Professional Quality Prints

We don't believe, as some photographers do, in shooting a role of film, developing it at the corner store, then handing our customer 24 or 36 4x6's. Your family can view your portraits the following day in our studio, where we can answer all of your questions. Our staff can show you how we will custom crop your portraits and how they will look as black & white or sepia prints.

When choosing a Hilton Head Island photographer, we strongly encourage you to inquire about the exact photographic papers that your portraits will be printed on. There are many different papers used by photographers that can greatly reduce the quality of your portraits. Papers to be weary of can be both lightweight glossy and/or satin papers.

Glossy surface, or F-surface papers are the same lightweight, cheaper, papers used by high volume, 24 hour local labs across the country. Satin surface, or N-surface papers are generally lightweight and are also used by high volume labs as a step up from glossy prints. They are slightly more expensive and are usually the same weight papers as a glossy print. Satin papers also retain fingerprints very easily. Those fingerprints can be from handling at the lab, from your photographer or yourself while mounting or framing your prints. They can also have a warped, wavy surface.

We only recommend professional weight, matte or E-surface (a.k.a. Luster) papers for truly professional quality. We do not recommend Fuji papers. We have examples at our studio of the same image printed on Kodak Endura (E-surface) papers and the same grade Fuji papers where there is a noticeable difference in the graininess of the Fuji papers. Needless to say, we do not use Fuji papers. Legacy Design Photographers only uses the highest quality Kodak Endura papers, printed by labs, servicing professionals only. E-surface, a heavy weight paper, reduces warping and has a matte surface that lessens the chances of fingerprinting.

Heirloom Giclee Canvas and Emulsion Canvas Prints

Our Heirloom prints are the highest quality prints available. Over the years, we have seen many more families choosing these prints over standard photographic prints. There are two reasons for this:

1) They are individually lacquered to extend the color throughout the life of the prints.
2) They can be displayed without the disruptive reflections of glass.

Definitions:

Emulsion Canvas:

The emulsion canvas is created by only a few professional labs in the country. It requires a special process of lifting the top of a photographic print (the emulsion) and merging it to a museum quality canvas, under high pressure. The end result is a high quality canvas print with the texture of canvas and the beautiful print qualities of a photograph.

Giclee Canvas:

Giclee canvas prints are created when your portrait is printed onto a specially coated, blank, white canvas. The finished portrait has a softer, artistic look compared to an emulsion canvas print. It also has more canvas relief than an emulsion canvas print.

Both prints are beautiful, yet have different appearances. Mounting is available.

Digital Services

At no extra charge, the color, lighting, and overall boldness of your prints are adjusted here in our studio. These adjustments are made by experienced designers with monitors that are calibrated to the printing equipment of the professional labs that we use. By retaining 100% control of all lighting and color adjustments on your portraits, we know exactly what your prints will look like when returned to us.

Sometimes a beautiful portrait may have an individual with their eyes closed or with eyeglass glare, etc. Our designers solve these problems on a daily basis, and are very experienced in over 16 general touch-ups as well as special requests such as toning down sunburn.

Our studio can create prints from wallet size to 30"x 40" and we specialize in producing Heirloom Canvas prints of your favorite portrait.