After learning about Flickr’s new printing service last week, I decided to check the cost of prints. I want to build a physical portfolio, and have been unhappy with the quality of prints from local shops—I expect to get what I paid for (not a ton) and even then have been disappointed. So I ordered two prints from Flickr, both 8×10″, both black and white.
I only did this because I can’t afford to print my entire (current) portfolio at once, and these two were the images I was most displeased with from local shops. Unfortunately, that means this post won’t give you and information about color quality.
I ordered one glossy print (I normally hate glossy, but wanted to see what it was like), and one “lustre” print. Here’s how it turned out.
The photos came in a decent rigid envelope:
The prints themselves were wrapped in cellophane and strengthened with a card back, which is good from a support perspective:
Here are the two prints side-by-side:
No damage or anything, which I’d expect to be the case. I’m a big fan of the “lustre” paper. Here are two images showing the texture:
As I expected, I can’t stand the gloss at all:
I can’t actually show you this, but the paper isn’t terribly heavy in terms of GSM. I don’t have a scale to quantify it. All I can say is that it’s light, but heavier than one of my local shops’ paper, and about the same as the other.
The prints cost £2.08 ($2.57) each and shipped to Ireland from the UK in just two days from the date of shipping, which was 4 days after I ordered them. Shipping was more expensive, at £7.20 ($8.89) total. Total cost including VAT was £11.35/€12.64/$13.96. So at about €6/$6.63 per print. I’m happy with the quality and will order a few more in lustre, particularly in color.
Hope this helps some of you in any way!
About the author: Shaka1277 is a 27-year-old grad student currently studying towards a Chemistry PhD. He took up photography at the age of 14, using a Fujifilm Finepix J27, and works part-time as an event and portrait photographer. You can find more of his photography on his website, or by following him on Instagram and Flickr. This post was also published here, and is being republished with permission.
