Digital Photo Finishing - What Am I Getting And How Do I Get The Best?

What quality are my photos going to be when I use an online photo finisher?

The quality of your photos can be anywhere on a very large scale when they are printed online. I recommend finding a informational site of recommended printers to narrow down the competition to a printer that will deliver the quality that you expect. After finding someone who will meet all of your expectations then I recommend sticking with them.

What paper will they be printed on?

They paper used by professional photo finishers to print digital pictures is usually a high quality print paper with different gloss finishes. The paper is similar to the feel of your prints from a film camera but the process for developing is very different. When film is use the paper reacts to light shined on it through the negatives. The digital paper is regular paper made to copy the feel of film paper. Almost always it is equivalent to the high quality digital photo paper that you can buy at places like Office Max or any other office supply store.

Will they look like film photographs?

It is amazing but they do. There are no printer lines like we are used to when the photos are printed on your personal printer at home. The only drawback is that there is no digital camera in the world that can match the clarity of a film photograph.

How do I get the best quality possible?

99% of the quality of your photos will depend on the number of mega pixels that your camera has and the quality of the lens. The mega pixels will decide how much detail is in your picture, the higher the mega pixels the better. Normal mega pixels now are between 3 and 6. The one thing to remember is that if the lens is not that high of quality then no matter how many mega pixels your camera has the pictures will never be very clear. For instance my family has an old 1.6 mega pixel Sony Cybershot camera with a Carl Ziess lens which is really high quality. The pictures are great and our 3.5 mega pixel camera still does not compare. The Carl Ziess lens is finely ground and can focus a clearer picture on the element of the camera that records the digital information. With a good lens and a high mega pixel camera your pictures should look perfect.

To view our recommended sources for digital photo printing online, visit this page: Photo Mugs.

Mindi Haehl is the owner of an informational digital photo printing website.