Color correcting prints? Yes/no?

[Markster]

I found a local place that will develop film that's an actual professional lab (not a 1-hour photo booth at a King Soopers or anything) but they say they also do the full color correction on the prints and the like. They use the higher quality paper, and all that.

In short they emphasize the final print. It's more costly, too.

Should you get color-corrected prints? I can see it would be nice to have them that way, but the other side is I'll never learn what turned out which way. I won't improve if I don't see what's wrong. I also might want to try some funky things with my settings to get special effects and the color correction wipes it out even though it's on the negatives. I might never know my attempts worked.

Or, am I over-thinking it?

What do you all do with prints you have others make? Color correct? Or no?

(I'm not going to print them myself. I don't have the time, money, or space for that kind of setup.)

 

[Ottrdaemmerung]

I usually order my prints uncorrected, since I use a hybrid workflow (scanning, adjusting, and despotting digitally before sending the finished files off to be printed) on a calibrated monitor. If you're doing the same and your monitor isn't calibrated, or if you're having negs printed directly without any kind of scanning step, then I say go with color correction, particularly if you're shooting portraits.

 

[degruyl]

I never order proof size prints at all. All of my color is printed digitally (as is theirs, I bet) so I scan any negatives and / or positives and deal with them on the monitor.

I do color correction for final prints myself. My lab supplies calibration information on the particular printer that I will be running on, so I generally only need to go through one or two prints before final. Also, they are more than happy to print on whatever paper you want.

If you are treating these as final prints, spend the extra money.

 

[Markster]

Well, it's more like I use the prints as the proofs, and the prints are the pictures the family passes around, shares with relatives, etc. We can scan and share electronically via facebook or e-mail for extended family members out of state and whatnot.

Generally speaking I don't really go back and tinker with the photos. I keep the negatives for future reprints, but that's about it.

So, generally speaking they don't need to be high quality prints if they're being passed around (rather than framed behind glass).

 

[MattKing]

Colour correction for sure - with the possible exception of shots that you are intending for colour "experiments".

Colour correction doesn't repair errors - it just results in your obtaining the full benefit of the materials you are using.

I would expect that by referring to "colour correction", the lab is doing individual corrections on screen before printing. Alternatively, if they are working traditionally, they would do test prints, examine the tests, and then correct the colour balance according to their observations.

I doubt that the lab is doing the sort of heavy post-processing that would result in correction of errors.

 

[Markster]

I would expect that by referring to "colour correction", the lab is doing individual corrections on screen before printing.

That is what the guy described when I stopped by to scope it out. To paraphrase, he was saying they color correct each photo individually to get the best looking print possible. I don't recall but got the impression it was done by hand, but whether that means tweaking the settings on a machine rather than letting the machine decide, or something more manual I don't know.

 

[tim elder]

It sounds like they have the right attitude. Individually color correcting machine prints isn't a new technology, it's an attention to detail that can set one photo lab apart from another. Most places usually set the machine to the first print, which is why obsessive types might want to use a color chart on the first frame. The fact that he pointed it out to you might be a good indication that he's serious about getting your business. The other thing that's positive about that attitude is that if he says he going to color correct each print, he might actually pay attention when you told him not to!

-Tim

 

[Markster]

That's actually a very good point. I'll quit worrying and just see how the first roll comes out when I say "no color correction" ...