Partners assigned, thanks for joining and have a great swap!

Greetings! Today I received this Q by personal message: sharing it since others may have similar questions:

From @Kasha22 Subject: Photo question

Hello. I'd like to check about the new swap. If I have a printer and photo-quality glossy paper, will that be good enough? Or must it be printed by someone else at a photo shop? Thanks!

Subject: Reply: Photo question

Hello, As a rule, no. Photos need to be photo shop quality.

Most home printers are not laser printers, they are ink-jet and it can be tricky to get the colors to look right, especially when the ink cartridge starts to get used up -- it just won't make your photos look as good as they should.

Good Morning! Just wanted to comment on the comment:-) One of the last photo swaps I was in, I had two photos printed at Walgreens to see if they would be any better than the Epson PictureMate that I have at home. I could not tell the difference between the two, which says a lot of the home printers available now. I make sure I have plenty of ink in the printer and if it does not look like the photo on my camera then I send it in. There are so many things we can do now on our computers to enhance and clean up our pictures (if one knows the tricks). I hope you all don't mind if I send the pictures I print at home. The other factor involved is the picture taker. Obviously, the original picture can't be blurred or unfocused to begin with:-) Hope I am not being too "forward" by adding my comment, but like I said...I have compared pictures printed at home vs. lab and mine are identical and sometimes even better:-)

I agree with @aznanagc about some home-printed photos being as good as professionally-printed ones, depending on those factors she mentioned.

Another determining factor, when it comes to my Canon printer, is my choice of paper. They have a "Glossy Paper - everyday use", and I do feel that the results do not do justice to my pictures. But there is another "Photo Paper Plus Glossy II", and I am always satisfied with the print-outs.

Having said that, since mine isn't a laser printer, I am happy to comply with the swap rules. I will have my photo professionally printed. And if I'm unable to do so, I will look for my old photos (from when before I had a printer and when I used film).

Yes -- these things are all true -- it's a judgment call, and so, we leave it to your judgment as to whether the home printing will do your photo "justice" - was just trying to clarify a bit