nsbphoto

I'm looking for recommendations for where to get prints 11x14 and larger done from the images on my Nikon 7200.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Order on line from Sam's Club photo or Costco. They do a great job and the print in the size you want is only around 4.00 with shipping. Adorama also does a decent job at a slightly higher cost. Also check out Bay Photo.

Hip Coyote

If the photo is going to be something displayed then I do as much post as possible then I print it at Walgreens. (There are almost always coupons available.) Once I am satisfied I use CG Pro for metal (coupons!) or PRO Dpi (excellent customer service). In all cases I get example papers from the vendors to get an idea of what paper to use.

PRO DPI also does framing so when I add a print, a frame and glass, things can get pricey. So adding $10 or so by getting quick prints at Walgreens to really make sure things are ok is worth the cost. Not a perfect system but workable.

donphotog

Recommend Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com). Unlimited free storage and a wealth of print products. Satisfaction guaranteed. Been using them for years.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

White House Custom Color or Bay Photo for prints, CGI Pro Prints for canvas.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Bay Photo - first rate. Download their ROES application for their complete price list and for options like not getting color correction if you already have a color corrected workflow - it can save you about 40%.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Printique.com, formally Adoramapix as in the NYC camera store.

leftj Loc: Texas

I like mpix.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Just about any "professional color lab" will do a great job. Learn how to print your own, using a high-end Canon or Epson photo printer and pigment inks, if you want the best, or if you print huge, or if you print on exotic papers or other substrates.

I spent decades on both sides of the photographer | lab fence. So here's the truth:

If you make ANY color and brightness adjustments to your files, then before using any home printer OR lab, calibrate and profile your monitor! Doing so requires a colorimeter or spectrophotometer and software. Kits are available from Datacolor and X-Rite. Retail prices start at around $170. If you print a lot, that's the best money you will EVER spend on photography. It saves ink, paper, lab bills, time, frustration, sanity... and it helps you get what you want without the endless frustration of trying to find a lab or printer that "works."

Rest assured a quality lab will reference ONLY their calibrated and profiled monitors when evaluating and printing your images. They don't care about YOUR monitor calibration. If it is off, your prints will not look the way the images look on your monitor. It will be your cause, but you'll likely blame them. Unfortunately, lab customers are not always "right."

Using the correct sorts of tools to bring your monitor image to an international standard "look" — which includes both linearity calibration AND ICC profiling on a regular basis — is the way pros get accurate color without a lot of fuss. When I adjust my images in Lightroom or Photoshop (or whatever), I rely on the monitor to show me a reasonably accurate representation of what will come out of my home printer or my goto labs. So I calibrate it monthly.

rcarol

Do you have to be a member to use the photo services of Sam's Club or Costco?

Hip Coyote

n

Now you went and did it! Thanks to you I may just have to jump into the printing pool. The Mrs may cuss your name after this purchase.

Your deep expertise in printing is very helpful. Thanks!

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

After taking a private tour of Bay Photo’s 110,000 square foot facility two years ago (yes, 110,000 square foot), with hundreds of printers and hundreds of workers (up to 450 workers for the holidays) and seeing their best practices, I can highly recommend them.

They are a little pricey, but to me worth it. There products are outstanding. As my Dad used to say “you get what you pay for.”

Nicholas J DeSciose

A cheap print Estella cheap print. If you want quality go to a real photo lab

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I have dealt with many skeptics in the past. My favorites were the folks in one of our sales offices in Pennsylvania. They had about a dozen people adjusting senior portraits on cheap office monitors that were randomly uncalibrated. Our lab was getting garbage in, and parent customers were screaming about the garbage we were shipping out. One trip there to implement proper color management, and their problems went away.

Keep the monitor fairly dim... in the middle of the range from 80 to 120 candelas per square meter, as set in the calibration kit software. Dark prints result from too-bright monitors.

speedmaster Loc: Kendall, FL

It would be great if any of our members with great experience in printing create a complete workflow from calibrating your monitor to how to define/use a printer profile for the chosen printing service. To me, since I switch to digital equipment, the most frustrating part is to print the image the way I see it on my monitor after all adjustments. Let's say, a practical recipe from beginning to end using samples that might be changed accordingly to your equipment and printing service.