Whether output is to be on film or paper, there are several common points that need to be kept in mind. Firstly, shop around for the lab that suits you best. This is unlikely to be the cheapest, since professional digital equipment and software is still very expensive and doesn't benefit from the cost reductions that volume production brings. You may find a lab that produces exactly what you want at the cheapest price, but it's unlikely. Most labs with digital output kit need to have quite a high throughput of work in order to pay both for the kit and its maintenance, but that doesn't mean that they will all welcome you with open arms. You need to ask a lot of questions before making up your mind, although this isn't such a problem if output to colour trannie is all that you need. Here's my list:

1) What is the main business of the lab and who are the main clients?

If the answer is something like fine art or exhibition printing and photographers then you may be in the right lab. However be careful about definitions. Fine art should be ok, but to a lab 'exhibition' may not mean framed pictures on a wall, but the sort of text and picture displays that you see in museums. The words 'retail', 'display' and 'exhibition' often go together in the lab world. This is fine if what you want are some colour prints, say 1.25 metres square, and are happy with the standards that apply to 'retail, display & exhibition', where corporate logo colours are usually much more important than the tonal gradation of any photographs used, unless they are of products of course. (I've known clients to be happy with prints where the model's face is sickly green, but the clothes, their product, matches the real thing as close as possible.) If the main clients are designers or design agencies, again beware, their requirements are different from a photographer's. Also beware of famous names, they may well be regular clients, well cared for and happy, but both their requirements (or more importantly, their clients requirements) and their budgets, may be rather different from yours.

2) May I see some examples of the work you produce?

This can be a difficult one, because if their main clients are individual photographers they may well not have anything to show. If they show large prints mounted to the wall and they are of a retail, trade or museum nature, are abstracts or beautiful women, particularly very colourful, then beware. It is a lot easier to produce a 'punchy' print than the subtle tones that you may require and a lot of graphic work is PUNCHY. Remember also that any Black & White prints will probably be done on colour paper (there are chromogenic (colour process) B&W papers, but a lab will only use these if they have enough work to justify it). This can mean that a B&W print shows a colour shift or crossover (e.g. the highlights a little green, the shadows a little magenta) which may be impossible to get rid of. This also goes for B&W film output, you can print from a B&W neg. output on E6 trannie film, but it may not give exactly what you are after (e.g. a magenta or yellow shift will affect the tones produced on multi-contrast paper).

3) Do you have a price list I can have?

