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Send it to a REAL photo house like http://www.whcc.com/

The only places that will be little bitches about this stuff are the ones that primarily service everyday consumers.

Well, I use WHCC. From their FAQ: Q. Do you print with Ink Jets? A. We use archival, wide-format inkjet printers for our Fine Art print program. Otherwise, every print we produce is on real photographic paper that goes through the RA4 chemical process.

Exactly. I've had excellent quality results from White House Custom Color, and their rates are very reasonable. Very professional and helpful staff there too.

http://www.whcc.com/

My brother-in-law had this very problem recently at Costco. After arguing with the person, he eventually had to fill out all sorts of silly paperwork to get them to let him print his own damn work. Just because he's got a good eye and a decent camera (Digital Rebel rocks with the kit lens, folks) they told him the images must have been done by a professional. A compliment of sorts, but quite an annoying one.

Like others have said, PRINT ONLINE. There are some great services out there, and if you know exactly what you're looking for you can get a good deal. My favorite for amateur photos is currently Mpix.com. They have a great turnaround time, but more importantly, they have metallic paper. If any of you have noticed those crazy cool silver gelatin prints in museums, this gives that same sort of effect. Looks great for black and whites, but especially amazing with reds, blues, and yellows. They also have this cool continuous tone black and white paper (regular digital prints won't give this). Their prices are good, too.

If you're looking to do real work somewhere in the semi-pro realm, there's really only one choice: White House Custom Color. This place is for real. You don't just open up an account and upload photos. This place has you fill out a client questionnaire and then they send you samples of their stuff. The coolest thing they have, which I've not seen anywhere else, is linen textured paper (you'll have to read through one of the PDF's).

If you need something local and same day, Walgreens is great. They almost always have some sort of a special each week, and I ended up paying $.19 for each 4x6 the last time I was there. The color might not be spot on, but it is same day service. Shipping and tax end up balancing out in the end. Not bad at all.

My brother-in-law had this very problem recently at Costco. After arguing with the person, he eventually had to fill out all sorts of silly paperwork to get them to let him print his own damn work. Just because he's got a good eye and a decent camera (Digital Rebel rocks with the kit lens, folks) they told him the images must have been done by a professional. A compliment of sorts, but quite an annoying one.

Like others have said, PRINT ONLINE. There are some great services out there, and if you know exactly what you're looking for you can get a good deal. My favorite for amateur photos is currently Mpix.com. They have a great turnaround time, but more importantly, they have metallic paper. If any of you have noticed those crazy cool silver gelatin prints in museums, this gives that same sort of effect. Looks great for black and whites, but especially amazing with reds, blues, and yellows. They also have this cool continuous tone black and white paper (regular digital prints won't give this). Their prices are good, too.

If you're looking to do real work somewhere in the semi-pro realm, there's really only one choice: White House Custom Color. This place is for real. You don't just open up an account and upload photos. This place has you fill out a client questionnaire and then they send you samples of their stuff. The coolest thing they have, which I've not seen anywhere else, is linen textured paper (you'll have to read through one of the PDF's).

If you need something local and same day, Walgreens is great. They almost always have some sort of a special each week, and I ended up paying $.19 for each 4x6 the last time I was there. The color might not be spot on, but it is same day service. Shipping and tax end up balancing out in the end. Not bad at all.

I use White House Custom Color. When you setup an account, you have to go through a process where you upload 5 images and they send you 8x10 prints of them for free. This is to confirm that your color calibration is correct and matches their color calibrated printers, which are all calibrated to the sRGB colorspace.

Their prices are very competitive, and the quality, in my opinion, is second to none. Very good service and turnaround as well... I usually get my prints shipped within a day or two of uploading, and they always send via UPS 2-Day.

• http://www.whcc.com/ -- great color-calibrated lightjet output at great prices if you're comfy with ftp
• http://www.pbase.com/ -- a free/cheap host for albums, allows deep links to images
• http://www.printroom.com/ -- a popular site for albums and print order processing
• http://www.smugmug.com/ -- a popular site for albums and print order processing