Ever since Justin and I got engaged over a year and a few months ago, I have been desperately seeking an awesome photo printing site. I am sooo picky that it has been really hard for me to find exactly what I want. I discovered
White House Custom Color when searching via google. I was pretty surprised and excited by the results of my first order with them.
I ordered 3 shots that were taken during Justin's and my engagement shoot by Kelly L. Photography, 1 shot that was taken at the wedding by Darwin Young and my fifth image was a shot taken by Justin using black and white film photography in 2007.
The first shot I saw when I opened the package, which arrived three days after ordering, was the one shot by Darwin Young. It was brilliant... BEAUTIFUL! My only complaint is in the actual photography, which I (and they) had no control over. I can't stand the glare on Justin's glasses. Ahh... well. It is what it is. :)
Next up were the 3 shots taken by Kelly L. Photography. They also were printed beautifully... perhaps a bit too yellow which I can correct in Photoshop and get my color right on my monitor. It's okay. It happens. I'm just shocked at the difference between photographers. Darwin's picture is crisp, clean, and everyone in the shot is in focus. This is not the case with Kelly L.'s photography. :( I thought, as did Justin, that my huge crop is what caused the picture to be blurry when printed, but upon closer inspection none of the engagement shots I had printed are nearly as crisp and clean as the single shot by Darwin. *shrugs* I'm not an amazing photographer either, but I also don't really get paid for my work. I can correct the yellow, but the only way to change the sharpness of the photo is to go back and retake it. :/
I'm not even sure what to think about the film image that Justin had taken. It could be anything that makes this image not "pristine". I don't know about Justin, but I knew far less about cameras in 2007 than I do now. The image is not cleanly in focus, but it could be because Justin did not focus correctly, CVS did a terrible job putting it on CD or the printer screwed up at WHCC. I will not blame WHCC though since the black and white image is truly a black and white image. It has no crazy tinting to it and no weird colors. Yay!!!
I think the thing that most excited me about ordering images from WHCC was the packet of image samples that came with my images. There were samples of every type of paper that WHCC had for you to get your images printed on. I can't even begin to explain how in love I became with the textured papers, the thick, the thin, the shiny, the matte... *le sigh* I am in loveeeee with the metallic and the lustre! simply. AMAZING.
After seeing a comparison between MPix, Bay Photo, and WHCC, I will probably shoot Bay Photo an image or two for comparison. Let me just say, though, that I am in love with the options available to me from
WHCC. I would definitely consider ordering from them again!
