#ProjectPrint - Why is it important to Print your photos

Who remembers as a kid sitting and looking through boxes of old photos?  Laughing at old trends, seeing handwriting from relatives long past and enjoying passing those photos around for others to share.  Unfortunately todays younger generation do not get this experience much anymore with the digital photography age.  Most people post photos online but never actually print them out.  There are many reasons why, but I feel you really should print your photos.  Even if it is just a quick stack of photos or a digital photo album.

Why Print?
1.  Technology is always changing - there is no guarantee that your storage media will still be accessible in a few years (prime example VCR/VHS tapes).  Prints will always be viewable.

2.  Prints can freeze time (memories fade) - all those events that get documented but forgotten, first care, first day of school, crazy trends and so much more.

3.  Create Connections - People who display prints are easily connected with by viewing photos on display of their favorite memories.

4  Prints become heritage item - they can preserve handwriting from people documenting on photos.  They are tangible items to stir memories and document your family.



5.  Parents/Family will love you - Even though everyone is n social media and sees your photos when you post them its different to have that physical print to pull out and means so much more to people.

Do you know the life of your storage media?
1.  CD/DVD - 10-25 years.  Colors of the CD/DVD represents the quality of the disc, the best ones to use are gold or silver.  But remember discs can easily be erased via magnets.



2.  USB/Flash Drives - 10 years.  If you use them over and over it will wear out before the life the drive.



3  External Hard Drives - these are the best option for photo storage/backup.  There are also good options for online storage.  You should have at last 2-3 backups of your photos and they should be kept in different places in case of a disaster.



Whatever you do, do not store your images on memory cards in or out of your camera, they are easily corrupted. 

So don't let your photos die before future generations get to enjoy them and document their heritage.  Print those photos, there are many places where you can print for less than $0.10 for a 4x6 and many photo book places that have great deals to make a yearly family photo album.

Where should you print your photos?

So you had your session with your photographer and now you have a disc of images.  Where to get them printed?  You may be surprised in the difference depending on the location you use.

The places I recommend are:
Your Photographer's Professional lab
www.mpix.com
www.mypublisher.com

Why not use Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Target etc?  The answer is simple Quality.  You want those wonderful memories to print and look the way you remember them and how you previewed them with your photographer.  I am not saying that all those places I just listed are bad, but with those places the quality control and equipment maintenance are low.  They often do not clean and/or change the required chemicals to print photos as they should and this causes quality issues such as color cast, contrast issues, etc.

Of course my first recommendation is to order your prints from your photographer. They print their photos at a professional lab with tons of quality control.  Also your photographers equipment is calibrated to their print specification so what you see in your preview will match what you print from them.  This ist he way to get the best results.

If however you chose to get a CD of images and want to print on your own I recommend MPix and My Publisher.  They have the best quality for the price of the places I have tried.

As always before printing any images from your photographer please read the included Print Release.  What is the Print Release you ask, well it is the document from your photographer telling what you can and can not do with the images on your disc.  A Print Release is NOT a copyright release, you photographer still retains all rights to the photographs.  Usually print releases allow you to print images at a lab of your choice.  However with most you are not allowed to alter the images in anyway.  If at any time you have questions about if an item is ok to do with the images contact your photographer for clarity.

So you have your CD, Printed your photos for family and friends.  Now What???   I recommend that you make a backup of your images.  Keep your CD, but also store your images on another medium, ie thumb drive, external hard drive, another CD, etc.  This way if something happens you have another copy of the images.  I also recommend that if you do not scrapbook your photos that you try to print a year in review photo book from one of the above listed print houses.  This is a great way to highlight the events of the year and wonderful photos from your photographer.  This preserves your images and lets you share with people.  People love to look at photo album's.

Hope these tips have been helpful and if you have any further questions please feel free to contact me.  Thank you!