Photo printing offers a plethora of choices and therefore requires some research on the part of the savvy digital photographer. Do you invest in the purchase of a photo printer or should you rely upon professional photo printing services? What is the best photo printer to purchase and how much does it cost per print? If you do choose professional photo processing, should you upload images to an online service, take your memory card to a local photo printing shop or rely upon the convenience of supermarket or camera store self-serve kiosks to process your images?

Most people still don’t think an image is a true photograph until it becomes tangible onto a sheet of photo paper. We want to archive our memories into scrapbooks, send to families and frame for proud display. Now that you’ve figured out how to use your cool digital camera and have hundreds or thousands of images downloaded to and sitting on your computer’s hard drive, how do you decide which photo printing option to choose?

In your search for a photo printer that is best suited for your individual photo printing needs, carefully consider the hidden costs. Does your printer allow you to print directly from your camera or do you need to purchase an adapter tray to hold your memory card or disc for photo printing? Do you need to purchase photo imaging software that would give you the capability to crop, reduce red-eye, and add special effects or frames to your photos on your computer before you print? Another hidden cost for at-home photo printing is ink cartridge replacement. What does the specification sheet on the printer show regarding how many sheets can you expect to print before replacing the color and/or black ink cartridges? Some printers offer separate cartridges for each color used. Another hidden cost of at-home photo printing is the cost to purchase photo paper. These costs vary greatly depending upon volume purchased, archival paper quality and size of photo sheets. If you are interested in blowing up an image, is your printer capable of printing an 8x10 or even an 11x14 image? Considering all the hidden costs, a typical photo printer will print images on an 8.5x11 sheet for an average cost of between 80 cents and $1.20. You will need to decide if the convenience of not uploading to an online professional service or the travel time saved by not going to a photo dealer may outweigh any of these hidden costs of at-home photo printing.

Convenience, archival superiority, and cost savings may be of greater importance to you when choosing photo printing options. When you employ a professional photo printing service you leave all the headaches to a service that usually offers cost incentives, cheaper costs per print and archival quality photos. You can upload photos to an online service and have the prints mailed to you. There are about five leading photo finishing firms in the U.S. that can typically offers competitive per print pricing of between $0.12 and $0.28 for a standard 4x6 print. Be choosy and search online for competitive prices and seasonal offers. You will receive archival, long lasting results from a professional photo printing service. These professional photo finishing companies typically use the same photographic paper and chemicals that they use to print from negative film. This equates to far superior photo prints. The convenience of uploaded images to a photo printing service is undeniable if you prefer not to use a photo printer.