[Dabhand16]

Up until recently it was much cheaper to get prints done by a pro printing store. The downside was/is that they will probably not be able to get as good quality as if you had a proper photo printer and a lot of time on your hands. A consumer magazine did a trial and found that DIY printing could cost as much as £2 per print in paper and ink.

Modren printers use ink that is cheaper than the old inks, and the printers are more economical too, so the differential is now less than before.

If you can find a proceesor that can deliver what you want at a reasonable price you can save a lot of heartache by using them, but I guess it depends on how much printing you want done.

I print very few pictures, so up to A4 I print my own, but for larger prints I use an on-line printer. If I order by about 3pm, the print is in my hands by 9.30 the following morning.

With regard to mounting, I tend to keep it simple, but mounting and framing are an art in themselves and I got a book on this subject years ago and tend to follow what it says. There are some conventions like having a wider margin on the bottom, and 'hanging' the print by only sticking the top edge and using a mount to keep it in place on the backing card, sandwiching the print. I like wide margins - at least 2cm on an A4 size print, and going up from there.

Obviously, if you crop an image, you are then in bespoke territory. If you look at images that are displayed in a gallery you will see how prints are mounted and framed. That will give you a much better idea, but in the end it is what pleases you that counts.