24
I'm going to sort of disagree with all the other answers that talk about DPI or PPI rules of thumb, and suggest two different 'rules' (based on PPD, from another answer of mine)
Rule 1 — The 'Retina' rule
(aka the Pixels-Per-Degree (PPD) / 'better than your eye can see' rule)
This comes pretty much straight from Apple's Retina display designs, the idea ...
23
Other users gave great answers about tuning your computer. However since you mentioned costco, this is a costco specific answer:
I've sent many prints to costco and had great luck. However not so much, before I realized that they were "auto correcting" images. One batch of birth announcements I had to send three times because the color was "off" no matter ...
16
Those appear to be codes from a Fuji Frontier automatic film processing lab machine or one of its older predecessors. Such machines were/are popular at mass retailers who did/do one hour photo processing and printing.
Users have some leeway in assigning what information is printed using the codes on the back of the print, so there is some variation ...
15
Yes.
And it usually depends how much you are paying.
The more you pay per print, the more likely there will be a human factor.
The big processors(wallmart etc) are unlikely to have the time or skill to go over files before print, its usually a plug-n-go system.
I used to run a print shop - and I specialised in 2 things, Bulk prints, and high end art / ...
15
Scan them. Now. Even relatively low end cheap scanners can capture more than the visible detail of a picture. Once you have a good digital representation, make a few backups on as long-lasting media as you can find, and put them in separate places. Give a copy to several relatives dispersed around the globe.
I know this doesn't preserve the original ...
13
Others have given advice on digitising which is very worthwhile and I would suggest this should be done as soon as possible. However, assuming that there is value placed on the photograph itself as a historic object not just the image it contains as a historic record then you will want to do your best to also preserve them as well as you are able.
The ...
11
The ISO standard, as explained in this document produced by X-Rite, a company that produces hardware and software used for color calibration, is to view prints in light that is at D50 (full spectrum centered at 5,000K) in terms of color temperature. In terms of intensity, around 2,000 lux (roughly equivalent to an overcast day) should be used for color ...
9
The general position under UK law is that you can take any photos you like if you are on public property - this is how all those long-lens paparazzi are legal. As you note, almost all the UK is owned by someone, but public highways definitely count as public property; other areas may be more complicated. There are only a few gotchas to this:
It is illegal ...
9
Before doing anything else, I would suggest making as high a quality and high resolution scan (2400dpi not interpolated) as you can using a flatbed scanner and save the image in an uncompressed file format like TIF, not JPG. Do that through the existing glass before doing anything to recover the photo. The file will be huge, but not an issue for current ...
8
I find that the Wikipedia article on Photogravure gives a good detailed overview of the subject. An easier to follow and shorter version can be found in this description of the process. Here's the summary of the technique:
Contact-print a positive onto a layer of gelatine sensitized in potassium dichromate. This hardens the exposed parts of the gelatine.
...
8
TLDR: Choose a print shop that provides ICC profiles.
Soft proofing is an important step for optimal results. If a shop doesn't share its profiles there are two reasons that come to my mind: lack of knowledge (very bad), or different printer types for the same printing product, meaning multiple orders could give different results even with the same ...
8
It is really complicated because you need to compare brands and systems with the same reference image.
This will be an answer just based on my little experience.
Paper
In general terms the paper must be coated. The quality of the coating has an effect too.
From less vivid to more vivid:
Newspaper. (Matte, not white)
Bond paper (normal office paper). (Matte,...
7
The usual coating of photographic paper consists of (hardened) gelatin, together with a lot of other chemicals. Unless it has some extra protectional coating as described on this wikipedia image
the gelatin is directly exposed to the environment, and if you ever have used gelatin for baking or cooking, it gets a bit sticky when wet, and dissolves ...
7
Since I do photo restorations I frequently see the results of others efforts of trying to separate the photo from the glass.I personally do not try separating them. I do a high resolution flat bed scan through the glass and then rebuild the photo on my computer. This way my customer has both.
7
Unless you're using album sleeves manufactured to being archival, they could be part of the problem, outgassing chemicals that deteriorate the images.
Also, unless the images were printed on archival-quality paper, the photos could be damaging themselves because many papers and processing techniques can leave the final result acidic, which can break them ...
