Prints vs. digital photos

Digital photos are the most common format for professional photos nowadays, which shouldn’t be surprising given the massive digital platforms, fast PCs, and smartphones we have at our disposal. And while there’s nothing wrong with taking home “just the digitals”, a print shows you your photos in an entirely different light.

The quality of digital photos is limited to the two things: the resolution of the photograph, and the quality of the display. It should be no surprise that smartphone screens generally lack the color depth, contrast, and detail of professionally calibrated monitors like the one I use to edit photos. And while full-resolution digitals retain all of the detail and dynamic range of the original photo, much of those qualities will be lost on a lesser quality screen. Moreover, web-sized digitals — which I include in every photoshoot — while fantastic for sharing on social media or sending over a text message, will show a number of artifacts and an overall lack of detail, sharpness, and dynamic range when printed.

I keep a gallery of wall art at my studio, along with sample albums, because I want my clients to see what a huge difference prints really make. The color, the contrast, the sharpness and detail — it’s all dramatically better in a print. With wall art, I sell only metallic prints because metal prints produce impressively lifelike images. While I’m a firm believer in no-pressure sales, I think that planning on purchasing prints and/or an album can make your photoshoot much more memorable by preserving your photos as they were intended to be seen.

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