photo processing

[mickeyschickie]

do you print your own awesome photos or get them processed somewhere...I have such a problem at places like Wal-Mart or other quickie places telling me that my photos look professional and I have to take my camera with me all the time so they can see the pics in my camera, I can't just take my card because they claim that they have to be in my camera and they won't view my card in their machines. I got a Picture Perfect Home studio for Christmas and have taken some great portraits of my girls but cannot just go and get my prints made without a hassle. I like the way quality and style of mPix but have never tried getting these pics done there because I didn't want the hassle of having to prove that I took my pictures. believe me, I am flattered that they believe my photos are professional portraits but I cannot keep carrying around my expensive camera and the pamphlet I got with my Picture Perfect Home studio and how can I prove that the pics I play with in Photoshop are mine because the touched photo is not in my camera!
Nicki

 

[jann1033]

do you print your own awesome photos or get them processed somewhere...I have such a problem at places like Wal-Mart or other quickie places telling me that my photos look professional and I have to take my camera with me all the time so they can see the pics in my camera, I can't just take my card because they claim that they have to be in my camera and they won't view my card in their machines. I got a Picture Perfect Home studio for Christmas and have taken some great portraits of my girls but cannot just go and get my prints made without a hassle. I like the way quality and style of mPix but have never tried getting these pics done there because I didn't want the hassle of having to prove that I took my pictures. believe me, I am flattered that they believe my photos are professional portraits but I cannot keep carrying around my expensive camera and the pamphlet I got with my Picture Perfect Home studio and how can I prove that the pics I play with in Photoshop are mine because the touched photo is not in my camera!
Nicki

there have been a few recent threads with reviews of processing places.
http://www.popphoto.com/photoprinters/2697/online-photo-labs-put-to-the-test.html
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1233778&referrerid=&highlight=online+photo+prints

 

[Groucho]

That's pretty silly that they'd give you a hard time like that... especially since it would be very trivial to take an image that you didn't take and load it into your camera to make it look like you took it.

 

[boBQuincy]

If it is a photograph I care about I will print it at home, where I have a lot of control over the output. If it is too large to print at home I send it off to Shutterfly or one of the other processors.

It will be a cold day when I carry my camera to *Wal-Mart* to discuss professional photographs with the people working in their processing center. That hassle alone is worth the price of a good home printer to me.

The current crop of photo printers from Canon, Epson, and even HP can provide better prints than the mass market labs can, and maybe better than even the pro labs. It isn't cheap or easy, and requires a good printer and good paper but the results are excellent.

 

[ukcatfan]

do you print your own awesome photos or get them processed somewhere...I have such a problem at places like Wal-Mart or other quickie places telling me that my photos look professional and I have to take my camera with me all the time so they can see the pics in my camera, I can't just take my card because they claim that they have to be in my camera and they won't view my card in their machines.

There could be a number of things going on here. If you have an older memory card format, then they might not have a machine that still has that option (i.e. Smartmedia). They could have an older machine that was bought before the time of your newer format. They could be ignorant and not know what they are talking about. Also, they could have some devious reason to get you to leave your camera with them. I suggest burning them to disk and dropping that off. I have never seen a shop without a CD drive. That technology predates digital cameras.

Kevin

 

[RitchG]

I print almost all my own photos. We use a Canon Pixma i5000 for regular 4x6 and 5x7 prints and an Epson R1800 for everything else (up to 13x22). The stuff from the Canon is really good, and the output from the Epson (although it takes a little more work) is excellent. My mom has an HP Photosmart printer and loves it - she scrapbooks and prints a lotta photos with it - simple and easy. Kodak is coming out with a new line of photo printers that is supposed to cut the per-print price in half, to about $0.10.

I've been pretty frustrated with the stores as well as the on-line services, but then again I tend to be a control freak when it comes to my images.
---Ritch

 

[MICKEY88]

do you print your own awesome photos or get them processed somewhere...I have such a problem at places like Wal-Mart or other quickie places telling me that my photos look professional and I have to take my camera with me all the time so they can see the pics in my camera, I can't just take my card because they claim that they have to be in my camera and they won't view my card in their machines. I got a Picture Perfect Home studio for Christmas and have taken some great portraits of my girls but cannot just go and get my prints made without a hassle. I like the way quality and style of mPix but have never tried getting these pics done there because I didn't want the hassle of having to prove that I took my pictures. believe me, I am flattered that they believe my photos are professional portraits but I cannot keep carrying around my expensive camera and the pamphlet I got with my Picture Perfect Home studio and how can I prove that the pics I play with in Photoshop are mine because the touched photo is not in my camera!
Nicki

mpix shouldn't question you, they are geared towards pros so they expect pics to look like they are taken by a pro..


as for the walmart, talk to teh store manager, see if they can give you a card or something in writing that you can just show the lab people each time you go in

 

[carolina_yankee]

That is really in intriguing dilemma. Your photos are too good for Wal-Mart to print out!! That tells me they have no interest in offering the quality and care that better photrographers would need or expect.

Anyway, kudos to you for working on your craft and getting the compliments!

As for processing, I've really come to appreciate Costco. You can upload your photos to an online gallery, and then place your orders for a very diverse range of sizes. Price is good, and you can often pick up in under 4 hours (and they'll ship for free).

