Prints. Walk me through it?

[timlair]

Ok so my clientele, up until this week, have always just wanted pictures on a cd/DVD. I've never done prints, and never done any research on where/how to get prints made until an hour or so ago, after he asked if I could get prints for him. Well, I'm at a loss. I've searched some threads on here and I still cant get any good answers.

Can some of you Pros or someone who does this regularly walk me through it? From editing, to sending to the website, to receiving prints.

Oh, and what websites do you use? Or do you use a website at all? Do you just go to walmart? (joke)

Thanks for any help...

 

[RockstarPhotography]

mpix.com

 

[timlair]

Short, and to the point. I like it.

 

[RockstarPhotography]

I got their calibration kit. Its a whoppin 3 bucks. Its simple, but effective. never had a problem with bad prints yet.

 

[timlair]

Sounds like a plan. I need to read up on aspect ratio and all that jazz

 

[adversus]

I also use mpix. You can buy their calibration kits as mentioned above, and download their printer/paper profiles to proof on your screen.

I've printed up to 20x30 with them with great results. Coscto also gets good reviews, if you have one in your area. Inquire about their proof-ing files as well.

 

[o hey tyler]

I use Nations Photo Lab. I believe it has a similar system to Mpix (ROES) that you need to download. I've ordered a large 20x30 gallery wrap from them and some other prints, and the quality is great.

I'm sure you can't go wrong with Mpix or Nation's Photo Lab, I'd just stay away from Snapfish.

 

[Juice]

I've had several 20x30"s done at Costco, and they came out great.

 

[RockstarPhotography]

I use Nations Photo Lab. I believe it has a similar system to Mpix (ROES) that you need to download. I've ordered a large 20x30 gallery wrap from them and some other prints, and the quality is great.

I'm sure you can't go wrong with Mpix or Nation's Photo Lab, I'd just stay away from Snapfish.

yea, Nations Photo Lab is another good source you can go to. The only reason I chose mpix is because they give quite a bit back to the photo community. There sponsors for many good podcasts about photography and post processing.

 

[timlair]

All this talk of proofing and printer/paper profiles is gibberish to me. I have so much to learn..

 

[kacielynch]

I use pictage! I avoid actually dealing with prints when I can. I prefer having a 3rd party do it all for me.

 

[KmH]

Can some of you Pros or someone who does this regularly walk me through it? From editing, to sending to the website, to receiving prints.

To cover all of that requires several books:

An indispensable reference: A very extensive descriptions of all Photoshop tools, tool options, and features.
Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: A professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC

For advanced techniques:
Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop

A collection of tutorials by the #1 Photoshop author:
The Adobe Photoshop CS5 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)

For understanding noise reduction and image sharpening:
Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)

For Using Camera Raw (Lightroom) effectively:
Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5

 

[timlair]

I meant more specifically the "Editing for sending to the printer" like 8/16 bits and Tiff or Jpeg and such.

 

[CCericola]

Each printer has their own specifications on what kind of file they want. You will have to choose a printer first. Also, you also have the choice to send your client to mpix since it is a retail site. That way, if Mpix/Millers does mess up a print it is between your client and them, you won't have to get involved.

 

[KmH]

I meant more specifically the "Editing for sending to the printer" like 8/16 bits and Tiff or Jpeg and such.

All of those books are specifically about "Editing for sending to the printer".

What you can't figure out how to ask for, is: How To Prepare Your Images

Or from Nations Photo Lab:

5. What file guidelines does your photo lab require?
We require the following file guidelines:

• -300 dpi [sic] resolution
• -8-bit color depth
• -sRGB color space (we are happy to provide you with our ICC profile)
• -TIFF files must not be layered
• -25 character filename limit
• -NO special characters, excluding hyphen (-) and underscore (_)

From WHCC

Color Calibration & File Management
Q. How do I calibrate to your printers?
A. You don't calibrate directly to our printers. You calibrate your monitor and generate a monitor profile which software like Photoshop uses to show you accurate color on your screen. We calibrate and balance our printers to create a printer profile. Using a standard working color space like Adobe RGB 1998 or sRGB and embedding this in your file allows the printer software at WHCC to use our printer profile to make sure what is printed is what you saw on your screen. We recommend all clients perform hardware monitor calibration. This is a relatively straightforward and simple procedure. We recommend the X-Rite i1 Display.
Q. Do you supply any profiles?
A. Yes. Once you have an account number, you can download ICC profiles for soft proofing purposes. The profiles are for all of our printers and we also have instructions on how to properly use them. Under no circumstances should you convert to our printing profile or embed it in your files.
Q. Is it okay to embed an ICC profile?
A. Embedding a valid ICC profile in your image is very important. Without embedding the profile our software has no idea what colorspace your file is in. This will result in uexpected color in the prints. All files not tagged with an embedded profile are assumed to be in sRGB.
Q. What colorspace do you accept?
A. We accept any colorspace as long as it is embedded in the file. Our software will read the colorspace embedded in the file and print appropriately for that colorspace. We recommend the use of a standard working space profile such as Adobe RGB 1998 or sRGB.
Q. What type of file do you require?
A. We require level 10 JPEG files to be sent to us.
Q. Why a JPEG file and at level 10? Don't you lose quality in the large prints?
A. JPEG compression is a very efficient image compression algorithm designed specifically for saving photographic images. It takes advantage of how we see color versus brightness to only save information needed to reproduce the image for people to view. Image data is lost during compression but at high levels of quality you will not see a difference between a level 10 JPEG and a Tiff printed to paper. JPEG compression is perfect for transient files for sending to the lab for printing but avoid using the compression as a working file type. Also avoid opening a JPEG, making changes, and resaving it again as a JPEG repeatedly. If your workflow calls for this to happen, save your files as Tiff or PSD files until they are complete and ready for output. At which time you should save them as level 10 JPEG. Any JPEG artifacts you see in your prints come from the JPEG file coming out of your camera, not from saving them as a level 10 for output purposes.

From Bay photo:

http://bayphoto.com/bayweb/pro_colormanage.htm