When discussing the images students take with their cameras during our Thursday night photo classes, it surprises me that the overwhelming majority of the pictures taken are NEVER printed onto a hard copy of any kind. I always encourage our students to at least print the most important images they take. And of course, I'm asked "Why? There's no need to do that anymore!"
I agree that many of the images that our customers take may never need to be printed, given that their usage as an image may be temporary (for work or reference purposes, for instance). But many of you come to buy cameras, and take pictures to capture events and images that you wish to preserve for a lifetime (or more!) So, here are 3 reasons you should print (at least ,your most important) images from your digital camera, especially from a photo lab like ours:
1. A print from a digital camera will never crash, get corrupted or accidentially erased! - A physical copy means you are not depending on technology. Good quality photo paper can inks can last at least 50 years. If you store your photos well, they could easily outlive you! This is something no hard drive will ever do. If you really value your photos – print them. If you have now collected more pictures than would be physically possible to print – go through them and find the best or most meaningful images to archive with a hard copy!
2. A print from your digital camera is the best guage you can have to your camera's image capturing ability! A picture that is taken with even a 3 megapixel camera or camera phone will look excellent on a high definition TV or computer screen. When an digital photo file is printed (especially to an enlargement size), that is when you can see the true sharpness and definition of the image you've taken.
3. The appeal of having a print of a photograph is well, still appealing! Printing (and framing) a special image is still the most enduring way to preserse a memory to display in your home or to give as a gift! That picture of your newborn in their first hours of life or any other special occasion deserve a better spot than a screensaver on your computer or phone - Print It!
Our in store photo lab is by far the most cost efficent and superior quality option in Fairfield County. Each image that's printed is inspected for color fidelity and overall quality by our lab technician before printing, which cannot be said by any drug store/big box store that does photofinishing. And our charge for a 4x6 digital image is still only 19 cents! Plus, we still know what film is! We still develop C-41 color film in house. So, next time you get that picture that warms your heart just looking at it, Print It!
A reminder that it's Digital DSLR Basics' turn for our in store class this Thursday (3/24) at 7 PM, followed by our next installment of HD Video for your DSLR next Thursday (3/31) . (Image courtesy of HP)