Post Production / Colour Correction

If you are processing your own images, it is vital that you use a calibrated monitor and printer profile - please visit our colour management page to download our profile.

For information on colour management and workflow, click here
For information on regular digital printing, click here

                    Digital Specialists at your service.

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Post Production Options:
As a professional lab, every image we print is individually corrected by an experienced operator before printing (unless we are specifically asked not too). We offer the following four post production solutions.

Photoshop correction: For the professional finish - Contrast, colour, density, saturation, sharpness and resizing are part of the many details offered with Photoshop post production.

Manual Fuji correction: The files are individually colour corrected using the Fuji software 'live' on the Frontier printer, only colour and slight density correction can be made. No Sharpness or contrast options are available.

Auto Fuji correction: The files are individually colour corrected using the Fuji software in Auto mode. Auto mode adds sharpness, contrast and colour correction then leaves the image on the screen for the operator to fine-tune manually. The amount of Sharpness and contract added by the Fuji software can not be controlled.

No correction: This option is for pro's who are working on calibrated screens and understand colour management and image proportions. We print on a calibrated Frontier without changing any settings - this option must be specifically requested.

For the best results:
"If in doubt, leave it out". Post production is a skill, although we encourage photographers to understand and experiment, until he or she has mastered the skill, we request that files not be worked on prior to printing - our team can work more accurately from files directly off the camera - for the same reason as below.

RAW - for the experienced photographer:
If the photographer shoots in RAW, it is best that images are processed to a "print ready" state or our team will need to do additional correction over and above the correction made by the photographer or software. This could lower the quality of the end product.  - For example: if the photographers has a screen that displays too much yellow, he or she may remove yellow from the image. If it is sent to lab and we then see the image is blue, we will need to add yellow. Image quality is lost.


READ MORE BELOW...

IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you need your filename to be printed on the reverse of the print, please note that the Frontier only prints the first 8 characters. Be sure to place the number within the first part of your filename.



 

Selecting your printing format:

Print formats:    Fit, Fill or No Resize
This is best explained with pictures. Each option is ideal for a certain requirement, all three options could also do the same for one type of image where another image will need to have only one of the options. As I said, I will need to use picture to explain...

If you are not sure which option to select, please ask one of our team members to assist you, we will view your files in Photoshop and be able to explain it then.

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Example 1: a 12x4 inch panoramic image - sent to print on 6x4" (jumbo).

Above is the actual image - naturally this is not to size but indeed to scale.

Printed using FIT:

This option "fits" the image into the paper size selected. This would be the only setting to use if you want the full image be displayed. Although there is extra white space, this can be overcome by mentioning it to our team in advance as we have special paper settings for odd print shapes (panoramic or square etc)
Printed using FILL:

This option "fills" the paper size selected. It is not working in this case as the paper is not panoramic width. If the paper was 12x4 inches, this option would work.

Printed using NO RESIZE:

This option prints the digital file pixel for pixel from the data, if the file is larger than the paper, it will only print the part of the image that covers the paper size selected. It is not working in this case as the paper is not panoramic width and needs to be 12x4 inches exactly in order to display a 12x4 inch image.

Conclusion: After this exercise, it would be best to discuss your requirement with us in advance as we have special print setting for odd shape prints from square to panoramic.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Example 2: a 4x4 inch image - sent to print on 6x4" (jumbo)
Above is the actual image - naturally this is not to size but indeed to scale.

Printed using FIT:

This option "fits" the image into the paper size selected. This would be the only setting to use if you want the full image be displayed. Although there is extra white space, this can be overcome by mentioning it to our team in advance as we have special paper settings for odd print shapes.

Printed using FILL:

This option "fills" the paper size selected. It is not working in this case as the paper is not square. If the paper was 4x4, 6x6, 8x8, 10x10 inches etcetera, this option would work.

Printed using NO RESIZE:

This option prints the digital file pixel for pixel from the data, if the file is larger than the paper, it will only print the part of the image that covers the paper size selected. It is working in this case as the paper is larger than the image size of 4x4 inches.

Conclusion: After this exercise, it would be best to discuss your requirement with us in advance as we have special print setting for odd shape prints from square to panoramic.

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Example 3: a 6x4 inch image - sent to print on 6x4" (jumbo)
Above is the actual image - naturally this is not to size but indeed to scale.

Printed using FIT:

This option "fits" the image into the paper size selected. All three option work in this case as the image is the correct format. We do not however recommend using "No Resize" unless you must, "No Resize" can print images with slight white borders when not intended.

Printed using FILL:

This option "fills" the image into the paper size selected. All three option work in this case as the image is the correct format. We do not however recommend using "No Resize" unless you must, "No Resize" can print images with slight white borders when not intended.

Printed using NO RESIZE:

This option prints the digital file pixel for pixel from the data, if the file is larger than the paper, it will only print the part of the image that covers the paper size selected. It is working in this case as the paper is identical at 6x4 inches to the image size of 6x4 inches. We do not however recommend this unless you have a need to print every pixel on the paper size you select - this is used for prints with artwork.

Another option, printed using NO RESIZE: 

This option is printed from a 6x9 inch image, as you can see, being sent to a 6x4" sheet of paper, much of the edges of the image is not printed. "No Resize" should only be used when the file is 100% correct, pixel for pixel to the output paper size.


Please discuss your workflow requirements with us. It is vital to a consistent quality printing.


 
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