Best way to print pictures ? (sorry noob here)

I'm no expert. But I can tell you what I do (which isn't always the best idea)

I personally don't own a prof. photo printer. Just an HP all in one thing.
It prints decent but I go to my local print shop!

They save me so much money!

Ink is REALLY expensive, and printing pictures your self takes a lot of ink.

And when I say print shop, I'm not talking about walgreens, etc.

A real print shop.

I got an 11x14 and like 25 5x7's the other day for less than 11 dollars.

Amazing IMO!

Gunga Din said:

(1) A great photo printer (any suggestions)

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As with all things, knowing your budget and needs would be extremely helpful. Why send you on a mission to look at an Epson Stylus Pro 9900 when that's not what you need?

The answer depends on how much control you want over the process, and how much money you're willing to spend. The cost and complexity can go well beyond simply choosing a printer. Do some research on things like color managed workflow, using Photoshop effectively as a digital photographer, photo printers, pigment versus dye printer inks, paper types, etc.

Gunga Din said:

I'm new to digital photography. My question is, after I download my pictures to the computer and modify them with photoshop, whats the best way to get great prints?

(1) A great photo printer (any suggestions)

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Great photo printers are relatively cheap. Ink for great photo printers is hellaciously expensive. What's your annual budget for ink?

Gunga Din said:

(2) Can I export the photos back to my camera's SDHC card , take that to a photo place and have them print the photos

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Sure, if you want immediate results.

Gunga Din said:

(3) Instead of using the camera memory card. Should I just get a 2nd memory card and use that for exporting onto and then taking that to develop the photos

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Sure, having a backup card for shooting is always a good thing...

Gunga Din said:

You get my idea. Once I've modified the photos on the computer I want to then get them printed out.

Thx

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Personally, I find Wal-Mart's 8x10s acceptable for most of my needs. I just upload the images after saving them as full-quality JPEGs and decide if I want to pick them up in an hour or in a few days. I generally don't print smaller than 8x10, and I *always* check _every_ picture and have them reprint any that aren't satisfactory due to printing issues.

They're normal prints from a Fuji Frontier just like you get from film, so they don't have the same potential longevity as an inkjet- but likely good enough for 20 years or so of proper display, and significantly cheaper than the equivalent print from archival pigment inks on good archival paper.

Gunga Din said:

Ok, whats the best way to just get it to a photo shop?

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Hm, I can't tell if your talking about the program Adobe photoshop like he is, or a shop for photos like I was, but assuming your talking about a shop like I was, any flash drive works great.
Or a cd.
Or your cameras memory card.

The shop usually will be able to handle anything you bring in.

Gunga Din said:

Ok, whats the best way to just get it to a photo shop?

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I think most of the consumer places (Walmart, Costco, you know the names) have an online presence. Just upload it according to their directions.

Gunga Din said:

ok, I erased my memory card so is it pretty easy to just move the photos i have saved back onto the card?

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Of course. Assuming you're using a card reader to access the card, the card should show up in finder as a mounted disk. I would be careful about changing the folder structure on the card as that structure is created by the camera when you format the card and your camera may not be too happy if you mess with things much (with the workaround being having the camera reformat the card again).

Gunga Din said:

Ok, whats the best way to just get it to a photo shop?

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I upload to Kodak. They mail the prints back to me. Can't say I've ever been disappointed in their work.

http://kodakgallery.com

Gunga Din said:

Don't have a card reader yet. I just hook up the camera via usb.

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I would look to an online service for prints. I've used snapfish in the past and they've been ok. Friends have been pleased with the results from Costco, and Walmart and Kodak have been recommended by others in this thread.

One of the things I like about Kodakgallery (don't know about the others) is that all the images you upload can be stored there. You can then enable other users (friends/family etc) to access your various folders and they can buy prints (direct from Kodak) in whatever size as they desire. You also have the usual options of making albums, mugs, calendars etc, or getting them framed. I've printed as big as 20x30 and had great results. Kodakgallery used to be Ofoto. IIRC, they used to be Apple's direct-print option from iPhoto (I don't know if that's still true). Anyway, they use Kodak paper and the print quality has been excellent. All I do for prints I want is to convert my RAW images to jpeg and upload. I prefer to crop to the desired print size in Photoshop, but you can also crop in Kodakgallery. Prices are comparable to Costco and Walmart, but Kodak mails you the prints so you don't have to engineer a trip to the store to pick them up. I'm sure there are other good online sytems like that, but I've been using Ofoto/Kodakgallery for years and have never had a reason to look elsewhere.

Another option is White House Custom Color. They are more geared toward the professional and their process is more complicated and more expensive, although the quality is excellent.