upto size 8 x 5. It is less than that for a smaller size picture.
When I size my picture, I never re-sample in PS. This gives me, depending on the original picture file size and the selected print size, upto 400 PPI resolution. When I send this to my printer, It loves this high resolution picture and prints fantastic photos.
All of above seems like a lot of work. Once you get used to it, it takes less than four minutes/picture from a row picture file from camera to final print.
The fun of owning a digital camera is and PS is, "having it your way" and "Having your own dark-room". Unless you print your own pictures at home, you are not "Having it your way" and you do not have your own darkroom. I am not stuck with the commercial sizes of 5x3, 4x6, 5x7 etc. etc. I size my pictures according to the type and scene of the picture and cut the paper to match the picture size. I save the rest of the paper for future use. Nothing goes to waste. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, once I printed 2x8 picture to dramatize a particular temple ceremony and the picture raised more donation than any other picture I sold.
When you print at your home, you can look at the print and analyze it right away. If you want to modify it, you go back to the original picture, adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, colors etc. etc. and reprint it.
I hope, this would encourage other forum members to give it a try and enjoy the ultimate, "Having it your way" and "Owning your own dark room".
Bharat J. Sutaria
I have HP990CSE printer. I use photo quality glossy papers. I use OEM inks only. I never had a problem you mentioned, whether I print only one picture or hundred at a time. Sometimes, my printer is sitting idle for days. Than I just print only one picture and turn printer off. Picture quality still comes out great.
Printing at home is always economical than outside services, provided you buy papers in packages of 50 or more on internet. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I buy 8.5 x 11 inch paper and cut in in half which gives me a paper size of 8.5 x 5.5 inches. I normally print pictures upto 8 x 5 inches on this paper. If I want boarderless prints, I cut the boarders off using paper cutter. My net cost, including ink is 30 cents per picture upto size 8 x 5. It is less than that for a smaller size picture.
When I size my picture, I never re-sample in PS. This gives me, depending on the original picture file size and the selected print size, upto 400 PPI resolution. When I send this to my printer, It loves this high resolution picture and prints fantastic photos.
All of above seems like a lot of work. Once you get used to it, it takes less than four minutes/picture from a row picture file from camera to final print.
The fun of owning a digital camera is and PS is, "having it your way" and "Having your own dark-room". Unless you print your own pictures at home, you are not "Having it your way" and you do not have your own darkroom. I am not stuck with the commercial sizes of 5x3, 4x6, 5x7 etc. etc. I size my pictures according to the type and scene of the picture and cut the paper to match the picture size. I save the rest of the paper for future use. Nothing goes to waste. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, once I printed 2x8 picture to dramatize a particular temple ceremony and the picture raised more donation than any other picture I sold.
When you print at your home, you can look at the print and analyze it right away. If you want to modify it, you go back to the original picture, adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, colors etc. etc. and reprint it.
I hope, this would encourage other forum members to give it a try and enjoy the ultimate, "Having it your way" and "Owning your own dark room".
Bharat J. Sutaria
larrybmw
Member
Costco just started their Digital Printing Service, it only cost 20 cents for 4x6 print. Its the cheapest I have seen. Sams Club also print for 20 Cents.
I just wanted to mention that your paper is only good for 6-7 years.
I found this:
http://www.epson.com/pdf/rightpaper.pdf
DeeDee G.
DeeDee G.
http://www.pbase.com/deedee_g/root
I found this:
http://www.epson.com/pdf/rightpaper.pdf
DeeDee G.
--
DeeDee G.
http://www.pbase.com/deedee_g/root
Bharat J. Sutaria
Forum Enthusiast
DeeDee,
I have prints over seven years old and they look like as if they were printed yesterday. The life of the prints depends on the storage type. I store all my prints in good quality albums. I also have the originals stored on CD.
Thanks for info,
Bharat J. Sutaria
I have prints over seven years old and they look like as if they were printed yesterday. The life of the prints depends on the storage type. I store all my prints in good quality albums. I also have the originals stored on CD.
Thanks for info,
Bharat J. Sutaria
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