It's Saturday evening and you just got back from an amazing honeymoon trip in Vancouver, and you couldn't be happier. It was so much fun and as you are unpacking your suitcase the thought occurs to you, "I wonder when my wedding photos will be done." You check your email and see a message from your photographer. It was sent last night and the subject reads: "Your photos are ready!" Your excitement jumps up about 20 notches. You call your mom, yell to your spouse--a new, but oddly satisfying sensation--and run downstairs to grab your laptop eager to relive that special day.

The photos are just gorgeous. You text your photographer to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU *praise hands* *praise hands* *heart eyes emoji* and immediately begin spamming your social media with all those amazing pics. Aunt Gina comments, "oh this one is so precious, I need to get a print of this." That's right, prints! "Where do I get get prints made?", you think to yourself. Walmart? Cosco? What's the best option??

Well, to answer that critical question, whether you just had a wedding or your family portrait taken, let me take you through 5 solid reasons why you should have your photos printed through your photographer.

1. First, you should definitely get prints of your photos. You just spent a good deal of money on some pretty high quality photography. Good photographers are typically not cheap. It's a difficult skill to acquire and the right equipment is expensive. Although, I like to think there's a decent photographer for every budget, but either way you probably spent some time looking for that perfect photographer. Long story short, what's the point of making such a large investment in photography unless you have some of those photos printed so that you can see and enjoy them? You have two options when it comes to photo products: photo albums and prints. I always recommend getting a photo album of your wedding; because, not everyone wants to have their wedding photos put up on the wall (not long term anyway). You'll enjoy them for a few years, but as life moves on a wedding photo album will become something you and your posterity will cherish for a life time. Large prints will still be precious but you might find they tend to go into storage after 3-5 years.  The same is true for family photos, except I recommend albums for family vacations and prints for portraits. Yes the prints have a shelf life, but this life, your life, is short. Seeing your family up on your wall will make you happy and will give you and your family self-worth and confidence. No joke. Tell me you didn't feel loved when you saw your photo on Grandma's wall. Yep, thought so.
   

2. Your photographer most likely uses a professional photo lab. The prints will cost more, but they will look better and feel better. This is because of higher quality materials, inks, and printing processes. Professional photographers spend a lot of time editing their photos to achieve the look you paid for. Their photo lab will have printers calibrated to reproduce the images faithfully and without ugly color corrections that are typical of 1 hr photo printing centers like you might find at Walgreens or Walmart. 
   

3. Your photographer will provide you with compressed jpeg images that you can share on social media and keep for personal use on your computer and other devices, but most will NOT provide the original raw file or max resolution file. So, if you go to a consumer printer, you are not guaranteed the best quality. There are several reasons for this: it makes photo delivery faster, provides uniform files sizes (many photographers crop their images during editing, so the original files might not be consistent in size), and most clients understand how to manage smaller jpeg files but not much larger .raw or .tif files; which require professional photo management software. A good photographer will try to create the best experience possible, so taking the guesswork out of managing digital files is one of the ways we do that. Although, pro tip, many photographers will offer an option for purchasing raw images if that's something you're into. 
   

4. Your photographer is a great resource on prints. They can advise you on which photos to print, adjust crops if needed during the order process so there aren't any random missing arms or foreheads, they can pre-plan for which colors will work best in your home, and help choose shooting locations that will compliment your home's aesthetic. In addition, if you choose large prints your photographer will ensure that the right file is sent to the lab for the highest quality and resolution. 
   

5. Ultimately, your photographer will provide you with the best experience. If you are unsatisfied with your prints, a quick or phone call or text, and your photographer is going to take care of you and make sure you get a refund or new images are sent out to replace any damaged or misprinted images.

Side note, when choosing a photographer, review this list with them. If your photographer does not provide this kind of professional photo printing service, consider hiring us for your photography needs at pushcapture.com!

We provide consultations for prints and collages. We also have a full service online gallery that makes it easy to share your images with friends and family; or order prints from your phone or computer.

Before orders are processed we ensure the highest quality files are sent for print and also check to make sure no strange or odd crops were created by selected print sizes.

Thank you for reading. I hope you will consider subscribing and using your photographer or a professional photo lab for your photo printing needs.

See you next time!