what to do before developing from digital?

[shawntim]

Once the photos are in my computer, what do we do before sending to the developers? The only thing I know is to crop to the respective height and width ratios before sending. I'm sure there are other technical issues to consider.

Qn: Since it's on print, shouldn't we convert it to the CMYK space before giving them or before editing? Colours represented on screen are more accurate isn't it?

Qn: What formats do shops accept? Jpeg and RAW only isit? I read in a thread somewhere that people were charged to convert TIFF to Jpeg.. about 50c per image!

Qn: RAW is lostless right? My 602 takes Jpeg only. Will it help if I save the photo as RAW first (or what ever lostless format shops accept in the qn above) before editing? In that way when I save I will be able to prevent the lossy artifacts that one gets when resaving from Jpeg. Again, should I convert to CMYK first?

Qn: I tried saving my Jpeg in RAW today.. GASP.. even opening up RAW files need so much guesswork! Can anyone tell me more?

Qn: Some of the shots have overexposed bits on doors, walls, windows because I used flash.. agreed, I should have been more careful with windows, but I didn't realized lacquered doors are as bad.. anything i can do to repair the shots?

Qn: I'll be giving my friend her ROM photos after I developed. How do u suggest I give them as a gift? 4R for ROM photos like abit too casual.. should I do 5R? 6R? Or what other ways to present to them?

 

[shawntim]

no one knows? :dunno:

 

[togu]

Let me give it a try.

Once the photos are in my computer, what do we do before sending to the developers? The only thing I know is to crop to the respective height and width ratios before sending. I'm sure there are other technical issues to consider.

<-- View it again and again, to make sure if you want to print it.
You might want to touch up the pictures, like saturation, contrast, balance, sharpness, or any other flaws.

Qn: Since it's on print, shouldn't we convert it to the CMYK space before giving them or before editing? Colours represented on screen are more accurate isn't it?

<-- Keep it on RGB, that's what most shop advised.

Qn: What formats do shops accept? Jpeg and RAW only isit? I read in a thread somewhere that people were charged to convert TIFF to Jpeg.. about 50c per image!

<-- Most shops will only accept JPEG. 50c is cheap, some even ask for $1!!

Qn: RAW is lostless right? My 602 takes Jpeg only. Will it help if I save the photo as RAW first (or what ever lostless format shops accept in the qn above) before editing? In that way when I save I will be able to prevent the lossy artifacts that one gets when resaving from Jpeg. Again, should I convert to CMYK first?

<-- As above. Hrm, if you want loseless, you might as well save it to TIFF, that's definitely loseless.

Qn: I tried saving my Jpeg in RAW today.. GASP.. even opening up RAW files need so much guesswork! Can anyone tell me more?

<-- Er... you don't have to save it as RAW. I edited my JPEG and save it at the highest quality. You won't be able to tell the difference on 4R prints.

Qn: Some of the shots have overexposed bits on doors, walls, windows because I used flash.. agreed, I should have been more careful with windows, but I didn't realized lacquered doors are as bad.. anything i can do to repair the shots?

<-- Overexposed? Hrm, nothing much can be done. Most likely the details are gone.

Qn: I'll be giving my friend her ROM photos after I developed. How do u suggest I give them as a gift? 4R for ROM photos like abit too casual.. should I do 5R? 6R? Or what other ways to present to them?

<-- Give them 4R, don't spoil the market.

 

[ckiang]

1. DO NOT send in CMYK. Send in only RGB files. Don't get confused with offset printing and colour seperation which uses CMYK.

2. Send in JPEG. Don't send in TIFF. There is no difference between printing from a low compression JPEG and TIFF.

3. Shoot JPEG-Fine, or whatever highest quality mode your camera has (not TIFF). Then if you want to do edits, save a copy as TIFF and work from there. After you are done, save as JPEG, Level 10 or so. More than good enough.

4. JPEG as RAW ???

5. Nothing much you can do about them.

6. 4Rs are okay, get a nice album.

Regards
CK

 

[Snowcrash]

You can ask for "white borders" from colorlab for your 4R prints. And they sell nice albums too.

P.S. - I don't work for colorlab, just that my wedding photographer had sent my 24 rolls there to develop

 

[YSLee]

A few obvious things.. contrast and saturation will drop, hard to say how much, but it's good to play on the safe side.. I didn't. =X

 

[cillin]

Very disappointed after I collect my prints this afternoon. All those shots with border (created in PS) all been cropped off unporportionally even using "Fit In" mode. :cry:

The explaination is due to developing machine limitation, all the shots with border have to give some allowance min 1mm.

I have to redo send in after the holiday and wait for another 2 working days :cry:

 

[shawntim]

Originally posted by Snowcrash
You can ask for "white borders" from colorlab for your 4R prints. And they sell nice albums too.

P.S. - I don't work for colorlab, just that my wedding photographer had sent my 24 rolls there to develop

The white borders, are they on all 4 sides? Or are they there because I had squeezed the 4:3 original into the 3:2 paper?

 

[mervlam]

Originally posted by shawntim


Or are they there because I had squeezed the 4:3 original into the 3:2 paper?

no.... it's just gimmick. like a polaroid photo with white border around the image. makes the photo looks like a postcard. got it?

 

[togu]

I sent my photos to PhotoFriends, not too bad, my PS white borders were still there. No complains.