Places to print photos in the GTA?

[T3G]

Hi all,

In the past couple of years or so, I have been starting to print out some of my transit photos, usually the most valuable ones that I would like to have physical copies of. I'm planning to do another print set in the very near future, but today I made a startling discovery that has put the whole venture in doubt. I've already gotten 200 hotos printed, but every photo printed has the top and bottom edges cut off. If the photo is of an object far away and correctly centered, then it's not a big deal, but if the photo is more detailed, it could be problematic. For example, on this photo that I have printed, the fleet number gets cut off all together:

Can anyone in the GTA recommend any good places to get photos printed where the edges are not cut off? I can't say I'm too big a fan of this.

Thanks!

[M. Parsons]

Presumably, you're getting 4X6's printed?

It's a result of the aspect ratio of your image vs the aspect ratio of the print being made. It is very likely, dependent upon how/ who is printing the images.

If you're ordering the images through a kiosk and have some control over the process, you'll need to take the time to zoom out to get the entire image into the print.

If you're submitting the images some other way for printing and have no control, you might be able to ask to have the image printed so that nothing gets cropped.

Either way, since your images look square, you'll have thick white boarders on the left and right sides of the print.

The only way to get them without a border would be if you can get the images printed off at some weird size... like 4X4 or 6X6.
I suspect most digital printers can handle custom sizes... I created a whole host of custom print channels back when I ran a lab and did all sorts of random stuff, sometimes even for customers, but not everyone will be so accommodating, or simply they don't have the pricing structure to do it.

[T3G]

Yeah you're right, I was getting 4x6s printed. The last order I put in was done at some independent print shop that had gone under, but this time I'll be getting it from Costco. I'll see if I can avoid having them be cropped at all, but I suppose that in the worst case scenario, white borders around the photo won't be a huge deal. 

[Xtrazsteve]

It's best to edit your images by yourself to fit the 2:3 ratio. That way you'll know what gets crop off before you print them. For you photo above, if you want the fleet number, crop off the bottom. You loose a bit of the seat but you'll still get to see the fleet number. There's no way to not loose anything if you print a 4x6 out of that photo.

The problem is because 2:3 ratio isn't for digital point and shoot cameras which produces a 4:5 ratio. It is impossible to not have anything crop off if you shot a picture using a P&S with a 4:5 ratio and expect to print a 4x6 picture. It's either you get the top/bottom crop off or an empty edge on both sides. DSLRs/mirrorless cameras produce a 2:3 image ratio which is much better for print. Back in the day, film also produce a 2:3 image ratio hence 4x6 was proper back then.

[Trans-Plan]

Costco does such a great job. Also, you can try VistaPrint and Print House too. 

[Loud-Invero]

Any Staples store

[Wayside Observer]

Downtown camera prints photos.  I think Northern Artists still does too.  I saw a guy at Downtown Camera a few years ago making the same complaint because he'd shot 6x6 square medium format film and whoever was in the lab arbitrarily cut his pictures down to fit them on the 4x6" print paper and he wasn't happy about the unilateral decision to crop and how to crop his pictures so he had his photos reprinted.

Most places will (would?) respect a request to print your photos uncropped.  The reason why pretty much all shops will crop non-2:3 aspect ratio pictures when printing on 4x6 paper is because customers frequently complain about unused space on the paper if they fit the image on it so no picture area is lost but leaves behind empty space.

[Orion 1200]

Try Annex Photos at 362 Bloor St. W., one block from Spadina Station. They have the same Fuji equipment and technology that Black's used to use. They're also available online at annexphoto.ca. Both the store and the website will allow you to crop the image (if necessary) based on the print size that you want.

[Wayside Observer]

1 hour ago, Orion 1200 said:

Try Annex Photos at 362 Bloor St. W., one block from Spadina Station. They have the same Fuji equipment and technology that Black's used to use. They're also available online at annexphoto.ca. Both the store and the website will allow you to crop the image (if necessary) based on the print size that you want.

They're doing entirely optical printing with no digital intermediate stage?

[M. Parsons]

7 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

They're doing entirely optical printing with no digital intermediate stage?

I doubt it. If it's the same Fuji equipment Black's used, I assume that would be Fuji Frontier's which make a digital scan of the image and then use lasers to expose the paper. 

[Seashore_518203]

I find that Black's has the best print quality when it comes to printing. They closed their stores but you can still print online at blacks.ca . The delivery time is very good and a lot of time they have specials where you do not have to pay for delivery if a certain quantity is printed.

[T3G]

Bumping this thread because I have a solution to my problem.

In 2019 I got a photobook printed by Blurb featuring all my photos of CLRV 4041. In light of my recent visit to Slovakia I have printed two further books with some of my top photo choices.

This is a pretty ideal solution, it's a lot easier to keep a book together than it is to keep individual photo prints, and it leaves room for typing up captions with information that may be relevant for me to know that I may not have otherwise remembered in old age, for example. There appears to be the odd photo that comes out darker than I'd like as a consequence of the types of colours - these I will edit brighter than I would've otherwise done so, re-export and get reprinted in future volumes - but as a sum of their parts I am very happy.