*I would also like to be able to send my finished scrapbook pages to a Photo Center (Walmart etc.). Is there a better Photo Center you would recommend? I am not sure if I want to use all of my ink to print my pages?
Today we get to talk about one of the coolest things about digital, and that is printing. There is nothing like seeing your digital creations in print and paper. When it comes to digital you have so many options.
First is printing using your own printer – which is totally doable – however probably one of the most expensive – we’ll get to that later in the post. For now, we will focus on printing services:
My favorite layout printing service is Persnickety Prints. Their quality is wonderful and the attention to detail that goes into every order for the prices is wonderful! You can learn more about them here.
Another way to print your layouts is in books – my favorite is Shutterfly. There are many others who offer this service, all with their own pros and cons. Stephanie of The Daily Digi wrote an awesome review of several different publishers that I highly recommend here.
For my quick gifts and cards, I often find myself going to Costco for prints. Probably because I am the most familiar with their online upload process and I am always there picking something up for our family – it is convenient and easy for me to start something and finish it completely only hours later – I love that!
The great thing about digital is that you can always size your layouts any size you need – so you can print at pretty much any photo center – Walmart included. 
As for printing your layouts yourself, personally I find myself doing this less and less except for quick projects. For my personal layouts – I use an HP B8550. It isn’t the workhorse or quite as vivid as my Epson R1800 was, but my ink is less expensive because I can buy XL size tanks, and for quick projects here and there, it works wonderfully. Also, after switching to Mac and having the performance of my Epson drop dramatically, I am not a huge Epson fan any more. In fact, I am not much of a printing it yourself fan any longer as you can have higher quality prints for far less money from a photo retailer.
So that’s me – now for you. Readers, where are your favorite places to print? Do share!
Here’s a further question for you – my camera store talks about how surprised we will all be in 15 years when our printed photos fade and deteriorate because we didn’t get them printed on high quality paper with high quality ink. Additionally, the life of a cd is only 15 years, so that is not a safe way to store photos either. I have a back-up drive for my computer where I save all my photos. So that gives me some security.
Any thoughts? I’m curious if others agree or disagree….
After studying printers, inks and papers a few years ago, I’d have to agree with you. Many consumers only think about price when printing photos – and it is really about the quality of the prints you get.
However, in the digital age, everything is changing. I truly believe that in the future we won’t print nearly as much – we wlll have paper thin devices to hold all our digital media, magazines, books, photos and scrapbook pages. I’m actually going to share more about this in an upcoming post.
That said, I still believe that if you are going to print, it is important to have a good quality print along with retaining a digital negative of what you print or scanning in the layout you create with the prints – if the longevity of your work being available to future generations is important to you.