This may seem a silly question, but if they main business of the lab is large jobs for design agencies, each job will be priced individually. No price list, or one that is dog-eared and with no copies that you can have, means that they don't do much "small stuff", which means your sort of work. It also means that, when it comes to paying for any work done, unless you have the quote for your job in writing, it can be hard to argue about a higher charge. Check that any prices given include VAT (or whatever your local sales tax may be), most pro labs price lists are not inclusive of VAT (because their professional clients can reclaim it). If they do have a VAT inclusive price list, it probably means that they do a lot of the kind of thing you want. If you want more than one copy off the same image, or have several images to print, check for discounts. It may be cheaper to have two or three prints done in one go, than to come back later for reprints. Check for any special discounts, such as for students, but check that these are not taken off the next job you give them (ok if you intend to put through several jobs, but useless for the single 35 prints for the exhibition job). Verify how you can pay, don't just assume that you can pay by cash, credit card or cheque when you collect. You can ask about sponsorship for your project or exhibition, but don't be surprised at rejection. A lab is unlikely to sponsor anything unless they feel that sufficient publicity to potential clients can be gained or it is something that someone senior is into. (If you get nowhere, you can try suggesting that they can use any exhibition for a client party, but you need to check with the exhibition venue and any other sponsors first.) Also check to see if extra charges are made for proofs or tests. Again be careful of definitions, a proof is a final quality print (possibly at a reduced size), while a test can be anything from a section at final quality and size to a rough test strip. Be careful, since once the lab has produced what they think is an acceptable print, you may be being charged at full rate for what you think are tests. Some labs may not offer lower cost proofs for one off or short runs of prints, although the cost of a proof may be discounted if you have the final print done. Don't ask to keep proofs, tests or prints that you've rejected, unless you've paid for them. If they're good enough to keep, then they're good enough to pay for. You also need to check for any additional costs that may be incurred. Are there any set-up or handing costs (e.g. a charge may be made for loading your files onto the system), are there charges for storing your files after a certain point (the print has been produced and you ask them to hold on to the file so that you can have some copies done next week) or for copying their corrected file back to your disk (so that you can have copies done at a later date). In particular watch out for charges that can be incurred because of files that are supplied incorrectly, see next question for details. The price list should show you what options there are for output on different types of material. Gloss or matt prints (if the surface is particularly important to you, ask to see samples - not all glosses are the same and matts vary considerably from manufacturer to manufacturer). Display transparency material may be something that you are interested in. Available in either opal backed or clear (usually called 'trans' and 'clear' by manufacturers e.g. Kodak Duratans and Duraclear, and usually known as 'dura'), it needs a lightbox to be displayed on (which can be very expensive). Dura is also much more expensive than prints. It can look stunning on a good evenly illuminated and colour corrected lightbox, particularly if you can arrange for the room lighting to be lower than that of the lightboxes ('clear' needs a lightbox with a built-in diffuser and will show-up any muck on the diffuser more than 'trans', it's also more expensive than 'trans'). (I have tried using 'clear' for producing large negs for cyanotype printing. Unfortunately, the D-Max (maximum density) appears to be too low, so that the neg is not contrasty enough. If you are going to try it out, remember to test before doing anything important, or expensive, and also to flip the image left-to-right so that the emulsion surface can be printed in contact with the paper. I've never tried the inkjet version of 'clear', although I've heard of people successfully making negs on desktop inkjet printers using OHP trannie material. Another possibility for old printing processes, although I've never tried it either, is lith negatives. A 'lith', short for lithographic, is used in the making of litho printing plates, they are very high contrast and you will need to impose a half-tone screen on your image using PhotoShop or similar to get 'grey' tones, but they are cheaper to have made than a large format neg. Try a reprographics (lithographics) printer or bureau, rather than a photo lab.) Other special materials include plastic based (e.g. Kodak Duraflex) prints which may offer a high gloss finish or be more resistant to tearing. For inkjet, canvas or cloth may be available. If a lab doesn't offer what you want, do ask since if it is a standard material, they may be prepared to get it in (although they may want you to pay for the minimum order quantity and may also want you to pay for the time it takes to calibrate it, which could be very expensive if all you want is a single print, so check first).

4) Do you have guidelines for the submission of digital jobs?

