High-quality printing that speaks for itself—and says everything about you. That’s what Lumaprints is all about.

Whether photography is your profession or your passion, Lumaprints brings your images to life and liberates them for the world to see. Here’s the priceless voice of experience from Darin Ashton (@darinashton) who’s been a successful professional photographer for more than 20 years, and has been working with Lumaprints for nearly 10. His words are for all of us, pro and amateur alike.

Printing for All Reasons
In addition to providing premium-quality printing at affordable pricing to all, whether you shoot for money or for fun, Lumaprints can help you grow (or launch) your professional photo business with high-quality printing, and can handle all order processing, production and delivery—all at affordable prices.

It may be high time you thought about turning pro. Orders that customers place on your website can be automatically forwarded to Lumaprints for production and shipping. You do the creation and Lumaprints handles the fulfillment.

Darin Ashton Answers Questions
Learn more about the truly end-to-end professional service your pixels deserve from Lumaprints-user Darin Ashton. The best advice springs from the personal experiences of one who knows.

What’s the #1 advice you offer photographers considering professional printing services for the first time?
“If you haven’t used a professional printing service yet, now’s the time to make the switch—you’ll never go back to drugstore prints again. Don’t hesitate to interview potential companies; they should be able to show you exactly what they stand for. I wholeheartedly recommend Lumaprints. They strike an ideal balance between quality and affordability, and their drop shipping services are top-notch.”

How does Lumaprints compare to other printing services you have used in terms of quality and consistency?
“Every professional-level printer I’ve worked with has delivered excellent quality, and Lumaprints is no exception. What truly sets them apart, though, is their outstanding customer service. On the rare occasion I’ve needed support, their team has responded quickly and provided immediate, helpful solutions.”

What initially drew you to Lumaprints for your professional printing needs?
“I’d been working with Lumaprints since 2016. At the time, I wasn’t offering canvas prints to my Etsy customers and had been searching for a product that struck the right balance between affordability and quality. Lumaprints was a relatively new company then, but they offered exactly the solution I’d been looking for.”

Can you describe a project where Lumaprints helped bring your vision to life?
“My goal is to sell art, and when a customer has a specific vision, I do everything I can to bring it to life. That often means accommodating unique or unusual size requests. I love that Lumaprints offers custom sizing down to the inch—even on aluminum prints, which is amazing!”

How important is color accuracy and paper quality in your work?
“Color accuracy is everything—nothing else matters if the print has color issues. Lumaprints always delivers in that department. I regularly receive outstanding feedback from my customers about both the paper quality and the precision of the prints.”

Have you experimented with any of Lumaprints’ specialty papers or finishes?
“Yes, I’ve tried several paper options, and each brings its own unique quality to my prints. I really appreciate having a range of upgraded papers to choose from for special projects that call for a distinct look. That said, the smooth matte fine art paper is my go-to in my Etsy shop. It consistently delivers a clean, professional finish at an affordable price, making it ideal for maximizing profits without compromising on quality.”

Are there particular image types or genres (e.g., fine art, landscape, portraits) where you see Lumaprints shine?
“I shoot a wide range of subjects and I’m consistently pleased with the printed results, regardless of style or substrate. Lumaprints handles everything seamlessly, which makes my life so much easier!”

How has access to high-quality prints influenced the way you present or market your work?
“I would never print on anything less than high quality. I put too much effort into each image to compromise its presentation. What I love about Lumaprints is that they offer exceptional quality at an affordable price, especially for larger pieces. That allows me to stay competitive while maintaining a healthy profit margin.”

How does working with Lumaprints affect your workflow?
“One of the key challenges of selling on online marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon is the need to ship orders on time—every time. Lumaprints’ reliable 3-day production schedule gives me the confidence to set accurate ship-by dates and know I’ll meet them without an issue. That consistency is a game-changer for maintaining customer satisfaction and meeting marketplace expectations.”

Can you share an example of feedback you’ve received from clients or collectors about your prints from Lumaprints?
“You bet!

‘We are thrilled with our purchases. Fast and secure boxes. High quality materials were used. I ordered one print and one printed on canvas. Prints are crisp and perfect. Darin is great communicator and very friendly. This is an authentic shop with one of a kind, high quality materials. Do not hesitate to ask questions and purchase!!!’
-Carolyn, August 6, 2025″

Recap of Benefits for Pros
Here’s a summary of how commercial users (photographers, content creators/influencers, museums, designers, interior decorators, etc.) benefit from partnering with Lumaprints.

