Several months ago I taught a basic photography class to a group of nine scrapbookers. We went over both digital photography as well as film photography and we talked about the importance of organizing your photographs for ease of scrapbooking.
Surprisingly I learned that of the nine women present that night, only four regularly printed photographs. Two ladies admitted to having several rolls of film at home that have not been developed along with hundreds of digital photographs just sitting on their computer. The other three used digital and one lady admitted to having over a thousand photographs on her computer and CDs from years past that she still has not developed. All of them mentioned that the cost of printing or development was what was keeping them from getting them printed.
This got me to thinking that there needed to be an area in my classes devoted to helping these women get those photographs printed, while saving the most money.
Here are the tips I now share in my Basic Photography Class.
First, if you have the option of getting doubles printed from film, do it right when you are getting them developed. It costs a lot less to get doubles than to have additional individual prints made later. It also allows more flexibility and creativity to be used, as there is no worry about destroying the one copy you have.
Second, avoid one hour photography places like the plague. They charge much more to get film developed or digital prints made than other resources. Check into online photo printing for the best deals, and often they have specials where you get a certain number for free.
Third, get your photographs organized so you don’t forget what you have had printed. I store my photographs by date to make it easier to find what I am looking for and also to make it easier to use dates on scrapbook layouts.
Fourth, when using digital photography, upload the current months photographs on the last day of the month to a photo site of your choice and order prints. If you stay current, it will be a lot less costly than trying to do it all at one time.
Fifth, be aware of specials, free prints and other incentives at various photo print processors and take advantage of these deals to save the most money.
Sixth, if you have a huge backlog of photographs to get printed, follow number four and upload a months worth with that current months photographs. It will allow you to get backlog of photographs printed without spending a bundle at one time.
My last piece of advice is simply to stay caught up with printing. Do you have any ways to save money with your film or print photographs?
Nicole Humphrey writes articles for the Scrapbooking Blog and for the Frugal Blog. She also guest blogs on a variety of topics. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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