Finally, if you have the software to get into all of this, you can download Costco's printer profile from their site and attach it to your photo for more precise printing. I've found the regular sRGB color profile works just fine, though.

Dirk

 

[0bli0]

when i was in the states visiting CarolC, i printed some photos for my mum at Longs from a cd. they printed the photos but before i could collect them, they asked me if i was copying studio portraits and if i could show i had the appropriate copyright. i laughed and told them what camera and lenses i have and showed them my business card.

is this what things have come to in america? it would seem the number of people inconvenienced would far outnumber people who would be illegally copying photos.

 

[Gdad]

It will be a cold day when I carry my camera to *Wal-Mart* to discuss professional photographs with the people working in their processing center. That hassle alone is worth the price of a good home printer to me.

The current crop of photo printers from Canon, Epson, and even HP can provide better prints than the mass market labs can, and maybe better than even the pro labs. It isn't cheap or easy, and requires a good printer and good paper but the results are excellent.

I could not have said it better.

 

[tinkspark]

when i was in the states visiting CarolC, i printed some photos for my mum at Longs from a cd. they printed the photos but before i could collect them, they asked me if i was copying studio portraits and if i could show i had the appropriate copyright. i laughed and told them what camera and lenses i have and showed them my business card.

is this what things have come to in america? it would seem the number of people inconvenienced would far outnumber people who would be illegally copying photos.

Actually you would be surprised. I worked at the target photo lab in college, at this time we were primarily developing 35mm. Digital was just starting out so all we had was a Kodak picture maker... which was still mostly used to make copies of pictures people didn't keep the negatives to. The machine would not make copies of any professional picture unless we put in a code. It was amazing how many people actually did try to get away with illegally making copies.

 

[Groucho]

is this what things have come to in america? it would seem the number of people inconvenienced would far outnumber people who would be illegally copying photos.

Copyright enforcement is ridiculous over here. The whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing is completely out thanks to efforts by the RIAA, MPAA, and so on - obviously it's now up to the consumer to prove that they're not breaking the law rather than the copyright holders to prove that they are.

Just last night, I tried, for the first time, playing an HD-DVD on my HD projector in my home theater and got an HDCP error. Because of copy protection, I may be forced to buy a new video card, HDMI to DVI adapter, AND maybe even a whole new projector - yet non-copy-protected HD content works perfectly. Thanks folks! This DRM stuff is really infuriating.

 

[eatatmidnight]

This is how I've done it.

1. I edit over 50 percent of my pictures. (Husband says I'm OCD)

2.Upload the pictures I want to Walgreens. (call to make sure I get matte finish)

3. Drive up the street and pick them up.

That location is fortunate to have someone who is knowledgeable and responsible. She has worked there for a while and is very helpful. I have tried Sam's and Wal-Mart, it just seems that I don't get the personal service from them that I get from the Walgreens staff. That being said, I'm there at least 3 times a month and take pictures for our school's scrapbook as well as my family. She knows my pictures are not professional. It seems that you get more privacy when you upload them to the store. It also saves time trying to get it all done at the kiosk.

HTH

 

[fitzperry]

Actually you would be surprised. I worked at the target photo lab in college, at this time we were primarily developing 35mm. Digital was just starting out so all we had was a Kodak picture maker... which was still mostly used to make copies of pictures people didn't keep the negatives to. The machine would not make copies of any professional picture unless we put in a code. It was amazing how many people actually did try to get away with illegally making copies.

How did "the machine" know?

 

[0bli0]

dunno about that, but for a really neat trick - take a photo or scan of a US $20 (or larger) bill and then open it in photoshop...

 

[MICKEY88]

dunno about that, but for a really neat trick - take a photo or scan of a US $20 (or larger) bill and then open it in photoshop...

any particular reason you were doing that...LOL

 

[boBQuincy]

dunno about that, but for a really neat trick - take a photo or scan of a US $20 (or larger) bill and then open it in photoshop...

Software vendors overstepping their bounds.
Which makes me wonder, what will Photoshop do with a scan of a Disney Dollar?

 

[MICKEY88]

is this what things have come to in america? it would seem the number of people inconvenienced would far outnumber people who would be illegally copying photos.

the current method of dealing with photo copyright, by photo labs came about in the early 90's

I can't remember the chain, but a small chain one hour lab was copying anything people brought in, a professional photographer found out his work had been done....contacted PPA to find out what his rights were, thru their legal team...

PPA took up the cause and sued the chain, for an outrageous amount of money, and won...the chain went out of business, so all other labs started the current process, to avoid being sued for 10's of thousands of dollars...

so although what you say is correct, it only takes one lawsuit to damage a company...

 

[fairestoneofall]

I'm not going to get into the whole copyright issue. I don't really want anyone reprinting my pics at WalMart anyway.

I have my pictures printed at Miller's (mpix) or WHCC. If I'm just printing personal snapshots, like my vacation pictures, then I'll upload them to snapfish or winkflash.

Mpix will not question you at all. Obviously, if you are uploading, you have the files. And, most CDs that are given out by portrait studios are not print quality. And most scans of portraits are also obviously scans, and not original files. I've never had a problem when printing with mpix. In fact, they invited me to join their pro side. So, that's probably the most that would happen with you as well.

 

[MICKEY88]

. In fact, they invited me to join their pro side. So, that's probably the most that would happen with you as well.

really, I didn't know they had such a thing, what is the difference if I may ask..??