|
|
Selecting the Right Service
|
| |
At-a-Glance
Value Prints:
Image files are printed as received
without inspection or correction.
Pro Prints:
Image files are quickly inspected and adjusted for Density,
Color and Contrast as needed.
Custom
Prints: Image file quality is maximized using
meticulous Photoshop techniques and procedures.
See "Recommended Uses"
below for suggestions on matching services to fit your
needs.
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
Service Comparison
Value, Pro and Custom Print services are designed to meet a
wide range of needs and photographic skill levels. Use
this chart to help select the right service for your
requirements. |
Value
1 |
Pro
2 |
Custom
3 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
Print Type
True silver-based, continuous tone,
light-sensitive, chemically processed
photographic paper. Processed in RA4 chemistry. 80-100 year
archival rating. These are not inkjet, laser, or
die-sublimation prints.
|
 |
|
|
| |
Printing Equipment / Paper Type
Frontier 370 used for prints up to
10x15"/ Fuji Crystal Archive.
Durst Lambda for prints 11x14" to 30x90"/ Kodak Endura.
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Initiate Printing (Value print files are printed as received) |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Adjust Density (Brightness)
Pro Prints receive approximate
visual corrections on-the-fly for obvious, overall deficiencies.
Custom Prints receive precise, numerical corrections in
Photoshop by our most skilled color technicians. |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Adjust Contrast
Pro Prints/Custom Prints: See "Adjust
Density" above. |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Correct Color, Remove Overall Color Casts
Pro Prints/Custom Prints: See "Adjust
Density" above. |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Specific Cropping and/or rotation
(other than minimum crop needed to fill print size) |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Sharpen the image using various techniques |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Dodge/Burn (localized lightening/darkening) |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Suppress Noise (minimize grain or pixelization) |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Set Critical White, Black and Neutral points |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Resize & Resample file to proper size & resolution |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Adjust Color Saturation (increase or decrease) |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Change color space, apply correct output profile |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Convert color image to Black & White or Sepiatone |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Masks built for localized corrections |
|
|
* |
| |
|
Channel Blending (advanced, localized color correction) |
|
|
* |
| |
|
Custom Borders including keylines, drop shadows |
|
|
* |
| |
|
Composite two or more images together |
|
|
* |
| |
 |
Special effects (textures, soft-focus, motion, etc) |
|
|
* |
| |
 |
Critical Color Matching to existing slide, print, etc. |
|
|
* |
| |
 |
Retouching - Facial blemishes, remove braces-glasses,
telephone wires, con-trails, head swaps, ex-spouses... you
name it. |
|
|
* |
| |
 |
Scratch & defect removal |
|
|
* |
| |
|
Dust Removal |
|
|
* |
| |
|
Addition of Custom Text - Titles, dates, names, logos... |
|
|
* |
| |
|
Alter perspective (correct parallax, distortion, etc.) |
|
|
* |
|
|
(1) |
Value Prints
Recommended Uses
Best for printing a volume of
every-day
images at one time: candids, snap-shots, vacations,
holidays, etc.
ProTip: The best choice for skilled Photoshop users submitting
print-ready files that do not require
image inspection, correction or preparation on our part. See
also: Top Quality at the Lowest Price.
Value Print files are
printed as received without inspection or intervention on
our part. Our printing equipment is tightly calibrated to
international color standards. Users are responsible for the
quality of their files, and the resulting prints. If unsure
about file quality it's best to order Pro or Custom Prints.
Optionally, users may request a Basic File Inspection: $7.50
for the first file, $1.50 for additionals. If it appears
that the files will benefit from further correction, we will
automatically reschedule for Pro Print service.
|
|
(2) |
Pro Prints
Recommended Uses
Best all around print service
for weddings, portraits, seniors, and prints for albums or
shelf frames.
Pro Print
files are opened and inspected prior
to printing. Correction procedures are performed by eye,
on-the-fly, by trained color technicians. Corrections are
applied as needed to improve obvious (not subtle)
deficiencies in overall color, density and contrast in order to
render a print with pleasing overall appearance.
|
|
(3) |
Custom Prints
Recommended Uses
Best for important images that will be sold,
framed or displayed at home or office, or for use in
a
product or service portfolio.
Also best for important images that have potential, but suffer from issues
needing skilled custom correction.
Custom Print
files are opened in Photoshop and
critically corrected as needed to achieve outstanding,
technically correct images suitable for display or other
important use. Custom Print corrections are performed by our
most highly skilled Photoshop technicians. Corrections are
not only made visually on high-end, color calibrated
graphics displays, but according to critical numerical
standards allowing us to achieve accurate black, neutral and
white points, as well as skin tones and critical memory
colors.
