After a popular post last week on Reddit, I decided to check the cost of prints on Flickr. I want to build a physical portfolio, and was unhappy with the quality of prints from local shops; I expected to get what I paid for (not a ton) and even then was disappointed. I ordered two prints from Flickr, both 8×10″, both black and white.

I only did this because I can’t afford to print my entire (current) portfolio at once, and these two were the images I was most displeased with from local shops. So this, unfortunately, can’t yield any information about colour. I ordered one glossy print (I normally hate glossy, but wanted to see what it was like), and one “lustre” print.

The photos came in a decent rigid envelope. The prints themselves were wrapped in cellophane and strengthened with a card back, which is good from a support perspective. Here are the two prints side-by-side.

No damage or anything, which I’d expect to be the case. I’m a big fan of the “lustre” paper. Here are two images showing the lustre texture.

As I expected, I can’t stand the gloss at all.

I can’t actually show you this, but the paper isn’t terribly heavy in terms of gsm. I don’t have a scale to quantify it but it’s light, but heavier than one of my local shops’ paper, and about the same as the other.

The prints cost £2.08 each and shipped to Ireland from the UK in just two days from the date of shipping, which was 4 days after I ordered them. Shipping was more expensive, at £7.20 total. Total cost including VAT was £11.35/€12.64/$13.96. So at about €6 per print I’m happy with the quality and will order a few more in lustre, particularly in colour.

Hope this helps some of you in any way!

About the Author

Alex took up photography at the age of 14, using a Fujifilm Finepix J27, which he still owns. He works part-time as an event and portraiture photographer and does a lot of street photography and animal portraiture in his own time. Currently, he is studying for a PhD in Chemistry, and his favourite combo to shoot with is the Fujifilm X-H1 and 56mm f/1.2. You can find out more about Alex on his website and follow his work on Instagram and Flickr. This article was also published here and shared with permission.