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Printing your photos
 
There are a number of ways to print your photos:

• At home using your photo quality printer on photo paper

• Using an on-line photofinisher such as Bonusprint, Photobox, Fotoview etc

• Through a retail outlet such as Asda, Boots, Tesco etc

Digital prints are made using the same process as conventional film and offer the same durability and archival qualities.
 
Home printing versus Photofinisher
 
There are pros and cons to printing at home versus having them printed at an online or retail photofinisher.  Here are some points to consider:
 
Cost: the cost of printing at a retail outlet is dropping.  4 x 6 prints can be had for as low as 12p per print.  This is very hard to beat doing at home.
 
Quality: using a photo quality ink jet printer and using quality photo paper, results at home can be very good ? approaching or equalling a photofinisher.  But you need to choose top quality inks and papers for best quality and longevity.
 
Stability: Inks and paper have improved to the point where a home printed picture can be counted on to last several years without fading. Using newer archival inks the print is claimed to last many decades. Prints printed by a photofinisher use the same basic process as conventional film ? prints have an archival life of several decades and can exceed 50 years. Dye sublimation prints approach the archival life of conventional prints.
 
Convenience: Printing at home is very convenient but time consuming especially if you want to print off ?doubles? of those 200 shots you took on your last vacation.  But you can print exactly what you want, in the size you want, when you want.  With an online service, you upload the files to their web site and then click through the order.  Prints are processed, mailed and arrive within a few days.  Most on line services allow you to share your on-line albums with friends and family, and ship prints you ordered directly to others. Overall, this is a very convenient and easy process.
 
Formats: Printing at home allows you to print odd size pictures, make up photo albums, greeting cards and special projects. Online services can also print up albums, cards, and sell you frames for photos. Unless you have a large format printer, printing at home is limited to 8 x 10.  Outside services can print up to 20 x 30 and more ? but this is only applicable for high-resolution images that you wish to blow up to poster size.
 
The question you need to ask yourself is:  
?How much of your hobby or part of the creative process is in the printing?
 
If your answer to this is ?not much? or ?none? ? then use an online or retail photofinisher.  If you consider printing to be part of the creative process or you simply enjoy seeing the results immediately, better stock up on good quality photo paper and ink cartridges.