please help! want professional prints

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Level 1

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please help! want professional prints

I want to order professional quality prints any recommendation on 1) who to use 2) how to do it.

I get them just how I want them in iPhoto and when I used kodak they cropped it and the coloring looked different. Should I export them? When I do it asks if I want full size or scale? Not sure which to chose. And if you burn it to a disk to take to professional developers do you lose any quality? Thanks sooo much!!

mini, Mac OS X (10.3.4)

Posted on Dec 4, 2006 4:51 PM

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Answer 1

PhillyPhan

Level 5

5,440 points

Dec 4, 2006 5:25 PM in response to Min8

I want to order professional quality prints<<<</div>

On occasion, I have a shot that's worth professional printing. I haven't checked pricing lately but I had one 8X12 printed last year from a 35 mm negative. Including mounting and shipping, I paid $68. I used Leigh Photo in New Jersey:
http://www.leighimaging.com/

Now, to your other questions. Export the shots full size but, before you do, crop the photo to match the dimensions of the desired print (i.e., crop to 4X6 for a 4X6 print and crop to 8X10 for an 8X10 print). Otherwise, the lab must make a decision in the dark. Burning to disk does not cause any loss of quality but frequent modifications and resaves do. (However, that's not really a practical concern unless you're constantly resaving the photo and, if you want to do that, don't use jpg format, use tiff or psd.)

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,778 points

Dec 5, 2006 11:01 AM in response to Min8

Min8:

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. I haven't tried them but have heard good things about http://www.mpix.com/. They have a variety of papers you can use, matte Kodak professional elura paper, metallic paper and true digital B/W paper. Their prices are at http://www.mpix.com/productsinfo.aspx.

Do you Twango?

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application, iPhoto dB file backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar

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Answer 3

Dec 5, 2006 12:48 PM in response to Min8

I was born in Chicago (Cook County Hospital) so I thought I'd add my 2¢.
Before you spend any time, or work in iPhoto, check the settings you used on the camera to record the images.
Many cameras offer different settings but only one is worth sending out for prints.
The key is DPI (dots per inch) and they are stored inside your image file.
If you captured in a low size setting (72 or 100 DPI) your multi mega pixel camera may only allow a "print" size of 5X7 (maybe even smaller).
Next setting is "medium" and it uses 180 DPI. Again, if you crop the image, you print size will be on the small size.
Last is "large" and it is usually 300 DPI. This is what a printer wants to use as it gives the best results and brings you back for more business.
Today you can drag your images (Finder to CD) and bring them into a Wal-Mart for developing.
So. If your images are large (300DPI) you'll get good results when printed. Smaller captures means smaller prints.

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