how do you handle prints?

Hi all, I'm behind on reading the forum, am going to try to catch up tonight, but wanted to get a feeling for how you handle prints for dog and cat photography.

Do you print your own? If so, what printer do you use?

Do you use a local or mail print service?

How about a service like smugmug or shutterfly?

I am leaning toward using a service like smugmug or shutterfly for having customers view images and order their prints.

Thoughts? Thanks, Diana

Hi Diana,

I'm just getting started in the business but a friend that does portrait work recommended professional printing for both cost and quality. She uses smugmug which works with Bayphoto and someone else and she likes the results.
I did some price comparisons with Bayphoto, Adoramapics and Mpics and they average out, some are cheaper for some sizes.

I noticed from another post that you are in the San Diego area, so am I.

Jenny

I print my own. I use an HP Designjet printer and I control the quality from the time I trip the shutter until the print is delivered. I have no processing delays because a lab gets busy. With the paper and ink, it is still cheaper for me to print my own.

Diana,
over the course of the past 10 years, I've tried everything from printing in-house to trying out most of the labs and right now I post my images on either Instaprints or Collages and fulfill them through White House Custom Color (WHCC). WHCC is higher than some, less expensive than others but they offer a wide range of products and their quality is superb. I've only had one print issue with them in the 2 years I've been using them and they corrected it, reprinted it for free and mailed it out at their expense. Turnaround time is generally same day.

When you shoot dog shows, you have a lot of fulfillment for the 200 individual orders you send out. If you print it yourself and stuff envelopes, it's just a lot of time that could more productively be used making more images. And, frankly, I'm not sure I really saved any money once I add up the materials needed to do it all in-house.

Now, for portrait work, there isn't as much involved in terms of fulfillment volume but you still don't need to be involved in the backend of the process.

Weddings are like dog shows in terms of the number of orders you get following the event so posting the images on Collages -- on a custom web page -- makes the ordering much easier for all the non-Bride&Groom orders. We handle the bride & groom face-to-face with proof books as well.

Be careful with sites like SmugMug. The images can be right-clicked off of those sites with no watermarks and at full resolution. And I assure you it doesn't take long for folks to figure that out.

Jim

Currently, I process each order and send it to a lab. I've been using WHCC and MyPhotoPipe, however I would not recommend MyPhotoPipe at the moment as they've had several quality issues lately.

I've considered using a service like Instaprints for dog sports, but for now I'd rather process each image myself once it is ordered than process a whole bunch ahead of time.

I, like Jim, have used many ways to get images to print. Currently I use ACI or Burrell labs. I do some ink jet prints here and use a Canon that prints up to 13x19. I also added the canvas images from Canvas on Demand.

You may get a different response from everyone here but your own testing for your own tastes are what would be the deciding factor.

Thanks for the tips on WHCC, I'll look into that. Smugmug has a pro service ($99/year) and you can do password protected folders for customers. I think I may put a semi transparent watermark over all draft images just for that reason since the download can happen pretty much anywhere. I always thought that I'd want to control the printing and do it myself but I think it will depend on the quantity of images to be printed, which I don't really have a feel for yet for catshows (which will probably be the bulk of my prints), I suspect Preston will have input there. It won't be nearly as many as the dog shows it sounds like.

Hi Jenny, yes I'm in San Diego too. Do you have a website or blog?

Diana

Hi Diana,

My website is:
http://wolfharttimages.com/Bark_Cheese/Welcome.html

I'm mostly interested in dogs. Looks like we compliment each other since you do mostly cats.

My friend does watermark all her images on smugmug. I was planning on using my .mac galleries. It offers all the same options for password protected galleries and when I have tried to "steal" images off it they come out as a low quality .png.

I recently printed a gallery wrap on my HP photosmart pro B9180 and was happy with the quality. I just don't know the longevity, they say 100 years.

I ran across a blogger who had done some tests of various labs...FYI

http://modifiedphoto.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/the-big-lab-throwdown-final-results/

Myself, I use a local lab for 4x6's and WHCC for most others.

How interesting about H&H. They were very select as to who they took on. Two friends of mine who did a great deal of printing with them, switched to ACI. I have been pleased with ACI but really have loved the mounting and finishing of Burrell, and they are not listed.
Thanks for posting this Preston.

Thanks for the link Preston, will read up on that tomorrow.

Thanks for the link to your site Jenny, I love your Danes, gorgeous colors and photos of them. Will skim more through your galleries also...

Diana

That is an interesting comparison! Glad to see WHCC came in second. I have not used or heard of HH color lab, but, what I like most about WHCC is their customer service. I also love their print fufillment which makes my life way easier

I have always been pleased with my prints from them and you'd really have to give me a reason to stop using them. All local clients pick up at the studio, but, its usually due to being larger prints

Diana,
using a lab for prints and fulfillment has one additional advantage: someone to blame . From every show I shoot, I'll get one or two people who, in an effort to get an additional print for free, will tell me the print they received from the lab wasn't any good: color was off, too light, too dark, etc. So I tell them to send me the print and I'll make sure the lab corrects the problem and sends them a reprint right away. Curiously, I never get the print from those folks and the "problem" miraculously goes away.

BTW, I seed myself on every 3rd order and receive a print to check print quality so I have a pretty good idea what the clients are receiving.

Jim

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From every show I shoot, I'll get one or two people who, in an effort to get an additional print for free, will tell me the print they received from the lab wasn't any good: color was off, too light, too dark, etc. So I tell them to send me the print and I'll make sure the lab corrects the problem and sends them a reprint right away. Curiously, I never get the print from those folks and the "problem" miraculously goes away.

Jim

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Ah yes, they are the same ones who carry the dead cockroach in their pocket when they go out to eat. When they've had their fill they put the cockroach to work.