Question-Preparing Photos for Printing

[Lorant Voros]

I have a question about printing photos. In one of my Photoshop books I read that the best color profile for printing would be ProPhoto RGB, since it’s gamut covers wider range than the other profiles. However, my local photo lab’s machine here in Mexico uses some different profiles (such as Premier LED Kodak mate 17) that can’t represent e.i. the colors of our Caribbean Flamingos. After converting to the color space of the printing machine it looses all the colors.
Any advice on preparing photos for printing in a lab is appreciated.
Lorant

[Gray Fox]

The recommendation of ProPhoto RGB for printing is probably a misunderstanding. What many advise is working in 16-bit mode and a wide gamut color space such as ProPhoto RGB while making image adjustments in order to preserve as much of the information captured by the camera as possible. However, no printer (that I am aware of) has a gamut as large as ProPhoto RGB. To make a print you (or the print service) have to convert to a smaller, more readily printable color space such as Adobe RGB. Part of your workflow should be to soft proof your image using the profile of the intended printer. (View > Proof Setup > Custom to set printer profile and View > Proof Colors to perform the softproof.) This will change the image appearance. Make additional adjustments (e.g. saturation, color and levels/curves adjustments) to the soft proofed image to bring it back, as nearly as possible, to the appearance you want. I do this to a separate copy of my master image file, resized and sharpened for printing. Note that some vivid and highly saturated colors simply cannot be printed on some devices, with inkjet printers tending to have larger gamuts than printers using LEDs or lasers to expose photo paper. This means you will have to make adjustments that bring the out-of-gamut areas back in or accept whatever the printer decides to do with those unprintable colors -- which may not be what you had in mind. (You can also enable View > Gamut Warning to preview the colors that are out of gamut in your image.)

[Alfred Forns]

Good advice Gary !! ... its all about proofing for predictability ... and having all your devices calibrated !!!

[Don Lacy]

Hi Lorant I would use a different lab that can better handle digital images I highly recommend Aspen Creek photo
http://www.aspencreekphoto.com/or
MPIX http://www.mpix.com/default.aspx?SE=google.
If you want high end exhibition style prints try West Coast Imaging http://www.westcoastimaging.com/wci/...bitionmain.htm.
All the information you need for preparing your files for print can be found on their websites and their prices are reasonable.

[Lorant Voros]

Thanks guys for replying this thread.

Gray, thanks for the info. I will look into it and check it out.

Don. I checked these websites (first one doesn't work though). They look very pro. I'd change my lab in a heart beat if any of these would be present in Mexico City :-).
People are very helpful in this local lab, but Iam not sure they know too much about these issues I am addressing.

Thanks again.

Lorant

..by the way...our pricing is also very different in Mexico...that is the part I like.

[Don Lacy]

Hi Lorant, Why do they have to be local? I send them my files online they send me the prints to my house nothing could be easier. I did not check the international shipping rates but it should still be economical to use their services especially if you are not getting the results you need form your local lab. Here is the link to Aspen Creek photo again http://www.aspencreekphoto.com/

[Lorant Voros]

Hi Lorant, Why do they have to be local? I send them my files online they send me the prints to my house nothing could be easier. I did not check the international shipping rates but it should still be economical to use their services especially if you are not getting the results you need form your local lab. Here is the link to Aspen Creek photo again http://www.aspencreekphoto.com/

You are right. I will check out the international shipping and give it a try. Thanks a lot for the info.

Lorant

[Desmond Chan]

Hi Lorant, Why do they have to be local?...

Because the shipping cost is expensive :D:D


http://www.mpix.com/about/Shipping.aspx


Shipping to Canada = $30 !!

[Lorant Voros]

I just contacted Aspen creek. It is not bad; if the guys are realy good it worth trying for International customers. Here is the repy:


We can indeed ship international! All you would need to do is select our "International Shipping" option when placing your order. The shipping cost depends on the weight of the package and the destination to which it is traveling. For instance a one pound package traveling to Mexico City would have a shipping charge of $8.25.


Please let us know if you have any additional questions or if there is anything else we can do for you.


Kind regards,
The Aspen Creek Photo Team
aspencreekphoto.com