Wedding Photo printing - questions for you!

Lifestyle Wedding, Fashion & Beauty
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Hello everyone,

I have a few questions and just wanted some opinions. I have been working with South Asian clients and am noticing quite the trend when it comes to photo printing.

When we package a wedding to include photography, flush mount albums, and prints…we usually get our South Asian clients complaining about the price of the prints. Then we take out our comparison board, which is basically the same few photos printed at different locations.

Drugstores and local shops offer prints from .09 cents to about .19 cents for a 4x6, whereas our pricing is about $2.00 for a 4x6.

So let us say we have 5 photos printed at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Kmart and then our Lab. Clearly you can see the quality is very poor in all the samples except our Lab because we don’t use cheap paper, we use high end printers, and we use ICC color profiles to ensure the color is managed.

Also, local shops have highschool kids working, they are not lab technicians and do not know how to maintain and correct their printers. They offer only 1 type of paper, sometimes 2 (glossy and matte) whereas we print each photo on the paper best suited for the desired look.

Why is this such an obsticle for South Asian wedding couples? Why do people think all prints are the same? You get your jewelry from a jeweler that you trust because you want high quality and great craftsmanship with details that will last, and you are willing to pay more…your outfits are not from the local market, they are proper wedding garments custom made to fit you…there is so much money being spent on quality things…why try to save money by purchasing low quality cheap photos?

The reason why I am asking is because recently I had a client come back to me.
She did not want to purchase photos from that our Lab would process, so we gave her a DVD of all her high res images in sRGB, and since we don’t know who is printing, or what paper they are using, we cannot fine tune the image to be a perfect print…

She printed them for an amazing .06 cents each and complained to me that the colors were off, all of the people were orange skin toned, there was too much orange yellow all over every photo.

I showed her my copies of the same prints, and mine were much much better. I insisted it was her printer and

So people, what is your ideas on photo printing? Do you feel that all labs and printers are created equal and Printer quality or Paper quality do not matter?

I just want to see how I can better explain why $2.00 for a 4x6 is much better than a sub .19 cent print.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Abhi

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Re: Wedding Photo printing - questions for you!

well ur right, im sure ur lab offers better quality than CVS. i for one do not get my pics printed at any drugstore, i order all my pics online at shutterfly.com and have ordered A LOT of my wedding pics from them and continue to do so. They are cheaper than labs and have amazing quality. I got a lot of 4x6's from them to hand out to relatives and friends and recently ordered a 16x20 print and it's spectacular!. The 16x20 print was $18 which is much lower than what labs would charge and their 4x6 prints are as low as 10 cents a print!

However, for my wedding I did have my photographer print the photos and give them to me. But now that i want extra prints and different sized prints of different pics i will not bother going to him just becasue i know i can get it cheaper on the website and get great quality as well.

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Re: Wedding Photo printing - questions for you!

nice way to advertise yourself,
please post this thread at photo.net so I or the other members can suggest you something including prices, people choices, color likes and dislikes, etc

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Re: Wedding Photo printing - questions for you!

wow SR thats pretty awesome - i shud try them out too -
as far as prof photographers & printing pics goes sometimes with all the expenses on the wedding and everything the bride/groom might not want to spend a fortune on pics esp if they have to give them to friends etc so using cvs, walgreens or any other low-quality printing facility is a good cheap option - however, coming back and complaining to the photographer abt that isnt really something that the photographer can be blamed for!

I mean I got my prints ordered from my photographer for the enlargements and i paid over $400 for just 3 pix however, when i printed the low-res copies from walmart they came out looking fab too - and only costed me around 5 dollars - so yes we love cheap stuff and if the prints are something of similar quality to what the photographer might give me id rather not spend that $2 and maybe get all my pics printed in that amnt of money!

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Thanks for the replies.

This is not an advertisement. There is no link to my website, portfolio, previous work, phone number, or any of that sort.

I want my business to run better and be more streamline, I am merely asking for advice from people in the Wedding forum. Advertisements should be in the classifieds.

I should have been more clear

If you want to print photos just so share with friends or to give to coworkers, please print them cheaply! Most photographers give a dvd with all high res images so you can do that.

*Mysticalrain *- you paid $400 for 3 pix, what size were those enlargements?
You paid $400 for the photographer to use high quality papers that will not fade or turn color after years and years, regardless of humidity, sunlight exposure etc. You will have those prints forever. Are you happy with the prints?

As far as your walmart photos, they will look great! You will happy with them, they use Fujicolor paper (most walmart store do) and it is a quality paper. It will not be perfect, but for just a small photo that you can reprint anytime for a few cents, you cannot go wrong.

The main purpose of using the lab is the choice of papers and textures
Glossy, Luster, Matte, Metallic pearl, watercolor, linen, embassy, pebble, silk etc.

Let your photographer adjust your photos to be most optimal for the paper and printer being used.

I would recommend getting your few main photos done professionally, and everything that is to be distributed, it really doesn't matter, get that done locally for cheap.

When I do get a print order from a couple, each photo takes me about 20 minutes to prepare for printing for a specific printer/paper type. I print the image and if it is not to my standard, I reprint it. I show the client both the approved version, and the reject. If they want the reject they can have it for free. 99% of the time the customer cannot even see why the reject was not approved until we point it out. Usually it is the gamut of the photo, if I am not satisfied with the shadow detail, it becomes a reject. For $2.00 including the print, that is a lot of service.

Shutterfly and many other prints do offer 100% satisfaction guarantee, meaning if you are not happy with your prints, they will reprint it, which is great.

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Oh, and if you are going to be printing photos on your own, be sure to have the copyright from the photographer!