1. Offer customers high-quality canvas, paper, metal, peel & stick and framed prints, all produced using archival inks and top-of-the-line printers that are regularly calibrated to ensure color accuracy and consistency.

2. Enjoy transparent, automated order processing for faster fulfillment. Once an image is uploaded to a Lumaprints’ library, they take over fulfillment from start to finish. Your customers order online from your website, Lumaprints handles everything from there.

3. Lumaprints gives you the best deals for higher profit margins. They can keep your costs down without ever sacrificing quality or service. You’ll agree, pricing is amazing. Check Lumaprints’ website for complete production and shipping prices.

4. With West Coast and Midwestern manufacturing sites, you and your customers can enjoy faster shipping times at lower costs. All work sent to Lumaprints is professionally completed in the US by a staff of more than 120 employees using 50 printers dedicated to on-demand printing. They currently ship out 4,000 products daily.

5. Lumaprints takes pride in providing world-class customer service. Their top priority is to go above and beyond to ensure that all customers have an exceptional experience—and keep coming back for more.

Attention Hobbyists!
Most hobbyists don’t know they can get top quality, professional-grade prints at wholesale prices. Lumaprints is practically like having your own personal production lab in your basement, whether you require one print or thousands.

Amateur photo enthusiasts can enjoy every advantage enjoyed by Lumaprints’ professional, commercial customers. Proudly display your best work throughout your home or office, printed at the highest quality level, in your choice of sizes, surfaces and stock material.

Are Your Pixels in Prison?
Where do your photos live? If they’re stranded on a hard drive or languishing on a smartphone, imagine the thrill it would be to put them in the spotlight with professional prints that stun, dazzle, and make people say, “Wow! Did YOU take that?”

Follow Darin Ashton on Instagram (@darinashton) and visit his store on Esty.

Learn more about Lumaprints by visiting them online.

 

∞ Shutterbug Staff

What if we told you there’s a common post-processing mistake that one pro call “massive” that may be spoiling your photos? You may not realize that this error is responsible for unrealistic photos, even though it’s super easy to fix.

Instructor Steve Arnold is a professional Australian outdoor photographer with a popular YouTube channel devoted to helping landscape shooters of all skill levels imbue their images with the WOW factor. He describes today’s Photoshop lesson like this: “I’ll show you how to avoid a massive editing trap that makes your photos look amateurish and overcooked.”

Arnold explains that the negative effect of this mistake is a weird one because it’s often hiding in plain sight. But trust us, once you see it in the examples he provides it’s impossible to ignore and you’ll want re-edit many of your old photos.

Earlier in his photographic journey Arnold got carried away in an effort to enhance contrast and saturation with a heavy-handed misguided attempt to embellish his images. “I made every color as rich and deeply saturated as possible to set skies on fire—thinking that all a photo needed to do be amazing was to over-stimulate our eyeballs.”  

As you’ll see, the problem goes beyond gaudy, unrealistic colors because there’s an oft-ignored destructive side-effect when taking your enhancements too far. This boils down to the way in which light values and tones affect the manner in which we perceive depth throughout the frame—often making elements appear closer together than they really are.

Arnold employs both simple graphics and original images to illustrate several potential pitfalls, some of which are sure to strike a personal chord. Then he walks you through a step-by-step process for achieving beautiful natural-looking results. Best yest, he does all this barely four minutes.

Pay a visit to Arnold’s popular YouTube channel once you’re done watching where you’ll find many more how-to videos like this one.

We also recommend checking out our earlier post in which another image-editing editing expert demonstrates how to create mind-blowing photographs by unlocking the magic of Photoshop’s game-changing Channel Mixer tools.

I never would’ve thought that something like a decisive moment could exist in a discipline as peaceful as photographing land tortoises. Capturing a Galápagos giant tortoise crushing a mandarin it found under the glow of the setting sun turned out to be quite a challenge. I wish you plenty of decisive moments in the coming week – and, like the tortoise in the photo, don’t forget to keep up with your daily dose of vitamins. Now, let’s take a look at this week’s roundup of photography news.