Do you postprocess pics before sending them for developing?

[boroangel]

Asking this question especially to those DSLR users...Do you PS your photos first? Pics straight out of DSLR tend to be a bit flat...so do you leave the adjusting of saturation and curves to the shops or do it yourself first?

I am in a dilemna now...the last time I send pics form my Fuji S5500 to Simon from Grace Lab he did a wonderful job...but now with my D50 I am still hesitating whether to brush up my PS skills first before sending it to him or just let him get on with it.

Another question...I read that its better not to do sharpening on PS for pics that are to be sent for developing and let the shop do it...cos web and printing got different sharpening levels...so if I add my own borders and text, which is always the last step...I will do it without sharpening the image first and let the shop do it? Will the adjustments made by the shop affect how hte borders and text look like?

 

[zoossh]

Asking this question especially to those DSLR users...Do you PS your photos first? Pics straight out of DSLR tend to be a bit flat...so do you leave the adjusting of saturation and curves to the shops or do it yourself first?

I am in a dilemna now...the last time I send pics form my Fuji S5500 to Simon from Grace Lab he did a wonderful job...but now with my D50 I am still hesitating whether to brush up my PS skills first before sending it to him or just let him get on with it.

Another question...I read that its better not to do sharpening on PS for pics that are to be sent for developing and let the shop do it...cos web and printing got different sharpening levels...so if I add my own borders and text, which is always the last step...I will do it without sharpening the image first and let the shop do it? Will the adjustments made by the shop affect how hte borders and text look like?

i couldn't answer if it is better to leave it to the labs to do the adjustment, but i'm more concerned if they can reproduce what i see on my calibrated monitor without further adjusting it and to ensure that the paper material does not alter my colors. i enjoy editing my pics.

take this picture for example,

the original, where there are high contrast between highlight and shadow.

the output, where exposure is even out and hue adjusted.

they may be able to adjust certain things, but they won't be able to do everything that your eye sees in a creative vision. nobody is going to help you do selective area blurring or sharpening, becos it is so much time taken to edit a photo. but once you are able to do one yourself, it is your work - totally.

 

[firestone]

You're asking in the Digital Darkroom section, so what answer do you expect?lol..
And as in zoossh has shown, who is to even say which is the 'preferred' shot..there is no such thing as 'standard' good photos..that is beyond 'standard' snapshots..

 

[jeediver]

my photo usually turn underexpose so i do some PS before sending it out to develop.

 

[asdfasdfadsf]

in my experience, for best result, edit everything yourself. Inc smoothing skin if you want, color, contrast, brightness, add words, selective burn and dorge, or other stuff. Then ask the lab not go adjust anymore. From the result, recallibrate your monitor to suit theirs. But all these takes a lot of time, esprecially when it comes to editing every single pictures.

 

[Azure]

Images for work/clients/submission, I'll do some postproc, if nothing else, to at least clean them up of tiny bleamishes/dust/etc. USM sharpening only comes into play if I'm printing larger than 10x15 sizes. After that, its straight to print.

Personal pictures, it'll depend to whether I wish to add moods. Otherwise, it'll be out-of-camera, add text line(s) and border(s), and resize to print size. I print at a Fuji FDI lab too, TripleD@Burlington Square, so that's the same thing to profile a similar display on your screen and on their printer.

As mentioned by others, there is only that much the labs can do. Unless they are so free to sit there to PS all your photos for you (which they will have the right to charge a lot more).