7
The C-41 negative film process arose from movie film that was marketed just after World War II. Previously, processing color films was a far more arduous task.
To simplify, three dyes, cyan (blue-green), magenta (red-blue), and yellow are incorporated into the film during manufacture. The dyes in this film is incomplete. The three dyes are all missing the ...
7
The Canon EOS 5D Mark III has a resolution of 5760 x 3840 pixels, or 22.1 MP. It has a 3:2 (1.5:1) aspect ratio.
A2 sized paper is 16.5 x 23.4 inches (420 x 594 mm). It has a 1.414:1 aspect ratio.
This means we must either:
Leave blank spaces at the top and bottom of the paper to use the full image width on the width of the A2 paper. This would leave us ...
7
I am basing my answer on this
I envision as a book in the end.
So my first recommendation is beyond the technical elements you are asking for.
1. Frame a bit wider than the frame you like.
A printed book normally has a different proportion than a 3:2 sensor.
A designer could choose to maintain the proportion of the photo if showing the full image is ...
6
Yes, this is legal under the doctrine of first sale. In general, under the law, distribution is an exclusive right of the copyright holder. However, this is a specific exception, where "the owner of a particular copy [...] is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy".
So, you are in ...
6
Wet silver color printing is slow, tedious, and requires trial and error to get the color balance right. I don't miss those days. Even if you want to cling to film for some reason, scanning the film then printing digitally is much easier, repeatable, and faster.
My process went something like this (it's been 20 years or so):
Turn off all the filters to ...
6
Mostly, any answer will be purely subjective. In other words, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. No matter what I say here, some deleterious remarks will be posted.
The chemical based photo print has lots of disturbances that were never overcome. Digital prints, both inkjet and dye sublimation suffer from some of the same woes. Both are viewed by ...
5
Given your update, I would offer that color with digital photography is as much a problem of mathematics as it is getting proper illumination and white balance when actually making the photograph. Your camera senses light, separates that light into discrete collections filtered into certain ranges of wavelength (reds, greens, and blues). Depending on the ...
5
Without example pictures, it's difficult to tell exactly what the problem (or constellation of problems) is, but what you are describing could easily be the result of extreme underexposure of the film (more than 2 stops) without any compensation in development (that is, the film was developed for the normal time). Colour noise happens in film as well as in ...
5
I think something along the lines of "Digital print from 35mm film negative" should sum it up quite well - it clearly states that the original photo was taken on 35mm.
I don't think you need to say that it was scanned. Scanning is I guess the standard way to transfer film negatives to digital format, but obviously there are also other ways, eg a device for ...
5
Within production of paper based products such as photo prints, there are inaccuracies that are hard to avoid. If the prints are exposed on photo paper usually paper rolls are used which may already show these inaccuracies. Here you can find tolerances that are acceptable within an usual international paper size standard. I would guess, if your deviations ...
5
I'm assuming you probably used a compact type camera with an image shape of 4:3 (long side of image is 4/3 longer than short side, which describes a "shape").
But a 6x4 print is the shape 3:2... simply not the same shape. So not all of the image will fit on the paper. Images generally have to be cropped first to fit the desired paper shape. And most print ...
5
...what kind of print do you do so that it can be kept for longer time without any damage?
I generally don't worry too much about archival quality or longevity of my prints; I'm cheap and use a dye-based inkjet printer, rather than a pigment-based one. But since I do the prints on my own printer on photo paper that I can easily purchase, I figure I can ...
5
Photo prints will yellow if improperly washed. We wash prints after the fix bath to completely remove residual chemicals. Try to save these prints by re-fixing and then washing in running water for about 15 to 30 minutes in gently running water. If water is scarce, use a washing agent like "hypo clear" followed by a brief wash. If this doesn't work, let us ...
5
It's purely a matter of opinion, unfortunately.
My own suggestion would be that matted prints always look better than simply framed prints, and some more so with a double mat. I typically go with one solid white or black mat for black and whites with either a black or white frame and for color, go with complementary colored mats and frames that complement ...
5
Some high-end, made for visual-arts work monitors ship with pretty decent color profiling from the factory. But if you're looking for a cheaper option, you definitely need a color calibrator. There's no way to even get close to matching output without one.
But note that you're only going to get kinda similar. Monitors and prints are inherently different. ...
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