Digital Pictures vs. Prints

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

I may have mentioned before that I do a lot of photography for the paper and just for fun. I have a website with a public side and a private side. The public side allows people to see pictures, but it hides names and doesn't allow downloads or ordering (with certain exceptions). The private side allows free downloads and ordering prints "at cost" (I don't make any money).

So, I just got an E-mail that a mother just ordered prints...176 of them. The kid in the pictures has 181 pictures online. I used to feel guilty when people would order prints but I got over that: I don't make money off my students, and the prints are a lot better quality than you get downloading them and printing them locally. But, it did surprise me that she has ordered a copy of almost every picture I have of the kid.

I'm not going to criticize the amount she ordered. It's her son. But it did get me to thinking about photographs in general. I like digital photographs. I can hand someone my iPad and show them pictures. When my parents visited this spring, I hooked my iPad up to a computer monitor and showed them pictures. A 96 year old man at my church is comfortable looking at pictures on my iPad! I'll admit to a certain "cheapness", but I will only order a print if it's really special and something I want to display. I could also be tempted by a photo book.

So, I'm just curious: do you all like the digital/computer version of pictures or do you get prints?

 

[MacDaddy]

Very interesting topic, as I'm struggling with the print/digital dilemma myself.

Several years ago, I spent months digitizing all of my prints. Over 4000 of them. I've kept up with keeping all of my new photos in both a digital format and print for albums. I recently stopped using my 35mm camera, and have stuck with my digital. I have a box of nearly 200 prints sitting and waiting for me to buy new albums to put them in. And I told Mrs. Mac that it may be about time to stop making prints.

Don't have a solid answer for you, as I still like to sit down with an album from time to time and flip through. Sort of the same thing as going with an e-reader, versus paper books.

 

[LisaC]

When the princess was born, I think I ordered at least one copy of every picture made of her. Now, I have thousands of them stored in cloud storage where I can share at will.

 

[Guard Dad]

I am concerned that digital pics won't survive for future generations to enjoy. Most of us older people have drawers full of photos that we've collected over the years. I'm sure we've all gone to our parents homes and dug out pictures that were decades old.

But will digital pics live that long? Hard drives crash, computers break. Even if burned to discs or digital media, will that be compatible with future technology? Can we count on cloud storage?

 

[LisaC]

I am concerned that digital pics won't survive for future generations to enjoy. Most of us older people have drawers full of photos that we've collected over the years. I'm sure we've all gone to our parents homes and dug out pictures that were decades old.

But will digital pics live that long? Hard drives crash, computers break. Even if burned to discs or digital media, will that be compatible with future technology? Can we count on cloud storage?

The fact that media has changed so much over the years (remember the floppy disks?) is what made me move over to cloud storage. I tend to think that it's going to be around for awhile is going to become the next big thing in storage. From a work perspective, we're starting to see cloud storage accounts coming into play because executives are copying data out to their clouds so they can have it on hand regardless of their location. We're also using extranets (also similar to clouds) for file sharing - it's a great way to share documents and data without having to have someone on site to review thousands of pages.

 

[Guard Dad]

I am concerned that digital pics won't survive for future generations to enjoy. Most of us older people have drawers full of photos that we've collected over the years. I'm sure we've all gone to our parents homes and dug out pictures that were decades old.

But will digital pics live that long? Hard drives crash, computers break. Even if burned to discs or digital media, will that be compatible with future technology? Can we count on cloud storage?

The fact that media has changed so much over the years (remember the floppy disks?) is what made me move over to cloud storage. I tend to think that it's going to be around for awhile is going to become the next big thing in storage. From a work perspective, we're starting to see cloud storage accounts coming into play because executives are copying data out to their clouds so they can have it on hand regardless of their location. We're also using extranets (also similar to clouds) for file sharing - it's a great way to share documents and data without having to have someone on site to review thousands of pages.

I worry about security of cloud storage though.

 

[LisaC]

I am concerned that digital pics won't survive for future generations to enjoy. Most of us older people have drawers full of photos that we've collected over the years. I'm sure we've all gone to our parents homes and dug out pictures that were decades old.

But will digital pics live that long? Hard drives crash, computers break. Even if burned to discs or digital media, will that be compatible with future technology? Can we count on cloud storage?

The fact that media has changed so much over the years (remember the floppy disks?) is what made me move over to cloud storage. I tend to think that it's going to be around for awhile is going to become the next big thing in storage. From a work perspective, we're starting to see cloud storage accounts coming into play because executives are copying data out to their clouds so they can have it on hand regardless of their location. We're also using extranets (also similar to clouds) for file sharing - it's a great way to share documents and data without having to have someone on site to review thousands of pages.

I worry about security of cloud storage though.

It's probably as safe as internet banking... I've never had any issues with security. In fact, I can see when someone accesses, updates or uploads a new file - I get a little pop up on my computer.

 

[Wayner83]

I have 70,000 digital pictures in my library, but I have only printed maybe 300 of them. I only ever print them if the wife wants to put them in a frame in the house. Otherwise they are displayed on screensavers, iPads, iPhones, or the like. I just do not see the point in paying for printing unless it is to be displayed on the wall or something.

 

[gog8tors]

I'm one that will print only a select picture or two. I do use the home printer to do this. Yes, I use the photo ink, and the highest quality papers.
I also store the other pictures on in photo bucket, and/or a external hard drive.

 

[mei lan]

The purist in me likes prints only. But the Type A in me does digital backed up to an external hard drive. Have read about some companies that will print a book of pics for you and bind into a book. Might do that someday.

 

[MacDaddy]

Mei Lan, Mrs. Mac and I had our wedding album printed up by an Internet company using digital pictures. We sat down and arranged it, added comments, etc. Turned out pretty nice.

I finished putting away the over 300 prints I was behind on. Kept telling Mrs. Mac "This is the last time I do this!" And yet, it was a lot of fun to revisit the fun we had over the past year.

 

[CPT Morgan]

I am concerned that digital pics won't survive for future generations to enjoy. Most of us older people have drawers full of photos that we've collected over the years. I'm sure we've all gone to our parents homes and dug out pictures that were decades old.

But will digital pics live that long? Hard drives crash, computers break. Even if burned to discs or digital media, will that be compatible with future technology? Can we count on cloud storage?

That's an interesting point because we used to have "floppy" discs to store them on. PC's and laptops don't come with those anymore so anything stored on them can't be viewed.

 

[CPT Morgan]

I have 70,000 digital pictures in my library, but I have only printed maybe 300 of them. I only ever print them if the wife wants to put them in a frame in the house. Otherwise they are displayed on screensavers, iPads, iPhones, or the like. I just do not see the point in paying for printing unless it is to be displayed on the wall or something.

I only print those digital pictures that I really want to hang on the wall so anyone who comes to our house can see them. It is nice having some pictures on the wall.

 

[mei lan]

Mei Lan, Mrs. Mac and I had our wedding album printed up by an Internet company using digital pictures. We sat down and arranged it, added comments, etc. Turned out pretty nice.

I finished putting away the over 300 prints I was behind on. Kept telling Mrs. Mac "This is the last time I do this!" And yet, it was a lot of fun to revisit the fun we had over the past year.

Well done!