Okay, I hate posts like this because I don't want to sound like I am up on a high horse, but when I saw the difference between these two prints I just had to share.
I work with two amazing, high quality, professional photo labs. However, I do keep personal photo albums for my family. I often print 100-200 4x6's at a time and since a lot of the photos are snapshots that are only meant to be meaningful to me and my family, I get them printed at Costco. Costco = affordable. Now, I don't want to talk smack about Costco (my sister works for them and they are an AMAZING company!) but their photos? Suck. Yep, I said it. Sorry! Will I stop using them to print my personal 4x6's? Probably not. Will I ever use their photo lab for anything else or enlargements? Heck no.
I just got a new personal photo album that I am starting to fill. I needed a small square photo for the front. I used a costco print, but since I also wanted that same photo on the inside, I ordered an extra one from my lab since I was already in their ordering system for a client. EXACT same file. No color corrections, nada. This is literally just the difference between Costco and my professional lab.
Who knew that Reid was a ghost! :D So, while I do provide a CD with print release for most of my sessions (for now!) keep this in mind when you go to consider making enlargements on your own. Don't forget that I do offer prints and the quality difference will be astounding :-)