Where can I get my own posters made?

[Daniel Ives]

Does anyone know where can I get my own posters made? Cheaply if possible! Cheers

[Dave Anton]

Without knowing how many you want and what your intention for them are, I would have to say that if you want good quality posters made, you'll have to visit an offset printing house and get some pricing. I don't know how many printing houses are in your area, but check out different ones. It's probably best if you can be close to the shop that's doing it for you as you'll need to proof the work a few times before printing. Regarding price, if you want a good set of posters, they will cost a bit. Fine B/W reproductions may cost as much as the colour ones because you will need more than just one pass of Black. With offset printing jobs, the more money you spend, the better they look.

[Micah Marty]

Hi Dan,

The key is quantity (although quality costs also!). If you only want a dozen or two posters, wide-format digital printing is probably the way to go; the per-poster cost will be much higher but the total will be much less. On the other hand, if you're interested in 500 or 1000 minimum (i.e., you want to sell them or hand out mass quantities for an event) a conventional 4-, 5-, or 6-color press is much cheaper per poster, but you?ll pay a healthy bit for setup and for press time. (For big jobs, the most renowned "photographers' printer" is Gardner Lithograph, the friendly folks in L.A. who print books, posters, and calendars for Ansel, Sexton, Barnbaum, Burkett, Butler, Brett Weston, Smith, Chamlee, Fatali, Caponigro, and the Getty Museum; since Gardner doesn't have a website, use the "contact" link at www.davidstyffe.com to find out more).

But in the era of the internet and overnight interstate (heck, international) shipping, especially if money is the biggest concern, a www.google.com search for "we print posters will turn up zillions of good companies eager to help you out, in both digital and conventional realms. Word of mouth is helpful in the printing biz but because each photographer has different standards the key to ensuring the quality you want is to see samples--in person (not on a website). Each printer can brag about their presses or digital printers or scanners (or prices or turnaround time), but if they don?t have anyone in-house who appreciates what a really good LF photo reproduction looks like you could waste your money.

Good luck!

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[Micah Marty]

Oops; for the google search above I was recommending typing the phrase "we print posters" (the second quotation mark was cut off).

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