Lots of our clients buy digital files from the Christmas shoots to print themselves and I really care about how my photographs look when they are out and about in the world and on granny’s mantlepiece.

I put a bit of research into the printing options available, and after running a poll on Instagram, I’ve compared the most popular places people said that they usually print their digital files.

I chose 3 photos from different sets and used exactly the same file to print from at each ‘consumer lab’.

I knew there would be slight differences in the printing quality and prices but I was quite shocked at HOW different the colour of the prints came out, below I will go through them all alongside our own ‘control’ (Pictorial Photography) lab print for comparison one by one.

I chose a common size of 5x7” and a paper stock of matt rather than gloss where the option was available. I personally prefer matt; it is easier to judge the print quality and has less reflection or glare when photographing the prints for the purposes of this blog.

I photographed the prints under controlled studio lighting so what you see on the screen is as accurate as I can get it (your own screen calibration may affect the colours but you will still see the differences)

Firstly, Freeprints, this is an app which seems to be used by a lot of people. The app offers a certain amount of free prints to each customer every month at 6x4”, hence why this print is smaller than the control print. They only charge for postage and any prints or upgrades above what is offered for free. I felt that because the prints being free is Freeprints main selling point, it would be fairer to use the free option as we also have a price comparison for each consumer lab.

This print looks quite washed out and has lines in the darker areas, like the sky and the girl’s trousers. Below is a closer photo so that you can see the lines.

I took a USB to Boots to print these but found that I could have printed from my phone, an iPad or even the cloud by logging into a source like Dropbox from the machine which is rather handy. The first Boots I went to was at Kinnaird Park in Edinburgh but all 6 of the machines were out of order! I went to Berwick the next day and their machines were working.

I thought the Boots print was okay but a little more yellow than I would have liked and it has cropped a bit off the bottom of the image so overall it is a passable 3/5.

The colour was very off in the Photobox prints; the girls have a rather yellow complexion, and although the paper quality (fujicolour professional) and thickness was good, I am very unhappy with the colour of this print. See below for another Photobox print that is also extremely yellow.

The Max Spielmann print was from Asda Tweedmouth, although I tried Asda Dunbar first and after going through the whole process it turned out that there was no paper left in the machine which was very annoying!

There is also a Max Spielmann in Timpsons on Hide Hill in Berwick and it looks like the same kind of machine. I would *presume* that the same company calibrates and looks after these machines and if that is the case then it is great as these prints came out best for colour and print quality. The print is glossy, there was no option for matt, and it has to be printed with a white border which is slightly annoying if you don’t have a steady hand for cutting, or a paper trimmer.

The Snapfish prints arrived quickly but the paper is thin, the printing looks faded and has been cropped top and bottom which has chopped off the girls feet in this photo.

Below is a price comparison chart for the photo printing places listed, I printed 10 photographs at each place and if postage was required it has been included in the price shown as total cost.

In conclusion: The two local printing machines I used in Berwick surprisingly had the best results for colour quality, with Asda (Max Spielmann) coming out top in colour quality even though it has a white border and is a glossy print. The Asda (Max Spielmann) price was middle of the range so this is where I would advise printing this year*

Out of the three online labs Snapfish came out best but I would not recommend them based on these results.

*Please note, consumer printing machines / photographic lab colour and quality can change depending on many factors, i.e. whether they have been calibrated recently, paper type used etc. This blog is meant as a helpful guide and information as to what to look out for when choosing where to print your photographs.

If you are looking for beautiful, vibrant images of the very best quality - as your photographer intended them to look, skip buying the digital files and order professional prints directly from your photographer. This way your images will be checked by a highly experienced colour technician as they are printed. Our professional photography lab does not use any machine auto-correction or print your files without them being visually checked by the trained eyes of lab staff. We guarantee this care and attention on every single order.

I hope this has helpful and that everyone is delighted with the prints they receive on Christmas Day.

P.S. I’d love to know what you have done with your digital files, have you created any bespoke printed gifts? Let us know in the comments, you never know, you might inspire someone looking for gift ideas!