How to Print Fantastic Photos at Home
I will be the first to say that I am not an expert in the field of taking photos, or a tech expert when it comes to printers and printing. What I can say after the 20+ years of raising a family of four, and taking literally thousands upon thousands of photos, is that I am picky. I know a good photo when I see it. Likewise, I can also tell when something is off, either color, sharpness, framing, or the clarity of the photo.
Years ago I made sure to get to know the printers where I went to have my rolls of film developed. If something did not look right, I would ask them to reprint until I was happy with the results. Fast forward, and now in the digital age we have more photos than we can ever have imagined, and the shops that had people that printed photos have mostly disappeared.
I began my quest to find an online service that would print photos that I would be happy with. I tried quite a few different places, and out of these I was happiest with mpix and persnickety prints. Yet, the process was laborious (all that uploading), and I still was not always happy with the results. And then what if I wanted just one more print? Or a different size? I had already done my bit to try to get the best price and shipping mix, so my options were slim. As a scrapbooker, this was a nuisance since I knew what photos I wanted or needed… as soon as I sat down to work on my pages!
I knew there had to be a better solution for me. I had owned several canon ink jet printers over the years and dabbled with printing my own photos from time to time. Then over the last year or so, I hit that sweet spot where my husband retired, my kids got older and started driving and gaining responsibility for their activities, and I ended up with a lot more time to focus on all the album projects I wanted to complete. I decided I was going to figure out the best way to get photos that had the quality I wanted for my albums.
After researching and reading numerous reviews, I landed upon the Canon pro-100 printer which you can see here. This baby is a beast, but it was on sale for a ridiculous low price, and the large format (I thought) was going to be perfect. And the photos from this printer are stunning. I just don’t know how I could have missed that this printer does not print 12x12 borderless! So, since that feature was on my must-have list, I began researching again. My search brought me to the Canon Crafter’s All in One, model TS9521C, which you can see here. The reviews were good enough that I had to give this one a try. The rest is history, I absolutely LOVE this printer, and have a video with all the details that you can watch for more information and see the results for yourself.
Of course the other half of the equation to good pictures, besides a good printer, is good paper. So I began my research again. The company I kept hearing about, red river paper, had sample packs, so I ordered some and started there. I have not used any other paper since. I am so happy with the results and quality of their paper, I have no need to look elsewhere. My favorites are the UltraPro luster, a bright white paper with a beautiful texture and richness when the ink is applied, found here. The polar luster metallic which is stunning for travel photos or to give that shimmer when you need it, found here. And the matte photo paper, excellent for paper and craft projects, found here. If you want to see for yourself the range of papers, then I recommend ordering the samplers for yourself, which can be found here!
If you are interested in the specifications and archival quality, you can read up on that here. Red River has tremendous resources for more information about printers, ink, settings, and cost. Just hop on over to their website at redrivercatalog.com
As for ink, I have been so pleased with the quality of Canon ink, I have only ordered that. I did find the XL cartridges do seem to give a little better value. You can see those here.
I know printing at home is not for everyone, so I encourage you to give it some thought. Factors to consider would be the cost of the printer, paper and ink, as well as the time it takes to print at home. For me, I found the cost of choosing a good online printer and the cost of the paper and ink to print at home to be about the same. When I considered being able to adjust the size of the photos I wanted for my albums, combined with the ability to print on demand so I could have exactly what I wanted, when I needed it, printing at home became the best choice for me. I know now whenever I am ready to scrapbook, my photos are just a few clicks away!