Digital Prints

D-Lab, LightJet, Lambda, and Chromira lab printers worldwide. In the U.S., this includes
many Wal-Mart, Costco, and Ritz Camera locations. If your local minilab provider is
listed, you simply download the profile (it’s free) and install it on your computer to do
your image-editing.
Hansen used to offer a service where if your local operator was not on the list and you
wanted to profile them, you could download Dry Creek’s profile target, print it at the
minilab, and mail the print back to Dry Creek who created a profile at no charge and
added it to their database. That service is no longer offered (although those profiles are
still available), and Dry Creek is now only accepting targets submitted by the labs themselves
to create what it calls “enhanced accuracy profiles.” Dry Creek also provides custom
printer profiles for individual photographers.
Keep in mind that the accuracy of these profiles is dependent upon how up-to-date they
are since lab conditions can change. As Hansen explains, “Some of these labs update their
profiles on a regular schedule. If the lab shares this information with us, we give an ’expiration
date’ for the profiles. Check back around that date for updated profiles. The date
information appears in Photoshop or other ICC-compliant applications using profiles.”
Online Printing Services
One example of the inroads that the Internet has made into our lives is the business of
online processing and printing. While this is mostly applicable to photographers, it
doesn’t have to be, especially now that the larger print service providers have every type of
digital output device including wide-format inkjets.
More and more, the trend is for imagemakers to work with this type of provider electronically
or online. What this usually means is that image files, typically TIFFs or JPEGs, along
with order forms are either sent via e-mail or uploaded to company websites for image-processing
and printing. Some companies also offer a related service for photographers who can
send in film for processing and scanning (or hard-copy artwork). The scans are then uploaded
to their secure websites where the photographer-artist can download them, image-edit as
needed, and either send them back for printing or print them on their own desktop printers.
Chapter 10 ■ Using a Print Service 333
Photo Craft Laboratories’ online
imaging, archiving, and printing services
are accessible through its website.
Courtesy of Photo Craft Laboratories, Inc.
www.pcraft.com