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chains1240

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Here is my story. I took a CD of my pictures to walgreens to be developed. I printed out 8 and one of them came out with blown out highlights. It looked fine on my screen as did the rest of them. And it looked good on their screen. I didnot notice it until I checked it against the file on the disc. So I took the disc to Meijer and tried my luck there. All I did was load up the file and print it 5x7. It came out enlarged, cropped, and lightened, on paper larger than the photo. The first photes we got at meijer that were 5x7 were on matte, then glossy, then glossy larger than 5x7 that we would have to cut down ourselves. Am I missing something? Does the left side of the granite on this picture look blown out to you?

 
--
Edvinas
 
I am going to take it to the local camera store that has been in business since before I was born. The cost for 5x7 matte is $4 each but I have to get that image on paper correctly. If it comes out too light they will probably adjust the machine and reprint. I feel my obsessivness kicking in.
 
I read in another forum here about a former Walgreen's employee who was fired for changing the chemicals at the required time. They were required by the company to only fix something after it had been broke for a certain time.

With digital, one needs to get the photo ready prior to taking it in. It must be cropped and adjustments done. Then, you opt for their equipment to not color and exposure correct.

I have been using the next day service at Sam's club and get glossy prints that look like what I had on my screen.
 
I feel your pain. Walgreens does a terrible job. Sadly, they are the only photofinisher in 40 miles that I can upload and get prints in an hour, so I'm forced to use them. I sent feedback to their corporate offices telling them about the color and quality problems at the store. After several rounds of replies, they told me that it was my** responsibility to go back to the store and work with the local store to resolve their printing problems. I guess soccer moms with Digital Rebels don't have problems at Walgreens.

Needless to say, I use them for snapshots and proofs only.

If I need enlargements or anything of quality, I use MPIX. http://www.mpix.com They have speedy turnaround and their prices are fair.

Good luck
 
chains1240 said:
Here is my story. I took a CD of my pictures to walgreens to be
developed. I printed out 8 and one of them came out with blown out
highlights. It looked fine on my screen as did the rest of them.
And it looked good on their screen.
Click to expand...
1. Exposures are usually automated in these minilabs. If you want something printed differently, you have to show them what you want. But you may have to go somewhere other than a drugstore for that.

2. Regular print paper, the kind used in minilabs, tends to give high contrast. This is so that consumers can be awed by the pretty colors, even when the image is underexposed. High contrast paper is why you got blown highlights.

It was this sort of problem that drove me to digital (even before DSLR days) and doing my own printing.

Joe
 
... prints properly on my system. There are no blown highlights anywhere.

Rick
 
If you do corrections at home, turn off the lab's autocorrect feature... not possible at all labs, though. ...and I would avoid those labs.

Getting your monitor properly calibrated and profiled is also a necessity. If you can get profiles for the lab's printer, that's very helpful too.

I also recommend submitting photos in the correct size and resolution for the print you want on the printer the lab uses. As mentioned, drycreekphoto.com is an awesome resource. It's particularly useful for me since I do all my printing at my local Costco.

Also, bware of reviewing prints under normal house lighting (for eg)... since prints are seen by way of reflective light, colors can seem way off under the warm light of a desk lamp, etc. Especially when comparing directly to the same image shown on your monitor.

IOW, I'm sure your prints didn't come out properly as you say. I'm just saying you don't know exactly how bad they are unless you take care of things on your end first.
--
pog



http://gallery.gopog.net/
 
The image seems fine. The blown highlights were probably caused by the software trying to lighten the darker background. You have to make clear that you want to print your pics AS IS, with no corrections.

Good luck!

BTW, I moved to digital mainly because of the photo labs crapy job digitizing film! God, they can't do anything right! If you want anything done right it seems you have to do-it yourself!
--
Good shooting!
 
That happens when the developer deplinishes. A quart of developer solution have a life of maybe 8 times for negative film, but each other time you have to increase the developing time. At the 8th time you throw it away. It can continue developing a bit longer, but you risk colors to be washed out or completely off. Some store owners don't care about clients and continue using chemicals past their depletion time, and some people is not able to realize that the problem is in the development and not in the camera. Is easy to check the negative base and realize the negative was developed using deplenished chemicals.

Shame on them.
K1000Photographer said:
I read in another forum here about a former Walgreen's employee who
was fired for changing the chemicals at the required time. They
were required by the company to only fix something after it had
been broke for a certain time.

With digital, one needs to get the photo ready prior to taking it
in. It must be cropped and adjustments done. Then, you opt for
their equipment to not color and exposure correct.

I have been using the next day service at Sam's club and get glossy
prints that look like what I had on my screen.
Click to expand...
--
visit



at http://www.ocando.net or http://mocando.myftp.org
Martin Ocando
 
When I look at the photo is is very dark on the left hand side because of the shallow depth of field and the tree overhead. I took it to another camera shop that has been around probably longer than I have been alive. The print I got from them looked exactly like it should. $4.00 for a 5x7. All I am using them for is to show my friends and family so I am going to get 4x6 from now on unless I want it bigger for myself. 4x6 cost 35 cents.
 
I don't think your issue is with the photo lab, I think it's with your computer. More precisely, your monitor's color profile. I went through this with my Compaq computer. What many computer venders do is set your color profile to what I would call "Extra Vivid". When you are looking at computers at the store, the one thing that catches your eye is the color saturation and zippy look. That is great for surfing the web but not for processing photos.

You pictures on your computer will look great, but if the saturation and contrast are turned way up, then the actual output to your printer or lab will be light and washed out.

You need to go to your computer and check the monitor's color profile. You should be using sRGB, and not some "special" profile that came with your computer/monitor.

I made a PDF for a photo book printing company explaining how to do this. If you would like send me your E-mail & I'll send it to you.

Other than that, your best step would be to get software to make a custom color profile for your computer and monitor.
 
My issue was with bringing in 6 or 7 files to be printed and all of them came out great save one. The last printer I went to printed the picture precisely as it was on my screen. I think the issue is with the people/equipment at the drug store chains. I do see your point about my monitor, but I do not believe it is the case in this situation.
magicone said:
I don't think your issue is with the photo lab, I think it's with
your computer. More precisely, your monitor's color profile. I went
through this with my Compaq computer. What many computer venders do
is set your color profile to what I would call "Extra Vivid". When
you are looking at computers at the store, the one thing that
catches your eye is the color saturation and zippy look. That is
great for surfing the web but not for processing photos.

You pictures on your computer will look great, but if the
saturation and contrast are turned way up, then the actual output
to your printer or lab will be light and washed out.

You need to go to your computer and check the monitor's color
profile. You should be using sRGB, and not some "special" profile
that came with your computer/monitor.

I made a PDF for a photo book printing company explaining how to do
this. If you would like send me your E-mail & I'll send it to you.

Other than that, your best step would be to get software to make a
custom color profile for your computer and monitor.
Click to expand...
 
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