Custom Print files may receive up to 30 minutes of
corrective work before they are printed. With the exception
of dodging and burning, corrections are global (applied to
the entire image). These same procedures can be applied in a
localized fashion -as in saturating color in one area and
de-saturating in another) at an additional hourly rate of
$89... see (*)
below. We provide an estimate prior to commencing on the
proposed work.
|
|
(*) |
Optional Custom Print
Procedures (Exhibition Print Quality)
Applied in conjunction with our
standard Custom Print procedures, these procedures can raise
print quality to Exhibition level, or take an important
image of lesser quality and raise it to the highest quality
possible. These labor-intensive, high-level procedures are
performed by request at an hourly rate of $89.
We provide an estimate prior to
commencing on the proposed work.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Is Your Monitor Trustworthy?
Why your prints may not match
your monitor, and what you can do about it
|
| |
One of the the most common questions we are asked is why
prints don't match someone's (new, expensive, name-brand,
high-definition, awesome...) monitor. Unless a monitor is
calibrated according to a standard, it cannot be trusted to
display photographic images properly. Calibration involves
setting the monitor's controls for brightness, contrast,
color, saturation and other characteristics so that they
adhere to a known standard.
When people ask about a mismatch between their prints and
monitor, an assumption is often made that the monitor is
correct and the prints are incorrect (too dark, too light,
off color, etc...). The reality is just the opposite. Prints
made by DigiGraphics, or any professional lab, adhere to
precise standards that reflect the true quality of the files
being printed. If there is a visual difference between the
monitor and the prints made by DigiGraphics, it indicates
that the monitor does not conform to this standard.
Therefore, the real question is why the monitor doesn't
match prints made from calibrated printing equipment. The
answer is that it can't unless it has been calibrated to the
same International Color Consortium (ICC) standards adhered
to all professional photographers and color laboratories
like DigiGraphics. In order to predict with any certainty
how files will reproduce in print, the files must be
viewed on a properly calibrated monitor.
If the differences between monitor and print are
unimportant, that is, if you are satisfied with the quality
of your prints regardless of how closely they match the
monitor, there is little need to calibrate. If, on the other
hand, you are relying on your monitor to predict how images
will appear in print, calibration is required.
Monitor calibration is a fairly straight-forward
procedure utilizing software and an external hardware device
to correct the monitor's output, so that it displays color
(brightness, contrast, etc..) according to industry
standards.
Additional information on monitor calibration, and how to
make proper comparisons between prints and monitor is
discussed in this article:
How To calibrate a display
Photo:
Properly calibrated display and print viewing environment.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top Quality at the Lowest
Price
Unlocking the
potential of our Value Print service
|
| |
The professional equipment and papers used to produce Value
Prints are identical to that used for printing our highest
grade custom enlargements; the quality of Value Prints is
limited only by the quality of the files we receive. Value
Prints satisfy a wide range of printing needs at very low
cost, from proofing a large volume of snapshot files to
printing exhibition-quality display murals. The key to
getting the highest quality prints is knowing how to prepare
files for Value Prints.
Value Prints put you in the position of darkroom
technician. Using an image editing program like Photoshop,
you can exercise all your creative skills with the knowledge
that your image will be printed exactly as received without
any additional alterations made by our technicians.
Because Value Prints are our least expensive form of
photographic output, Value Prints are often used as
test-prints to see how image editing is progressing on a
file, just as multiple test prints were often used by our
darkroom technicians in the days of optical printing.
DigiTip
If you are working on an image that will be
printed big, and want to insure its quality before hand,
it's common to submit an 8x10" section of the image for
Value Printing before ordering a more expensive enlargement.
If you want to learn how to maximize Value Print quality,
and how to properly prepare and submit files that qualify
for Value Printing, see the following articles:
Print-Ready Instructions
How To calibrate a display
Photoshop Tutoring
Since we do not inspect or
alter Value Print files before printing, it is important
to understand that the printed result is linked solely
to the quality of the files. We exercise no control over
the result; whether exceptional or horrible... the files
themselves get full credit. Ordering Value Prints is
like having our printing equipment attached directly to
your computer; submitting files is akin to pressing
"print"... if the result misses the mark, it's time to
return to the file to make any necessary corrections.
DigiTip
If you are a casual snap-shooter it's worth
noting that most digital cameras produce files of suitable
quality to be printed using our Value Print service.
There is relatively little to lose by running a small order
so that you can see the results for yourself. You may be
pleasantly surprised. On the other hand, if you want to
print/enlarge an important image and are not sure about the
quality of your file, we highly recommend using our Pro
or Custom Print service so that our technicians will
have an opportunity to inspect the file, and correct
density, contrast, or color issues before printing.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
