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Question: A question for the professionals!?
Do you make your own prints or do you send them to a lab!? My teacher says that if you have time to make your own prints then you're not working hard enough!.

also, do you window matte or frame them by yourself too!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
As was said you will find people that do it both ways!. What you have to figure is how much time does it take vs what you are making for the work!. If you charge "X" dollars to shoot a wedding and it takes you 3 hours to do the actual photography and another 3 to 4 hours in post production work and printing your hourly rate has plunged!. Many times the lab can do it cheaper and free your time to do things that bring in more income!. They also often have resources that most photographers cannot afford to get you better output!. There is a growing number of places that do most or all of the digital darkroom and image correction work for photographers ( by image correction I mean things like smoothing out acne etc these are things in the digital age that many folks expect ) Some of them will even ship to your client and bill the client for your work for you!.

On the otherside doing your own work gives you ultimate control over the output!. Thats really important for people doing art photography where rate per hour is not an issue!. It also works well for people who have low volume and enjoy the work!. For years I did my own film darkroom work on all of my personal pictures and used a custom lab for my for hire work!.

I also use MPIX now for digital output!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

You have ultimate control of your product when you do the photography and the printing!. It is all about what you're into though!. There's a lot you can do during printing just like the tricks to photography!. Some professionals prefer to mass produce the product, which takes a great deal of time and energy if you don't have the big expensive equipment that isn't focused on quality, but instead on quantity!. Personally, I enjoy photography for the sake of photography!.!.!.not just because it generates money!. Its nice to make money, but I want to enjoy the work as well!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Sorry to be blunt but your teacher sounds like an idiot - I much prefer to do my own darkroom printing but with color it is just not feasible in the long run!. I have a color printer I use for making prints from my computer sizes 4x6 to 8 x 10 Larger have to been done by a lab!. Black and white I can print up to 16 x 20 but usually stick to 8 x 10 or 11 x14!.

I feel more connected to my artistic work when II go from image creation in camera to final print!.

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I work in digital for all my clients and I most definitely do not have time to print everything myself! I send images to be printed at a national lab that I am so lucky to have only 30 miles away!.

As for film, hardly any professional photographer working with portraits and people use film!. But for my own enjoyment and art, I print them myself!.

I do matte my own film enlargements though!.

Neat question =)Www@QuestionHome@Com

You will not get one definitive answer to this question!. Some photographers have large format printers along with properly calibrated monitors and use correct printer profiles and do their own printing!. Others do not!. There is no right or wrong way!. Personally I prefer to use a lab to do my prints!.!.!. and I DON'T mean Flicker or some such place!. I use several labs depending on what I need done!. Some labs I use are Chromatics for film, Simply Canvas, Mpix, and White House Color Labs for digital!.

I have a working relationship with a local custom frame shop for any mat or frame work!.

steveWww@QuestionHome@Com

I make my own prints up to 8x10 !. Yes to the second one also!. As far your teacher is concerned- those who can do- those who can't teach!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

almost every professional photographer i know who shoots in film makes their own prints!. there is a lot u can do in the darkroom!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A lab prints what I do commercially, I print my own art prints!.Www@QuestionHome@Com