Printing Your Digital Images
When you purchase digital images from GRHook Photo, you are getting a highly detailed, edited product. When you decide to print your image for display on the walls of your home, or perhaps in a book that you proudly display on a coffee table, there are some things to keep in mind.
First of all, photographic images from the average point & shoot camera, or mobile phone, require processing when being printed. To produce an attractive print the image needs to be sharpened and its color tweaked. Labs such as Walgreens, WalMart, and even Shutterfly are set up to perform these adjustments automatically. For casual images produced by typical cameras this is perfectly reasonable.
Images from GRHook Photo, and those produced by other professional photographic services, are in an entirely different class. The images delivered to you have been edited and sharpened, as well as having their color corrected on calibrated monitors. They are intended to be printed by professional lab services using quality inks and paper, without the need for further adjustments. Having your images printed at a consumer-grade lab such as Walgreens will likely end in disappointment. While I have no desire to discredit the products available from these vendors, I can only encourage the use of other services to turn your beautiful images into beautiful prints. Here are some things to keep in mind.
You will want to use a service that prints a high resolution file in high resolution. This results in a more pleasant image quality with smooth transitions between colors. Professional labs will do this automatically.
Do not, under any circumstance, allow the printing service to "process" your image in any way aside from that needed to produce the print. Many services will, by default, adjust the color to get "better" skin tones, and sharpen the image to get a print that appears more crisp and detailed.
I've already done this work for you. Nothing further needs to be done. Even a service such as Shutterfly will make these adjustments by default, so be very careful to disable them, and ask the vendor about this processing if you are unsure.
If you decide to take your images to a lab service such as Miller's Lab, Nations, or similar, you will have the option to have them color correct your images (mostly for skin tones and general color casts). This is fine, although I strive to make it unnecessary. Otherwise, the file you provide is what will be printed.
Finally, GRHook Photo can provide all of the prints you require, and guarantee that the final result is as vibrant and beautiful as the image you purchase. Prints using pigment-based inks and archival quality papers can be provided at very reasonable prices and shipped directly to your home.
