Sunday, March 11, 2007

Red Over Green

Don't know how I forgot to include this in the last post.

In re: the post before that, I printed the second photo of the church steeple and moon at 8x10" and it retains every nuance of the digital file.
My current print strategy has been very successful (for me--you're mileage may vary) so I thought I would mention it for those photogs who're interested.
I go to Kinko's, where they have a Sony Image Station machine.
It's self-serve with a touch-screen and takes credit cards or prepaid Kinko's cards available from the machine next to it or at the counter.
The paper is gloss and has "Print By Sony" on the back, so you know the correct paper profile is being used.
You can insert CDs or any of the camera memory cards--I use the 32mb Memory Stick that came with my camera, and put the Photoshopped files on it using my card reader/writer.
(This is why card readers aren't what you want. The ability to also write has advantages.)
It'll also burn a CD from your memory card for quick backup or storage of your photos. On vacation, this is a great solution if you run out of camera memory.
An 8x10" is $4.99, which isn't the cheapest in town but at the high quality the Sony machine puts out is a bargain. Smaller sizes cost much less--I think 4x6" were 29 cents each.
Every print I have made has been perfectly acceptable.
The colors almost match what I saw on my monitor (calibration pays off) and subtleties in shading and texture are rendered accurately.

The greenish hue of the original is now reddish on the print, but to be honest the print more closely matches what I saw at the time, as the green tint is a by-product of the mercury-vapor streetlights that is only rendered green by digital cameras, not film and not to the human eye.
Luck? I guess. The blues are correct.
I'll be examining future prints very closely.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This one's a winner too!