Usually people take pictures to show to other people or look at themselves later.  If you are not interested in either looking at the pictures later, or showing them to others, you can stop reading right here.

What Goes In Must Come Out

Internet publishing has now become a major means of photographic exchange, for both personal photos and business purposes. However, sometimes you or someone you know may want a print of your photos. There are several options. One is to do it yourself, with your own printer, either a dedicated photo printer, or one you can hook up to your computer, which you most likely own anyway as a digital darkroom and image storage device. You can also choose to have someone else make prints for you, either a service bureau or commercial printer, or one of the new breed of photo printers springing up on the web (such as Ofoto and  Photopoint).

Doing it yourself

The price of photo quality printers has fallen dramatically in the past year or so. There is a trade-off between initial purchase price and the cost of printing supplies. Laser printers are the most expensive printers in terms of initial price, but are the least expensive to operate.  Color laserjet printers are now available, but they are very expensive, and not really used for photographs.

Ink jet printers are the least expensive in initial cost, but cost the most per print. For photo quality printers at a reasonable price, however, you are pretty much limited to ink jet printers. Often ink jet printers need special six color ink cartridges to do photo-quality prints. Ink jet printers work by spattering, or jetting, ink onto the page in small drops. The expense comes in the ink cartridges, which have a relatively short life for high color images such as photographs. For example, replacement ink cartridges for my $99 Lexmark 3200 ink jet printer cost over $50. Page costs (including photo-quality paper) can easily run $1 a print or more, when the cost of paper and ink is factored in.