You are on this page because you...

....are ready to order prints? Our Custom Print Order Form is here

...want to learn more about NWE’s printing services? If so, read on!

About our Printing Services

You’ve chosen Northwest Exposures because you care about quality as much as we do. We love the look of finely crafted color and black & white prints that bring out the full potential of our photos, and we thoroughly enjoy creating these for our clients. You won’t find more beautiful, longer-lasting prints anywhere.

What makes our prints special? For one, each is hand-crafted by the photographer to bring out our creative vision and obtain the best technical quality. Because of the attention we pay to the small details, you are assured of a print that will look beautiful, and our use of archival materials ensures that your print will last for generations to come. For these reasons, we offer both a satisfaction guaranty and a limited lifetime warranty against fading.

We also offer high-value contemporary frames with archival, bevel edged mats. These are equal or superior the framing and matting materials used by custom frame shops. When you purchase a Custom Print, mat, and frame at the same time, we do the framing at no additional charge. Your receive your print matted, framed, and ready to hang! We can even drop-ship your photographs to family and friends anywhere in the world.

Highest quality using archival printing processes We want our clients to appreciate their photographs over many decades, and to enjoy the beautiful quality and subtle tones of a high quality print—whether in color or black and white.

To this end, our Custom Print service uses archival printing methods and materials with an archival rating from an industry-recognized organization—Wilhelm Research (www.wilhelm-research.com). Our prints have an archival life rating of at least 75-200 years (longer for black and white). This virtually guarantees that your photographs will maintain their clarity and color over generations. If any of our custom prints should ever exhibit fading or color shift, we will reprint them for you at no charge.

Traditional black and white prints Our black and white Custom Prints have the rich and glorious tonal range of traditionally produced silver gelatin prints. Our default tone is tone, though we do offer toning options from subtly warm, to slightly cool, as well as sepia and duotone. See “special instructions,” below, for indicating your toning preferences.

Why is the first print more costly than additional prints? Most of the time involved in making a high quality print goes into preparation. We evaluate and assess the image file from the camera, and then determine what techniques to employ to bring out the full potential of that image. It is not unusual for us to spend 20 minutes or more adjusting a single file for printing. With our Custom Print service, we even make test prints to ensure that the final result is optimal. However, once the adjustments are made to the image file, it is easy to make multiple copies. The only differences in cost are the printing process. For best quality, choose our Custom Printing service. But for larger volume and economy, choose our Standard Lab service.

Can I just get the image file and make prints on my own? Yes you can. We make our files available to our clients for purchase. When you purchase a file we will spend the same time preparing it for printing as we do when you order prints. You may use this file to make as many prints as you like. See our order form for details.

 A word about print dimensions We crop our prints according to what best compliments the composition and content of the photograph, not to fit a standard paper size. As a result, our print sizes are given for one dimension only, e.g., 4x, 5x, 6x. This allows us the flexibility to crop the image to an aspect ratio (height x width) that to our eyes best matches the subject of the photograph. 

Special instructions Our Custom Printing service allows you to have it your way. Please indicate on our order form whether you wish to have black and white, color, or a toned black and white print. If you need a specific size to fit an existing frame or match existing photographs, please let us know under “special instructions.” With orders for multiple photographs, be sure to include identifying details, such as frame number.

Need to order a quantity of prints? We can provide larger print quantities at economical prices. Just let us know the frame number, quantity, and size, and we can provide you a quote.