Professional photo printing companies?

I've been taking photos for a long time and recently my husband and I bought a Nikon D7000. I'm a full time nurse assistant and would also like to take pictures on the side as a small side business. All I have is the camera and tripod, with a few lenses.

There's a woman nearby who has her own photography business but she also doesn't have any fancy equipment. She also has a camera, tripod, with a few lenses plus a small studio where she keeps her props at in town. The majority of the photos she takes are outside on the beach, and she drives to certain locations her clients want their pictures taken.

She doesn't have any photo printers at her home or studio, so when it comes time to print professional prints to give to her clients, she sends them off to some different company that prints them off for her.

I really would like to do the same, so my question is does anyone know of some of these companies I can get to print professional prints off for me from pictures I take off my D7000?

If you search with google, using the words professional photography printing services they come up iwht a lot of places. You should search and see if there's any that are relatively close, so you can use them and maybe not have to deal with shipping charges or you can check your work before its all printed and said and done. Have fun snapping!

There are so many out there.

You might want to start with Mpix. They are not really a professional lab, but I'm not sure if you have the necessary experience and color correction hardware to be using a pro lab.

Mpix.com does good work at a reasonable price.

I use a combination of places. I use the photo lab in the local camera shop, and Blue Cube Imaging ( an online place but it too is an actual photo lab in a camera shop).

It just depends on the subject matter, size of the print, and print media. The local lab offers ink-jet, dye-sub, laser, chemical bath, and images on metal. But… I don't have them do any of the "private" photos (lingerie/boudoir/other) of clients due to discretion (it is a small world after all).

I use The Photo Touch for all of my printing and final presentation needs http://www.thephototouch.com/. From my side by side comparisons with many big name pro labs (and their retail spinoffs like Mpix) I have found them to have the best results by far.

If you have any sort of relationship with this other photographer, you might start by asking her. Explain to her that you want to start up a business similar to hers, and you were wondering where she has her prints done. Photographers are usually very friendly - even to their "competition". I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you who she uses for printing.

If you don't have a relationship with her at all, then it might be akward asking her for this kind of information. In that case, start off with an internet search for small local print shops in your area. When you work local, you usually get better prices, and much better service. I use a small local shop in my area, and I'm always VERY pleased with their work - fast service, and they're so helpful and friendly. They do work with customers out of state as well, so you might be interested in checking them out. You can visit their site at www.favillephoto.com.

Like I said, great service, great prices, and very helpful. If you can't find a local shop in your area, I'm sure they'd be happy to help.