Newbie print question here, but what labs do you recommend for quality prints? What media works best for astrophotography, gloss, metal etc.? Does it make a difference that most of our work has dark negative space whereas most “other” photopraphy has light negative space in choosing a print lab, or are they all the same?
What labs and media do you recommend for astro prints?
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I like Bay Photo. They do a great job preserving my colors. Suggest you look at their metal prints and also the Acrylic prints.
I live in Canada, so I've used Black’s a lot. But I've also used Snapfish.
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If you happen to like metal or acrylic prints and live in the US, I would recommend Bay Photo. I don’t happen to like metal prints very much, but I have used Bay Photo when I had a need for metal. I have carefully inspected acrylic prints made by other astrophotographers using Bay Photo and they were excellent.
I haven’t used Bay Photo for paper prints since I prefer to print at home on a nice Baryta surface when making paper prints. But, at least for metal or acrylic for astrophotography Bay Photo is a solid choice for US residents.
Oh, my first choice for media is actually Baryta surfaces on either cotton rag or alpha cellulose. I grew up on paper, I’m used to paper, and I know how to get the results I want on paper, so that’s what I prefer. Most astrophotographers would disagree with me, though, so…
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Another vote for Bay Photo. Metal or acrylic.
Thank you all for the suggestions. That definitely gets me pointed in the right direction.
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I have tried quite a few labs and never have found that they can compare to what you see on your monitor. We all process our work on our pc and make adjustments on our monitors which is backlit.
My monitor is color calibrated and whenever I do submit an image for printing, I still have to increase the brightness and contrast to get something that even slightly resembles what I see on my monitor.
Of all of the printers that I have used, I also definitely prefer Bay Photo. They are great to work with. They also will reprint if you are not satisfied. I believe that they offer free test prints (or they used to). The free test prints might be only a one-time deal if they still offer it.
By far, I have had the best results displaying my images by using a digital photo frame. However, with that you are size limited.
I am getting ready to submit some prints to Bay Photo soon. I will gently bump both the contrast and brightness before submitting.
Also, which is very important, make sure that you install their ICC profiles and install them on your system. Be sure to make any final adjustments using their profiles.
My monitor is color calibrated and whenever I do submit an image for printing, I still have to increase the brightness and contrast to get something that even slightly resembles what I see on my monitor.
Of all of the printers that I have used, I also definitely prefer Bay Photo. They are great to work with. They also will reprint if you are not satisfied. I believe that they offer free test prints (or they used to). The free test prints might be only a one-time deal if they still offer it.
By far, I have had the best results displaying my images by using a digital photo frame. However, with that you are size limited.
I am getting ready to submit some prints to Bay Photo soon. I will gently bump both the contrast and brightness before submitting.
Also, which is very important, make sure that you install their ICC profiles and install them on your system. Be sure to make any final adjustments using their profiles.
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For the most in-depth lab reviews, go here: https://www.mattpaynephotography.com/page/best-photography-print-labs/
FWIW, I’ve used Nevada Art Printers for both paper and acrylic and have been very happy with both their service and results.
Cheers,
Scott
I'll second what @Jim Raskett said about Bay Photo. Just to add about my experience recently with their test prints. They still do this. But there is a lifetime limit to the numbers you can request and that option goes away fast.
When I did manual photographic processing and printing, test strips were a commonly used method to narrow down print exposure/density times. I think we can reproduce this method by setting up a “test strip” with our images by cropping the image to an area that contains important features and background and duplicating that part across a single frame. Each subunit with different “exposures” or contrast, etc. Then have the lab print it. If the test is free, great! But in this case even if it cost a bit, it is far less painful than getting a complete bust on a large metal print. Hopefully what I described makes sense.
Alan
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I’ll pile on. I’ve had a great experience with metal prints from Bay photo. The have never once gotten it wrong and the prints on metal look fantastic. I doubt that they are the cheapest option but they are totally worth it.
John