In this digital era, it has never been easier to take photographs and share them with your loved ones. What once was a trip down memory lane with everyone passing around holiday snaps taken on a disposable camera, is now a quick scroll from side to side on a smartphone. Here at Pixa Prints, we love technology but we also love the art of photography! We’ve put together a list of our top five reasons why we think photo printing is still cool.
Photo printing is more personal
Whether you enjoy taking photographs of new places, events you’ve been to or just like snapping pictures of your loved ones having a good time, when you use a smartphone to do so, the chances are that you will save the photo to your phone and never do anything with it again.
Posting photos to social media is a great way to share your experiences with others and scrolling back through your phone can be a nice way to reminisce but nothing beats having a physical copy of the photo itself.
Call us old fashioned, but passing around photographs and telling people the story behind the lens is something many of us have been brought up with. It brings people together and is a great way to look back on treasured memories. Whilst the embarrassment of your mum digging out the family photos isn’t one to be missed, the art of sharing something personal, is.
Photo printing is art
Now, we’re not saying that there is nothing artistic about snapping your photos, applying a filter and uploading it to Instagram. But the art of photo taking is, well, art.
If you enjoy taking photographs things like lighting, exposure, framing and other factors will all come into play when you line up to take your picture. Capturing something on camera, which you have spotted and appreciated with your naked eye, is an emotional and artistic thing. Holding a finished print in your hands can be much more satisfying than seeing your photo on a screen.
Photo printing is easy and inexpensive
The world of digital is ever changing and whilst this comes with many opportunities and benefits, there is no predicting what will come next. Technology evolves, devices need to be updated and this can be costly. What if your device runs out of storage? What if your files backed up on a hard-drive suddenly vanish? What if your computer changes how it reads image files?
The physics of how light bounces off a piece of paper and how your eyes process it, is not going to change. Yes, photo printing does still cost, however, it is nowhere near as expensive as it used to be. Plus you can now select which photos you want to print, in what size and the quantity. Once you have printed your photos, providing you take care of them, they will last you a lifetime.
It allows you to display your favourite photographs
One of the main reasons for photo printing is to frame and display your photos. Whether you are adding personal touches to your new home, are kitting out your room at uni or are simply gifting a loved one, printing your photos is a great way to remind someone of a person, time or place that means something to you. Without photo printing, it would be very, very costly to display your photos. Imagine having to buy multiple digital photo-frames for every room!
Photo printing is cool
We may be slightly biased but we think that photo printing is still cool – from the retro effect sepia-toned prints right to the bring-your-Instagram-to-life polaroids. Whether you are developing prints from a camera film, printing from a digital device or using an instant Polaroid camera, capturing a great image and printing it out is pretty cool, much cooler than it living in the depths of your iPhone camera album, never to be seen again.
These are just some of the reasons that we believe in photo printing. For photography tips and other great articles, check out our blog page.