Where to go for Photo Printing – A Printing Comparison

By 25th November 2017Studio Chit Chat

A little while back a client brought some prints into the studio of images we has created but he had had printed elsewhere. We were shocked by the results and decided it would be helpful to look into the different photo printing options available for consumers.

We looked at both local print options for Lancaster and online print houses for UK consumers. And were amazed at how much the prints differed in colour, tonal quality and even size despite using the same image every time which was sized at 4”x6”. Printing is an art. The perfect print is a fine balance of warm and cool tones, light and dark and detail and it is difficult to do. If printing goes too far in one direction the print has a pink or green hue. If it is too light or dark, detail is lost and if the print is made too sharp or soft it can lose detail or look unpleasant.

Local Photo Printing Options

Max Spielmann

Handy for instant printing in town, from 49p for a 6″x4″. The image had good dark tones, but light detail was lost and the children’s hair and faces looked splodgy. The Max Spielmann photo was the pinkest sample we received.

Asda

Not quite as convenient unless you are going to the superstore, from 40p for a 6″x4″. This print has a more even range of tones than Max Spielmann, but it seems a little too sharp.

Boots

Another convenient option for instant printing in town and a little cheaper than Max Spielmann with 6×4 prints from 40p. Boots printing favoured the greener tones, but for overall finish and rendition of detail, this was our favourite choice for local printing.

Online Printing Options

Photo Box

Bizarrely, the Photo Box print came at a slightly larger size and the image was also zoomed in. The print itself cost only 12p, but with £2.99 postage, the final bill was £3.11. The image quality was softer possibly because of the zooming. The printing kept the detail of lighter tones, but lack dark tones. The overall print had a pink cast.

Snap Fish/Truprint

We realised while ordering, that these two options are the same company. They have some great offers for first time customers. This print cost just 9p and the postage was £1.49, costing us a total of £1.58. We were very pleased with the quality of this print. It slightly favours the warmer tones and is a little soft on the finer details, but the overall image is good.

Bonus Print

13p plus £2.99 delivery, costing a total of £3.12 for our order. This print took the longest amount of time to come back at almost two weeks, but was the closest to our master professional print. It is perhaps a little too sharp, but the overall image looks great so we are happy to forgive this.

Our Professional Print

We ordered a print from our printers as a guide for what we were looking for. You can see that this print has a fine balance between the colours, it neither leans to the red or the green. It has a full tonal range from light to dark without detail being lost and there is a delicate balance on sharpness.

Print Comparison – laying out the prints like this shows you just how much the printing houses differ from each other.

photo printing comparison for uk consumers.Conclusion

Local photo printing is quick and convenient and the cheapest option available, but the results are the weakest. If you must do your photo printing locally, in our opinion, Boots is your best choice. However you will get much better results though sending your images away to a printing house. Our favourite choice was Bonus print, their sample image was the nearest to our professional printing though you will need to wait the longest.

To make sure you get the most out of your digital images, read the tips made in my last blog post too.

 

Thank you to Emma Mellor for the use of her portrait in this photo printing study.

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