One-Hour Photo? I Think Not.

So often I have heard from clients, "Oh I am just going to print the photos from the local one-hour location." And I cringe. I know what these one-hour store produce. They are decent, if you want to stick 4x6's in a photo album and call it a day. But to actually use them for displaying in your home? Ehhh...I don't recommend it. At all. Their printing machines are just not up to par with those from a professional printing lab. Check out this example from fellow photographer, Nadia Hurtt. 

As you can see, Nadia took the same photo and had it developed at a professional lab as well as three big-box one-hour photo locations. The difference astounds me as they are not even close to the original version and the pro lab version. The quality is just not there. Going the cheaper, less-expensive route is not always the best idea. This is the main reason I have stopped, for the most part, giving discs with my photo sessions. The one-hour photo labs do not reflect the quality of my photography of you correctly.  I want you to have beautiful custom artwork hanging in your home for all to enjoy for many years to come. I'm not being gimmicky, or trying to sell you tons of prints, I just honestly want the best for my customers :)

I do plan on doing like Nadia has done, have the same photo printed from a variety of places. I will post my outcome on an upcoming blog post. I will also have these examples with me during our session so that you can see for yourself the difference, not only in the quality of the photograph itself, but also the quality of photo paper that  is used. 

Thank you so much to Nadia Hurtt for allowing me to use her example for this blog posting! :)