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Andy Westlake tries out a tempting o er of free prints

IF YOU want to make the most of your images, there really is nothing like printing them. But this isn’t necessarily easy. If you have a photo printer at home, you’ve probably endured the frustration of prints coming out wrong; maybe too light, too dark, too high contrast, or with strange colour tints. It can be a bit of a battle to get them looking right.

Fuji lm is convinced that the answer lies with using a printing service that employs its premium professional photo paper. With its Print to Prove It offer, it’s challenging photographers to test this out. Sign up and you can claim three free 10x8in or 12x8in prints from One Vision Imaging Ltd, on a choice of gloss or lustre paper. Usually, they cost £2.39 or £2.69 respectively.

Enter your name and email address into the website, and you’ll be sent an offer code. You’re then directed to One Vision Imaging’s website, but at this point, rather left to fend for yourself. It turns out that you just need to go through the standard ordering process and apply your code at checkout.

First you need to create an account, so you can upload the les you want to print. You then work your way through ordering, making sure you select one of the requisite print sizes and don’t choose the metallic nish option. Once you’ve got everything set up and it’s time to order, you’ll discover the one small catch – you’ll need to pay £2.99 postage and packing. Hopefully it won’t break the bank.

I got my prints back a couple of days after ordering and was impressed by their quality. A landscape shot printed on lustre paper came back with suitably vibrant colours and plenty of detail in shadow regions, where inkjet printers can often struggle. Meanwhile, a black & white print on lustre revealed gorgeous tonality, with none of the ugly colour tinting that you can get from inkjets. Last, a false-colour infrared shot printed on glossy paper bene ted from subtle tonality in both the shadows and highlights. All three prints nicely matched what I originally envisaged on my computer screen. However as I discovered to my cost, the paper surface is a little fragile, so take care when trimming away any borders.

Verdict

If you want to know whether you’re getting the best from your home printing set-up, or simply want some of your favourite pictures printed, Fuji lm’s Print to Prove It is de nitely worth a try.

Print size You can order any mix of 10x8in or 12x8in prints; the latter is found under the ‘Large Format’ size list. Cropping You have the option to either crop your image to fill the print area, or print the entire frame leaving blank paper at the edges. Finish It’s possible to choose either Lustre or Glossy paper. Don’t try to select the third Metallic option – you’ll have to pay for it. Packing My prints arrived packed in a sturdy brown cardboard envelope, with a clear plastic inner wrapper.