How to Get Prints that Look like what I...

I am giving CDs with Xmas card images for clients to take to their local printer and print their Xmas cards. But they are getting different results than what I saw on my monitor -- often much darker. Is there something I can do to be sure that what the lab prints is the same as the image I saw on my monitor???? I have a PowerMac G5 with a 17'' monitor, which I calibrated with a Monaco colorometer....I am using Photoshop CS2.
How to Get Prints that Look like what I...
make sure to select the ICC profile, give your clients a list of prefered printers that do color adjustment in lab for a modest fee, I like delta quest imaging and Millers, Pro color is ok, and dont even think about white house custom color they dont know color from their A**. Use a standard Profile and Gamma with all your images for consistancy, you will want to send Great Mcbeth Color charts to the lab and have them tell you what color space they are printing in. Most labs I have seen seem to be printing in Adobe RGB 1998 but many still use Adobe SRGB which may be why alot of your images may apear more saturated contrasty and darker. Also low quality labs will not check their chemisty often so I have noticed problems especialy with the fujifilm 390 mini lab and lesser models where the chemistry varys in just 1 degree and all the images look way to magenta or way too cyan!

also keep note on the type of paper they will be printing your photos on, fijifilm paper is not going to last as long, I have heard rumers that because it is thinner it is more suseptable to oxidation and eventual fading.



Personaly I refuse to allow any of my clients to print anything themselfs because if they end up printing it at wallmart or taking it to proex ritzcamera or wolfcamera and messing it up they arn't going to know it was the labs fault they are going to assume it was your fault and thats your reputation on the line.
How to Get Prints that Look like what I...
look into getting nice handmade paper from the awagomi paper factory in japan and find a nice lab that uses an epson 9800, make an image file with all the cards on it (y hight , 44 inches wide and get some roll paper sent to them. I like the KoZO or the INBE paper it lasts thousands of years and with the pigment based inks you cant go wrong. usualy giclee printers charge by the foot or by the yard but considering the quality of the print if you explain to your clients these images are something more than just cristmass cards they are art that could appreciate over time if properly cared for then the extra 80Cents per card is no big deal.



more on this email me



drewdupont@gmail.com

My wife is purchasing equipment to maqke giclee prints of her original canvas art works. She will be using an Epson VG750 scaner to scan her canvas in sections. Which Adobe Photoshop version should she use to bring all these scans together to be printed on her large printer? We have been told Elements is not a good enough version to do this with ease. Cost is a factor although we do not want a cheap Photoshop version that won't produce great results.

I don't think you are using the Photoshop SDK. I recommend you post in

the regular Photoshop forum. But there is much more to this than

buying software: your wife will need to understand color management,

and calibrate her monitor to get accurate color. That's before getting

into the rather difficult art of stitching...



Aandi Inston

lips