Preping an image for printing

[ovie]

Hello fello photographers,

I have been browsing for an answer to my question but I have yet been able to find something that answers my query, I apologize if I'm asking a question that someone else has already asked.

I was wondering if there is a best way to set out your image before you take it into a local photolab for printing. I shoot most of my photos in Raw to get the most out of my images as I can, before I go to have them printed should I save them in a format to get the most out of my prints, what should I set my DIP to, should I use Adobe RGB, and is 16bit depth best?

I'm guessing that more is normally better but I just thought I would ask so I can learn from what others have already tried.

Thanks for your time.

Ovie

[Rentham]

Ask the lab.

[autofocus]

Most of the labs that we have used want sRGB, and not AdobeRGB. But as stated above, always best to ask

[kcoppock]

Originally Posted by Rentham

Ask the lab.

Definitely this. Always your best bet, assuming your lab knows what they're talking about (any lab worth going to should know this stuff, though).

[bigwater]

Ask the lab agreed, also see if you can get the printer profile from the lab then you can set the exact color profile needed for your document but remember if your monitor is not calibrated it still might look different when printed. Most printers I've used (always local) don't process 16 bit images and print is not an rgb (additive) color space it is a subtractive color space -cmyk. If for some strange reason they want you to send them an rgb image it will be converted to cmyk when it is printed anyhow. Adobe rgb is a bigger color space then srgb which is the default monitor color space but cmyk is smaller still. However some conversions dramatically change the colors in the image so depending on your printer they may want srbg so that they can convert it for you. If you do it your self ~of course I don't know what program your using but in Photoshop go to Edit>Convert to Profile NOT Assign profile

Standard resolution is between 240-300 ppi for print and 72 ppi for a monitor

[ovie]

Thank you all for your feedback on this, next time I'm at the lab I will be hitting them up for as much info as I can.

Living in a smallish city / large town I don't have much choice, but I hope I can find someone with a bit of nouce that can give me the profile or at least what is best for there printer.

Thanks

Ovie

[intrepidstu]

Originally Posted by Rentham

Ask the lab.

What he said. Also look at the out of gamut warnings in photoshop to make sure that the colours are ok in sRGB. From what ive read so far, there is only one real way to find what they will look like after printing, and that is to get them printed and see. Look for the areas that differ most from the original on screen and then try to adjust as required. My Lad wants sRGB and by default this is 8bit.

Be carefull not to crop to much of the image as well, especialy if you are increasing the size for print. Read up on Interpolation Methods.

Stu

[teaking]

The only thing I would add as the advice given is great, is to check you levels have a peak to see if you are using up your levels and where appropriate all your tones are spread out so your using everything available.

Bear in mind dynamic range drops again when printing so dont get too hung up on minor tonal differencies. As witb resolutions printers do much better with less these days. If you are going to upsize dont get too complicated either do it in one swoop or in 10 percent increments.

The important thing is sharpening output or print sharpening will make the biggest difference so ask your lab what they recomend or if at all this may be part of their process.

Ennoy the prints.

[berardi]

*thumbs up* to "ask the printer."

Remember that all of those differences and options have good uses in one way or another. A pretty good print can be made out of all of them if used correctly. It would be wise to come to an understanding to what all of those options means for you and your photography and apply what is only necessary. Of course, the best route to finding what is necessary for you is to try-out all the options that seem worthy to you to try.