A Quick Guide to Printing Your Images

If you want to take what you’ve received from your photography session and do something with them, you’re in the right place! Some very common questions I get: Where should I order prints from? What files should I use? I don’t know how to display these in my home, can you help?

1. Planning to Display in your Home

You’ve made an investment in your session and getting them printed and displayed in your home should be the first thing you do after you preview your finished gallery. If you aren’t sure how to display them in your home, I’ve got a few ideas for you.

Create a Gallery Wall: This seems easier and easier to do these days with many retailers actually selling frames specifically for this in a collection. Before starting a gallery wall, find a blank wall with a lot of space. You’d be suprised but when you put small things on a wall, they feel smaller. Always go bigger and for that reason I suggest getting a large blank canvas for this. Living rooms, bedrooms, hallways and entryways could be great areas to work with.

Purchase Tabletop Frames: I enjoy my tabletop frames because they are so versatile and I can have a little bit of fun with placement throughout my home. You may find them on an end table in a bedroom, a bookshelf or desk in an office, sprinkled on architectural nooks or peppered throughout bookshelves. I like to put them honestly where I spend my time. When I’m working, I enjoy seeing a photograph of my family. Maybe when you are doing the dishes you’d like to see a memory in frame in the window. I always feel like I can play around with the look and feel of these frames as well, which will allow for mixing and matching.

2. Consideration of Your Files

Depending on what is shared with you after a session, you need to ensure you have a high resolution file to work with in order to create a high quality print. In simple terms, the screen shot on your phone or download you’ve grabbed from facebook will not print as nicely as it looks on screen. Let me break that down for you a little bit, and also provide some tips:

• DPI: dots-per-inch. Simply stated – the more the better. When reviewing a file that is optimal for a digital format – sometimes as low as 72 is still crisp and clean. When you are looking at a print file – 300 is the standard. Especially when printing at a larger size – you can see the difference. You will see pixelation when scaling up when at a lower dpi.
• Crop: A cameras as-shot aspect-ratio is 3:2 – but understanding this isn’t what I would consider a make or break. However, I do like to tell my clients that the image you receive from me will be cropped slightly to fit a standard frame opening. Unless you want to invest in a custom frame – make sure to review this when sending to a printer. Without a defined area – the printer may re-size automatically and you may end up with an undesired result.
• Image Dimensions: This is where the DPI comes into play with how large you want to print your image. Say you have a 300 DPI image and you want to print it as an 8×10, what you have is 2400×3000 for size. Anything less than that will create pixelation. When using a print lab, they will scrub the file and tell you if it is acceptable or not.

Where to print? Do I just take them to Walgreens?

If you’ve made an investment into the purchase of your photos as digitals from your photographer, please do yourself a favor and choose to get them printed at a quality print lab. This means, sorry Walgreens, but you’re out. I say this only because they are just that quick printer, they do not calibrate their equipment often, and are not ran by specialists that know how paper and ink type can change the effects of an image. But don’t fret, there are many options that print true to color and aren’t out of reach for someone in your shoes. I’ll get into that next.

If you are printing the images on your own, or reach out to me for a recommendation, I always recommend the following labs: Nations Photo Lab, Mpix, and Printique.

If you’re working with me, I’ve set up a store option for you to buy direct from your gallery, a variety of layouts and options for you to choose from including prints, greeting cards, calendars, framed prints, and much much more. Preview your gallery, head on over to the store, voila!

If you’ve taken the time to read to the end of this, thank you. I’m so glad you’re here and I hope you found this information helpful. Now if you’ve printed images from a session with me, please share them with me via email @ sarah@baumanphotofilm.com so I can see what you’ve done, and how you can inspire the next person to get their images from being saved on their phone or computer and to be displayed in the home as they should be.

All the best,
Sarah