Which stores have the best quality printing Black & White digital pictures?

Question

I have a Digital Picture of my wedding witch I retouch a little bit on Photoshop, I want to print it on 8"x10" on Black and White. I tried CVS but I came out too light and on Glossy paper, that's the best they can do there they said. My friend told me that some Walmarts have an special printer for b&w. The picture size is 4MB Is that enough for an 8"x10"? I am looking for the best I can get without expending that much money. Any ideas?What should I ask in the store?? Any term I need to know??Thanks.

Answer 1

I have not found any satisfactory printing from stores. When I want to have black and white versions printed, I go online to giclee printers. Your wedding photo will be printed on archival quality paper, which means it will last for a long time. You simply need to download the image to the provider. Shop around on the internet for the best price as they have really come down over the past year.

Two of the best sites for non-professionals are:

http://www.imagekind.com
http://www.cafepress.com

Many sites not only print the picture, they will frame it, too, for a very good value.

Just be careful about the paper you choose: I don't like glossy, either.

Answer 2

Go to a real camera store with a trained and experienced printer. Ask whether they use real black & white paper or not.

Most don't because this paper costs about four times as much as the average color paper used in the "box stores" (WM, CVS, Walgreen's, you-name-it)

They're in the business of printing quick and cheap, not well.

And the problem is - when you ak for a B&W print - they can't do any better.

In fact, this is a pretty good way to see how far off anybody's equipment calibration and settings are. Ask for a B&W print. Look at the results. If it's a little green, or a little magenta (because it's being printed on color paper) that will tell you how far of ALL their pictures are THAT DAY! And the next day it may be off in an entirely different direction.

The real pros clean their machine EVERY DAY, and Calibrate it before beginning to print EVERY DAY.

They have to. Because they can only survive by providing the quality of service and product that professional photographers are willing to pay for.

If you can't find a REAL photo shop in your town (They're getting RARE!), look for a friend with a decent Inkjet printer that has more than one Black cartridge - something like the Epson K3 technology). Convert your image to MODE>GRAYSCALE before printing.

OOps! I forgot something important. After you convert the file to grayscale, readjust the image in Levels (NOT AUTO LEVELS).

You have Photoshop, right? Choose ADJUSTMENT> LEVELS AND ADJUST THE HISTOGRAM.
I have a tutorial on this at my website (See link below)

Answer 3

With a digital photo nobody out there is going to give you a real black and white photo printed on black and white paper. The image will be printed with color technology, but the color will be just black and white. Black is a combination of the all the colors in many printing techniques. From my experience the blacks have not been true black but maybe a really dark blue or really deep red that looks black. When viewing them next to a true black and white (from film and real photo paper) their slight color tinge is apparent. This is most likely a printing calibration issue. I would suggest not going to any department store. Go to an actual photo printing place. These people just do photo printing and do not have to concern themselves with keeping their stock of diapers and shampoo. Let them know that you want this print printed black and white and to pay attention to the white balance. Tell them you want your blacks black and your whites white. You will also be able to select your photo finish. They should have several to choose from.

The file size does not mean a whole lot when determining how large you can print. It is the resolution that matters. For an 8x10 photo nust multiply 200 by your dimensions. (8x200=1600 and 10x200=2000). Your image size should be at least 1600 pixels by 2000 pixels. This is a minimum. I usually go for 300, but 200 will work ok.

Now if your image was underexposed or over exposed, or out of focus there is little the printer can do. If you have a bad photo of a great moment, in the end you will have a bad print of that great moment.

After seeing other answers I want to elaborate on a point. Wallgreens, Wal-Mart, Target...... All of these have the philosophy of quantity over quality. They give you the most (in terms of numbers) for the less (in terms of money). Now I take it the most you are looking for is not numbers but quality. For this DO NOT got to a insty print place. Go to a professional.

Answer 4

Walgreens

Answer 5

If you want the best quality, then you need to go to a pro lab.

I recommend:
MPIX

Upload them and they ship the prints right to your door.