I’m slowly rolling out themed blog posts for each day of the week to keep things interesting around here…and I’m starting out with wall Wednesdays, where we figure out what the heck to do with all those photos I just took of you! Wall Wednesdays may feature ideas for how to display those lovely photos, or photos of Whimsy & Style on your walls…or my walls!

But first we have to talk about where and (next week) how to print those lovely photos–because not all printers are created equal And I hate to think that those lovely photos I just took of you would become less lovely by poor printing.

There was a time when I assumed that all printers were created equal–hey, I figured, why spend $8 to get photos printed at CVS, when I could spend $6 at Walgreens…or $3 at Walmart….the cheaper the better, right? Unfortunately there are instances when cheaper is not better…and selecting a photographer, and selecting a printer are two instances in which cheaper is almost never (as I frequently tell my Criminal Justice students things are almost never always or never ) better.

Take, for instance, this photo of Lyla printed at a professional print lab (Miller’s) in comparison with three big-box type stores that happen to offer printing services:

Professional printers at top, big box store #1 at the bottom

The shadows on the print from big box store #1 are awful…granted this is a dramatic, shadowy picture to begin with, the extent and harshness of the shadows in the print from big box store #1 are horrendous.

Moving onto the comparison between Millers (top) and big box store #2 (bottom):

Note the overexposure, yellowish tone, and florescent red highlights Not good. Though not extremely evident in this particular print, this big box store also appeared to apply extra sharpening to photos, which is not flattering on skin, in particular.

And finally, a comparison between Miller’s (top) and big box store #3 (bottom):

Which shows that big box store #3 prints with similar coloring and exposure problems to big box store #2.

Well, you might be saying, I’ve got my CD of photos, but I Miller’s is only open to professional photographers….well, fear not, Mpix a subsidiary of Miller’s offers high quality printing services (as well as lots of fun press products such as cards, albums and more) to the general public…they may cost more than CVS, Walgreens or Walmart, and it may take you a bit longer to get your photos, but trust me, it’s worth it, and it’s the only place I can in good conscience recommend you print your photos

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