Should you print digital photographs?
There are two camps in the world of photography: Those for printing digital photographs and those against doing so. Since you’re here, reading this post, chances are you’re a bit of a photo-bug yourself. You may have wondered whether it was worth the time, effort and expense involved to print your photographs, or whether you should simply store all your work away on digital drives or other media. Well, today’s post is going to present some in depth information about both sides of the coin. Before you hurry off to print your photographs, or make the decision to send them all to your removable hard drive, be sure that you read up on this very important topic.
Preserving Memories or Wasting Money?
We opened up this post by talking about the two camps – pro-printing photographers and anti-printing photographers. We could go on and on about the differences between these folks, but it really comes down to the argument that you’re either preserving your photographic memories by printing off more of your digital photographs, or dumping money down the drain printing off work that you have already stored away on a digital drive. The following sections will discuss both sides, so you can make an informed decision about whether or not to print your digital photographs.
The Case for Printing your Photographs
Photographs, as we’ve so often said in the past, are a way of preserving a once-in-a-lifetime moment. As such, you probably have gigabyte after gigabyte on your hard drive of moments that you’ve painstakingly captured with your DSLR. From family photographs to macro photographs, you probably have invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears in making sure that you keep all your best shots saved for future viewing. However, we know that this isn’t a perfect world, and you may want to consider making hard copies of your best stuff. Here’s the deal – digital media can fail. Hard drives can get corrupted. And computers, discs, etc… can be stolen. If one of these worst-case-scenarios were to happen to you, it’s possible that you could lose some – even all – of your digital photographs. With that being said, having hardcopies may very well be the only way that you could ensure that your photographic memories were, indeed, safe and well protected.
The Case against Printing your Photographs
People who don’t like to print digital photographs regularly say that the price of printing is simply too high. These folks believe that the money you spend on printing photographs over the years could be saved up and spent on better things, like higher-end cameras or other gear. And while this may be true, you must remember that if you don’t print your photographs off, there’s a chance that you could wind up losing them for good. However, as much as we like to stay protected from data loss, saving a back-up copy to a cloud drive or some off-site data storage site could prevent that from happening. So if money is very tight, you may find that skipping on the printing is the more fiscal solution.
Improving Your Skill Set
One final word on the pro-printing side of the house: When you do put in the effort to print your photographs, you often get a chance to see your work in a whole new light. Subtle shades and nuances sometimes look better on photographic paper than they do on a computer or tablet screen. You may even want to keep a photo album on hand that features your favorite shots from over the years. You can compare similar photographs from different points in time, to see how much you are improving. Many photographers use such hard copy collections to assess their skills and ultimately improve their photographic chops.
Will You Start Printing More of your Digital Photographs?
So should you print digital photographs? By throwing our hat in the ring with regard to the whole printing versus not printing argument, we hope that we have given you some food for thought. The ultimate decision lies with you. If you do like the idea of preserving your memories and improving your photographic skills, by all means start printing more of your digital photographs. However, if you just can’t deal with the extra expense and hassle of printing, you should at the very least keep a separate, digital copy of your best photographs to be on the safe side. If you decide to print your photos, remember that there are a range of non traditional formats that you can choose from. You do not have to print your photos in the traditional postcard size photos formats. Nowadays, most people (including us) prefer something more unique. We came across a number of different unique ways to print your photos on Amazon. Here are some of the amazing and unique deals we found –
1. Custom Photo Book (75% off)
Custom photo books come in a variety of sizes and can be made with a range of different covers and materials (eg. paper). When printing your photos into a photo book, it is a fairly easy process. First, you select the photos that you would like to use. Then you will be provided with the capability to design each of the individual pages. You can move them, resize, add text, etc to every page. These Custom Photo Books at Amazon is currently on sale at the moment (75% off). So you can create your very own custom photo book from as little as $20 (20 pages)! Click here to head on over to Amazon to find out more about the custom hardcover photo book options.
2. Custom Canvas Print (71% off)
Printing on canvas is one of our favorite formats. These canvases are usually stretched across a wooden frame and can come in a variety of sizes. Printing your photo onto a canvas is simple and the hard part is usually deciding on the photo that you want to print onto the canvas. All you need to do to print onto a canvas is to select and upload your image, make any relevant edits (resize, re-position your image, enhance your image with some pre-created filters, add text, etc). Then all you need to do is sit patiently at home for your new custom canvas to be delivered right to your door step! These Custom Canvas Print are currently on sale at Amazon (75% off). You can create your own custom canvas print for as little as $39. Please visit Amazon for more information on how you can redeem this deal.
3. Glass / Acrylic Photo Print (69% off)
One of the favorite ways to print our photos is to create a Glass / Acrylic photo print. It amazes us every time we see our photo printed onto the glass / acrylic. The photo looks amazing and the glass adds a bit of class to the photo. It’s perfect for any room. Just be careful when you do receive your custom photo glass print. Depending on how big the print is, it could get quite heavy. So if you are on the lookout for a great glass / acrylic photo print, then you may want to check them out.
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