A fair bit of what you are paying for from the fine art printers over the camera shop is in the cost of the paper. They are using what are commonly called 'rag' papers, which have a lot more texture than a typical modern photo print. These papers can be great for certain styles of photography, but can also be very unsuited for some photographs.
Choosing the right paper for the photo is something that you, as the artist, would need to do, based on your vision of the final gallery work, and if you are not familiar with these papers and the look and texture of them, it would be very easy to make the wrong choice.
As such, as it sounds like you don't have much printing experience, especially with rag papers, I would steer away from this simply because there is too much potential for disappointment.
If you've never printed any of your photos before, there's no question that you will be stunned by how they look when you get even a Costco print. However, a good photo will almost certainly be reproduced more accurately if you use a higher-end printing company. Whether that's worth anything to you is something only you can decide. If you do choose to use Costco, make sure your files are saved in sRGB, as they do not support wider colour gamuts. Also remember the quality will partly depend on the staff at your individual Costco location -- if they have an enthusiast who takes the time to regularly calibrate the printers and make sure everything is running smoothly, the results will be better than if the operator doesn't really care.
Bear in mind that more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better. Neither Unique Photo nor Dot Dotsons have enough information on their website to give me any confidence they'll do a better job than Costco -- they don't provide proofing profiles, they don't state what colour spaces they accept, and so on. None of these inspire confidence that they are doing anything more than a Costco-like service at a slower speed and higher cost. That doesn't mean that they're not better than Costco -- they may both just have uninformative websites.
Personally I would recommend Bay Photo -- they are one of the best quality printing labs in the US, and because of their popularity, offer a low-cost service while still providing excellent results. 8x10s are $3.50 each and I believe shipping is free.
Incidentally, 8x10 is an extremely small print for a gallery display. Is this the maximum size permitted?
Beth, are you in the Portland area before the show? I could print it for you on my Canon photo printer. Better than Costco, though maybe not better than the fine art printing. You could even bring whatever paper you would like it on. Let me know.
@abirkill
Thanks for all the info, Alexis. That all makes sense, and you're right that I don't know enough to even know what I want. It's just for a "mayor's art show" not any of the many other things it can mean to be in a gallery. I could make it bigger, though... I hadn't thought of that. I figure it might sell, and that would be fun.
I'll check out Bay Photo.
@irisn
That's sweet, Iris!
I actually will be in Portland on Sep 27 for a board meeting. I have to rush home afterwards, but if it were convenient for you I could stop by before... Hm, how would I go about getting paper?
update: Costco can't print in a 3x4 format, and can't leave white space instead of cropping. I guess I could add blank canvas to the image, but it was easy to order 9x12 at bay photo. Thanks for the tip, @abirkill .
Actually having some photos printed after years of just leaving them on my hard drive was probably the most exciting thing I have done with my photography - contrary to what I was expecting, I actually found that they looked better! Have fun!
I am not in the US but most higher end printers have paper samples packs that you can get or buy to see the papers they use. I find this very useful as some pictures are better on rougher/more artistic papers, other suit gloss and other more matte so it is useful to have then you can make an informed decision based on the images you want printed
@abirkill, Bay Photo was awesome. Thank you again! I felt like a bit of an imposter when signing up, but they were quick and affordable and the print looks good. Yay!
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Choosing the right paper for the photo is something that you, as the artist, would need to do, based on your vision of the final gallery work, and if you are not familiar with these papers and the look and texture of them, it would be very easy to make the wrong choice.
As such, as it sounds like you don't have much printing experience, especially with rag papers, I would steer away from this simply because there is too much potential for disappointment.
If you've never printed any of your photos before, there's no question that you will be stunned by how they look when you get even a Costco print. However, a good photo will almost certainly be reproduced more accurately if you use a higher-end printing company. Whether that's worth anything to you is something only you can decide. If you do choose to use Costco, make sure your files are saved in sRGB, as they do not support wider colour gamuts. Also remember the quality will partly depend on the staff at your individual Costco location -- if they have an enthusiast who takes the time to regularly calibrate the printers and make sure everything is running smoothly, the results will be better than if the operator doesn't really care.
Bear in mind that more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better. Neither Unique Photo nor Dot Dotsons have enough information on their website to give me any confidence they'll do a better job than Costco -- they don't provide proofing profiles, they don't state what colour spaces they accept, and so on. None of these inspire confidence that they are doing anything more than a Costco-like service at a slower speed and higher cost. That doesn't mean that they're not better than Costco -- they may both just have uninformative websites.
Personally I would recommend Bay Photo -- they are one of the best quality printing labs in the US, and because of their popularity, offer a low-cost service while still providing excellent results. 8x10s are $3.50 each and I believe shipping is free.
Incidentally, 8x10 is an extremely small print for a gallery display. Is this the maximum size permitted?
Thanks for all the info, Alexis. That all makes sense, and you're right that I don't know enough to even know what I want. It's just for a "mayor's art show" not any of the many other things it can mean to be in a gallery. I could make it bigger, though... I hadn't thought of that. I figure it might sell, and that would be fun.
I'll check out Bay Photo.
That's sweet, Iris!
I actually will be in Portland on Sep 27 for a board meeting. I have to rush home afterwards, but if it were convenient for you I could stop by before... Hm, how would I go about getting paper?