The answer to this should always be "Yes". Some labs may also have a copy on their website. You really do need these and need to follow them carefully. This is because, although a trannie is a trannie and a neg is a neg (in computer jargon they are "human readable"), a disk can contain anything - or nothing - and it still looks the same. A lab may only be able to handle certain types of disk, you may be able to fit all your images on that DVD-RAM disk, but the lab may not have a drive to read it (why spend money on kit if their regular clients don't use it?). Similarly, they may have a standard file type e.g. RGB TIFF Mac byte format and no LZW compression. Anything different from this may incur conversion charges. They may accept that DVD-RAM, but charge for a bureau transferring it to Jaz or Zip disks - plus the courier bikes both ways. About compression, avoid it unless the guidelines make it clear that they can handle a method with no charge. Compression methods can be lossy , such as JPEG, and can reduce the quality of an image, so avoid that. Compressing with a utility may be great and fit everything on to the one disk, it may even be self-expanding, so there are no worries about the lab having the right decompression software, but as the seconds tick-away they may be charging you and this may come to a lot more than another disk or two. Many labs may accept DTP files, such as QuarkXpress or Adobe Pagemaker, or PowerPoint for slides. This is a good way of getting text and graphics into an image, but check the guidelines for any additional costs (the files may need to be RIPed - rendered into raster image files - before printing). If you are supplying DTP files then make sure that the whole job is on the disk you send - the DTP files, any image files, graphic files and check that the lab already has any fonts used. Legally (I think this goes for most countries) you are not supposed to supply any fonts you use to the lab for printing. This is impractical for some jobs since it's a bit stupid for a company to buy a special font twice, once for themselves to put the job together and then a second copy for the lab - who after all is acting as the company's print dept. - however, the lab shouldn't use the font for any other job, but that's out of your control. If you do supply a font, state in your written order that it should only be used for your job (always supply a written order of your instructions, any time limits and any agreed costs with any job). Double-check that you have supplied everything that the lab will need to run your job. They could charge you for the time it takes to find out that something's missing. Check in the guidelines about file sizes. Depending on how the lab's equipment works, these may be given in MB or as dpi at final size (e.g. a 10 cm x 10 cm RGB image at 300 dpi is also 4MB) . Follow these carefully, since you could either end-up with conversion costs or images that are the wrong size which you will be charged for. For example, your inkjet printer may print at 360 dpi so you create an 8x10 inch file at 360 dpi (which incidentally is probably larger than your printer needs - see inkjet file sizing). Now if that's printed on a Durst Lambda at 200 ppi, without conversion, you'll end up with a print that's 14.4x18 inches. Film recorders and photographic paper printers tend to work in pixels per inch, these are variable points of light (like a screen uses) and so each pixel in your image will be printed as a pixel. Inkjets on the other hand print in dots since the inks used are not variable (although some printers can vary dot size and/or use different strength inks), so they can't print every pixel as a single dot, but must make up the image by placing dots of ink next to one another (this is worked-out by the printer driver software). An imager printing at 200 ppi (pixels per inch) will be roughly equivalent to an inkjet at 2,500 dpi. Check out a sample of each with a magnifier to see what I mean. This means that a file for an inkjet printer can usually be smaller than the dpi of the printer (about 75-50% is reasonable). So check the lab's requirements since bigger files are slower files, and slower files can be more expensive files. One point about print sizes, the lab will probably take the size you set the file to (known as same size or S/S) or that you give in your order, as the size of the image without any border. If you want a border, either set this in your image (probably the best way - say in your instructions 'including border') or create the file to the image size and ask for a border of whatever size, e.g. plus 5mm white border all round. If you want a coloured border (the lab may only be able to print black or white as a border) then you will probably have to do it in the file. Once again, check with the lab first. Finally, mark any disks (not just cases) that you supply clearly with your name and phone number. The lab will have disks a-plenty and if you don't mark up yours, then they could get lost, resulting in your job being delayed or you losing disks (getting the cost of a lost disk removed from your bill can be next to impossible). By all means use coloured disks, but don't rely on it. You may think that your red Zip disk will be unique, but red may be a client's corporate colour and the lab could have dozens of them going through. Never give the lab a disk that has the one and only copy of your file on it, because accidents do happen and it may go astray, be deleted or overwritten. It's also a very good idea to have only those files that you want printed on the disk and if you want some files on matt paper and some on gloss, or some one size and some another, then create separate folders with relevant names and sort the files into them. With film output, the norm is that a positive results from output onto positive (trannie) film and a negative from output onto negative film. In both cases you supply a positive file. You need to state anything different, e.g. a neg on trannie film (perhaps because the lab doesn't offer neg output) and you will probably need to supply a negative (inverted) file. Regardless of anything else, always check any file for dust, scratches, hairs and retouching marks. Zoom up the file at least to double the size it will be printed at and clean it up well, because if it shows on the print, you can't blame the lab.

5) May I speak to the technician who will be printing my job?

