Whatbird.com

I was just wondering how the rest of you handle all of the bird photos you take.  Do you print all/some of them?  And if so, how do you store them (photo album, box?)  Or do you just store them on your computers (or someplace else)? 

Reason I was asking is that I just started getting into bird photography at beginning of this year, and I have spent a FORTUNE on ink cartridges for my inkjet printer.  They average $12.99 for each color/cartridge, so everytime I need all 3 colors it costs me over $38.00, not to mention photo paper.  I know there are laser printers available but from what I know they aren't nearly as nice for printing photos.

 Recently, I decided not to print most of my pictures; only if it's a new species or a really good shot.  I put all my previous photos into a photo box, and I have ONE album, with ONE bird of each species (5x7 or 8x10) (or male and female if they are different).

Can anyone offer any input on this with your own methods?

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Life List: 139
Latest: Cedar Waxwing!!!!!!!

Hello, Curlybird...I do not print mine out for the reason you stated...the cost.  I keep them in a gallery on my computer until it starts running slow and then I back them up on a flash drive or CD.  I have stored some on Photobucket or in the gallery here at Whatbird, too

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Matthew 6:26
James 1:2-5

I began printing some of the better photos after I got my current camera, a Sony DSC-H7, last year. But like you said, the cost became prohibitive in a short matter of time! I save most of them in my computer under My Documents/My Photos. I also have a Picaso web album for the very best of them. Recently I began thinking of losing them in a computer crash so I started burning the ones I wanted to save to a CD.

As far as printing, I've found the best and by far the least expensive way is to take the CD, or in some cases the memory chip from my camera, to Wal-Mart and have them printed there. I usually get 3X5 prints which run about 22 cents each. The price jumps quite a bit for 5X7 prints, though. I put the 3X5 photos in a small album that I can carry to share the photos with my bird-loving friends. I photograph all types of wildlife, as well as insects, flowers, and scenery.  

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We did not inherit Mother Earth from our ancestors...... we have borrowed Her from our descendants.
Chief Seattle (paraphrased)

I do print some of my photos, and like the previous poster said, for the "instant" gratification, wal-mart is a good bet. However, if you have a little time, and catch the specials they run, snapfish.com is reasonable and good quality printing. They often run specials, so I try to wait and do my printing when they have a sale.

I store all my images on dvd discs I find them better than cd's as a single layer dvd will hold 4.5 GB compared to a cd at 700 MB and a dual layer will hold 9 GB

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My New Avatar is in memory of Nancy my darling wife of 10 years who passed away on Monday November the 16th 2009 after an illness

My photo gallery http://thekiwi.org/photography/index.php

I store all of mine on my computer under a Bird file. From time to time I burn a DVD for backup. I post the best to Webshots.com. and some of them on this site (not nearly as easy to upload here as on Webshots) I also back up to my husband's PC about once a month over our network. I had a hard drive quit a few years ago and lost a month of data including pictures so I try to be more diligent now. Oh and I never print at all. If I want to share I copy over to a thumb drive.

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Polgaratex

I just bought parts for a new file server for $1400.  Nice, quiet and low-power computer with an external storage array and 2 1TB drives for it.  It's got 4 slots, so when I need more space, I can just pop in another drive.  The nice part is that It maintains a redundant copy of each file across the drives, so if one drive fails, you can just replace it with no loss of data.

I don't print a lot, but I have made prints of some of my photos as gifts for relatives (I'll take a picture of them on vacation or something, and then give them a framed print).  I've also been thinking of framing a couple of my favorite shots and hanging them up.  Anyone else done that?

On the subject of printing, if you want to do more than a little printing, I've heard that a color laser printer is more cost effective than an ink jet.  They're a lot cheaper than they used to be, too.

thekiwi:

I store all my images on dvd discs I find them better than cd's as a single layer dvd will hold 4.5 GB compared to a cd at 700 MB and a dual layer will hold 9 GB

Blu-Ray disc writers are out now that can do 25GB, and later ones are supposed to do up to 4 layers, which will get you up to 100GB.  I've actually seen an external storage device with a built-in Blu-Ray writer.  The Blu-Ray media is still pretty pricey, though.

Thanks, everyone for the input.  I now only print a photo of a new species when I find one, and I keep a photo album with one 5x7 (or 8x10 if it's really nice and detailed) of each species (the photo album is actually a scrapbook).  I now also save a copy of all my pictures on a flash memory stick which I keep in my purse so I can access my pics at my work computer (since I sometimes visit this forum during my lunch hour or breaks).  I also took Kiwi's advise and saved all of my pictures on a DVD as well. 

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Life List: 139
Latest: Cedar Waxwing!!!!!!!

So lyceel, do you get prints made, or do you make prints yourself on a printer?

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Lifers: 134

Recent additions: Black-throated Green Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Great Horned Owl
Favorites: Osprey, American Kestrel, Reddish Egret

So far, I've just done them myself.  I've got an HP PhotoSmart all-in-one that does a pretty good job.  It's one of the printers with 6 ink cartridges.  They're not too much to change individually, but there are six of them, so it can add up.  I don't print that much, though, so the cost hasn't bothered me yet.

I'm a little late responding to this thread.  But I have an external (My Book) hard drive that I use.  If I have pictures printed I take a CD or memory card down to Costco for developing.  I use Photobucket for photo sharing but I'm not very happy with it - I really want a smugmug account but I just hate to spend more money.  As you all know this hobby is expensive enough!