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Writer's pictureKayla White

Can you get photo prints from the pharmacy? | A Side by side comparison of photo prints






Recently, I sent out an email showing some of the side by side differences between photo prints made at a local pharmacy, and prints made at a professional print house. The difference can be surprising and such a reminder for why paying a little bit less, means getting much less quality. When you've taken the time to book the session, get all the clothes coordinated, spend the money for a talented photographer and get back all of those gorgeous images to frame and look at for YEARS, you need to make sure the quality in the prints matches the images the photographer created for you! A client reached out and mentioned that her local pharmacy prints were just that, disappointing, so I ordered her the same images from my professional printing company and we compared them side by side. Some of the photos had little quality increase, and some had huge. That's because pharmacy's ( and even those cheap online print options are not great at getting you consistency! (and please don't get me started on how they ruin the red tones in every photo ever!). I went live on Instagram to show all of the differences up close, and took some photos so you can really see the differences side by side.



PLEASE NOTE* TAKING PHOTOS OF PHOTOS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. THESE ARE ZOOMED IN TO SHOW THE QUALITY DIFFERENCE. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE TO SEE THESE IMAGES IN A DIFFERENT LIGHTING AND WITH THE NAKED EYE but also.. the difference speaks for itself!


Top photo = pharmacy print

Bottom photo= professional printing on light glossy paper




I MEAN!!

I was actually impressed with how subtle the difference was in some of the prints. Some of them side by side showed less of a quality change then others ( consistency again!) but what they all shared was that the pharmacy prints were over-exposed. That's fancy jargon for washed out, or too bright. Plus the high gloss paper made that brightness even stronger which made the shadowing under the eyes look crazy in some of the images. The professional printing resulted in colors and tones that were an exact match for the files themselves, not to mention the much higher quality!


The new photos were added to the frame, brought back to the client and hung right on the wall so now for the next few years, instead of walking by and thinking, ' Man Bill's eyes look crazy in that one' she'll walk by and think, ' Gosh look at my gorgeous boys'.


Printing matters. Seeing your memories matter.

and Making sure your memories look their best matters big time.

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