Best Digital Photo Printing? Pt.1

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Where is the best place to get your digital photos printed? If you’re really keen you can print at home and it’s kind of fun to watch your images appear. But you have to calibrate your printer to your already calibrated monitor and that’s a lot of faff.

I wanted to see who does the best digital photo printing out of high street photo shops and the two professional photo printers I use for work.

Before you begin printing you must have a calibrated monitor so you know your colours are correct – Join me as we take a photo, prep it in Photoshop and send the same image file to my pro printers and the high street outlets to see who prints it best.

In part 2 we’ll look at the results…

Mike Browne

38 Comments
  1. Anthony Hazlewood says

    Just shows – I would think it best to send one in first as a tester – if the results are good – stick to it…

  2. Darren Crabb says

    Just had some pics developed by jessops and they look crap, the colours look as if they've been coloured in with felt tips… What happened to the lovely crystaline photos you used to get in the eighties?

  3. Steve Strickland says

    Ok, 5 year old video. I come back and watch these older videos from time to time. Don't get hung up on the older software or that Mike isn't using reading glasses. The information is still really good. sRGB vs AdobeRGB still holds true. Thumbs up.. keep 'em coming!

  4. Susana Roque says

    I made a video of some photographic series I have made from taking pictures of nature.
    I hope you like it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h69Bggp20QM&t=31s

  5. NOBLE says

    nice bike

  6. Ziggy Sheppard says

    So I'm not the only Triumph riding photographer then. Cool!

  7. JASON GHOSH says

    BUY WHY
    WINDOWS XP?

  8. Ian Moore says

    Hi Mike I am loving your vids and have learnt a lot from watching you, just about to get my 1st set of prints done by proam. I was just wondering do I set my resolution to 300 as you say in the vid, or 402 as proam say on their site, just a bit confused and thank you in advance, keep up the great vids.

  9. Saulo Silva says

    It is my pleasure to see that you also enjoy riding a motorcycle on your way to shooting! Or the contrary! Nice classic naked, Mike. What are you riding? I had an 883R carburated and an FX 2003 with a tall ape hanger.

  10. Mike Browne says

    Nice one:-)

  11. Daniel Reaume says

    My mom works at a university that has a very nice print shop and I can get awesome prints for about $6.00, Its awesome!

  12. Mike Browne says

    Yup – you're a local then!

  13. Mike Browne says

    Cool – go for it…. Pictures deserve to be printed and enjoyed.

  14. Jesse Hughes says

    I just printed an 18×24 today. Turned out good! But its was my first print of my work so I'm sure as I continue I will get better prints

  15. Dean Wall says

    East Street!!! 🙂

  16. Mike Browne says

    Thank you

  17. Subhratjit Nandi says

    you are the best teacher,and my inspiration….

  18. Mike Browne says

    It's an old 18-70 Nikon f5.6 zoom. The lens won't affect the image resolution that's down to the camera sensor but it will make a difference to the image quality / clarity. I can't tell you ehich lens is best because i don't know every lens on the market and to be honest you don't need professional f2.8 lenses to take great images and get them printed. If you can afford expensive glass then buy it – but you don't need it.

  19. Mike Browne says

    Sorry (he said looking at the floor sheepishly)

  20. Bhodisatvas says

    I'm disappointed you didn't safely remove your hardware..tut tut 🙂

  21. Mike Browne says

    Sorry I missed your post – only to be quick, and because most enthusiasts and beginners shoot Jpg.

  22. Mike Browne says

    Hi Jenny – If you're calibrated and following their instructions for their ICC then it should be perfect and trouble free. Are you managing the light levels in your computer room? If you're working in a very dark room your pupils can dilate which will fool you into thinking your screen is brighter than it is, then you compensate by making the image darker. It's a long shot – but it happens. I keep room light about 20% below the monitor and ensure the monitor is shaded so there's no flare.

  23. Mike Browne says

    Ah – Thanks Leigh. truhoustonbabygirl – watch our 'How to calibrate a monitor' video. That will explain. – Mike

  24. Leigh Metzroth says

    I would imagine it is a MacBook Pro.

  25. Leonardo Abreu says

    Why did you shoot in jpeg…

  26. Mike Browne says

    Sorry – what is an mbp? – Mike

  27. Julie Massey says

    also i use a mbp how do i adjust brightness to mach prints

  28. Julie Massey says

    need u to clarify rgb color space for working & output right……..i dont want to lose color so same way rgb in camera too right

  29. pivotsweeter says

    Holy s old photoshop

  30. slovan says

    Weren't you cold in that shirt?

  31. Mortimer Latin Jones says

    Quality programming, like beer brewing, takes time.

  32. Mike Browne says

    Thank you – Mike

  33. CO PEWA says

    Another brilliant video-Thanks

  34. Brian Starr says

    You'll have to be quick to get your prints back from Jessops!!!!!

  35. Richard Dorran says

    Great vid Mike, but we are all sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for the conclusion ?

  36. Old Trail Outdoors says

    Looking forward to part 2

  37. Mark Heslington says

    Oh and the Paul Williams web address is incorrect. It should be paulwilliamsdigital-poole.co.uk.

  38. Mark Heslington says

    Any sign of part 2 yet?

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