Professional Albums vs. What You Get at a Discount Store

With all the public interest in hobby photography, retailers have taken a hint and have really increased their inventories in consumer available photo albums. The coming forth of quality, affordable "pro-sumer" digital cameras in mainstream marketing has unleashed hundreds of thousands of people who are willing to delve into picture taking. And usually with pretty good results!

While good equipment alone does NOT make a good picture (but that's a later post), it sure helps, and it has helped a lot of people make nice photographs of their kids, families, pets, and a plethora of other things right in their own backyards. But as probably many of you have already discovered as you click away on your digital point-and-clicks, those pictures taken so often never reach a viewable medium. Many will remain lost on some hard drive in some computer, or on some random, unlabeled CD, or worse yet, on a SD card, still in the camera itself. Before the digital revolution, we were forced to walk our rolls of 35mm film into the local Walgreens and get it DEVELOPED in order to see what cherished memories we may have captured. Now, there's no such urgency. We can just look at our pictures right there in the camera!

So, getting to the point. Once we ARE finally disciplined enough to get those digital images printed, what should we do with them? The answer is easy. We drive to the local Target, buy up a cute little photo album (and some, really, are quite cool!), insert our 4x6's, and cherish them forever. So why not just do this with our wedding pictures, you ask?

There IS a difference between consumer albums and professional albums. Besides cost (yeah, that's the kicker), the quality is just not comparable. A lot of the cost difference depends on what your photographer feels is a fair "up charge" for their time ordering, assembling, printing, and organizing your album. Surely, though, in all likelihood, your pro album is just going to cost more than what you can pick up at the closest big-box retailer.

All professional albums that I supply are acid free - meaning that in 10 years the natural properties of the surface that your picture is contacting will not damage or degrade your print over time. Most of my albums carry a lifetime warranty. All the prints are done on archival, professional grade photographic paper, and many have a protective "spray" applied to resist damage due to UV, fingerprints, and the natural acids in our skin that can damage pictures. They are professionally bound, professionally mounted, and professionally presented. As I mentioned in a previous post - you spend a lot of money, even on a budget wedding and should demand the best for your photos. After all, your pictures will be one of the only tangible memories of all of your effort, hard work, and devotion that goes into your day.

Why present those memories in anything but the best, longest lasting, durable, and safest way possible? Please feel free to visit the website of my main album supplier, Renaissance Albums, for examples of what a top quality album consists of. Check back soon... I'm currently assembling a VERY COOL flush mount album for a couple whose wedding I shot last winter - it'll have a brushed aluminum cover with a leather spine and I'm really excited to see the final result after it's all put together. It's going to be absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! Pics as soon as I get it in!

Thanks for visiting, and feel free to contact me at any time!