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Archive 2014 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?

  
 
planalpha
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


Hello, experts!
I am really enjoying my new Fuji X-E2 and I'm getting the best shots of my life, but I want to start getting some prints made and don't really know where to start. I shoot RAW+Fine and post process in LR5. How do I get what I see on my screen to a physical print? I won't be printing at home and will need to get a file to someone who can print it. Is there a good thread or tutorial to help me out?

Who should I send it to? A little google'ing shows some good feedback on White House Custom Color, but any recommendations are welcome, especially to any place here in Portland, Oregon.

How to export? What is the best format and setting to go from LR5 to a digital file?

Any other tips would be great.

Thanks once again.



Mar 17, 2014 at 09:05 PM
hugowolf
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


Personally, I would firstly calibrate your monitor, for which the i1Display Pro is probably the best device and software under $1k at the moment.

After that, I would look local. There have to be local print studios in the Portland area with a good range of papers willing to work with you. Try Googling ‘giclee’ ‘fine art printing’ in Portland.

The best format and colors space for saving the image: they are questions to ask your chosen printer, hopefully one that will supply a profile for your chosen paper, so you can soft proof the image.

Brian A



Mar 17, 2014 at 09:22 PM
OntheRez
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


Just a thought particularly while you are in the experimentation stage. Costco will print reasonably large pix at very affordable prices. It's not art work and I know nothing about what image formats they deal with, but you might have them print a few and compare them to your monitor as a baseline on which to improve.

Robert



Mar 18, 2014 at 12:58 PM
mhayes5254
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


You will probably want to calibrate but before you go nuts with all the technical fussing, just do a quick test. Print to a JPEG file in sRGB and send it to an inexpensive place like Costco, Adorama Pix, etc. it does not matter if it is local or not for this test. If your monitor is set to the factory brightness, the print will probably be too dark. The color may or may not be ok. You can then go from there. Depending on what you get back, ask here or call the print house.


Mar 18, 2014 at 09:17 PM
planalpha
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


Thank you all for the info! Great idea on starting off with a quick service just as a starting place.
And just FYI, I do everything on my 15" MacBook Pro with the Retina display. It's pretty darn bright so I bet you're right about the images being dark.

I'll give it a shot and let you guys know how it turns out.

Thanks again!



Mar 18, 2014 at 10:01 PM
mhayes5254
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


I have calibrated my iMac, but the correct brightness corresponds to just less than 50% of the factory brightness setting.


Mar 18, 2014 at 10:15 PM
Helen Oster
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


planalpha wrote:
Thank you all for the info! Great idea on starting off with a quick service just as a starting place.
And just FYI, I do everything on my 15" MacBook Pro with the Retina display. It's pretty darn bright so I bet you're right about the images being dark.

I'll give it a shot and let you guys know how it turns out.

Thanks again!


I just saw this Tweet from AdoramaPix:

Celebrate the new @AdoramaPix printing lab with 40% off Pix orders with code: PXWELCOME now through 03.31.2014!



Mar 19, 2014 at 11:48 AM
planalpha
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


Thanks for all of the help thus far everyone!
I just received my first test prints back and the color just happens to be spot on and things look great except they are all about a stop too dark. Is that something I should ask the printers to fix or is there a way to export out of LR5 differently? I tried darkening my screen on my MBP and boosting the exposure which seems to look pretty bad to me, so I'm probably not doing it right.
Any ideas how to fix this?

Thanks again!



Mar 22, 2014 at 12:17 AM
howardm4
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml

Your monitor is almost assuredly too bright. But that's the point! The monitor has to match print under the expected print viewing conditions and that can be somewhat variable. Those who calibrate their monitors range from 80-120 (and some sadists use 140 ) cd/m2 brightness.

That said, there is a box at the bottom of the LR Print module where you can add 'Brightness' and/or Contrast but you end up doing it blindly but I think something around 30-50 would be right.



Mar 22, 2014 at 06:54 AM
planalpha
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


howardm4 wrote:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml

Your monitor is almost assuredly too bright. But that's the point! The monitor has to match print under the expected print viewing conditions and that can be somewhat variable. Those who calibrate their monitors range from 80-120 (and some sadists use 140 ) cd/m2 brightness.

That said, there is a box at the bottom of the LR Print module where you can add 'Brightness' and/or Contrast but you end up doing it blindly but I think something around 30-50 would be right.


Howard-
Thank you for the links and the advice! I'm glad to see that I'm not the first to have this problem.

Quick question for you on the settings, I see the sliders you speak of on the Print tab of LR5, but I'm not printing to a local printer, I'm sending the images to a print service. Is there a way to do this for the file export option? Or is this something I can request of the print service?

I appreciate the help!!



Mar 22, 2014 at 08:53 AM
howardm4
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y has that problem when the first start printing.

in the Print tab, you can print to file w/o actually 'exporting'. just look at the Print To: widget and there is a pulldown that lets you print to file.

if you go down that road, I'd suggest saving and sending out 4 or so versions to the lab w/ different brightness values so when you get them back, you can see teh variations. Or use a test image like the one from Outback so you know you're starting from a good place with true whites, blacks and full tonal range



Mar 22, 2014 at 09:11 AM
hugowolf
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


howardm4 wrote:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml

... (and some sadists use 140 ) cd/m2 brightness.


Hey, I object to that comment. I use 140 cd/m^2. Sadists have moved on to 160 cd/m^2. Please keep up with the times.

Brian A



Mar 22, 2014 at 11:53 AM
hugowolf
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Getting A Print Made - Where To Start?


planalpha wrote:
... there is a box at the bottom of the LR Print module where you can add 'Brightness' and/or Contrast but you end up doing it blindly but I think something around 30-50 would be right.

Quick question for you on the settings, I see the sliders you speak of on the Print tab of LR5, but I'm not printing to a local printer, I'm sending the images to a print service. Is there a way to do this for the file export option? Or is this something I can request of the print service?


You are far better calibrating the monitor, adjusting the exposure or brightness after editing really isn't sustainable - at some point you will end up blowing highlights, for example. But...

You can 'print' to a jpeg file from the Print Module. It is under Print Job > Print to: > JPEG File. All the settings from the Print Module will be used in converting the image into a jpeg. It is really there so that you can add borders, inner strokes, cut marks, watermarks, and use the up-sizing and output sharpening prior to outsourcing the print, but it will retain the output brightenning and contrast settings too.

But all of that you will be doing blind,and it is far better to to see what you are doing.

Brian A



Mar 22, 2014 at 12:05 PM





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