Photographs as Gifts

Photographs can make great gifts. And I don't mean emailing latest pic of the kids or posting 50 images to shutterfly or kodak. We all have digital cameras that can take respectable images. Some of them will have special meaning for  your  family and friends. And you  probably  have a reasonable printer capable of producing good prints. Even the low end free printers that one gets with a PC package from Dell or HP can print great images. So what does it cost to give someone a great 8x10" quality print? Unframed about $4-5 and framed closer to $20+. I give unframed images mostly and frame only  occasionally. Unframed images are easier and cheaper to ship. I happen to  like  the 8x10 format and its probably  about  the maximum size print you may want to do with a average resolution image and average printer. The costs scale up and down with size and 5x7" makes a great gift. So what are the costs of an unframed but mounted image?

Not bad eh? Less than $10 at most to give  something  unique and individual. And those costs are for museum quality  archival  materials in quantities of less than 10 units. Well you are  going  to give lots aren't you? And  archival  quality materials  are  really important to  maximize  the life of a  digital  print. Frames do add cost but those too can be  done  economically.  The  first  time you do this you will need hinging tissue and tape to mount and matte  the  print. I get my materials from  www.framedestination.com. I am not  endorsing  this site per se but have found their materials well priced and they have  instructions  on how to matte and mount. Very useful indeed for your  first  attempt.

To  the  forum :-)

No Job Frugal Living - Gift Ideas