prints from digital look nasty! help me.

[DIRT]

Hello, im new to the dslr world and i have sent a few files to the lab via internet and had them printed 8x10. the photos i got were less than what i expected. i sent a jpeg and the others were tiff files. the jpeg looks the best. the photos look aliased and pixelated. i shot the photos on my canon 10D and if anybody has a proper procedure for setting up files for printing, i could use it. thanks.

 

[Canon Fan]

What were the sizes of the pics you sent them? Who was it? What was the resolution set at?

The 10D is default to 180dpi in Max Res. Most printing is done at 300 or higher depending on who it is doing said printing.

Were the files heavily compressed? Or post processed?

 

[Big Mike]

Files from the 10D can produce great 8x10 prints so something when wrong somewhere. When I take digital files to be printed, I use photoshop to change the size to what I want (8x10) and set the resolution to 300 pixels per inch.

If you did not set the size, a good lab should have done that before making the print but it's possible that they did not.

 

[DIRT]

"the 10D is default to 180 dpi"

how do i change the dpi?

 

[DIRT]

here is what i did:

-put file on computer with zoombrowser.

-saved as a tiff file so i could open it in photoshop 5.0

-adjusted brit/contrast etc.

-saved as tiff.

-then i emailed it to the lab.

Is there something i am missing? or something that i shouldnt do?

 

[Big Mike]

You should be able to check the canvas size in Photoshop. It should give you the size of the file in pixels and a real size with the pixels per unit (inches). So if the file was 1080 x 720 pixels...it would be 6" x 4" @ 180 ppi.

You might have to re sample the image to make it bigger. Make it 300 ppi and then change the size to 8x10. You should end up with an image that is 2400 x 3000 pixels. This is how I would send the file to be printed.

 

[DIRT]

Thanks big mike, ill try it out.

 

[Vmann]

I found that jpeg works better for me also (plus saves on file size). I do all my res uping and sizing in photoshop. I also keep the image RGB. I then take the files to Wal Mart( I know pretty cheesy ) Where there machine like must places shots the image or projects the image onto photopaper. They turn out great so long as what i sent them was okay to begin with. Also because they project light your files don't technically have to be 300dpi do in part because there not putting dots on the page. Also you can still keep your images RGB in part because photo paper can yeild colors outside the realm of CMYK do in part to being printed from a projector/light. I still send them at 300 just to be safe but 150 works great also.

Now if your sending a file to be printed on a giclee printer or inkjet froget what I said about resolution and send as high as you can and most likely you'll need to convert to CMYK.

Must photo labs use this digital printing method even for the film. They scan your negatives then the scans are shot to the print not the film directly.

 

[Rogue Monk]

If you're going to photo paper, than definately leave it as RGB. Projected light works better that way.

Most labs--professional or otherwise--will request that you leave images as jpeg too.

After learning in school that anything going to paper should be lossless (TIFF or EPS), this was completely backwards to my education and experience. But even you stated that the results were interesting and my experiences have been similar.

Its a paradigm shift in progress. All things return to zero and processes are reinvented.