Our family took even more than that. With several family vacations and two pre-teens who aspire to be photo journalists, our family took several thousand photos in 2007!

When it comes to printing those photos we have more choices than ever before. From full service counters and self-service kiosks in stores to online services such as Snapfish as well as home printers we have more ways than ever to turn those digital photos into printed photos. But despite all these choices, most of us still print our photos at home. Why?

First of all, we can print great quality photos at home. Advances in printing technology and the affordability of home printers means the quality of the photos we can print at home rivals the quality of traditional in-store photo processing, and in many cases exceeds traditional photos when it comes to fade resistance.

Second, printing at home offers a number of unique benefits that other printing choices can’t deliver:

1. Printing at home gives us immediate results. Most of us print photos just after an important event – a birthday, graduation or family vacation and we want to see or share our memories right away. Many of our friends are including photos from parties in thank-you notes as mementos of the occasion. Printing at home allows us to quickly share our photos with family and friends, or put them in a scrapbook, while our memories are still fresh.

2. Printing at home is easy. Cameras, memory cards, docking stations and software have all become easier to use so that printing at home can be simpler and much faster than waiting in line at the photo counter or for the mail.

3. We can be more creative when we print at home. With easy to use photo software we can crop to the size we want, touch up those red-eyes, or choose different sizes – from wallet-size to letter-size for standard printers – to print photos exactly the way we want them, not the way a store has decided to give them to us. And, we can do in this in the privacy of our own homes without people watching over our shoulders at an in-store kiosk.

4. We can save money by printing at home. After taking everything in account, most of us see home photo printing as the most affordable option overall. In store printing may offer some of the lowest prices for 4x6 photo prints but you need to consider the hidden costs of driving to the store and waiting in line. Online services may advertise low prices, but other costs like shipping and fees for small or rush orders and minimum print quantities could result in higher prices than you expect.

And, printing at home is probably the lowest cost option for larger prints, like 5x7 and 8x10 sizes. A side by side comparison shows the prices you pay for a photo print can really vary. While printing at home may cost a bit more for 4x6- photos, it is clearly the lowest cost choice for printing 5x7 and 8x10/letter size prints. Since more of us are printing these larger size photos than ever before, it makes sense that most people choose to print them at home and save.

Printing at Home – A Great Choice

Today there are many great ways to print your photos. Online photo services like Snapfish and HP’s in-store photo solutions offer customers flexibility and high-quality prints. But printing photos at home offers us many unique benefits. Great quality prints, immediate results, privacy and more creative control are just some of the advantages we get from printing our photos at home. It’s also an affordable choice - and probably the lowest cost option for 5x7 and 8 x 10-inch prints. With all these advantages, it makes sense for most of us to continue to print the majority of our photos at home for some time to come.

Notes:

· Photofinishing News – Global Photo Services Price Review August 2007. Reported prices exclude sales tax. Survey included familiar vendors, such as CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Sam’s Club, Costco and Target Stores, as well as specialty camera stores and online services.

· HP self reported printing prices. Photo costs calculated using prices of HP Photo Value Packs (PVPs) – which include HP ink cartridges and photo paper – from www.shopping.hp.com. The cost of 4x6 photos printed is determined by dividing the cost of the pack by the number of pieces of photo paper included.

· Other sources include InfoTrends Home Photo Printing End-User Research: 2007 and BestWebBuys Online Digital Photo Print Service Comparison, September 2007.

Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of HP and may not have been reviewed in advance by HP.