Saving for Prints

[dooda]

As trigger happy as I am I have trouble with getting out there and printing them. I decided that I don't want to deal with store bought printers as you have to buy the ink and the paper and then they aren't the greatest quality and I'd probably screw a lot of them up. When I save an image to print, it asks me what quality and gives me an option of 1-12. Who saves where and why? If I'm printing out a relatively large photo (10x12 or so) should I just save at the highest?

Also, what are the pros and cons of the different types of printing ie: emailing the images, taking them to a machine, dropping them off on a cd or something? Is there any differences? I have to get off of my butt and start printing.

[W00DY]

Good question...

I wait for some answers (sorry I can't answer myself)

W00DY

[sirhc55]

As trigger happy as I am I have trouble with getting out there and printing them. I decided that I don't want to deal with store bought printers as you have to buy the ink and the paper and then they aren't the greatest quality and I'd probably screw a lot of them up. When I save an image to print, it asks me what quality and gives me an option of 1-12. Who saves where and why? If I'm printing out a relatively large photo (10x12 or so) should I just save at the highest?

Also, what are the pros and cons of the different types of printing ie: emailing the images, taking them to a machine, dropping them off on a cd or something? Is there any differences? I have to get off of my butt and start printing.

To answer the first part dooda you are obviously saving in jpeg format so you really should choose 12 (less compression).

My preference would be to write to a CD and take it into wherever you are going to print. Emailing large files could be a problem

[dooda]

Thanks Chris.

Yes I am saving in JPEG (does anyone recommend different?). Generally for web I save at 6 (medium) and for originals I'm saving at 9. I should save at 12 then no matter what size print I'm going to make?

My brother told me I could just throw the finished photo back onto CF card and take it that way to a photo finisher or machine. What do you think of this and do you know if there are different machines that get different quality images? Thankyou very much for the response.

[W00DY]

My brother told me I could just throw the finished photo back onto CF card and take it that way to a photo finisher or machine. What do you think of this.

I used to do this until some people on this forum pointed out that it is not a good idea.

CD's are not expensive and CF cards are (well relatively). There could be a chance of your CF Card getting damaged or something, I have not heard of this yet but you never know.

In regards to file type is it better to save in TIFF rather than Jpeg?

W00DY

[Geoff]

My brother told me I could just throw the finished photo back onto CF card and take it that way to a photo finisher or machine. What do you think of this.

I used to do this until some people on this forum pointed out that it is not a good idea.

CD's are not expensive and CF cards are (well relatively). There could be a chance of your CF Card getting damaged or something, I have not heard of this yet but you never know.

In regards to file type is it better to save in TIFF rather than Jpeg?

W00DY

Dooda,
Woody is correct about the CD's being very cheap. I may be wrong but I too have heard that if you re copy files onto your CF card it can use a format that will differ from your camera and although a format of the card (in camera) can fix this it would be easier just to use CD's.. if you are worried about 'wasting' a CD, I *think* that most labs will use a CD RW (correct me if I'm wrong members). Also, if you want to print off a VERY large image then saving to TIFF is definately better way to go as you have no compression with the image. ALthough if you save a NEF (RAW) file to TIFF it will make it an approx 18meg file, but again if you want big and beautiful quality for a large image, this is the way to go. Hope this helps,

Geoff.

[W00DY]

Also, if you want to print off a VERY large image then saving to TIFF is definately better way to go as you have no compression with the image. ALthough if you save a NEF (RAW) file to TIFF it will make it an approx 18meg file, but again if you want big and beautiful quality for a large image, this is the way to go. Hope this helps,

Geoff.

Sorry to hijak the thread Dooda but I have a question regarding TIFF images.

You can save them as either 8bit or 16bit. I have noticed in Photoshop you can't do a lot with a 16bit file (you have to convert it to 8bit first), so is there any point in saving a NEF file to a 16bit TIFF image?

W00DY

[georgie]

My brother told me I could just throw the finished photo back onto CF card and take it that way to a photo finisher or machine. What do you think of this.

CD's are not expensive and CF cards are (well relatively). There could be a chance of your CF Card getting damaged or something, I have not heard of this yet but you never know.
W00DY

I was at a store recently and the salesman was "ramming" someone elses card into a CF reader - I was amazed how forceful he was.

[MATT]

dooda, I got a 10x12 (8x10??)printed the other day, I trasnfered it back to an old SDcard and took that in. saved as jpg 12 best quality.

I preffered to go in cause its only 2 mins away and I printed a 6x4 first to check colours ect from the machine.They cost 50c and are worth the trouble. That way if you are unhappy with the results you can decide wether to go ahead.

I also asked for it to printed with no processing.

MATT

[xorl]

You can save them as either 8bit or 16bit. I have noticed in Photoshop you can't do a lot with a 16bit file (you have to convert it to 8bit first), so is there any point in saving a NEF file to a 16bit TIFF image?

Probably not. Given the limitations of printing technology I suspect that there isn't any noticeable difference between an 8bit and 16bit TIFF even if the store will accept 16bit.

Some stores won't take anything other than JPEG. Others will take TIFF but may have specific requirements. It's often a good idea to ask the print store for details on their requirements / preferred format. The more digital aware stores often provide details in their pricelist.

...of course it's always a good idea to do editing in 16bit or floating point before saving the final for the printer.

[sirhc55]

Spot on xorl - work in 16 bit until you are happy with what you have then save as an 8bit TIFF. Mind you I always shoot in RAW and backup both the conversion and the original RAW - just in case.

[Onyx]

Dooda, I would recommed saving at the highest JPG quality possible.

From my experience, I have found that the printing process tends to exacerbates artifacts of jpeg compression - more so than ISO noise. So to minimise those 'chunky blocks', save at the highest quality.

A tip for printing - you should also apply more/heavier USM than you would normally use for displaying. Since the paper (matt finishes especially) tends to blur things out a bit and reduce the sharpness from images.

Depeding on the volume of photos you're having printed, I tend to think online places where you email/upload pics to be printed may work out slightly more expensive than a large retail chain, since they usually insist on charging exorbitant prices for shipping and "handling". However, I've had excellent experience with Adorama while I was in New York. They were cheap (I think even by US standards), and very good quality. I could upload images online, tick the "pick up" option and be informed by email when my prints were ready. It was then just a subway ride down to the shop, to pick up the prints with no need to fumble for payment cos it was all taken care of by CC. I loved that system - it epitomises the phrase "hassle free".

[dooda]

Thanks a bunch everyone. That was some great INformation. I think I've got some CD's but I'll look into email as well.