- Joined
- Jul 8, 2005
- Messages
- 45,747
- Reaction score
- 14,806
- Location
- Victoria, BC
- Website
- www.johnsphotography.ca
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos OK to edit
As someone who tries to push print sales as much as possible, I often face the "I'd prefer the digital file and I'll just print it myself - you want $32 for an 8x10 and it's only $4 at Wal-mart!" argument from clients. One of the primary tools in my arsenal to combat this is a folder with a sample print from my lab and ones from other local labs for comparison. The image I used was a generic landscape image with a fairly complete tonal range, but no real extremes. The differences were noticeable, with quality of the paper being perhaps the most tangible. Now that most labs are using papers of at least a similar weight, it's not nearly as obvious.
I just had them redone using this image, which I chose deliberately for it's combination of dark tones, which in my experience are often the biggest challenge for consumer printing services :
I had four prints done. One from the lab I use, Technicare Imaging in Calgary, AB, one at Wal-mart, one at Costco, and one at London Drugs (a regional big-box drugstore chain). As expected, the image from Technicare was pretty much a perfect representation of the file I sent in. London Drugs was the next best with the background about 1/3 stop brighter, the blacks of the jacket very close, and the skin tones noticeably higher (unattractively so) in the red channel.
The Wal-mart image was overall about 1/3 stop brighter, and showing distinctly redder skin tones, but with significant loss of skin detail in the highlight areas and almost total loss of detail in the whites of the collar. The Costco image was by far the worst print of all. Overall it was between 1/3 and 1/2 stop darker, with the background being almost unnoticeable and with significant detail loss in the jacket. The skin tones also had a distinct green cast.
For those of you who don't push print sales, or find them a challenge, I strongly recommend that you make such a folder for yourself. It is immediately obvious why a client should purchase your prints as opposed to simply running off to the local D-I-Y lab.
I just had them redone using this image, which I chose deliberately for it's combination of dark tones, which in my experience are often the biggest challenge for consumer printing services :
I had four prints done. One from the lab I use, Technicare Imaging in Calgary, AB, one at Wal-mart, one at Costco, and one at London Drugs (a regional big-box drugstore chain). As expected, the image from Technicare was pretty much a perfect representation of the file I sent in. London Drugs was the next best with the background about 1/3 stop brighter, the blacks of the jacket very close, and the skin tones noticeably higher (unattractively so) in the red channel.
The Wal-mart image was overall about 1/3 stop brighter, and showing distinctly redder skin tones, but with significant loss of skin detail in the highlight areas and almost total loss of detail in the whites of the collar. The Costco image was by far the worst print of all. Overall it was between 1/3 and 1/2 stop darker, with the background being almost unnoticeable and with significant detail loss in the jacket. The skin tones also had a distinct green cast.
For those of you who don't push print sales, or find them a challenge, I strongly recommend that you make such a folder for yourself. It is immediately obvious why a client should purchase your prints as opposed to simply running off to the local D-I-Y lab.
