Best Site for Crisp, Clear Photo Prints?

[PirateLover]

Hi! I know many of you host your photos on various websites. I have uploaded some to Webshots, Snapfish, and Facebook over the years for sharing but have never ordered prints. Now I find myself needing to get prints done for our wedding AND I have been assigned the task of scanning in old family photos circa early to mid 1900s ( Mostly my grandpop's Civilian Conservation Corps photos). These are the ones I'm more concerned with because they have lost a lot of quality to begin with from fading or getting crinkled or ripped over the years, and they loose a bit of quality being scanned in as well. There are too many to get them all professionally retouched (the most important ones will be given to a photoshop expert we know) but I can retouch them a bit myself and I'd like to make sure the prints I order will at least look as good as the image uploaded to the site.
Are they any sites that you recommend over others? Why? Thanks.

[Suz36]

I've only ordered through Shutterfly, and have always been very happy with the prints - nice bright colors. I always have them shipped to me, I don't do the pickup at Target because it's just not the same quality. I've only ever done my own photos, so I've had no experience with processing old photos. Good luck!

[Zippy 1]

I have used only Shutterfly also. I have ordered prints and photobooks from them. I have been very happy with the quality. I have scanned some older pictures in and have been happy with the quality. I also have them shipped to me direct. Good Luck

[DizneyRox]

The key will be to scan them in at least at the same DPI as they will be printed. I'd say you're looking at 300 DPI at least for photos.

I'd also NOT save them as JPG images either, if you can, go BMP which won't compress/alter the colors. JPG may introduce banding, even saving with high quality settings.

You may have some issues with uploading images of that size. For important pictures, I've used AmericanFrame dot com for printing/matting/framing. They have been great! I've got a few pieces that I'm very happy with, including one that 20x30... If you're looking for 4x6 prints I'd go elsewhere...

[PirateLover]

Suz36 and Zippy 1 I will look into shutterfly, a few people recommended that to my mother as well.


The key will be to scan them in at least at the same DPI as they will be printed. I'd say you're looking at 300 DPI at least for photos.

I'd also NOT save them as JPG images either, if you can, go BMP which won't compress/alter the colors. JPG may introduce banding, even saving with high quality settings.

Thanks for the tips about scanning. I'll start looking more carefully at that. I think they were automatically saving as JPG and I didn't even think about that. I know my wedding proofs from the professional photographer were BMP and you're right, the files were huge but the clarity was amazing. Most of the images won't be framed, we just want extra copies for other family members/backups etc. I'll look into that other site for the most important images. Thanks!!

[RedSoxFan]

I have used Shutterfly and Photoworks --- both were great. Photoworks makes great books too.

[BellesRose]

I only use Kodak, though they are not the cheapest to use.