Yeh Right! Get real! Sorry, but being able to speak to the printer who was going to print your job was a fairly acceptable thing back in pre-digital days, but now your job could be printed by any one of the 'operators' working round the clock, plus it may be handled by more than one person as it goes through the system. With a smaller lab or one that does a lot of work with photographers you may be able to speak with the printer, so it's still worth asking. Do ask to speak to someone technical if you think that the receptionist or salesperson that you are dealing with doesn't understand exactly what you want. Depending on workloads and other factors, including the size of your job, you may even be able to arrange to come in at a particular time and check your job as it comes off. Do phrase it in a way that makes it clear that you want to help. Don't say 'supervise' or anything like that, no one likes someone looking over their shoulder and interfering while they're working. Something along the lines of "If it will help, I can come in and be available for you to check things with me as you print them". This may be in the middle of the night, when all the other work has been done, and it may get cancelled at the last minute because of rush jobs, but you never know your luck. Always remember, the technicians probably know a lot more than you (hey! lets be truthful here, they know a hell of a lot more than you) and they can be useful people to get on your side (boring in some cases - but useful).

6) What options for colour management & matching do you have?

This is a messy area. Although there are colour management systems, such as Apple Colorsync, which provide calibration profiles for scanners, screens and printers, you would need to be using a compatible system all the way through to be able to use any colour management system reliably. In practice, many labs use colour matching charts for graphic colours, e.g. logos and text, and then match images to supplied trannies or prints (or some clients may just ask for an image to look "right"). If you're a photographer who wants your images to look exactly the way you want them to look, then this is where the real problems start. Just because an image looks right on your screen and prints right on your printer, doesn't mean that it will at the lab. So you need to do what the pro's (should) do and that's test. The lab may have a standard print and file that they will give or sell you so that you can match your screen (and printer) to theirs. Otherwise you will need to put a file in for them to print which you can then use to adjust the hardware and software (system gamma settings and/or manipulation package settings) of your screen to match that print - never, ever adjust the file. Don't use anything that is extreme, try to have a portrait and some colours (these can be blocks added in using a program such as PhotoShop). Include a grey card or block by all means, but don't expect this to be perfect, since grey shows up any tiny imbalances which you can't see in the rest of the image. You can also get the situation where the grey is perfect and the rest of the image looks awful. A step-wedge or grad going from black to white is better. You may find that a lab will do a screen matching test at a discount (or even free) since it's something that can save a lot of time and trouble later. Alternatively, you can just supply a match print, but be warned, most labs will match to what they see as a reasonable point, which may not be close enough for you. Also, it can be impossible to match a photographic print perfectly to an inkjet or vice versa - the way the inks and dyes work is just too different (the match can also change in different light sources). It can also be impossible to perfectly match a photographic print on one manufacturer's paper to one on another's. This also brings us to the problem of matching copies. Although you may think that all this digital storage and handling will produce perfect image copies time and time again (you may even have been told it by people who should know better) it will only do it while the image stays digital. You and I live in an analogue world not a digital one. Any digital image file has to be converted to analogue for us to see it and errors can be introduced. This is particularly true of photographic prints, because although the imaging machines may be calibrated and computer controlled, the photo paper still has to go through chemical baths to be developed. It is impossible to control these tanks of chemicals so precisely that you will never, ever notice a difference between prints compared side-by-side. So don't expect to be able to go back to a lab the next day - week - month, give them back a file and get a precise match, don't even expect this in a run of copies done at the same time. If the individual prints look fine, and when compared only show a slight change, then believe me that is as good as it will get. Don't be unreasonable by expecting absolute precise matching, it will only make the lab people think you're an idiot. Unfortunately, there're a hell of lot of idiots out there who should know better. If you really do need (not just want) something that is likely to be out of the normal way of working for the lab, talk about it and get them to agree it (preferably in writing) before giving them the job. Then if they start getting grumpy because you've rejected 8 out of the 10 copies they've printed, you've got a comeback.

And Finally.....

Remember, if you act in a pleasant & professional way and try to eliminate any chances of error, then you also reduce the chances of disappointment and unexpected costs. If something does go wrong, then check if you made it clear on your written order, if so then you're in a good position to ask for it put right - free of charge. If it's your fault, then throwing yourself on the mercy of the lab may work, but more likely you'll have to pay for it. If you're a professional, or a dedicated amateur, then a good lab is more important than most things in life. Upset your lover and have them leave you, insult your parents and have them cut you out of their wills, fiddle your taxes and get locked-up in jail, but never, ever, annoy your lab.

© Barry Leighton FRPS