I have always advised my clients to print their images. I am mostly a digital photographer, and although I also on occasion use film photography as another medium, I always end up scanning images and keeping a digital archive of my work. However, I always advise my clients to print their images because the digital life of a file is nowhere close to the life of a framed printed image or coffee table album. With the evolution of technology, our files become outdated and what’s more, we could suffer a hard drive malfunction and lose all of our images if they are not properly backed up.
Another reason for printing images is simply the fact that if we have a photo in our wall (actual wall, not FB wall!), we’re bound to see it often if not every day. All the images we keep in our phone’s camera rolls or in our computers only see the light of day maybe a couple times when we first get them and then they’re stored away to never be seen again. There is an element of nostalgia and remembrance when we hold an image in our hands.
So, understandably, I get VERY excited when I get emails from clients asking about my print offerings. Sadly, a few weeks ago I got this email:
“We are writing because recently we tried to frame a few of our photos and there was something odd happening when it was printed at the Kodak kiosk. It did not reproduce well. What would you recommend to do for printing?”
My short answer to this email: print through my lab. I can guarantee quality and you don’t have to figure out any other details than which images and which sizes you’d like to purchase. But for the purposes of educating you on the subject- I’ll show you what they meant when they said the images were not reproducing well:
OH.MY. GOD.
I was horrified to see this, especially because the original image looks like this:
So, not only does the color look WAY off, there is this horrible distortion and the quality is below any standard level of minimal decency in print. Horror story for a photographer who strives to provide images that last a lifetime!!
Anyway, the images that I deliver are high-resolution images that can be printed anywhere and there are no layers added or RAW formats that can be a better version than that for you to print. So, it obviously had to be the printer, which from what they tell me, was a Kodak Kiosk. Now, I love Kodak for their film, but I can’t say I will ever ever ever EVER EVER EVER, let me say it again- ever endorse anyone printing their wedding images via those kiosks. From the very little info I could find online, I found this:
The kiosks allow printing digital photos from digital media (such as a CD or a digital memory card), as well as the ability to scan existing photos and perform simple edits and photo-enhancements via the touch screen interface. The most recent model is the Kodak Picture Kiosk G4XE, introduced in 2009.
In case you didn’t catch that: 2009 was 10 years ago, also when CDs were still a thing. But I’m not here to roast anyone, just to let you know that I offer beautiful, high quality prints and albums that will make your jaw drop- in a good way!! Prints that instead of looking yellow and distorted, could look like this:
