I want to get in here a bit
Here we go - I want to get my verticals straight
Line that up and get a bit of a reflection of the boat
some sky
splendid that'll work nicely!
so what we have to do next is to send it off for printing
Let's look at the 'pro' labs first.
so i'm gonna take this - in here!
And because they're so big and they have branches everywhere
I'm going to take it in here as well.
the results are in
we got the prints back and I've got a pen and put a little mark in the top left hand non-political marking the top left hand
corner on the back of each once we know where it's come from
let's have a look at the next one another
Let's pop them out this way. I'm going to do them the
right way up for you guys to look at,
because also it's probably less distracting from me
if the pictures are the wrong way up because I'm looking at colours rather than at the
image.
The first thing that really strikes me is that these are all completely
acceptable prints and I didn't really expect that.
They're also very slightly different from one and other but not different enough for it
to become an issue,
and if you're going to get something printed by four different printers
you've got to expect that to a certain degree, because they're all using
different processes and different paper types.
This one here - for example
is on glossy paper where as the other three are on lustre.
I wanted to make it fair by having them all printed on lustre, and lustre is the
surface or tend to use because it's non reflective and it doesn't show up finger
marks if you've been handling your prints.
Unfortunately I'd already got three being done before I went into Boots, and Boots
don't offer lustre as an option. So this one is on Glossy paper.
Glossy has a tendency to kind of lift the contrast and gives an image slightly
more punch, but the down side is is shows more reflections and it shows up finger marks
if you touch them.
As to the difference, what if we go here?
These two at the top are very slightly warmer than the two at the bottom.
There's a little bit more yellow / gold content in these two at the top. Now if you
remember when we were the computer I added a bit of yellow so that's going to be
interesting to see what's going on.
And the acid test is going to be to check them on the computer to see which
match my monitor.
I think it's probably going to be
this one.
The thing to do now
is head off to the 'west wing'
and go and find out.
Let's let up our image
and when you do this, load it in your photo editing software - don't do it in
Windows picture viewer or something like that because it has little or no
colour management
compared to your photo editing software and the better that software is the
better the color management will be.
I'm using adobe photoshop because that's what I use and it is very very good.
There are a couple of things to bear in mind when you are doing a comparison like
this as well.
Firstly -
projected light coming out of the monitor is going to be much more powerful and vibrant
than the reflected light
bouncing off the surface of your print.
Do you remember watching slides through a projector onto a screen? They always looked
super vibrant and exciting realy compared to
a print of the same image.
It is just a
feature or function
of projected light, It really does have that kind of quality to it.
The other is the light you're going to do this in.
If you are going to do this in the lounge on a dark winter evening evening with the yellow
tungsten lights on,
you've got a yellow cast going on on everything, which your brain is colour
correcting to an extent,
but it is nonetheless going to alter the colors of the print your looking at.
The best place to do it is in day light.
That's why I was looking at them next to the window next door. But even day light changes
color!
In the morning and the evening it's much warmer, there's more red in it
is at mid day.
If a cloud goes over
the sun it will change color then.
So I'm doing this in my work room where I have a six thousand five hundred degree
Kelvin bulb that's not going to change color at all. Six thousand five hundred
calvin is the industry recognized collour of daylight.
There are no
strong colored walls or anything it's very neutral so there's no colour casts
coming back off the walls.
And finally
I'm going to use a Monitor Hood.
This is like a lens hood but it's for your monitor.
It just sits on the top and is held in place with a bit of Velcro.
If I can make it fit properly!!!
You could make one of these yourself out of cardboard if you wanted to.
Or just Google
'Monitor Hoods and you'll find loads of them online.
And finally
(I've said that twice)
you've got to be looking at your monitor square on. If I i look at that from over there
it goes a bit wishy washy and light.
When you look at an LCD you have to be right in front of it - be careful that you in front of it and be careful that you
are.
This did not happen with a Cathode ray monitor so I'm going to turn it
this way
to give you the best chance of seeing what's going on. I don't know if the video
camera is going to pick up the subtleties that I'm expecting to see here.
Prints...
I don't know if you can see it but this is warmer than the
monitor.
That's interesting because I thought it would be a warm one that would be
closer to the monitor. That's slightly warmer but not as warm as the
last one.
The sky is not bad, but again it's just over all a little bit warmer.
That looks to me to be closer
and it's still a little bit warmer than the monitor.
That actually looks to be the closest. That's the Glossy 'Boots' print.
That's very interesting.
But don't forget it's a glossy print and glossy prints have more
contrast. They certainly give the appearence of the white's being whiter and the blacks being blacker
and it will appear to be a bit more punchy.
And this is a problem I know in this test.
But still - it is not bad and is pretty close to let's go back and look at our
luster prints because this is really where it where it lies I think
because these are all on the same surface.
I'd say that is ....
what have we got...?
Lets have a look and put them next to each other.
So those are definitely
two warmest ones.
Putting them like that
they are so similar.
I'd say these -
that one is a bit warmer
that's quite a lot warmer.
Who is that from?
That's the Jessops print and it's much warmer.
And these two
That is a bit warmer again,
that's the ProAm Imaging print.
They are all acceptable - it's just fractionally warmer
I'm being very 'Nit-Picky' here. If you are just
looking at pictures you you wouldn't see this.
I'm being picky as hell.
So here we go - that's slightly warmer
so that means that left behind is the
Paul Williams Digital which is the closest of all the Lustre prints
to what I'm getting out of the monitor.
It doesn't have quite the punch of the glossy 'Boots' print, but that's something of
an unfair comparison because
if Paul had done it on a glossy paper as well it would've been much more accurate.
However what we can draw from this
is that Jessops, Boots and
a professional
printer like Paul Williams and a professional lab like ProAm have all
produced very acceptable results. You are never going to get the monitor 100% the same.
I have to confess I'm quite surprised by that. I expected Boots and Jessops to be lagging
quite a long way behind.
And they are not.
That's pretty good.
Now then - let's have a look at price and service and all that kind of stuff.
Who have we got here? That's the Boots print which was 40p
the price between boots and Jessops is really quite negligible.
Jessops were 55p
Boots were 40p - there's only 15p in it.
One advantage of course was it was pretty quick.
I went in there and used the one hour service
and because they were not very busy I was out again in a
very very short time indeed.
Normally in these places you go in with your memory stick and poke it into the machine
and it's self-service.
I have not anything printed it by Boots or Jessops in 15 years or more
and in those days I gave a canister to a nice person behind the counter
who wrote it on an envelope and dealt with it for me.
I'm a bit rubbish with technology as you know
and I had to ask the staff for a hand and they were very very
helpful indeed and I said to them I don't want any adjustment or manipulation on these
images. I want them printed the way I have delivered them to you.
And that's what they've done.
So, it's pretty good service
and a low price from both Boots and Jessops.
ProAm imaging
uh... professional service
very good service
are actually cheaper than Boots or Jessops at 36p.
There is a 'but'!
When you're only having one 36p print done you still have to pay for the
postage and packing on top.
And because it is a photograph they pack it really well, it is in a hard well the sanity and plastic is in a hard
board
you know - in a wallet so it can't get bent or damaged
by the time I paid for all that it was £5 in the end.
If you are going to photograph a wedding and have 100 prints done then it is
well worth doing because what they send back is consistent and very
very good
and of course it is cheaper - but only if you get several prints done.
Enlargements - I have to just say on the side, are a lot cheaper than the high
street when you go to someone like uh... ProAm.
Finally Paull williams
this is the most expensive prints of a lot
at £1.75.
But then you are getting
are very experienced and personal service. You could pick up the phone and
say 'can you do this or that'? And If he gets an image and also if he got your image info on that
thinks 'that's quite right'.
He would then phone you to to check that that's how you want it done and if you
needed a bit of a tweak or change he would do that for you.
But of course it's best to send your image to him in the first place -
corrected.
I know from experience their stuff is very very consistent.
So that's £1.75 and I must admit it has a much nicer in a solicitor much nicer
high-quality feel to it which kinda surprised me because being as this is a
top end inkjet print I expected the photographic prints to feel better - but
actually it doesn't.
So what we learn from this?
Well interesting that you can get a really great and acceptable print done in
all sorts of places now. The advantage of the high street is it's very fast if they're not
too busy.
Prices are pretty low,
uh... I can speak for the two branches I went into but I'm very impressed
with both of them.
At the end of the day I would still stick with my 'Pro' labs I have to say
uh... particularly if i wanted a really big print done
because I just know that it will be absolutely 'bang on' and there's no argument.
So there we go.
Very interesting results from my point of view.
Not quite what I expected to find out but it is very very reassuring to know
that these days
I can go and get very good quality print done
almost anywhere.
So you can get it out there
being enjoyed.